MLB The Show is THE greatest sports video game. To be fair, baseball is the easiest game to make due to the fundamental nature of baseball, which is essentially a one-on-one battle with cursory pieces in the background. Basketball, football, hockey, and soccer all have multiple players moving in synch simultaneously which increases the number of variables that need to be accounted for. Anyways, San Diego Studios has done a masterful job of putting the best product out there. This isn’t an ad for The Show, though, but it’s relevant for this post. In The Show, the X button is for a normal swing, the O button is for contact, and the square button is for power. But with great power comes great responsibility because while you can check your swing with the x and o buttons, it’s all or nothing with the square button. Now, I don’t use the square button much except in 2-0 or 3-0 counts. I prefer to just use the x button because even with the mashers, it’s more than enough to drive the ball out of the park. In my early days of playing, though, I used to utilize the square button with the contact guys in favorable counts. There would be a stretch when I’d bop some over the fence which would get me to start utilizing the square button with those hitters in other counts. Like Pookie from New Jack City, the more I hit out, the more my thumb moved to the left side of the controller. Even while the average and OBP declined, and the strikeouts increased, the adrenaline rush from connecting kept the gig going. Kind of like our debt-fueled economy, which is a separate topic for another day. This reminds me of Andrew Benintendi. He always showed some pop, so he wasn’t some Juan Pierre-esque slap hitter, but he was known more for his power/speed combo. But then he started sniffing the power and bulked up, gaining over 20 pounds of muscle, mashing that square button.  The strikeouts increased while the average and overall production decreased. As a result, he is no longer in Boston. Trash or treasure?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Wed 8/6
ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK

What is up party people? We are back live with baseball and it’s not a prank, this is the real deal. I, for one, am beyond excited that the season is starting in April. This is it, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Today, after what seems like an eternity, we get to feast on a full slate of delicious MLB action. It’s the most exciting time of year because every team has a chance. Ok, maybe not every team. We have an idea of who to target and who to avoid but now we get to find out how much we really know. What better way to celebrate than with some Fanduel DFS action? We’ll be here all season for all your DFS needs to help you crush the competition and win some money. 

New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!

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“Hello, Proprietor of a Milliner, I understand your trade is hat-making. I was wondering if you could make this Dairy Queen sundae helmet into a normal-sized head helmet…Right, right, I get that. Yes, I guess I could just buy a helmet from the John Olerud collection, but I’d like this exact Kansas City Royals sundae helmet. It’s for Opening Day for the 2021 baseball season, Mr. Milliner–Wait a second, I’m seeing news come across my ticker…Adalberto Mondesi has an oblique strain? Forget it, Opening Day is called off. Goodbye.” How do you strain your oblique on the one day without baseball between now and July? Was he reaching up to get a suitcase out of overhead baggage? Well, I too have baggage, but I push my baggage down until I randomly start crying at red lights! Why, why whywhywhy…Well, I guess, Happy Opening Day! It feels less happy now with Mondesi news. The Royals recalled Nicky Lopez, which is objectively just funny. If you have late drafts, like after Opening Day, I updated top 500 for Mondesi, conservatively removing 100 at-bats, which is roughly three weeks to a month. It seemed like a big stretch to have Mondesi hitting 3rd in that lineup. Obviously too big of a stretch for his oblique. Hopefully, he can get back soon, because it’s Opening freakin’ Day! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday for fantasy baseball:

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Grey explored the essence of our contest in Grey’s RazzSlam Recap: I Don’t Know What I’m Doing and Neither Does Anyone Else.

The pith of that essence?

“Unlike roto leagues, I think Points Leagues are more about exploiting the format than about what players you draft.”

Dude.

Yeah.

Same.

Love it.

I wanted to recap a different points league I’m in with Grey and 29 other people are playing via Prospects Live, but we’re in round 32 of 50, and the will to continue is waning, so I guess that’ll have to wait.

But anywho, Grey’s quote up top perfectly describes how I’m playing that league. I’ve been mentioning it occasionally in this space: The Dynasty Baseball Championship. Played it last year, and it feels a lot more like a points league stretched across five years than a dynasty. Most of the league is taking players they like, irrespective of the five-year time frame. I’m playing it like a board game, or any kind of strategy game really. 

I feel an Eldritch Horror (board game) segment coming on here but suffice it to say that Eldritch is all about building up to a point and then sprinting for the finish before the turn clock runs out. I tend to walk that line too closely, preferring to build a buff enough character to actually seal the deal when the time comes rather than rushing into a battle I’m not ready for just because we might run out of turns. It’s a devastating co-op game that way. A hard cap of total turn cards and several soft caps the game can hit to kill your crew if it’s not keeping up with the pace. It’s all about timing that big push. 

Similarly, RazzSlam doesn’t give players the error bar of a season-long league or even a game of Pandemic, where the timeframe is dictated by the player’s competence. If you’re not good enough to finish top 3 during that first stretch of RazzSlam, that’s that. You’re done by July. Sure, there’s a consolation game for those who missed the cut, but who wants that? Nobody. That’s like adding turns to the Mythos deck after Eldritch Horror has ended your night. Not cool. Game’s over, bub. The elder gods have won. 

Alright, so with the fate of the world in flux, let’s see how I did.

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I have waited a very long time to say this, Happy Opening Day!  Now, with that out of the way, let’s get down to business.  Your H2H league has drafted, we have an 11-day Week 1 (in most formats), and I am here to help you tighten up those categorical needs to help you win every week.  In this weekly segment, I am going to give you some players that can help you win your categories. Contrary to ROTO, you need to strike while the iron is hot on a week-by-week basis!   While I would love to help you out in your 6-team 15×15 with caught stealing and crotch grabs, I am simply going to look at Runs, RBI, HR, Wins, and Saves.  The Ratios will get some love here and there!  Without further ado, let’s get started!

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You’re traveling through another dimension — a dimension not only of coaching decisions and slow catchers but of plate appearances. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of your lineup slots. That’s a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the stolen base zone! 

Not too long ago on this very site, I wrote an article about which catchers had the slowest pop times and worst caught stealing percentages

Even less long ago I wrote about which team managers allowed their players to attempt the most stolen bases

Now comes my honors thesis at the Grey Albright School for Fools: which players each week are on a team run by a manager who likes to steal bases AND are facing a catcher who isn’t great at throwing out runners! 

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DraftKings Sportsbook has recently released a ton of awesome future bets. They have all the classic ones like odds on the World Series champion, AL/NL pennant odds, and odds on the Divisional Champion. You can also get wagers on the over/under win totals and the likelihood of teams making the playoffs. For players, you can bet on all the major awards such as MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year.

However, some of the most fun bets are the head-to-head future odds for players and teams. Currently, DraftKings is offering wagers on which player will hit more home runs and which team will have more wins in the regular season. These are some fun wagers that you can make some big bucks on.

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My final final final final draft of the year. Believe it was four finals, might’ve been five finals. Finally, the final final, as we extend our arms and coax into the 2021 fantasy baseball season. HalleBerrylujah, we’ve made it. Since this is my fourth or fifth final final draft of the season, I decided to throw everything to do with ADP out the window.

I mentioned at one point in the draft, I wonder what a draft would look like if all players were simply listed alphabetically rather than by ADP, or some arbitrary ranking by someone I don’t trust. It would likely mean at least one person would autodraft Andrew Abbott, but besides that I think it would change the entire draft landscape. Whether people want to believe it or not, they are influenced by the in-draft rankings. When it says a player is the next hitter or pitcher off the board, they don’t sit there for very long. Well, except for Sixto Sanchez in our league who went in the last round to Coolwhip. When you ignore ADP, it feels. Dot dot dot. Freeing. The most YOLO of drafts incoming. Anyway, here’s my RCL draft recap, 12-team mixed league:

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So it’s the last of the last week of Spring Training, what could possibly go wrong? This weekend of a slew of injuries and demotions went down across the league. And perhaps hit hardest was the outfield. It wasn’t just a middling outfielder or lower-tier guy that was struck down, but Superman himself Eloy Jimenez in one of the premier offenses for this season, and World Series hopeful White Sox, whose massive chest was torn asunder while trying to fly. The shining white knight became as Icarus with his wings burnt up for flying too close to the sun (or wall in this case). The folly of man triumphs over his dreams once again, no? The sweet lullaby of babies rocking ends with a tumble from the heights of Mt. Olympus to the pit of Hades. On that happy note, hopefully, this report doesn’t find you circling the drain in the Well of Souls… let’s begin!

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Welcome to the first non-ranking podcast in what seems like two years. Phew, am I glad to be done with that. In celebration Mr. Albright and I cover actual up to date news and hammer home a few points before the season starts. We talk closers, we talk demotions, and we talk some sleepers breaking camp with the big club. It’s a bento box of baseball goodness. Get excited the boys are back!

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Hey friends, can you believe it?  It’s our last deep-league dive before the season starts.  I don’t know about you, but I still have a couple drafts left – and after another long off-season, the last thing I want to do is miss any late injuries or spring training position battle surprise outcomes as I’m trying to get all of my rosters together this week.  So, let’s press on and take one more look at a handful of players whose stock has risen at least a little bit of late, to the point where they may now be more prominently on the radar for those of us in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.

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We’re winding down on draft season now, with official games starting on Thursday.  I am giddy for baseball after being pretty “meh” on the whole thing last year.  This is the last Tuesday without baseball for some time (I hope!) and I’m here for it.  We’re sitting at 46 Razzball Commenter Leagues right now (less than last year, but draft SZN is about two months shorter too) and all but four of those have drafted as of this writing.  ECFBL, one of our longest running legacy leagues, is drafting late Wednesday night.  Nothing like waiting until the last moment. If you didn’t get in on the fun, well, there’s always next year, don’t procrastinate so much next season!  Speaking of fun, I had fun going over the ADP data by taking a look at the ADPs of all Grey’s Sleepers.  Even though the ADP Sheet is Razzball-centric, it can still give you some interesting tidbits of information.  So, let’s do some last second cramming for those final drafts and see what we can see.

Please, blog, may I have some more?