The GPP Scene: MLB Week 10
Hey Grinders! Welcome back to the GPP Scene, which is back in action after a two week hiatus. I took a bit of a mental break to clear my head, focus on getting my house up for sale, and spend some quality time with the wife and kids. It was the best thing I’ve ever done in my DFS career, as I have come back refreshed, focused, and enjoying this great game again. It also no doubt helps that my game results have been great since I have come back, though it’s debatable if there is any element of causation here. However, that’s a discussion for another day. For now, let’s get on to the Week 10 edition of the GPP Scene!
Here’s the way it will work. I will enter the $10 FanDuel Line Drive GPP five days a week with three different teams, and only those three teams. The teams will be composed of the following:
| Team #1 | Two-team stacks with 4 hitters from each team, finished off by whatever pitcher I like best that fits within my remaining cap.1 |
| Team #2 | My favorite expensive pitcher of the day with a team of lesser hitters. |
| Team #3 | A total punt at pitcher surrounded by a team of better hitters. |
1 – This is my general GPP strategy on FD.
I’ll document the results of each team along with my profit and loss and return on investment as the days go by, with some final analysis for the week at the end of the article. Let’s get to the week ten results!
WEDNESDAY, JULY 2ND
Team #1 – The mini-stack choices for the first day back were the Brewers against JA Happ and the Royals against Kevin Correia. I am consistently of the belief that Happ is overperforming right now, and figured the Brewers all-righty lineup would cause him problems. Both stack teams scored four runs, putting this team on the fringe for cashes. A complete game shutout with 9 K’s from Tyson Ross was enough to put this team over the top. It was a solid start to the week, and the first cash for Team #1 in a long, long time. * FINISH: 49.50 PTS / 35 OF 670 FOR $40.
Team #2 – Cueto was the easy choice as the ace of the night going up against the feeble Padres in Petco Park. He struggled early and only finished with 11 FanDuel points. For his extremely high salary, this was a disappointing total. Brian McCann and Austin Jackson were great performers with cheap price tags, but literally none of the bats did anything else of note. * FINISH: 35.50 PTS / 255 OF 670 FOR $0.
Team #3 – Trevor Bauer got the nod as the punt pitcher of the day given his strikeout upside and matchup against a watered-down Dodgers lineup that was resting a few players on this day. Bauer was extremely disappointing with less than 5 points, and that was what kept this team out of the money. The bats were great, led by 11 points from Brandon Moss and 6 points from Robinson Cano, but the hole created by Bauer was way too much to overcome. * FINISH: 34.91 PTS / 263 OF 670 FOR $0.
FRIDAY, JULY 4TH (EARLY GAMES)
Team #1 – With Chase Whitley and Phil Hughes facing off against each other, I mini stacked Yankees and Twins bats. I thought this team was a sure cash half way through this game, as the score was already 6-4. Brian Roberts was a great value bat choice as part of the stacks. However, I didn’t hit on the right Twins bats and the final score ended up at 6-5. Gerrit Cole was solid as the pitching choice but he left the game early with another injury and was 65% owned anyhow. This team was painfully close to a cash but fell just short. * FINISH: 40.00 PTS / 75 OF 335 FOR $0.
Team #2 – With the thin slate of games in the early slate, I used Gerrit Cole again as the ace choice. Andrew McCutchen was the best bat of this squad with 12.75 points, but he was upwards of 50% owned. Brett Gardner and Gregory Polanco were also solid choices in the outfield, but this team finished a tantalizing seven spots out of the money. * FINISH: 44.25 PTS / 42 OF 335 FOR $0.
Team #3 – Chase Whitley was the choice for the punt pitcher as he was facing the inconsistent Twins offense, and this was somewhat of a hedge against Team #1 which had a Twins mini-stack. Whitley was terrible with just three FanDuel points, and on a short slate of games that was basically a death sentence. This squad never really had a chance with his performance, and the bats weren’t that great anyhow. * FINISH: 25.75 PTS / 247 OF 335 FOR $0.
FRIDAY, JULY 4TH (LATE GAMES)
Team #1 – The Dodgers were the obvious mini stack of the day against Jair Jurrjens, so I locked them in early. I went with the Cardinals as a contrarian second stack to differentiate my entry with Chris Sale at pitcher. Sale was dominant with 24 points, and the Dodgers bats did their part. The problem is that all those players were highly owned, and the Cardinals bats didn’t provide enough damage to get this team into cashing territory. * FINISH: 55.75 PTS / 157 OF 1005 FOR $0.
Team #2 – With Sale on Team #1, I went with Darvish as the ace here against the Mets. He had a bad performance with only 7 fantasy points. Sale had 24 points at a 40% ownership clip. It doesn’t matter what the bats did. That spelled game over for this squad. * FINISH: 23.75 PTS / 900 OF 1005 FOR $0.
Team #3 – Matt Cain was cheap enough to qualify as a punt play on a short slate, given his under $7K price tag. He put up a decent but underwhelming start and did not get a win as the Giants gave him no run support. The 10.33 points from him also put me behind the 8-ball, and I didn’t have the right Dodgers bats on this team. On a high scoring night, this squad wasn’t going to sniff the cash either. * FINISH: 35.83 PTS / 631 OF 1005 FOR $0.
SATURDAY, JULY 5TH
Team #1 – I mini-stacked Cleveland lefties against the HR-prone Jeremy Guthrie and Mets lefties against the awful Colby Lewis. Though both teams put up some offense, I missed out on all the home runs here and missed out on some of the higher scoring bats as a result. John Lackey was the pitcher that fit on this squad as a boom-or-bust option against the Orioles. This team finished above average but not good enough to cash in GPP’s. * FINISH: 34.83 PTS / 265 OF 782 FOR $0.
Team #2 – This night was devoid of good pitching so Tim Hudson got the nod as the ace against the Padres despite a not-so-high price tag. He disappointed with just ten fantasy points, and with five of my bats finishing with 1 point or worse, this team was destined for failure all night. It was the lowest scoring Team #2 performance of the year by a quarter of a point. * FINISH: 21.75 PTS 648 OF 782 FOR $0.
Team #3 – The fun to pronounce Odrisamer Despaigne got the nod as the punt pitcher of the day out of principle. Despite two solid starts, he was still priced at the minimum 3K and he was 18% owned here. Taking him basically let you get stud bats everywhere. However, Mike Trout was 0-for-5, Jose Altuve was 0-for-4 with a walk, and the big name bats were generally disappointing on this night. Throw in a below average 7 point start from Despaigne and you get another poor squad. * FINISH: 21.00 PTS / 662 OF 782 FOR $0.
SUNDAY, JULY 6TH
Team #1 – I only stacked two teams across the industry today as I was fairly comfortable playing the Coors Field fade with the stacks. I went with Mariners LHB’s (against Hector Noesi) and Yankees LHB’s against Ricky Nolasco. Half of this worked as the Yankees put up nine runs and Ellsbury had a huge game. However, the Mariners got shut out 1-0 and that kept this team from cashing despite a solid 21 point pitching effort from Garrett Richards. * FINISH: 39.58 PTS / 300 OF 893 FOR $0.
Team #2 – Jordan Zimmermann was my choice for ace of the day, as he has been lights out since the beginning of June and was facing the Cubs in their first start after two of their best pitchers were traded away. I banked on a bit of an emotional letdown. Zimmermann was solid but not spectacular and the bullpen blew the 1-0 lead he left with. The bats were quiet outside of Ortiz, Kemp, and Puig and this team just didn’t get enough out of the ace. * FINISH: 38.50 PTS / 336 OF 893 FOR $0.
Team #3 – I went with Cardinal prospect Marco Gonzales as the punt pitcher of the day. In retrospect, I guess I should have just gone with Noesi even though I was stacking against him on Team #1. Gonzales got the nod due to his strikeout upside, but he danced in and out of trouble all day and didn’t even make it through five innings. The big bats were quiet as well, with minimal points out of Mike Trout, Troy Tulowitzki, Adrian Beltre, and Jose Abreu. This squad didn’t have much of a chance today. * FINISH: 21.41 PTS / 827 OF 893 FOR $0.
FINAL RESULTS: THROUGH TEN WEEKS
| Statistic | Team #1 | Team #2 | Team #3 | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Score | 1768.35 | 1748.29 | 1583.10 | |
| Average Score | 35.37 | 34.97 | 31.66 | |
| High Score | 56.50 | 48.75 | 59.50 | |
| Low Score | 6.08 | 21.75 | 13.08 | |
| Entry Fees (Seas) | $500 | $500 | $500 | $1,500 |
| Winnings (Seas) | $490 | $245 | $720 | $1,455 |
| Profit/Loss (Seas) | -$10 | -$255 | $220 | -$45 |
| ROI (Seas) | -2.0% | -51.0% | 44.0% | -3.0% |
MY ANALYSIS
It’s great to be back in the swing of DFS. Over the course of the last month and a half, my overall FanDuel results are indicative of what’s happened in this series, as I have been super cold over there and running pretty well on DraftKings. Hopefully a DFBC qualifier win on the night I am writing this piece will be good karma moving forward so that we can get the GPP Scene back in the green for the year. As always… thanks so much for giving this column a read, and we’ll see you next week!