Rise & Grind: Tuesday, August 18th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders cup o’morning joe. Start your day off right here, as we sort through yesterday’s happenings and take a peek at the upcoming DFS day.
In Case You Missed It
Millionaire Maker Results – Congratulations to Mailnurs and TooMuchMonta who tied for first in the DraftKings Millionaire Maker over the weekend. They will split $1,100,000 since they used the exact same team. LeoTPP took a shot at reverse engineering their teams yesterday. It is worth a read if you are trying to improve your game. You certainly can’t go back and change your team from last week, but Leo has some good ideas that you can use this week for the Wyndham Championship.
DraftKings Goes Global – Yesterday, the news broke that DraftKings has been approved for a gambling license in the United Kingdom. The plan as of right now is for DK to begin offering games in the UK starting in the fourth quarter. It remains to be seen whether prize pools will be combined or UK players will only be allowed to play against other UK players. Stay tuned as more details become available.
RGIII – Have you heard? RG3 is the best quarterback in the NFL! Well, at least in his own mind he is. Now I realize the quote is being taken out of context a little. Technically, RG3 said that he feels he is the best quarterback but he knows he has to go out and prove that. Who cares though? The national media ran away with this story and didn’t bother with the context. Personally, I’m just excited to use “the best QB in the NFL” this Thursday in the two-game preseason slate. If he’s really the best, he should mop the floor with these scrubs.
James Harrison – While the RG3 quote above was great, James Harrison took things to another level over this past weekend. Harrison came home to find out that his boys were given participation trophies for a sport they played. Harrison will not stand for participation trophies though. He took those away from his six-year-old and eight-year-old. He doesn’t want them to grow up feeling entitled. Hopefully, his next lesson will be to teach them that domestic violence is not okay. After all, Harrison was arrested in 2008 for allegedly beating his girlfriend.
MLB Recap – Sometimes when I build a terrible DFS team, I try to comfort myself by thinking about all the people who are doing worse. In my head, I imagine a fictitious person who was on the wrong side of all the bad-luck plays. Last night, that person would have been someone who rostered Gerrit Cole, Bryan Mitchell, and Chris Davis. First, Gerrit Cole, who was 96% owned in some cash games, came out pitching like John Danks. Cole ended up giving up four ERs in 6.2 innings. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Bryan Mitchell took a line drive to the face which fractured his nasal. Last but not least, Chris Davis was robbed of a home-run by Billy Burns That is now four home-runs stolen from Davis this year which easily leads the league. If you rostered the combo of Cole/Mitchell/Davis, you can at least take solace in the fact that you hit the bad luck trifecta.
Big Winners – I mentioned the MillyMaker winners above but I didn’t get a chance to congratulate the FAWBC and FBWC champions. Paulyshorts took down $1M in the DraftKings FBWC this weekend, and Salukifan won $100K in the FAWBC. Also, there was a Home Run Derby. Here is a shot of Stevie hitting some dongs. There were also several big winners over the weekend and last night. I don’t have the space to mention them all but here are the link threads so you can take a look yourself. Friday is here followed by Saturday then Sunday and last but not least, Monday. Also, the PGA links are in the Thursday thread.
On the Menu
MLB Tonight – Today is Super Tuesday with fifteen games on tap. Notorious has his First Look posted already and JMToWin has his premium article available for incentives subscribers. Later today, you can expect all the normal goodness including the MLB Grind Down, Starting Pitcher Analysis, Six-Pack, Expert Picks, and so much more. You can also catch 3.5 hours of live advice on Grinders Live starting at 3:30 ET.
#NarrativeStreet – There are GPPs galore across the industry tonight. If you want to win one, you will need to differentiate your team somehow. One possible way to do this is by selecting your players based on narratives. For example, Evan Gattis has a #Birthdaygame tonight. Also, Ben Revere will be looking for #revenge against Philly tonight. On the #MilestoneWatch front, Torii Hunter needs one HR to reach 350 and Mike Napoli needs one HR to reach 200. Last but not least, we have tonight’s most important narrative. C.C. Sabathia was involved in a brawl at a nightclub over the weekend. That is the reason he was scratched from his start last night. You have to think C.C. come out firing tonight to prove the hecklers wrong. He’s the top play on #NarrativeStreet tonight.
Thanks for reading today. Good luck in your MLB contests. Once they lock, don’t forget to tune into Grinders Live after Dark at 8:00 PM ET for Gibbathy, STLCards, and Devo’s thoughts on the Wyndham Championship. With that, I’m out of here. See you tomorrow!_