Rise & Grind: Wednesday, July 22nd
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
RotoGrinders Presents RotoAcademy – If you frequent this website you may have already seen LeoTPP’s article from yesterday announcing RotoAcademy. If you are wanting to improve your DFS game, RotoAcademy is definitely the place to start. The project is being headed by Jonathan Bales but many top tier players such as Notorious, JMToWin, and CheeseIsGood are contributing. If you click the RotoAcademy tab up there at the top of this page, you will find several course modules already available for purchase. As of right now, the content is MLB centric , but NFL will be available shortly and Notorious does have one PGA course available. If you have questions about the content or have something you want to see offered, feel free to chime in on this thread.
FanDuel NFL – As I mentioned yesterday, FanDuel has released Week 1 NFL salaries. If you are interested in starting your Week 1 lineups, several members are discussing some plays that jump out in this forum thread If you get bored, come join the fun. As an Eagles homer, my top plays are the entire Eagles offense in what is bound to be a shootout on Monday Night Football when the Eagles meet the Falcons. The real reason I mentioned FanDuel NFL isn’t because of the players’ salaries though. FanDuel also released a few small GPPs. By small I mean a $5M contest that pays $1M to first, a $1M contest for $5 and a 115,000 player single-entry GPP at $1. With DraftKings trying to close the gap on FanDuel, I would expect similarly sized or possibly even bigger GPP announcements coming. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some football!
Billsfan777 – Earlier this year, Billsfan777 did something we rarely get to see. He opened up about learning bankroll management the hard way and why it nearly drove him to quit DFS. In his article, Billsfan777 details his journey of turning a $500 deposit into over $56,000. At the end of the article, Warren (that’s his real name) decided to start fresh with $10,000 for the current baseball season. Last night, Warren had an amazing night, taking first place in the Monster ($15K) and second in the Super Slugger ($60K). If you ever get discouraged, just remember a college kid named Warren turned $500 into well over $100,000. With a little bit a luck, sound decision making, and good bankroll management, anyone can do it. I don’t say that to take away from Warren’s accomplishment, this is very impressive, I’m just pointing out that you don’t need $100K bankroll or a script to compete in DFS. If you see Warren around, be sure to congratulate him and maybe even pick his brain on ways to improve your own process.
Other Winners – Warren, wasn’t the only big winner last night. Several other Grinders had strong showings. I apologize that I don’t have any DK links available since I usually get them from the Daily Links Thread and DraftKings was not included yesterday. We can recognize the FanDuel winners though. Biggameaims took down the Super Slugger for $100K, golftwins won the Grand Slam, dupher101, won the Rally, and meddy1523 punched his ticket to the WFBC. Congratulations to all those people who understand that you never fade Coors Field.
On The Menu
MLB Action – We have a 16-game slate today split almost perfectly even between early and late. Notorious already has his First Look posted and other content is starting to roll in. Keep your eyes peeled for the MLB Grind Down, Pitcher Breakdowns and Expert Picks. If you prefer your content in video form there will also be a 10:30 AM ET GrindersLive this morning with Brit and headChopper, as well as the usual shows from 3:30 to 7:00 ET tonight.
MLB GPPs – A quick glance at the lobbies of the Big Two shows about the same amount of guaranteed contests today, but they are split between early and late. On FanDuel the early featured contests are the $3 Bracket Qualifier, $60K Monster, and a Super Monster Satellite. The late featured contests are a $115K Grand Slam, $115K Monster, and another Super Monster Satellite. Over on DraftKings, for early I see a $60K Perfect Game, $65K Payoff Pitch, $60K Moonshot, and $30K Gold Glove. The late featured contests are a $150K BIG Gold Glove, $125K Perfect Game, $130K Payoff Pitch, and $110K Moonshot.
#NarrativeStreet – If you want to win one of the GPPs mentioned above, you are going to need to find a way to set your team apart. Sure, you could stack Coors Field and it will probably work, but you could also pick your guys based on silly narratives. For example, Josh Donaldson faces his old team tonight in a #RevengeGame. Why not put him in your lineup? In the same game, Brett Lawrie would also like some revenge against the Jays. In the early slate you will also want Albert Callaspo in your lineup as he looks for revenge against the Dodgers. On the #MilestoneWatch front be on the lookout for Michael Cuddyer to get three hits to reach 1500, Albert Pujols for one HR to reach 550, and Carlos Gonzalez and Aaron Hill will each hit one HR to reach 100. If you prefer your narratives to be backed up by statistics, take a look at the Daily Batter Hub. Matt Wieters has four HRs in 31 ABs against Ivan Nova and Chris Davis has three in 24 ABs. Stack the Orioles just based on BvP and profit.
Bottom Line – We are in what I call the “dog days of summer” for MLB DFS. If you are still playing, you either love the punishment or you are pretty decent at this. Most likely it is the latter. This is just a quick reminder that there are sharks in the water and sometimes you just gotta man up up and fight them off like pro surfer Mick Fanning did. Good luck out there today Grinders! See you tomorrow!