Rise & Grind: Wednesday, May 20th
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
On the Ice – If you are dragging just bit this morning, or overslept, make sure to print out your excuse. Your boss may or may not appreciate the assist from the Blackhawks here, but it is the truth. Many of us stayed up extra late watching the 3-OT game between the Mighty Ducks and Blackhawks. Briefly, in the second overtime, Andrew Shaw thought he won the game for the Hawks. Then the officials remembered this isn’t soccer, and you aren’t allowed to head the puck into the net. Teammate Marcus Kruger finally ended the game in the next overtime. If you played the two-day NHL slate last night, hopefully you had Corey Crawford in goal, as he recorded 60 saves and picked up the win. If not, you can probably chalk that one up as a loss.
On the Hardwood – The Golden State Warriors overcame a 16-point second quarter deficit to beat the Rockets 110-106 in Game 1. The Warriors needed a game-high 34 points from league MVP Steph Curry. After the game, everyone was interested in talking to Curry, Riley Curry that is. Steph brought his two year old daughter to the press conference and she was the real MVP.
NBA Lottery – At this point, 26 of 30 NBA teams have been sent home for the season. That means that 87% of the NBA’s fan base is already looking forward to next season. If you are a Knicks fan, I apologize. The Knicks had the second-worst record in the league but dropped two spots in the draft order to fourth based on the way the ping pong balls fell. Here is an actual shot of Knicks GM Steve Mills as he learned the Knicks would drop out of the top 3. In case you are wondering, the top 5 went Timberwolves, Lakers, 76ers, Knicks, Magic. If you are curious how Kobe Bryant feels about the second pick, he let us know on Twitter. The Lakers deserved it, he said. We played like crap all season. I gotta stop you there Kobe, “we” didn’t play like crap all season. You bailed out on that dumpster fire of a team after 43 games. You can say it, THEY played like crap all season. You only played like crap for half the season.
On the Diamond – The week got off to a slow start with only three dongs on Monday. Last night more than made up for it with a total of 33 dongs hit. The only double dong belonged to Chris Coghlan. Daniel Murphy had the shortest dong (334 feet) and Pedro Alvarez had the longest (450 feet), which he hit into a boat, because, well, he’s a Pirate. With 33 dongs, you already know the pitching wasn’t great. James Shields, Jason Hammel, Trevor Bauer, Yordano Ventura, and Wade Miley all turned in strong performances. On the other end of the spectrum, Francisco Liriano, Gio Gonzalez, Anibal Sanchez, and Sonny Gray did not turn in strong performances. In fact “not strong performance” is the kindest way I could have put it. Poop emoji more accurately describes what most of them did.
GPP Roundup – While many DFS teams were dead-on-arrival, a few Grinders managed to avoid the landmines and have a pretty good night. Theclone tied for second x3 in the FanDuel Grand Slam and first in the Monster, while ganondorf edged out McJester for a seat in the WFBC. Over on DraftKings, dandydon edged out louiescards in the KOTH H2H, TwoGun took down the Slugfest for a cool $30K, beepimajeep continued his heater by taking 1st and 2nd in the Perfect Game, and Stinger88 punched his ticket to the FWBC. For the rest of yesterday’s links, check this forum thread.
On The Menu
NBA/NHL – If you didn’t have Corey Crawford and his saves in last night’s two-day contests, you get another chance tonight. You can play tonight’s slate and use him for tomorrow. Try not to screw this up again. The same goes for NBA. If you missed out on Curry’s 34-point game or Harden’s performance, you can always select them tonight for when they play again tomorrow.
MLB GPPs – Tonight’s marquee event in the DraftKings Swing For the Fences. The entry fee is $3 and one lucky DFSer will walk away with $100,000. If $100,000 isn’t your thing, that’s okay. Like Notorious B.I.G. always says, “mo money mo problems.” There are a few contests that pay slightly less than $100K. FanDuel is running a $175K Slam at $25 and a Playboy Mansion qualifier at only $5 as well as a WFBC qualifier at $50. Over on DraftKings, you can get in on the aforementioned Swing For The Fences, the $1000 FWBC qualifier, or even try to win a ticket to Friday’s $1M Perfect Game which is a $300 entry.
#NarrativeStreet – As always, you can expect the Grind Down, Pitcher and Hitter Breakdowns and a host of other MLB content today. If you want to win that $100K though, you are going to beat out 115K other people. They probably read those articles as well. Tonight we need to identify players with a little extra motivation so we can take home the big money. Nelson Cruz is always a good option but he is even better tonight in a #RevengeGame, Martin Prado also makes a fine #RevengeGame play as he faces the Diamondbacks, who traded him last year. Tonight is also Javy Lopez #BobbleheadNight in Atlanta. I’m not sure who gets the bump there though. Last but not least, Andrew McCutchen is our official #BVPPlayOfTheDay. Cutch is 6-of-12 off Mike Pelfrey in his career with two additional walks. Fire him up, because BvP would never lie to you.
Bottom Line – Don’t forget to watch GrindersLive today starting at 3:30 ET. After the 5:30 show ends at 6:30, we have something extra special for you. EMac will now be hosting DFS Last Call everyday from 6:30 up until 7:00 to answer your last minute questions all the way up until lock. Last but not least, I wanted to send some well wishes to a member of this community and a personal friend. Rmthawk aka Ryan T. has been an active member of this community for quite some time. He is also a friend of mine and we have discussed strategy on Google chat from time to time. Ryan has been battling Stage IV Hodgkin’s lymphoma for quite some time. If you know Ryan, or want to support him, there is a forum thread located here. Feel free to send him some love or support in this difficult time. Get better Ryan!