Rise & Grind: Wednesday, April 29th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders cup o’morning joe. Start your day off right here, as we sort through the yesterday’s happenings and take a peek at the upcoming DFS day.
In Case You Missed It
FanDuel WFBC – By now you have probably heard that the FanDuel World Fantasy Baseball Championship (WFBC) will return for another season. The WFBC will take place August 22nd in Las Vegas. The winner will again walk away with $1M, but this time other payouts have been beefed up slightly compared to last year. Over the next few months, FanDuel will qualify 90 finalists, with the two finalists already crowned over the last two days. If you would like to win a free entry to one of the qualifiers, check out this forum thread for an NFL draft contest. You must submit your entry by 7PM tomorrow.
DraftKings FBWC – The DraftKings FBWC was announced last week, why bring it up again you ask? Well, the guys at DraftKings do not like being the second largest MLB final this season. The previously announced a $3M FBWC, which has now become a $4M event. The event now boats the same prize pool as FanDuel’s. Your move FanDuel, do I hear a $5M…..maybe $6M?
Grinder Finalists – Speaking of qualifying for the above mentioned finals, a few Grinders have managed to do that so far. Last Friday, Al_Smizzle took down the first DK FBWC ticket. Grinders weren’t done taking down live final seats though. Last night, fellow GrindersLive host boggslite took down the FanDuel WFBC qualifier, and the theclone won the DK FBWC qualifier. So far, RotoGrinders members have won three of the first four qualifiers. Let’s keep it going.
Winner! Winner! – Live final qualifiers weren’t the only tournaments being held last night though. DraftKings had close to $1.5M in Guaranteed contests. Bw5126 won the $1M Home Run but the entire top ten were Grinders. theclone managed second in the Home Run to go along with his FBWC win. He also claimed first in the medium home run, and won or placed in the top ten of nearly every other GPP.
Over on FanDuel, where everyone seems to love the new softer pricing, mbomb44 took down the Monster and third in the Grand Slam while several other Grinders claimed first in a GPP, and I mean that quite literally. In the $1 NBA Shot, over 500 people tied for first place! Woooooo! Congratulations guys, great lineup! You each get $100.27. I know it’s tempting to increase your play after taking down a GPP, but I recommend continuing proper bankroll management. For the rest of the links or to view the ones mentioned above, check out this forum thread.
NBA Last Night – There were two games last night. One saw the Spurs win game five to take a 3-2 series lead over the Clippers. The other saw Houston eliminate the in-state rival Mavericks. Even in a hotly contested rivalry, it’s always nice to see the winning team have some empathy for the loser. We can’t all be winners right? Let’s check in with the Rockets. You guys have any thoughts? Oh, here we go. Ahhh, the old gun shooting a horse emoji coupled with a message, classic. I’m not going to beat a dead horse here, I actually enjoyed the joke. In fact, I hope the Rockets don’t get rid of their social media director. I’m waiting for the tweet after their next loss that says, “Houston, we have a problem” and features images of the Challenger explosion. Make it happen guys. You are doing this Twitter thing properly.
MLB Last Night – Things went pretty much like we all expected last night. The Diamondbacks hung twelve on Kyle Kendrick and the Rockies, the Cardinals put up eleven on some Phillies AAA call-up, and the Braves, Nationals and Astros each scored twelve or more. Okay, maybe we weren’t expecting that last part. Though in fairness, JMToWin did let us all know, the Braves are not an offense to pick on with pitchers Last night also taught us that #NarrativeStreet does exist in baseball. How else can you explain Dan Uggla going 3-for-5 with a triple, home run, and five RBIs? It’s pretty clear that Uggla had #revenge on his mind after the Braves cut him last July. Starting today, #NarrativeStreet returns to the Rise and Grind. We can’t afford to miss out on these plays in the future.
On the Menu
NBA Tonight – The playoffs continue with games between ATL/BKN and POR/MEM. You can get in on the action on both FanDuel and DraftKings. FanDuel has a $200K Slam in the lobby and DraftKings has an $80K Crossover as well as a Showcase qualifier for the taking. Notorious will have the NBA Grind Down posted later today, but in the meantime you can join our strategy discussion in the Daily NBA Thread.
NHL Tonight – If you want some NHL action tonight, you are going to have to try out the three-game set including tonight and tomorrow’s games. I like to call these slates, “Predict which player will score on your goalie.” If that is your thing, by all means don’t let me stand in your way. In fact, I will even support you. Take Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek and also Islanders center Steven Stamkos. This is going to work, trust me.
MLB Tonight – The good news is that there are 15 games on the schedule today. The bad news is those games are spread across at least two slates. There are five games starting at 3:40 EST or sooner and eight games starting at 7:05 EST or later. As always, you can expect the usual assortment of content on this site, though it will mostly be late-slate centric. The official #NarrativeStreet game of the day is the White Sox at Orioles contest. With the recent turmoil and riots in Baltimore the game will be played at 2:05 EST and closed to the public. In NBA we have #FriendsAndFamily games. This is the opposite, but I’m giving a bump to all players in this game. With no fans, the pressure will be off both teams. The players can enjoy this game like they used to in little league except without their dad screaming at them when they make a mistake.
Bottom Line – As I noted above, plenty of Grinders are doing big things in MLB this year. If you haven’t been able to join them in success just be patient. If you want to learn how they have achieved that success you need to be watching GrindersLive every afternoon. While strong plays can be determined early in the day, the release of lineups may change the playability certain players. The best place to get a reaction as lineups come out is on GrindersLive. Why not give it a listen tonight? Headchopper makes his return on the 3:30 EST show with Hoop2410. They will be followed by Gabey and Thad at 4:30 and then Dean and Al at 5:30. Your opponents are already watching these shows, make sure you join them. Good luck out there today!