DraftStreet MLB Strategy Guide

by Jon Bales (JonBales) Last Updated 2014-02-22 01:29:52

DraftStreet is a popular destination for daily fantasy baseball players. Due to the site’s unique MLB starting requirements and scoring system, there are very specific DraftStreet MLB strategies, which will be laid out in this guide, that players should employ to win.

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Your DrafStreet baseball strategy should be tailored to coincide with the site’s specifications. Whereas many daily fantasy baseball players often use the same strategies to win, regardless of the site, the best players know how to exploit the little details that differentiate each site.

Note that the content below is intended for novice daily fantasy players. If you have daily fantasy experience, be sure to check out our more intermediate and advanced material at GrindersU. The sport-specific sections are split into Undergrad, Masters, and PhD sub-categories. There, we walk you through topics such as building a research foundation, using the Vegas lines to help you pick players, understanding game variance, and the best approach for winning tournaments. Just sort through the drop-down menus on the left side of GrindersU to take advantage of all of the free, in-depth content.

DraftStreet MLB Starters

On DraftStreet, daily fantasy baseball players are required to start an infielder at each position (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS), three outfielders, one utility player, two starting pitchers, and one pitcher (any type).

Those are very deep starting requirements, which is typical of DraftStreet in every sport. Those who play a lot of their action on DraftStreet should enjoy the starters, as they can gain an advantage over new players coming to the site since the requirements are much different from those on most other sites.
First, DraftStreet MLB lineups are extremely pitcher-heavy. Users are required to start three pitchers, including at least two starters. That means a lot of matchups are decided by pitching. Many top players prefer to pay for elite pitching and fill in their lineups from there. Pitchers are far more consistent than hitters from day to day, so paying for top-tier talent especially makes sense in head-to-head and 50/50 leagues, when you want safety.

You will also need to decide if you want to start three starters on DraftStreet. That’s of course ideal, all other things being equal, but it’s also expensive. If you roster three top-tier starting pitchers, it won’t leave much room for your batters.

Also note that DraftStreet requires a utility player. This adds an extra layer of research for players; you not only need to compare players at each position, but you need to compare all positions together to see which player is best for use in the utility spot. Many leagues are won or lost due to the utility selection. The goal is simply to generate the most bang for your buck; which player is the most underpriced relative to his expected production?

DraftStreet MLB Scoring

DraftStreet’s hitter scoring is fairly standard, while their pitcher scoring is not.

Below, I charted DraftStreet’s hitter scoring (as a function of home run points) compared to other major daily fantasy sites.

DraftStreet gives a few more points for RBIs and home runs than most sites, but the main difference is the loss in points for a strikeout. Whereas some sites don’t even penalize hitters for striking out, DraftStreet is fairly harsh on high-strikeout hitters. That’s something to monitor as you fill out your lineups; you want batters who make contact on DraftStreet more so than on other sites.

Now let’s take a look at DraftStreet’s pitcher scoring.

It initially appears as though DraftStreet is more extreme in their scoring, giving a lot of points for beneficial events and penalizing a lot for poor ones. The truth is that they simply don’t give many points for pitcher wins, which makes the other stats appear more extreme. At 1.5 points for a win, pitchers get only 0.6 more points for a win than they do for just a single inning pitched. In comparison, FanDuel gives four times the points for a win that they do for an inning pitched.

This has obvious ramifications on your strategy. Whereas trying to acquire a win is important on other sites, it’s not all that vital on DraftStreet. You obviously want pitchers who are going to pitch well enough to win anyway, but you don’t need to avoid a pitcher facing a fellow stud. Your pitcher might not get the victory, but he could still very well accrue plenty of points on DraftStreet.

Stacking on DraftStreet

Many daily fantasy players like to “stack” players from the same team, especially in tournaments, because it can increase upside. If you have the 2-3-4-5 hitters from a single team and they go off, it can be really beneficial.

Well, full team stacks are impossible on DraftStreet because you cannot start more than four players from a single MLB team in your lineup. You can use two four-man stacks with your hitters, but you cannot use an entire lineup of hitters from the same team like you can pull off on other sites. A 2-3-4-5 combination is fine, but a 2-3-4-5-6 won’t work.

Even four-man stacks can be difficult to pull off on DraftStreet if you want to get three elite pitchers into your lineup. Usually, at least one or two of the hitters in any stack will be fairly expensive.
One of the times it makes sense to go with three big starters is if you want to use low-priced position players, often from the same team. If you like a stack on one or two teams with low-priced hitters—perhaps an under-the-radar offense facing a poor pitcher—you can fit three stud starting pitchers into your lineup. It really just comes down to the league type and how you can mix and match players on your roster.

Nonetheless, the rules against stacking on DraftStreet increase the skill level involved in their daily fantasy baseball games. The leagues are less about finding the best combination of hitters and more about finding the best value at each and every spot.

As always, make sure you get our DraftStreet MLB Incentives for free by signing up for the site through any of our links, and check out all of the content at GrindersU.