At FantasyLabs, we believe that we have the best tools and data available to those who play daily fantasy sports. We also realize that these tools and data are only as beneficial as our ability to communicate their functionality and worth.
With this in mind, our Trend of the Day series features articles that walk subscribers through an important trend each weekday, created with our Trends tool. Also, shortly after you create a trend, you will be able to see it under the “My Trends” column in our Player Models.
MLB Trend of the Day: Stacking the Tail
Stacking is arguably the most important strategy in large-field tournaments besides becoming a Warg like Bran and being able to see the future. While I do recommend this strategy, it is not conceivable for most DFS players. Rather, we have to work hard to grasp which specific stacks will be advantageous in varying tournaments.
A simple way to stack on FanDuel — and one of the most effective stacks — is to combine the 1-4 hitters on a team. By doing so, you maximize at-bats and correlation of your players. This is probably the most common stack when players target exposure from teams implied to score a boatload of runs. However, if everyone stacks the same group of players, your contrarian edge is diminished and you have a lower chance overall to bink a tourney.
If you’re not stacking the top part of the order, then how are you differentiating your lineups while maintaining the upside necessary to live your life full of glory? By using our Trends tool, we know that hitters at the top of the lineup perform significantly better than hitters at the bottom of the lineup.
What the Hell is the Tail?
For those of you still in college, the tail might mean something different to you. Spreading exposure and maximizing your skills is quite the double entendre.
For those of you that are just like me, a true DFS degenerate, the tail refers to the bottom end of a lineup. You might be wondering why you would ever want to stack the end of a lineup when I just provided a graphic of it basically sucking about 95 words ago. I mean look at all the red from spots six through nine. It’s worse than the Red Wedding.
My point is this: In these large-field tournaments, you have to focus on being contrarian to have a legitimate chance to win. You don’t have to outsmart the field; you just have to out-think it. In other words, you have to think differently.
The point of this trend is to find out if stacking the tail is a viable strategy that can help you gain exposure to teams expected to score boatloads of runs while carrying low ownership. For the purpose of this trend, I am going to focus on 6-9 hitters in the American League on FanDuel. I will track only the most common 6-9 hitters or likely 6-9 hitters from this point on.
Step 1: Player Filter > Player Name > Matt Wieters, Pedro Alvarez, Jonathan Schoop, Ryan Flaherty
Step 2: Player Filter > Player Name > Travis Shaw, Brock Holt, Christian Vazquez, Jackie Bradley
I’ll save you the time of repeating the remaining AL teams, and instead present a Plus/Minus chart for each team’s 6-9 hitters.
It shouldn’t be too surprising that every single team outside of the Red Sox has a negative Plus/Minus with the tail of their lineup (I know TB is positive but it hardly counts).
Was This a Giant Waste of Time?
I don’t think so. I had great Wi-Fi on United Airlines — better than what I have on land — and wanted to test some contrarian strategies.
After looking at each team’s tail in depth, I think there is a thin line between being too chalky (stacking 1-4) and being too contrarian (stacking 6-9). In order to be contrarian without being a donkey, you need to be somewhere in the middle — a sound strategy that has low ownership but also offers upside. Perhaps a 1-3-4-5 stack or 3-6 stack is a way to go.
Regardless, if you do want to chase that tail, the Red Sox are currently implied to score 5.5 runs.
Good luck!
