Rise & Grind: Wednesday, August 19th
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
FanDuel Playboy College Football Championship – It finally happened! Not only did FanDuel release their CFB games yesterday, they also announced a live final. The Playboy College Football Championship will take place this November live from the “House of Hef” aka the Playboy Mansion. Qualifiers start on September 3rd with $25 and $200 buy-ins. First place at the Mansion will walk away with $100K and all the bragging rights.
DFS Players Conference – We teased the DFS Players Conference a few months ago in this space. Registration is finally open and more details are now available. The early registration fee of $495 secures a three-day all-access pass the conference. Registrants will also receive an invite to play in an attendee-only GPP for a ticket to the Playboy Mansion. Cameron has more details on the Players Conference in this thread. If you plan to attend, make sure to reserve your spot by August 31st to take advantage of early-bird pricing.
DraftKings League Hub – One of the reasons I don’t play season-long NFL anymore is that someone in the league always “forgets” to pay. Inevitably this person drafts the worst team in the league and by Week 4 they have already quit trying. DraftKings has partnered with ESPN for a cool new payment tool called League Hub. The hub is built right into the DraftKings site. You can link an ESPN league and collect league dues through the normal DK payment process or even use your DK balance. At the end of the season, payments will be sent as soon as the majority approves the results. Best of all, League Hub is completely free. If $100 in league dues are collected, $100 will be paid out. Go check it out; League Hub is at top of the main screen on the DK site right above the lobby.
MLB Recap – Sometimes things just don’t go your way in MLB. I know this, you know this, and even Jung Ho Kang knows this. Check out this gif of Angry Kang. I think it should be titled, “Kangry Moments: Sponsored by Jack Links Beef Jerky.” While we are on the subjects of gifs, it is good to see Miguel Cabrera back in action. Too bad he forgot how to play 1B while he was gone though. I suppose when I titled this section “MLB Recap” you were expecting an actual recap. If that’s what you want, bhdevault has his Daily Roundup posted. You can find the winners and losers as well as the optimal lineup at that link.
Big Winners – On the field there were plenty of big winners, but off the field some DFS players had huge nights. Ryazan2000 took down $100K in the FD Slugger, haskele won $50K in the Grand Slam, crankewho took down the Monster, maitai took first and second in the Rally, jdtrey22 won the Squeeze, slapahoe_tribe won the Home Run, and louiethelock won the Line Drive. Over on DraftKings, rotomania won both the Gold Glove and Tuesday Special, tecmo27 won the Perfect Game, phillygamecox won the Moonshot, and tinderella won the High Heat. For the full list of yesterday’s links, check this thread.
On the Menu
MLB Today – As usual, today is split-slate Wednesday. The MLB schedule includes five early games and 10 late. Notorious already has his First Look posted and you can expect the MLB Grind Down and other must-read MLB content later today. You can also catch BritDevine and headChopper on Grinders Live this morning at 11:30 AM ET discussing the early slate. Later this afternoon you can also get 2.5 more hours of Grinders Live starting at 4:30 PM ET.
#NarrativeStreet – With the split-slate today, we are going to have to work harder than normal to differentiate our teams. One way to simplify the process though is to select players based on narratives. Here are some suggestions. JJ Hardy has a #BirthdayGame and should make your narrative lineup with ease. Nelson Cruz also returns to Texas in a #RevengeGame, Ben Revere would also like some revenge against the Phillies, and so would the Upton brothers as they face Atlanta. Last but not least, we dive into the numbers for our #BVPPlayoftheDay. Today that honors goes to Tigers teammates Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. Miggy is 14-for-25 with a HR off Lester and Martinzez is 8-for-19 with a HR. Fire them up if you believe in BVP.
Parting Shots – Don’t forget to set your PGA lineups for the Wyndham Championship tomorrow. Notorious and Gibbathy have their expert picks locked and loaded for incentives members and a plethora of other free content is available. Last but not least, check out this crazy fight between a couple of future 8-8 teams. The Rams and Cowboys really went at it in practice yesterday.
With that I’m out of here. See you tomorrow!