DSBC Final 12 Bracket Set: Finals Begin Friday
12 players remain from an original field of 40 in the 2013 DraftStreet Baseball Championship. With 28 of the best DFS baseball players already eliminated, the final group will square off in a H2H bracket-style tournament for the $100,000 first place prize. Before they do though, let’s take a look at who they are and how they got here.
The Finalists
Here are the finalists along with their days 1 and 2 qualifier scores:
| Seed | DSBC Finalist | Day 1 Score | Day 2 Score | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | gjle8140 | 85.85 | 62 | 147.85 |
| 2 | IllinSquad | 54.55 | 81.75 | 136.3 |
| 3 | Desertfire05 | 42.8 | 80.8 | 123.6 |
| 4 | Mike5754 | 49.9 | 67.25 | 117.15 |
| 5 | hetti1dj | 51.9 | 64.4 | 116.3 |
| 6 | maxdalury | 52.45 | 63.2 | 115.65 |
| 7 | paddlesmasher | 55.65 | 58.35 | 114 |
| 8 | rtsell69 | 41.2 | 72.3 | 113.5 |
| 9 | Notorious | 53 | 59.05 | 112.05 |
| 10 | Thunderfats | 43.4 | 65.9 | 109.3 |
| 11 | SJS1890 | 59.35 | 49.4 | 108.75 |
| 12 | stlcardinals84 | 43.55 | 64 | 107.55 |
For the full DraftStreet Preliminary Round Leaderboard, click here
Final DSBC Bracket
Shown below is the final bracket for the 2013 DSBC:
How They Got There
One of the things we try to preach at RotoGrinders is that you have to know what the best players are doing in terms of strategy and approach to consistently improve your own game. So with that in mind, let’s break down the strategy of the #1 overall seed and see what he did to gain a huge day 1 advantage and then to approach day 2 with that big lead.
The #1 Overall Seed: gjle8140
Day One Score – 85.85 – First Place
| Pos | Batters | Salary | %Owned | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Buster Posey | $6,360 | 45% | 1 |
| 1B | Ike Davis | $5,840 | 7% | 7 |
| 2B | Neil Walker | $6,421 | 12% | 4.5 |
| 3B | Evan Longoria | $7,341 | 35% | 7 |
| SS | Elvis Andrus | $6,859 | 2% | 13 |
| OF | Will Venable | $7,414 | 5% | 6.5 |
| OF | Jacoby Ellsbury | $10,097 | 10% | 19.25 |
| OF | Giancarlo Stanton | $8,062 | 10% | 1 |
| DH | Billy Butler | $6,614 | 17% | 0 |
| TOTALS | 65,008 | 59.25 | ||
| Pos | Pitchers | Salary | %Owned | Score |
| P | Matt Cain | $14,841 | 27% | 7.25 |
| P | Justin Verlander | $13,687 | 15% | 11.6 |
| P | Josh Johnson | $6,531 | 12% | 7.75 |
| TOTALS | $35,059 | 26.6 | ||
Gjle8140 exited day one with an incredible 15 point lead on the remainder of the field. Thanks to big performances from Jacoby Ellsbury, Elvis Andrus, Evan Longoria, Ike Davis and Will Venable on the hitting end, he was able to post nearly 60 points from his hitters alone. The totals from JUST the batters would have kept him in 4th place after Day 1.
On Day One, the salary split between pitchers and hitters was heavily in favor of hitters. The typical split is within $5K of 50/50 but he went $65K on hitting and $35K on hitting. He also had 5 players owned under 10%, which is critical when trying to separate yourself from a pack of this many talented DFS players.
His 3 highest scorers were all under 10% owned for batters and his 2nd best, Elvis Andrus, gave him 13 points from the low ceiling shortstop position and was just 2% owned.
Day Two Score – 62 – Final Standing: 1st Place
| Pos | Batters | Salary | %Owned | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Rob Brantly | 2,675 | 25% | -0.75 |
| 1B | Prince Fielder | 7,697 | 25% | 4.5 |
| 2B | Ian Kinsler | 8,388 | 10% | 1.75 |
| 3B | Trevor Plouffe | 4,292 | 25% | -0.75 |
| SS | Stephen Drew | 7,281 | 2% | 11 |
| OF | Matt Joyce | 6,385 | 5% | 8.5 |
| OF | Adam Eaton | 3,807 | 5% | 5 |
| OF | Alex Gordon | 7,263 | 7% | 9.75 |
| DH | Brandon Belt | 7,743 | 2% | 0.25 |
| TOTALS | 55,531 | 39.25 | ||
| Pos | Pitchers | Salary | %Owned | Score |
| P | Matt Harvey | 18,635 | 37% | 13.8 |
| P | CC Sabathia | 11,441 | 42% | 3.8 |
| P | Cole Hamels | 14,032 | 55% | 5.15 |
| TOTALS | 44,108 | 22.75 | ||
Going into Day 2 with a 15 point lead can be more of a burden than a blessing. There’s a lot of pressure to play it safe while still trying to maintain your Top-4 position to keep the first round bye. The first thing I noticed from the Day 2 lineup was the batters to pitchers salary ratio. Day 1 the hitters heavily outweighed the pitchers but on Day 2, there was definitely some caution that lead to a $55K on bats, $45K on pitchers split.
Again the hitters chosen were variance plays across the board. Stephen Drew, Matt Joyce, Adam Eaton and Alex Gordon all gave him 5 or more fantasy points at under 10% owned. The final Day 2 score was above average compared to the rest of the field but was more than enough to maintain a final 11 point edge for the top overall seed.
Definitely check out the full days one and two scoreboard and look for yourself to see what stood out in the preliminary action. Once we get down to the final four, we’ll try to do another breakdown of the picks to see what the best players are doing in the hottest of situations!
Oh, and best of luck to all the Grinders in the Final-12!!!!!