Rise & Grind: July 18th, 2014
Welcome to the RotoGrinders Rise & Grind. Start your day off on the right foot with yesterday’s happenings and take a peek at the the upcoming day in the world of DFS.
- DK buys DS – Most of us thought the all star break would be a slow and uneventful week in the DFS world, but that changed Tuesday when Draftkings officially announced they had acquired Draftstreet. Db730 had a special episode of Grinders Live with Jason Robins and Markness discussing the deal and what the merger would mean for players. Both Draftkings and Fanduel have offered generous bonuses and free rolls to players willing to transfer their account balances to their sites. Draftkings Bonus – FanDuel Bonus
- All Star Game – Wednesday night was the 85th MLB All-Star game in Minneapolis Minnesota. The American League has dominated the National league over the last 20 years, and that trend continued Wednesday with a 5-3 win. Miguel Cabrera hit a 2 run dong in the first inning and Mike Trout with a triple and a double and was named the MVP. The captain of the AL team Derek Jeter, in his final All-Star game also had a great showing, going 2-2 with a run. A combined 7 AL pitchers managed to hold the NL to 3 hits in five inning securing the AL win and the 2014 World Series home field advantage.
- Dong Derby – Yoenis Cespedes won another Home Run Derby title on Tuesday after beating Todd Frazier 9-1 in the final round. Giancarlo Stanton hit a bomb that would have traveled a projected 500+ feet had it not hit the seats in the upper deck. Watch the blast Here. The Derby Dong stats are below.
| Hitter | Total Dongs | Longest Dong |
|---|---|---|
| Yoenis Cespedes | 30 | 452ft |
| Todd Frazier | 11 | 427ft |
| Jose Bautista | 14 | 428ft |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 6 | 430ft |
| Adam Jones | 7 | 426ft |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 6 | 417ft |
| Josh Donaldson | 4 | 406ft |
| Justin Morneau | 2 | 409ft |
| Brian Dozier | 2 | 372ft |
| Yasiel Puig | 0 | 0ft |
Note Dong distance is true travel distance not projected distance.
- The Well Returns – If you haven’t made it to the forums yet to check out the latest “The Well” thread you are missing out on your chance to ask cash game great Kaetorade some questions. Check it out Here
Today’s MLB
- Today’s Action – MLB returns tonight with a full 15 game slate. Here’s a quick look and a few random game notes.
7:05pm – Brewers @ Nationals – Stephen Strasburg is 6-0 in his last 10 home games with a 2.13 ERA. Kyle Lohse has had recent road struggles and is 2-2 with a 5.13 ERA in his last 5 away games.
7:05pm – Rockies @ Pirates – Jorge De La Rosa looks to keep his streak of solid starts going against the Pirates who have had some past success against him. Lifetime De La Rosa is 4-3 vs the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen is 5-14 off him. Francisco Liriano 1-7 4.72 ERA has struggled on the road and at home this year. His home record is 0-3 and has an ERA close to 6 in his 8 home starts.
7:05pm – Reds @ Yankees – Mike Leake has not faced the Yankees in 3 years, but has done well in inter-league games this year. David Phelps will be making his first career start vs the Reds.
7:07pm – Rangers @ Blue Jays – Yu Darvish has struggled recently and gave up 6 runs on 10 hits in his last start vs Houston. Lifetime vs Toronto Darvish is 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA. R.A. Dickey has started vs his former team 3 times and has a 2.75 ERA.
7:08pm – Indians @ Tigers – Trevor Bauer has a 4.38 ERA vs Detroit, and has given up 5 home runs to them over his 2 starts this year. Anibal Sanchez has faced the Indians 4 times at home and has a 2.28 ERA in those starts.
7:10pm – Giants @ Marlins – Madison Bumgarner has dominated opponents on the road this year, but has a 5.09 ERA vs Miami.
7:10pm – Royals @ Red Sox – James Shields (9-5 3.65 ERA) has thrown at least 7 innings in 4 of his last 5 starts. Clay Buchholz has won his last 4 starts vs the Royals, and has a 1.35 ERA in those games.
7:35pm – Phillies @ Braves – A.J. Burnett is 0-3 with a 4.56 ERA vs the Braves in his last 4 starts and doesn’t have a win in Turner field in his last 10 starts. Ervin Santana takes the mount for the Braves he is 7-6 with a 4.01 ERA this season.
8:10pm – Rays @ Twins – Alex Cobb has not faced the Twins yet, but the early Vegas line indicates he is a -135 favorite. The Twins will start Kyle Gibson who was hit hard by the Rays in April giving up 10 hits and 7 runs in 3 innings.
8:10pm – Astros @ White Sox – Scott Feldman holds a 5-1 record lifetime vs the White Sox and a 2.97 ERA in those 10 starts. Jose Quintana is 1-0 vs the Astros this season.
8:15pm – Dodgers @ Cardinals – A struggling Dan Haren (8-6 3.77 ERA) gets the start for the Dodgers, it will be his first time facing the Cardinals this season. Righty Lance Lynn start for the Cards. In 4 career matchups vs the Dodgers he is 2-1 with a 4.95 ERA.
9:40pm – Cubs @ Diamondbacks – Edwin Jackson will take the mound for the Chicago Cubs, In his last start on July 12th vs the Braves he gave up 9 runs on 7 hits in 3.2 innings. Trevor Cahill was called up from triple-a to replace Mike Bolsinger and will get the start for the Diamondbacks.
10:05pm – Mariners @ Angels – Hisashi Iwakuma has not walked a batter in 20+ innings. Lifetime vs the Angels he is 5-0 with a 1.49 ERA. Justin Smoak is 9-31 vs Jered Weaver with 3 home runs, While Robinson Cano is 13-36.
10:05pm – Orioles @ Athletics – Chris Tillman has faced the A’s 3 times and holds a 1-0 record with a 1.96 ERA. Since joining the Athletics Jeff Samardzija is 1-1 with a 2.46 ERA.
10:10pm – Mets @ Padres – Bartolo Colon (8-8 3.99) takes the mound vs the Padres tonight. In his 4 career starts vs San Diego he has a 1.78 ERA. Ian Kennedy (7-9 3.47) has been pitching well but has had no help from his offense. They have been shut out 14 times this season and have a team batting average of .214
Be sure to check the MLB strategy thread in the Forum for today’s MLB discussion
Today’s GPPs
Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the biggest games available today.
FanDuel – FanDuel bonus link
| TOURNAMENT | BUY IN | PRIZE POOL |
|---|---|---|
| $40k Fri MLB Monster | $200 | $40,000 |
| $35K Fri MLB Strikeout | $25 | $35,000 |
| $15K Fri MLB Slugger | $1,065 | $15,000 |
| $18K Fri MLB Squeeze | $2 | $18,000 |
| $10k Fri MLB Pickle | $1065 | $10,000 |
| $11K Fri MLB Line Drive | $10 | $11,000 |
| $300K MLB Survive or Revive rd 4 | $200 | $300,000 |
DraftKings – Draftkings bonus link
| TOURNAMENT | BUY IN | PRIZE POOL |
|---|---|---|
| MLB $100K Perfect Game | $200 | $100,000 |
| MLB $35K Payoff Pitch | $27 | $35,000 |
| MLB $12K Silver Slugger | $530 | $12,000 |
| MLB $5K High Heat | $109 | $5,000 |
| MLB $15K Moon Shot | $2 | $15,000 |
| MLB $18K Check Swing | $12 | $18,000 |
| MLB $5K Flare | $5 | $3,000 |
DraftDay – DraftDay bonus link
| TOURNAMENT | BUY IN | PRIZE POOL |
|---|---|---|
| MLB $5k Field of Dreams | $109 | $5,000 |
| MLB $5k Knucleball | $15 | $5,000 |
| MLB $1k Wiz Walkoff | $3.30 | $1,000 |
| MLB $116 Big League Blast Qualifier | $116 | $2,160 |
| MLB $1k R.A Pickey (Pickem) | $5.50 | $1000 |
| MLB $1k $109 Double Play | $109 | $1000 |
On the Grinders Schedule
| Daily Articles | |||||||
| # 1 ) | MLB Grind Down | Notorious breaks down all the matchups in tonight’s action on the diamond in one quick, easy to read location. | |||||
| # 2 ) | MLB Daily Plays | Stlcardinals84 gives you all the plays you’ll need for tonight’s schedule. | |||||
| # 3 ) | Daily Pitcher Breakdown | Psporer digs deep into the advanced pitching stats to find you the arms with the best matchups tonight. | |||||
| # 4 ) | Daily Hitter Breakdown | Varcass shows you all the splits and points out the bats in the best situations for tonight’s slate. | |||||
| # 5 ) | Head-to-Head vs. GPP | Pepsi7 separates the high floor players from the high ceiling guys to help you construct your rosters for every game type. | |||||
| Grinders Live Schedule | |||||||
| TIME | SHOW | SPONSOR | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3:30 PM | The Afternoon Grind | Fight that early afternoon boredom with expert baseball analysis from BritDevine and BoggsLite. | |||||
| 4:30 PM | Daily Fantasy Happy Hour | Does your local happy hour have awesome baseball analysis? Didn’t think so. Join us this afternoon and let Dean and DraftCheat serve you up some knowledge. | |||||
| 5:30 PM | Grinders Live | DraftKings | STLCardinals84 and Pepsi7 will take you right up to first pitch with our flagship Grinders Live show. | ||||
Is there something else you’d like to see in this column? Questions or comments? Leave them below and we’d be happy to consider them. See you tomorrow!