Introduction
Perhaps more than any other DFS sport, baseball requires a significant distinction in the lineup building process between cash-game lineups versus GPP lineups. Baseball is naturally quite variant. While limiting this variance as much as possible is the goal throughout the season in cash games, embracing it is the key to bringing home a large-field GPP.
The DFS community is constantly evolving, uncovering new finds, and subsequently improving. Nearly all of your competitors are already familiar with the standard/traditional research techniques. The Coors Field effect is well known. Many of us check the wind direction at Wrigley Field as we drink our morning coffee. Sean O’Sullivan and Kyle Kendrick are fun to pick on. Paul Goldschmidt and Jose Altuve crush left-handed pitching. Dee Gordon is blazing fast. Clayton Kershaw is sorta good at this pitching thing. These things likely won’t change anytime soon, but the average daily fantasy player should already be acquainted with facts like these.
What am I getting at here? The majority of users construct a roster by simply highlighting and focusing on areas of statistical strength, but what’s often overlooked is detecting the many red flags that can suppress the ceiling of a seemingly otherwise great play. Familiarizing yourself with the stats that may predict poor performance needs to be an integral part of your research routine, if it isn’t already. As DFS continues to grow, we’ve watched as the large-field GPP’s have grown as well. While this means the reward could potentially mean a multi-million dollar payday, it also requires near perfection if you want to buy that 50-foot Sea Ray with your DFS winnings this season. With the payout structure in most tournaments being frustratingly top-heavy at times, one bad pick can be very, very costly. To steal a quote from Ricky Bobby, in the DFS world these days, “If you aint first, you’re last”.
If you’re reading this, you’re likely already ahead of the game and know which statistics to attack. Over the next few lessons, I’ll dig into several key indicators that can help predict and avoid a potentially underwhelming performance. When all is said and done, hopefully we can meet up, drop the anchors on our new yachts, and toast with a cold beverage.