The GPP Scene: MLB Week 2
It’s hard to believe that two weeks are in the books already for MLB. It seems like just yesterday that we were all getting excited for Opening Day and a new season being upon us. So it goes with the nature of time in DFS, as before you know it college and NFL football will be beckoning at the doorstep. In case you aren’t familiar with this column or what I am attempting to do here, it goes something like this:
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 one results!
MONDAY, APRIL 7
Team #1 – NY Yankees (vs BAL) and LA Angels(at HOU) mini stacks with Wacha at pitcher vs. Reds. I was very happy with Wacha as the pitcher here as he was extremely underpriced for opening day at Busch Stadium. I guess FanDuel forgot how good he was down the stretch last year. The Angels stack paid off nicely and this team looked headed for cash-ville until the Yankee stack brought it back down to earth. So it goes, when you mini-stack and one of the two teams totally flames out, you aren’t cashing in a GPP.
- FINISH: 34.25 PTS / 350 OF 1340 FOR $0.
Team #2 – Wacha as my stud pitcher with value hitters led by a couple of value plays on the Angels. Calhoun and Ibanez both seem underpriced to start the year and they paid off nicely. Also, there weren’t a ton of really high priced pitchers, so I was able to fit some good bats on this team. Yadier Molina and Josh Donaldson performed well, and this team was a nice cash to start the week.
- FINISH: 43.50 PTS / 51 OF 1340 FOR $50.
Team #3 – I threw Kevin Correia out there as my punt pitcher against Oakland. This was bad. Once again the stud hitters flamed out as Joey Votto had 0.25, Mike Trout barely cleared two points, and nobody did anything worth a hoot.
- FINISH: 10.16 PTS / 1333 OF 1340 FOR $0.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9
Team #1 – Pittsburgh and Chicago Cubs mini stacks as they were facing off with the wind howling out at Wrigley along with Ervin Santana at pitcher against the Mets. This was easily my top team of the week as this game saw some late fireworks by the time the teams started hitting the ball in the air. Russell Martin and Pedro Alvarez both homered twice and Santana was flat-out dominant on the mound. This same team finished 2nd in the FanDuel Grand Slam as well.
- FINISH: 56.25 PTS / 54 OF 1307 FOR $50.
Team #2 – I chose Tanaka as my stud pitcher of the day and he was solid racking up ten strikeouts against Baltimore. However, I had five hitters that scored one point or worse, and on a high scoring night this simply wasn’t going to get the job done.
- FINISH: 34.75 PTS / 669 OF 1307 FOR $0.
Team #3 – I really liked Garrett Richards going against Seattle for a cheap price tag of $5,200 and he did not disappoint as he almost matched Santana with his numbers on the day. This also afforded me the chance to roster Buster Posey and Paul Goldschmidt, who both went off for big games at Chase Field. My two Brewers – Segura and Braun – also totaled over 15 fantasy points and this team ended up nipping at the heels of Team #1. For the first time this season, the punt pitcher team has cashed!
- FINISH: 55.25 PTS / 65 OF 1307 FOR $40.
THURSDAY, APRIL 10
Team #1 – Cleveland (at White Sox) and Toronto (vs HOU) mini stacks with Dickey at pitcher vs. Houston. The pitching options weren’t great today so I opted to go with Dickey and 3 Toronto hitters (with Brian McCann thrown in as the 8th hitter). I liked Cleveland as an under the radar stack against John Danks who the Indians have a ton of career success against. Unfortunately it didn’t work as neither of these teams scored more than 4 runs and Dickey wasn’t great, taking the loss in the game and giving up five runs in six innings.
- FINISH: 22.75 PTS / 849 OF 1340 FOR $0.
Team #2 – There wasn’t much for stud pitching outside of Dickey and Cliff Lee, so Lee got the call on this team. 11 points was one of the higher totals of the day, but my guys just underperformed in general this evening. Miguel Montero was my only hitter to eclipse 3 points, and this team was the BEST scoring one that I had today. It was respectable for 50/50 games but not enough to cash in a GPP.
- FINISH: 28.25 PTS / 480 OF 1340 FOR $0.
Team #3 – David Hale was my punt pitcher as I hoped he could build on his strong first outing and pitch well against the Mets. This did not happen as he scored 3.33 FanDuel points. Somehow, my only hitter that did well on this team was Tony Campana (what?) as guys like Posey, Braun, Utley, and Bautista did nothing on this night. That seems to happen more often than not when I punt my pitcher to get big bats. I’m not a fan of this strategy at all right now.
- FINISH: 23.83 PTS / 764 OF 1340 FOR $0.
FRIDAY, APRIL 11
Team #1 – I felt so confident about my stack tonight, as I loved the underpriced Royals to be able to do some damage against young righty Kyle Gibson. Their cheap prices even allowed me to stack them with Dodgers at Chase Field along with Darvish at pitcher against Houston. I was salvating. Unfortunately, although the Dodgers played well and Darvish pitched great, Kansas City only mustered one first inning run against the Twins. My KC hitters barely scored positive points overall, and that kept this team from cashing tonight.
- FINISH: 32.75 PTS / 477 OF 1337 FOR $0.
Team #2 – I managed to fit Darvish in again but could never get comfortable with all my value bats. Jose Abreu was the most expensive hitter I used and he put up a dud in a good matchup after hitting the ball well all week. Junior Lake and Melky Cabrera added to the swoon and another team with potential fizzled out due to the bats.
- FINISH: 31.00 PTS / 532 OF 1337 FOR $0.
Team #3 – I punted the pitcher spot with Tyler Skaggs once again against the Mets because Skaggs helped us out last weekend. Although he wasn’t totally awful, seven points from your pitcher generally isn’t enough to get the job done. And listen to what the stud hitters did:
Buster Posey = 0
Chris Davis = 0.25
Dustin Pedroia = -1
Jason Heyward = 0
You’re not cashing in a GPP with those performances from 14K worth of hitters. Again, I’m not liking this strategy too much.
- FINISH: 22.25 PTS / 888 OF 1337 FOR $0.
SATURDAY, APRIL 12
Team #1 – Cardinals (vs Cubs) and Indians (at White Sox) mini stacks with Shields at pitcher vs. Twins. I have no idea how this team didn’t cash. The Cardinals scored ten runs and the Indians scored twelve runs. I had eight hitters from those two teams, yet it wasn’t good enough. The day slate today was very high scoring, and the forgettable performance from Shields left this squad just a few spots short of a cash.
- FINISH: 47.66 PTS / 160 OF 1340 FOR $0.
Team #2 – Wainwright was again an easy choice for ace of the day as I couldn’t envision him pitching poorly against the Cubs. He did fine and secured a win. Brian McCann bolstered us with a couple of home runs and this team was on the path to cash. However, total duds from my arch nemeses Brandon Phillips and Billy Hamilton dragged this team to the ground and on a high scoring day, you had to hit almost everywhere to win.
- FINISH: 39.75 PTS / 422 OF 1340 FOR $0.
Team #3 – This is getting tiresome. I chose Simon as my punt pitcher and that worked like a charm against the Rays. Here we go again with the big bats:
Buster Posey = 0
David Ortiz = 0.25
Evan Longoria = 0.25
Troy Tulowitzki = 0.25
The beat of the drum continues with the punt pitcher, stud hitter, horrible results.
- FINISH: 30.00 PTS / 876 OF 1340 FOR $0.
Final Results: Week Two
| Statistic | Team #1 | Team #2 | Team #3 | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Score | 359.07 | 336.66 | 280.57 | |
| Average Score | 35.91 | 33.67 | 28.06 | |
| High Score | 56.50 | 46.50 | 55.25 | |
| Low Score | 6.08 | 22.00 | 10.16 | |
| Entry Fees (Seas) | $100 | $100 | $100 | $300 |
| Winnings (Seas) | $170 | $95 | $40 | $305 |
| Profit/Loss (Seas) | $70 | -$5 | -$60 | $5 |
| ROI (Seas) | 70.0% | -5.0% | -60.0% | 1.7% |
My Analysis
Through two weeks, I’m already tired of punting my pitcher spot. I’ve actually hit on the punt play quite a few times only to see stud hitters with good matchups flame out. It’s case in point #1 on why you really need to nail the pitcher on single pitcher sites, and why most people just tend to pay up for their SP. There’s no point in saving when you can’t count on your big bats to perform day in and day out. I do have a feeling, though maybe a hunch, that one day this squad will hit a big one moreso than team #2. I still favor the stacks for upside, however.
Hey, through two weeks we are up a whole $5 and we are learning more along the way. I’ll take it, though I expected more after the solid start to the week.
If you have any questions or comments, or would specifically like to see my game page for a specific one of these teams that I didn’t link in the article, just let me know in the comments below.
Also, thank you so much for those of you that took the time to leave a positive comment last week. I really like writing this piece and you guys gave me the motivation to do it. I take pride in everything I do here but there’s going to be a special place in my heart every time I go to put this one together. Thanks again.
- STL