Success in Daily Fantasy Sports isn’t simple. I see people every day throw one entry of their favorite plays into a GPP tournament and hours later question why they didn’t cash. Yes, in these articles I am going to show you how to deconstruct winning lineups which will undoubtingly help your fantasy game. With that said, you will also constantly hear me discuss playing smart and on an even playing field. Deconstructing lineups is clearly beneficial for your DFS game but if you’re not playing single entries, three – man max and/or 3-5 players winner take all leagues, you’re wasting your time. Some might call this gambling, but my personal belief is if daily fantasy sports is treated as meticulously as your day job, there’s no reason why players like yourselves can’t make consistent money, especially considering how many people use DFS as a money draining hobby.
The lineup included above is the winner of the $55 FanDuel Grand Slam paying out $40,000. Carlos Carrasco was the expected chalk from the start of the day. Many of the “shark” lineups I saw had Carrasco at 100% exposure and simply rotated the available stacks. The funny thing is, is that Carrasco severely underperformed and this strategy still took it down. Imagine if you churned out 150 lineups with various stacks but instead of Carrasco, you locked in Andrew Heaney who had 61 points. Obviously, it’s easy to look back and say that but my point is that, you don’t always need to have the best players every night, you just need to play smart. Cover as many angles as you can and make sure you’re on an even playing field. In fact, the Oakland A’s stack was what really made the difference. The Majority of last night’s top lineups contained; Tyler Anderson – 23 FDP & Carlos Carrasco – 27 FDP. In my opinion, DFS sharks have no more knowledge of the game than me or you, they just play smart AND on an even playing field!
Considering the Oakland A’s were the team that you needed to stack in order to take down a GPP, I figured we could dive deeper into why they had a favorable matchup. Firstly, I always mention how the Green Monster in Fenway Park in only 310 ft from home plate. Yes, it’s tall but all it really does is turn high routine pop ups into homeruns, not to mention the wind that was blowing out toward left at 14 mph. I studied Oakland’s recent games and they’re not particularly impressive. Over the past week, the A’s ranked 21st in team batting average, 16th in runs scored and 17th in team OBP. I don’t think the sharks rostered Oakland because of a secret stat telling them that the A’s would perform despite the opposing pitcher…Speaking of the Pitcher, lets look at Rick Porcello and try to find a stat to explain why he allowed five earned runs off nine hits. Porcello was on a roll coming into his last game when he allowed five earned off eight hits to the Yankees in 5.1 IP. Oakland being a very capable hitting team took advantage of Porcello with the long ball. The offensive potential of teams like Oakland often go over looked because their home stadium is massive and limits the long ball. A talented Oakland A’s lineup against a righty in Porcello, coming off his worst start of the season, with 14 mph winds to left and low ownership – this is what the sharks saw in the Oakland A’s.