Rise & Grind: Monday, May 11th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders cup o’morning joe. Start your day off right here, as we sort through the weekend’s happenings and take a peek at the upcoming DFS day.
In Case You Missed It
Performing in the Clutch – Greetings Grinders! I hope you enjoyed the wild weekend in sports. This weekend finally offered proof that the clutch gene does exist. Let’s start with the NBA. On Friday, Derrick Rose banked in the game winning buzzer beater to lead the Bulls to a 2-1 series lead over the Cavs. Obviously, Rose is clutch, no doubt about it. On Saturday, Paul Pierce hit a game-winning shot to lift the Wizards to a 2-1 series lead over the Hawks. This is Paul Pierce we are talking about, he has always been clutch. We already knew that. Yesterday, in Game 4 of the Bulls/Cavs series, LeBron James hit a game-winning three to even the series. I’m going to have to stop with the clutch narrative here. First of all, even Coach Blatt knows LeBron isn’t clutch. That is the reason Blatt drew up a play that featured LeBron inbounding the basketball. Being the ballhog he is, LeBron scratched the play and ran his own. Coach Blatt likely wanted to get the ball to JR Smith or Kyrie Irving for the game-winner. That’s understandable; LeBron just isn’t clutch like Derrick Rose or Paul Pierce.
The Players Championship – You know who else is clutch? Rickie Fowler! At the Players Championship this weekend, Rickie Fowler proved he also has the clutch gene. Down five strokes with just six holes to play, Fowler produced possibly the greatest finish ever. Fowler played the final six holes at five under and forced a three-way playoff. Not only was this clutch, Fowler also had #NarrartiveStreet on his side. Earlier this week, Fowler was voted the most overrated player in an anonymous Sports Illustrated poll. The supposedly overrated Fowler went on to defeat Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kinser in an intense three-hole playoff. Not only was this a clutch win for Fowler, the victory also secured a win for Grinder and FanDuel rep pcfriarsfan. At the beginning of the playoff, pcfriarsfan and daj5mg had an intense sweat in the DraftKings Pressure Put. Both players had Fowler in their lineups, but daj5mg also had Garcia. With credit for a first place finish for Garcia, daj5mg would win the Pressure Put by one point. If Fowler wins, Garcia loses the bonus and pcfriars secures the victory. As you already know, Fowler pulled out the victory and pcfriarsfan won $50K. That was clutch.
Other Clutch Performances – As I said above, the theme of the weekend was clutch. In big moments, stars have to perform. Several Grinders had clutch performances this weekend. While I can’t mention every single win, I do have enough space to mention the most clutch performances. Things started off on Friday with former GrindersLive host TommyG punching his ticket to the Playboy Mansion. There’s most definitely a joke here, but I don’t think it can be printed. Let’s just leave it at congrats Tommy and move on. Another clutch performance was turned in by McJester. Even though NBA DFS has ended for many, McJester isn’t giving up just yet. He managed to qualify for the DraftKings playoff showcase, and over the weekend claimed first place and $100K. Nice job McJester, way to close out the season. That was clutch. For the rest of the weekend’s clutch performances, check the Saturday and Sunday link threads.
MLB Recap – The weekend in MLB offered a few clutch performances as well. On Saturday, Bryce Harper hit a walk-off home run to continue his streak of games with a home run. Harper hit three home runs Wednesday, two home runs Friday, and one home run Saturday. Hopefully you picked up on the pattern and realized Harper would hit zero home runs yesterday. The other clutch performance of the weekend belonged to Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda, who struck out 16 Orioles yesterday. I guess we can count that performance as clutch, even though no one checked Pineda for pine tar.
On The Menu
NBA Tonight – The NBA Playoffs continue tonight with Game 4s of ATL/WSH and GS/MEM. If you are joining in the action, make sure to check back later today for the NBA Grind Down. There are a few injuries to monitor, including John Wall (hand) and Paul Millsap (illness). If you are looking for the #NarrativeStreet play, look no further than Paul Pierce. After the aforementioned clutch game-winner, Hawks rookie Dennis Schroeder called it a lucky shot. Pierce responded, He probably used me in NBA2K and missed. Look for Paul Pierce to come out and put up some video game numbers as he proves his game-winner wasn’t luck.
MLB GPPs Tonight – With 10 games on the schedule, we have some decent sized GPPs across the industry. FanDuel is offering a $150K Grand Slam at $25. In addition to that, you can qualify for the PlayBoy Mansion Final, the WFBC, or win tickets to the Mega Monster on 6/2 or the $250K Grand Slam on 5/15. Over on DraftKings, a $160K Payoff Pitch is being offered along with a FWBC qualifier and tickets galore. Tonight is the last chance to get in on tomorrow’s Slugfest on the cheap and qualifiers are posted for the $1M Payoff Pitch later this month.
MLB Content – If you want a piece of the action mentioned above, keep clicking the refresh button all day long. You can expect the usual array of advice, including the MLB Grind Down, Advanced Stats, Six-Pack and so much more. If you have a few seconds to spare, you also need to read JMToWin’s weekly piece. This week he discusses how Numbers Never Lie. STLCardinals84 will also have his GPP Scene up later, and we’ll have PSporer’s weekly pitching report too.
Bottom Line – If you play MLB DFS regularly, you already know that things have not gone well for aces over the last few weeks. With options like Scherzer, deGrom, and Greinke tonight, maybe this trend will correct itself. If you don’t want to take that chance, I have an alternative for you. There is one guy you can definitely trust. Colby Lewis is 2-2 with a 2.61 ERA this season. I know the thought of Lewis against the Royals (probably the worst matchup for a pitcher) doesn’t sound enticing. Do you really want to take a chance with another ace though? Aren’t you tired of getting burned? I’m just saying give Colby Lewis a look. I’m also saying I may or may not have written this paragraph as a reverse jinx in order to boost the Royals stack tonight. Be sure to check back tomorrow and we can discuss the results.