The High Stakes Scene - Favre vs. Cards Gm 5
Editor’s Note: The “High Stakes Scene” is a recurring series giving you an in-depth look into the highest stakes games in the Daily Fantasy world. Our first “High Stakes Scene” features top-ranked STLCardinals84 as he gives you in-depth analysis into his head-to-head matches vs. BrettFavre444. Full details on their match can be read here. We hope you enjoy the near real-time insight below.
With this article I bring you the closing ceremonies of the first High Stakes Scene. Unfortunately, I was not competitive enough in this series to continue it past five games, as Favre is just on fire with his MLB squads right now. All the kudos in the world go out to him for this performance this week, and let’s get to the recap of the final game!
The Short Attention Span Version:
Well, my team sucked and never really had a chance. The nail was pretty much in my coffin around an hour after the games started when Justin Upton went yard.
Breaking Down My Lineup:
1) If you read the Game Four recap, you know that I was focusing on whether to take 3 SP or 2 SP and a reliever since I did that in the only game of this series that I won. I was set on going with three starters until I looked at the matchups for the day. I didn’t really feel comfortable with a third option as the prices seemed a bit high. My dilemma came down to a reliever with Longoria, Hanley Ramirez, and Justin Upton, or a starter (David Hale) with Chris Carter, Starlin Castro, and Nate Schierholtz. I felt this was too much of a downgrade in bats so I went with the RP option.
2) My two starters were King Felix and Mejia, but with the rain-threat I moved off Mejia and onto Straily. This required a downgrade of one of my bats, so I changed Upton to Jason Heyward since they had a similar matchup and I figured that was just a marginal downgrade.
3) With the reliever in my lineup I was able to fit a lot of bats I liked, including a trio of Phillies against gascan Bronson Arroyo. I rounded out the batters with Yasiel Puig and Sal Perez and those two fit nicely into the squad.
Breaking Down Favre’s Lineup:
1) While I was busy swapping Mejia to Straily, Favre just went ahead and took both guys. The matchups were solid for both, and he rounded out his pitching with Wei-Yen Chen. For the first time in this series, I had a stud pitcher in King Felix and he did not, going with the three-mid-tier starter approach.
2) Taking three SP’s meant he had a lot less to spend on bats than I did. He loaded up on Brewers against lefty Travis Wood as opposed to my more expensive Phillies. He slotted Segura, Ramirez, Reynolds, and Lucroy into his lineup.
3) Schierholtz was the choice for the punt bat he needed to save salary, and I liked the pick since I mentioned above that I briefly took a look at that option.
How The Game Played Out:
1) Segura got decked by Ryan Braun and never saw an at-bat. This was a tough break for Favre and I thought, “hey I might have a chance tonight!”
2) Then, reality set in. Chen and Mejia got off to good starts and the dagger was Justin Upton going off. Although Straily did outscore Mejia, Upton drastically outperformed Heyward and the late swap because of the weather came back to bite me.
3) Bronson Arroyo dialed back the clock a few years and kept the Phillies off balance, and poor performances from Howard and Utley pretty much gave my team no hope of coming back. Favre didn’t post a great score tonight, but my team was terrible. Hanley Ramirez left early with an injury and by that point there really wasn’t much hope for Team STL anyhow.
4) The poor start from King Felix was the final dagger. Paying up for the elite SP of the day worked for Favre in Game Two with Greinke and Game Four with Strasburg. It didn’t work for me in Game Five. Those are the cards you are sometimes dealt in DFS.
5) Breaking down the two lineup choices I had, as posted in the comments of the Game Four recap:
| Position | Option 1 (FPs) | Option 2 (FPs) |
|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | David Hale (12) | A Relief Pitcher (0) |
| Batter | Schierholtz (-1.5) | Logoria (3.5) |
| Batter | Castro (1) | Heyward (-0.75) |
| Batter | Carter (7.75) | Ramirez (-0.75) |
| Total FPs | 19.25 | 2.00 |
Since I chose option two, this cost me a difference of 17.25 points. No matter who you are, you’ve been bitten by a case of being torn between two options and choosing the wrong one at some point in your DFS career. I absolutely should have stuck to the strategy of playing three starters. I overthought it in this game and it burned me. This is yet another data point as to the DraftStreeet SP/RP strategy debate, and hopefully give you guys something to take away from this series. Favre beat me with a better approach to each game and sticking to his guns. I varied my strategy too much and it cost me in the end. The loss hurt, but thankfully it wound up being just a small dent in my fantastic April (winning the Monster again last night eased the pain). I’m happy to have been able to bring you some behind the scenes data from two high-volume players.
See you around Grinders, and thanks for all your comments and support!