Opening Day is almost upon us and with it will come day one of the greatest daily fantasy sport around, Daily Fantasy Baseball. No more will you be forced to put the rent on a small sample size of sixteen slates, instead you can put ¼ of the rent on seven slates per week! If you’re a practitioner of the “Process Over Results” (Promo code: SAGNOF) mantra, MLB DFS is for you. If your process is solid, you’ll win more than you lose and we here at Razzball DFS HQ are here to help you hone that process. For those that are new to MLB DFS, we’ll cover the basics below, for those that are chiseled vets of the game, we have some new wrinkles. We’ll be covering a little bit of everything this year. We’ve brought on a new DFS partner, DRAFT.com (More on that later with VictoriaB) that adds something new and different to the DFS game. We’ll also be covering FanDuel.com and FantasyDraft.com a few days per week. We’ll be giving you plays of the day seven days a week from our various DFS writers but the real gem of DFS on Razzball is Rudy’s DFS Tools. This is where you can make your money and we have a way for you to get a month or two absolutely free. Everyone loves something for nothing! So, my fellow degenerates, let’s hop below and go over all the juicy details of this year’s Daily Fantasy coverage:
First and foremost, I’d like to introduce this year’s DFS writers and schedule of coverage. Give them a follow on the Twitter machine and check in once the coverage starts March 29th:
Ignacio – Monday – DRAFT.com
Roto-Wan – Tuesday – DRAFT.com
TroyKlauder – Wednesday – DRAFT.com
Cinthree – Thursday – FanDuel.com
HouseOfShlain – Friday – FanDuel.com
Goodshaun – Sunday – DRAFT.com
MattTruss & VictoriaB – Saturday – FantasyDraft.com
We have a nice mix of old and new faces and we’re all ready to provide you plenty of great content and hopefully help you win lots of dough.
Next, if you would like to give our sponsor sites an early look and create an account, please do it through us, it helps out your favorite fantasy baseball site a lot! The links for each site are provided below:
Also, if you are one of the ten people left in existence that does not have a FanDuel or DraftKings account then we have a deal for you that will get you access to Rudy’s DFS Premium Tools Package for free ninety nine! All you have to do is sign up for your FanDuel or Draftkings account through us and make the minimum deposit noted below:
DraftKings – Receive one month free DFS Premium w/ $10 deposit
FanDuel – Receive two months free DFS Premium w/ $20 deposit
Alright, now that you’re all tooled up and you know where to go for your DFS articles each day, let’s talk about the different sites we cover and go over a general overview of DFS.
What is DFS?
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past 5 years, I could see how you’ve missed this DFS thing. Basically, these various sites set player values to some number of dollars. Everyone then tries to construct the highest scoring lineup that fits within a given salary cap. Easy enough.
DFS Terms
Cash Game vs. Guaranteed Prize Pool (GPP) – These are two terms you’ll hear thrown around a lot in various articles. They can basically be separated into low risk/low reward and high risk/high reward games. A cash game is a head to head game or a game where half the entries win back ~double their money. A GPP is the type of game you see advertised by these sites where thousands of people enter and only 10% or so win money with the top two or three winning pretty large sums. Even if these contests don’t fill, they will still run, which results in overlay. Generally, you play it safe and/or chalky in a cash game and take some chances in GPPs. GPPs are perfect for the “If you’re not first, you’re last mindset” but be prepared to not win very often.
Stacking – Here’s another term you’ll hear quite a bit and it refers to loading your lineup with players from the same team and the same section of the lineup to increase scoring. Stacking the 1-4 hitters against a certain terrible pitcher will get your points for Runs and RBIs as they drive each other home. Stacking is a necessary evil in GPPs.
Chalk – A highly owned or obvious play. Can be problematic because EVERYONE is going to own him, taking away your competitive advantage.
Fade – To avoid selecting a player because of a bad match-up or because they are “the chalk”.
Punt – To spend the minimum amount of cash on a player or position so you can afford a higher-priced player. Typically, catcher and/or shortstop gets punted.
Slate – This is the section of games that a site has chosen to include for a given contest. For example, on Sundays there are typically 3 or 4 “slates”, an early slate (1 pm EST games) and late slate (4 pm EST games) and an all day slate that may or may not include the 8 pm game depending on the site. I prefer the more full slates myself since I feel it gives the inexperienced player too many options to sift through whereas the more experienced player can find the values. Plus, I hate when there are a bunch of similar lineups in a contest and everything hinges on which punt play everyone plugged in at middle infield.
Site Differences
Variety is the spice of life and the three big “standard” style DFS sites have just enough difference to make each one it’s own animal. DRAFT.com is an anomaly in the DFS game and they will get their very own post.
FanDuel – FanDuel’s biggest claim to fame is that they only require one starting pitcher. I feel like this leads to a lot of similar lineups personally, but some people love it. New this year FanDuel has combined the first base and catcher position so now there’s no reason to ever use a catcher! In making this change they also added a UTIL spot which should help with that lineup diversification. Scoring is a little juiced on FanDuel as well. A starter gets 6 pts for a win and 4 pts for a QS. A hitter gets 3 pts for a single, 12 pts for a HR and 6 pts for a SB.
DraftKings – DraftKings requires two starting pitchers and has no UTIL slot. Getting back to the scoring comparison, here a starter gets 4 pts for a win but there are bonus pts for complete games and shutouts. A hitter gets 3 pts for a single, 10 pts for a HR and 5 pts for a SB. These are just a few examples of the scoring differences you should be aware of.
FantasyDraft – FantasyDraft is the microbrew DFS site. If you’re not into playing against thousands of bots mass entering lineups, then hop over to FantasyDraft. The prize pools might be smaller, but your odds of winning are greatly enhanced. FantasyDraft also features a nice section of beginner only contests that lock out experienced players. That’s nice for those just getting started.
I think that’s enough to get most newbies started. Remember to only put into play what you can afford to lose and stop if you need to. We’re here to help in any way we can and with any luck, you won’t be on the losing schnide very often this season. Check back starting Opening Day for more DFS strategy and plays and good luck this season!
Want to be Matt’s Twitter pal? That’s kinda creepy, but you can follow him here: @MattTruss
