Questions & Answers: Sunday, March 31st

by Allan Lem (fathalpert) Last Updated 2019-03-31 17:14:25 Premium Content Part of the product Combo Lite

Is your lineup Premium Approved? In this space, CheeseIsGood, STLCardinals84, or fathalpert will break down the slate from top-to-bottom like no one else in the industry can – exploring the matchups from every angle, steering you toward the best plays on the day, and helping you become a better and more complete DFS player as you continually expose yourself to the “process” and the “why,” rather than just looking at the “what.” Have a boat? We’ll teach you how to fish.

Sunday, March 31st

Hello Grinders. With Cheese and Cards breaking down the MLB slate Monday through Saturdays, I have the privilege of covering Sundays. I know I have big shoes to fill, and I hope these Sunday breakdowns will be helpful for you this season. Sundays are always going to be a bit tricky because that’s typically the day we see managers give some of their players rest days. We likely won’t have to deal with that early in the season, but things may get wonkier as we get later into the year.

One thing I’m going to do is mix up the format and use a style I had some positive feedback from when I tried it in some previous content, and that’s to use a question and answer format (hence, the title). I realize this is different than what Cheese and Cards use, but Cheese gave me the thumbs up to go with it and it helps me break down the slate, so I thought I’d try it out. My approach to any MLB slate is to ask myself these four questions, and then I dig into them. Ultimately, the goal is the same as to what you’d expect from a slate breakdown, which is to identity the top spots to target with a mix of game theory also involved for those of you playing tournaments. I hope you find this format helpful, and I’m open to feedback if you want to leave a comment below or shoot me a DM on RotoGrinders. Let’s dive in!

Question 1 – What Do We Do With Pitching?

I always start each slate with the pitching, because the pitching side is more predictable than the hitting side. I see the pitching broken down into different tiers:

The Established

At the top we have Carlos Carrasco, J.A. Happ and Patrick Corbin. Let’s compare their underlying numbers from last season: