Not that long ago, I remember hearing a story. One I will recount for you here, but you can’t tell anyone else. Promise? Okay, there was this guy Brandon Bielak, and he was real into attachment parenting and had to put up with his stupid father, Nick, and dopey brothers, Tony and Joey Lawrence — Whoa. Well, the Teen Beat on, and I’m reading this from an old TV Guide with Miss Piggy on the cover, can you tell? Brandon Bielak is an enigma. Nothing exists on him, besides Matt Roush’s blurbs. Confession Alert! I used to collect TV Guides. What an absolute nerd. Any hoo! Bielak was found on waivers by me (or was it in an abandoned refrigerator — wait, wrong show), and he went 5 IP, 2 ER, 7 baserunners, 4 Ks, ERA at 1.76. He works with a 94 MPH fastball, and a ton of secondary pitches with the curve hooking hard, and looking especially nice. He’s very serviceable, bordering on more. He could be a back-end fantasy starter for years to come. Now, I’ve streamed this guy a few times, and Streamonator thinks Bielak next start is even better — with no Big Bang in sight. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Trea Turner
Please see our player page for Trea Turner to see projections for today, the next 7 days and rest of season as well as stats and gamelogs designed with the fantasy baseball player in mind.
FanDuel: Aces Abound
August 9, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | Leave a commentby: MattTruss
The last few times of written my DFS articles the pitching has been atrocious, as seems to be the norm this season. Today however, we have an abundance of aces to choose from. Picking which one will produce the best value is the tricky part.  Jacob deGrom ($11,100) is the most expensive options, but given his opponent, is the one most likely to win you your cash games and even keep you in your GPPs. The Marlins continue to be a team I am targeting whenever I can and deGrom should have a field day with them. Can we expect 7+ innings and double digit strikeouts? I believe we can! DeGrom is also only $300 more than Sonny Gray, which seems wild to me, but I’m plugging and playing deGrom 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?
Top 100 Hitters For 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Week 3
August 8, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 15 Commentsby: Thomas Howland
I would say the fact you are reading a 2020 Fantasy Baseball Week 3 anything is a win. Multiple times a day it seems like nothing makes sense, and that’s just in the world of baseball. Will St. Louis ever play a full schedule during the week, or is it just going to be seven inning double headers from here on out? Yelich hit a home run but it was the inside the park variety? Cardboard cutouts of fans come to life on Fox? So in spite of Covid we may not have school in school but we definitely still have baseball. You can find last week’s list here.
Here are some of the movers for this week, followed by the list:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Charting the Future: Hitter $ Value Changes
August 5, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball | 8 Commentsby: TheTinDoor
In a typical season, after less than two weeks fantasy owners are (trying) to exercise patience. With a 6-month season stretching out in front of us, we have plenty of time to assess changing player skills, see roles slowly evolve, or react to injuries. In this 60-game sprint of a season, all that is out the window. The owner who can assess what’s different today, and react the quickest, will win this season. That may mean cutting a high draft pick, or trading for an unexpected source of power. It all starts by assessing what’s changed in just 12 days.
I’m analyzing Rudy’s pre-season and rest-of-season projections (Razzball/Steamer), with custom dollar values based on a standard roster, 12-team mixed league. The specific dollar values aren’t as important as the relative changes: who’s value has gone up/down, in less than two weeks?
Below, I’ve charted all players who’s value has changed by $2+ since the preseason:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
FanDuel: The Electric Jesús
August 4, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | Leave a commentby: NichFields
As we continue to make our way through this Upside Down of a season, looking around at the game we love and have come to know so well, it’s the simple things in the game that can help bring us back: The crack of the bat, a spectacular defensive play, a big league debut.
While not quite his debut, Jesús Luzardo is making his first major league start tonight. We can all look forward to watching him pitch, but at $6,100 the electric, 22-year-old lefty may offer us something more and be the best DFS option for our lineups. Coming off extended relief appearances pitch count is a concern here; he needed 67 pitches to get through 3.2 innings on the 29th, and should be capped around 75 pitches, which, in combo, significantly discounts the likelihood of a quality start or win. Caveats aside, Luzardo has the potential to mow down a lineup and return great value. This season owes us some spectacular moments. Let’s hope this is one of them.
Keep reading below for more guaranteed* money-making** DFS picks.
*not guaranteed
**we’re definitely not promising this
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? Top 100 Hitters for 2020 Fantasy Baseball: Week 2
August 2, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Hitters | 16 Commentsby: Thomas Howland
The season is teetering on the edge. I mean the absolute razor’s edge. The commissioner is rattling his sabers about canceling the season in light of the challenge of Covid-19. But as of now baseball is still being played all over the county, even with some games getting postponed. There will be 7 inning makeup games and more and more chaos everywhere. There are players coming and going from the IL, players treating a positive test as if it’s nothing and others going out on paternity leave. On the positive side there will be playoff chases galore for the whole season with more than half the league going! With all that said we do have a Top 100.
You can find last week’s list here. Here are some of the movers for this week, followed by the list:
Please, blog, may I have some more?On the one hand, it’s unbelievable that Opening Week happened at all. On the other, it’s a mad mad mad mad world Sid Caesar would love. Juan Soto, you’re out! Clayton Kershaw, you’re out! Anthony Rendon, you’re out, but Mike Trout is back in! We’ve got masked players sometime, then other times standing next to each other chatting and laughing at first base. We’ve got players spitting, as if that wasn’t going to happen. We’ve got Angel Hernadez strike zones when we were hoping beyond hope that he would be one that would opt out, instead of one of the few we would depend on. As will likely be the case all season there will be big shifts in this week’s rankings. On top of all the above info the Yankees look healthy (for now), and the Blue Jays are settling Buffalo. What?! I’m bumping the Jays just because they’ll feel a little better now actually having a home. Even more because most of the team had a great time in Buffalo in the not too distant past. Also because, I mean, I love Duff’s, beef on weck, the Anchor Bar and tailgating at Bills games, but there’s much less of a chance of catching Covid in the quiet nightlife of Buffalo.
With an expanded playoffs you would think all the players who have half a chance would stop messing around and get to work, but you never can tell. You can find last week’s controversial list here. Here are some of the movers for this week, followed by the list:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Verlander Drops Elbow On His 2020 Season
July 27, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 251 Commentsby: Grey
So, how’s everyone doing after four days of games? Still early, right? Actually, it’s not early. It’s never early this year. Early took the first train out of the station with your wife and dog. Say goodbye to your life, Early walked off with it. Four days this year is approximately three weeks into a regular season. Four days into the season this year is a cherry and whipped topping into this sundae, and one scoop in there might be chocolate chip mint, which you have to skip because it tastes like sugary toothpaste. One guy whose entire Sunday was chocolate chip mint is Justin Verlander. Sounds like he’s out for the season with a forearm strain, which is usually a precursor for much worse news. Won’t speculate what this means for his career, but if this is the last time he plays, it truly bums me out, even if I never wanted to own him. He was glorious to watch, in and out of the bathroom mirror with Kate. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Please, blog, may I have some more?At this point I feel a little like a repeating Kevin McCallister, screaming over and over again as I splash the stinging liquid of not stop Covid-19 news against my fantasy baseball face. How are we supposed to keep up? By the time this work is published three more Top 100 players could be struck down, throwing their 60 game season into question. And since all these players are in their home areas for summer camp, when the virus is spiking in that area, particularly Houston, it can throw camp completely out of whack.
As you can probably guess, Yordan Alvarez coming down with the virus and Houston’s cases spiking has slipped Astros batters down. Other individual cases have an effect here and there, and Freddy Freeman is finally having an effect on Braves batters despite coming back. There was also a trade on Thursday that has the smallest effect here. Also, Yasiel Puig doesn’t quite make it. Yup, the virus got him too.
If you are wondering about the particulars of the list a big change was made last week. That includes some park effect fine tuning, and in particular why I have Mike Trout ranked so low. You can find last week’s list here. All that being said, let’s look at some of this week’s movers:
Please, blog, may I have some more?Camp is in full swing, and the initial wave of Covid-19 diagnoses and Opt Outs have taken place. We are not doctors, we only play them on fantasy baseball sites. Seriously, Covid-19 throws a massive shadow and we’re all doing our best. As far as the rankings go, our fearless leader had some big news on Friday:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
