Good Sunday to you, FanDuel DFSers. Grab yourself a bloody and let’s settle in for the first Sunday slate of the baseball season. What a fantastic day to be alive.

But, first let’s discuss finances, shall we?

Each Sunday of the FanDuel series we’d like to briefly dive into a topic slightly deeper in the world of DFS. We can discuss strategy, explore different contests, take a look at tools offered here at Razzball, and hopefully have a great time making consistent improvement to our DFS process.

On this first Sunday of the season, before we look at individual players, let’s take a quick look at the foundation of every successful DFS strategy, just to make sure we are on the same page. What we are talking about as the foundation of a successful DFS process, of course, is bankroll management – identifying, and managing, risk. This is something we hear often, and the thought of it, as is likely the case right now on this beautiful Sunday, wafts about us like a freshly laid turd.

But it is not a turd!

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!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 8/4
ARI | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | ATH | CHW | OAK | SEA | WSH

No matter the format, prospects are going to enter into the fantasy equation at some point or another. Since covering prospects is the only reason they let me into the Razzball offices, it’s my job to help you make the most of them. This post will map out what you can expect from me this year as far as prospect coverage during the 2019 regular season. What you shouldn’t expect from me is competence, insight, sobriety, or a sense of humor. I’m glad we’ve got that out of the way.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Grey Albright threw two innings on opening day. Sweat, and other mysterious bodily fluids, dripped from Grey’s brow; he was gassed. Albright didn’t wait for Rudy to call to the pen, Grey signaled himself for the lefty, Donkey Teeth, to enter the fold. Fantasy Master Lothario is still knocking some of the spring rust off, just like Chis Sale, so you’re stuck with Donkey Teeth telling you tales of Paul Goldschmidt’s monster 4-for-5 night with 3 homers & 5 RBIs in only the second game of his Cardinals career. Truth be told, Dan Pants will be back to take over this column next Friday, since Friday is slinging night for Grey, Cougs, and Donkey Teeth. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Staaaaaart spreadin’ the news, he’s starting today.  He wants to be a part of it, the Yankee Rotation.  James Paxton ($10,400) gets his close up in pinstripes and he’s got a soft landing.  The Baltimore Orioles and their latest edition of a terrible team face off against Paxton, who comes out of Spring Training with a nifty stat line of a 2.08 ERA/.981 WHIP/9.9 K9.  Let’s face it, the Orioles are worse than some of the lineups he faced in Spring Training.  Now let’s take a look at the rest of the slate today.

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!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Let’s dust off Grey’s tiers for this first closer report of the season. We’re one day in and the sky is already falling all over the closer landscape.

  • We have our first dumpster fire of the season in Arizona. Pudding-brained Toery Lovullo will use the guy with experience in Greg Holland, albeit awful recent experience.
  • Bruce Bochy did the right thing and confirmed Will Smith will be the closer. A manager making a sensible decision, be still my heart.
  • Taylor Rodgers earned the opening day save in Minnesota. The matchups dictated a LHP so don’t go overboard changing that hierarchy. We need to be aware Rocco Baldeli will mix and match, however.
  • An old fashioned 6-out save was on the menu for Josh Hader. He needed Lorenzo Cain to bring a homer back over the wall, but the stuff was nasty as ever with plenty of whiffs.
  • Pedro Strop hammy wasn’t a big deal and he’s ready to go. Bump him up a tier with another leap pending his hold on the role of.
  • The Reds and Royals bullpens got off on the wrong foot. Both spots need to be monitored to see if roles are changing.
Please, blog, may I have some more?

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”397967″ player=”10951″ title=”FantasyBaseball2019BuySellHold1″]

I remember distinctly the day Will Clark retired. I just got home from a Winter Solstice Pageant. I was only 12 years old at the time, but my mustache was already coming in. Earlier that night, when I was singing in the pageant, a mother yelled out from the audience, “Who’s the midget with the mustache?” Then another parent yelled out, “Or is it a dwarf? I always get confused.” Another yelled, “Is that kid 40 years old? I don’t know if I want my kid around that adult.” I didn’t think my day could get worse, then, back at home, I heard that Clark retired. I was still in my autumn leaf costume, sobbing into my Pop Rocks, essentially ruining them. A devastating day all around, but things got better eventually. Soon my friends’ parents wouldn’t call the cops when I was hanging out with their kid, thinking I was a 40-something pervert. One mother even complimented me on my mustache. Maybe this was where my love of Cougars first started. What does this have to do with Pete Alonso? Nothing at all. Just like his Spring Training means nothing. Yes, he mollywhopped the ball to parts of the field this spring with a bat that can only be discussed in terms from British literature that no one has ever read.  “Pete Alonso’s bat is so fast I will call him Mr. Dashwood.”  *blank stares*  “Um, yeah.”  He has 80 grade power — Mr. Darcy, you aloof bedswerver!  I’m buying all them shares of Alonso and I talk about him in today’s first Buy video at that top of the post.  Can Colin Firth play him in the movie?  Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Between preparing for drafts and actually doing the drafts I’d be lying if I said I feel refreshed now that it’s over. In fact I’m quite exhausted and have found myself walking around in a zombie-like fashion the past two weeks. And it doesn’t help that I don’t drink coffee. Never have. Most people find it fascinating when I tell them that at 42 years of age I have never had a single drop. It’s just not my cup of tea. I mean coffee. Whatever. Truth be told, drafting season is my favorite part of the whole experience. Watching the season play out is often stressful, disappointing and underwhelming. This is generally true even during successful championship seasons. Anticipation is often greater than realization. I’m looking forward to watching Carlos Correa, Trevor Story and Javier Baez fall far short of their ADPs.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

With the season upon us now, I was looking at who I thought would lead the main H2H hitting categories (AVG, SB, R, RBI, HR) this year. Now, it is easy to pick the top players in the game and say that they will lead a certain category because the likelihood is high. So I wanted to expand it, and make it guys going outside the top 100 according to NFBC ADP. Part of building a H2H championship caliber team is being able to find guys later on in the draft that you can bank on to help you out in certain categories. Again, finding a guy at the beginning of drafts that will help you out in certain categories is easy because they are being drafted that high for a reason. So here are the guys that went outside the top 100 NFBC pick that have the best shot at leading the league in each category. I am aware that none of these guys will actually lead the league in their given category, but simply have the best shot (in my opinion) among guys outside the top 100.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Strasvutsia! Baseball is back baby! To say I’m elated is an extreme understatement. I had the pleasure of going to Phillies/Braves opening day and was grinning ear-to-ear the entire time. Police approached me three times because I was creeping people out, but who am I kidding, you don’t want to hear about my encounters with the fuzz, you’re hear for baseball! Let us start the FanDuel season off right by picking on the Marlins, shall we? Be for real, anyone in this lineup scare you? Throw in the detail that they’re playing in Marlins Stadium, and I’m all in. German Marquez ($9,800) was an absolute beast in the second half last year. He turned in 93 innings of 2.61 ERA with a 28.4% K-BB%, and while I can’t guarantee he’ll keep that up all year, I’d put money on him having continued success today. We’ll take a look at the rest of the eight game FanDuel slate, after a word from our sponsors.

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!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”397243″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 1″]

Hello, Genie, I have three wishes for this baseball season?  My first wish is “No one I own get hurt.”  I didn’t buy Kevin Kiermaier, Steven Souza or Troy Tulowitzki, so I made your job easy for you, great, powerful Genie.  My 2nd wish is “Everyone I own do well.”  I drafted Trea Turner, Luke Voit, Enrique Hernandez, so, really, I’m doing much of the heavy lifting for this wish too.  My 3rd and final wish is “All 3rd base coaches send runners home by doing The OA interpretative dance.”  Thanking you in advance, Genie.  Wait a second, you’re not a genie, you’re Bartolo Colon in Blue Man Group paint.  Damn you!  So, we’re off and running for another great season, just like the Dodgers’ offense.  Enrique Hernandez (2-for-3, 3 runs, 3 RBIs) hit two home runs.  Ya know what, maybe Kiké does love me.  Next up, Joc Pederson (3-for-5, 3 runs, 4 RBIs) hit two homers, as he hit leadoff.  A double dong day from Wong and Joc?  Baseball, do you stuff your pants?  Also, Max Muncy (1-for-4, 2 RBIs) hit his first homer, saying, “Hey, don’t forget Grey wrote a sleeper post about me?”  Then Cody Bellinger (2-for-4, 2 runs) hit his 1st homer; he’s not Cody Malinger!  Actually, I’m convinced Dave Roberts could field any lineup and they would score more runs than their opponent for at least 90+ games, especially when they’re going up against some of these teams.  Wilmer Flores (1-for-4, 1 run) was the three hole hitter on the Diamondbacks.  I love Wilmer and his ubiquitous tears like he’s reading The Notebook, but there’s a bunch of MLB lineups out there that just are not good.  Also, in this game, Corey Seager (1-for-3) hit his 1st homer and Austin Barnes (3-for-4, 2 runs) hit his first homer, because BASEBALL’S BACK!  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

This is my last post that is being written before all MLB teams will have finally, gloriously started the 2019 baseball season, and I think we’re all more than ready for less talk and a little more action.  Last week, we chatted about American League hitters that could probably be had for $1 or a free round auction pick (or at the very end of a snake draft) in even the deepest of fantasy baseball leagues.  Now we’ll get right to it and do the same for some of their brethren in the senior circuit.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Twelve fantasy writers in one league and you thought we weren’t going to take this opportunity to hear ourselves talk (type)?  Well, then you thought wrong! We’re all loaded with hot fiyah taeks! This isn’t the ‘Perts League that Grey hosts, this is just anyone that writes for Razzball and wanted to join an RCL.  Way back on Saturday, March 4th at 9:00pm EST, we all (well, most) settled in for an early season draft. You can check out all the draft results HERE to follow along.  This season’s participants in RCL draft order are:

The Itch – This Week in Strike Rates

SON – A two sport star, running the basketball side of Razzball and writing Bear/Bull for MLB

Elliot – former OPS writer, turned miscellaneous writer

Matt Striker – Former WWE Wrestler and Fantasy Nerd

Richardo – One of our several DFS gurus

MB – Two sport star covering NFL and MLB like a boss

Kerry Klug – The local ambulance chaser

Prospect Mike – Covers…well…prospects!

MattTruss – DFS and RCLs are my game

McafeeeeeOPS is his bag

B_Don – Ditka, Sausage and Fantasy Sports Podcast. 2 Start Pitchers

Roto-Wan – SAGNOF is his jam

Now you know who is in the league, next we’ll hear what they had to say about it.  I interviewed each writer with some questions; some personal and some generic and here’s what they had to say:

Please, blog, may I have some more?