FanDuel Brings Back Fractional MLB Scoring
FanDuel’s MLB scoring system, which was modified in March, is getting another adjustment less than three weeks into the season.
Responding to an outcry from players over the dramatic increase in ties caused by the new scoring, FanDuel announced Thursday morning that it is re-introducing fractional scoring, but will not be bringing back point deductions for outs.
Beginning April 27, runs scored will be worth 3.2 points, while RBIs will be worth 3.5. Both stats are currently worth three points.
“As we are consistently trying to give users the best experience, we wanted to address a complaint, which was the negative points in MLB scoring,” the company said in a statement. “We eliminated negative points and our analytics team has determined that this additional change to scoring will result in substantially fewer ties than any of our previous MLB scoring systems, which results in a better experience for all of our users.”
Prior to the 2016 season, hits, walks, runs and RBIs were all worth one point on FanDuel, while a double was worth two, a triple worth three and a home run counting for four (not including points for the run scored and at least one RBI). Meanwhile batters lost .25 points for each out.
All scoring was tripled for the current season and negative hitting points were removed.
In customer service interactions cited by many users, FanDuel representatives have said that the scoring increase was implemented in response to customer requests for higher point totals, as well as complaints about negative scoring for hitters. Most sites that include negative hitting points only dock batters for strikeouts.
Pitching scores were also multipled 3x, with pitchers now earning one point for every out, thee points for a strikeout, 12 points for a win, and giving back three points for every run allowed.
However, the higher point totals weren’t exactly crowd-pleasing. Users quickly noticed that unique lineups were far more frequently producing identical scores, which created more split pots, confusion and overall dissatisfaction.
In some larger tournaments, hundreds of users were finishing tied at or near the money line, and at least one live final qualifier has been decided by a tiebreaker.
Fractional scoring should alleviate much of the immediate problem related to ties by creating a substantially larger number of potential scores, but it also comes with other ramifications.
The value of pitching will be at least marginally diminished by the influx of more offensive points. Anecdotally, we can see evidence of this looking at Wednesday night’s Grand Slam tournament.
User joeyorhso4 took home the $15,000 prize with a score of 245 points, with pitcher Drew Pomeranz accounting for 62 points, or 25.3 percent of the total.
Under the updated system, the winning lineup would’ve accumulated 251.8 points, dropping the percentage accounted for by pitching to 24.6.
A significantly larger consequence will likely be seen in the increased benefit to stacking, or building a lineup around 3-4 players from the same MLB team. Stacking is already a highly popular method for building MLB tournament lineups, due to positive correlation, which is when two variables—hitters, in this case—move in tandem. For instance, when a batter hits a three-run home run, he not only drives up his own point total, but the totals of those who he is knocking in, and the DFS player who has all three players rostered reaps the greatest benefit.
With its augmented points for runs and RBIs, the new FanDuel system will amplify this effect to some degree.
Another anecdotal example from Tuesday night, when the Milwaukee Brewers were a popular and successful stacking option:
DFS players who rostered Domingo Santana, Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Cris Carter received a lucrative 99 points from the Brewers’ 10-run outburst. Under the new system, the quartet would’ve accounted for 103.7 points, or an increase of close to five percent.
These consequences will have to be accounted for by players, many of whom may view it as a negligible cost if it achieves the desired effect of creating separation on the leaderboard.
Again looking at Wednesday night’s Grand Slam, five players finished tied for 25th, four tied for 21st, four tied for 17th, five tied for 12th, three tied for ninth, and three tied for third.
Under the updated system, only one tie would’ve occurred among the top 29 scores—between two players who submitted identical lineups.