Donuts to Dollars
The GPP/MME playbook is more or less a foundation to build upon for your Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) tournament strategy and mass-multi entry (MME) adventures. The following approach is how I am going to MME the main slate on FanDuel and DraftKings. Hit me up on Twitter @DFSnDONUTS and you can also find me on YouTube | Twitch | iTunes with supplemental commentary and teaching.
MLB DFS Pitching Pool Strategy for MME
Rick Porcello (FD Only) looks like he’s turning his season around. The former Cy Young winner has pounded the strike zone on 69% of his pitches as of late and limited opposing hitters to just an 87 MPH exit velocity. In those two games, he scored 36 and 55 FanDuel points while striking out 14 hitters in 13.2 frames.
Jordan Yamamoto has been electric in his first two starts in the bigs. He dominated the Minors and looks like the real deal thus far. In 14 innings pitched, he has struck out 12 hitters and only given up 5 hits while allowing no earned runs. He’ll be lower owned against the Phillies today,
Enyel De Los Santos (FD Only) is minimum price for a pitcher on FanDuel. On DraftKings he’s priced at 7k, which takes him out of consideration for me. However, with upside against the lowly Marlins offense, EDLS (such a long name) is in play for MME. He pitched well in the minors too and is a -172 favorite and the Marlins have just a 3.9 IRT. A lot to like here at this price on FD.
Daniel Norris DK Only has double-digit scores in 4 out of the last 5 starts. He’s just 5.5k on DK and does have 25 Ks in his last 27.2 IP. That’s some solid upside on DK where quality start doesn’t matter as it does on FanDuel. He’ll also be low owned because the Indians have a 5.4 IRT and Plesac will be highly owned on the other side.
Cole Hamels is only 9k on FanDuel where he has scored 64, 58, and 46 points in his last three starts He is locked in with 27 K’s in his last 22 IP, too. When he’s lights out like this he needs to be in our pool.
Brandon Woodruff (DK Only) is just 7.9k and has plenty of upside on that site. With a 31% hard-hit rate against him over his last two starts, I think we get some positive regression. He has 12 Ks in his last 13 IP and has scored 39.50, 28.50, 17.55 DK points in 3 out of his last 5 starts. Is there some downside? Sure, but the upside is way higher. Embrace the volatility.
Zac Plesac has an elite price tag on DraftKings at just 7.7k. He’s been great this season early on in his career. The hard-throwing right-handed pitcher has 24 Ks in his last 26.1 IP and has gone 7 IP in 3 of the last 4. He has scored 24.75, 21.55, 11.80, and 25.55 DraftKings points in those four starts, too. Today, he gets to face off against the inept Detroit Tigers.
Single Entry GPP Pitchers
Zac Plesac has just been so good he’s my SE choice. I like the matchup against the Tigers, too. He’s a favorite, the Tigers can’t hit the ball against RHP, and he’s also talented. Not much telling me not to use him in SE today.
Tier 1 MLB Stacks for FanDuel and DraftKings
These are the teams I want to stack with my highest exposure. Whether you decide to use the controlled stacks (example below) or the randomized stack exposure (as I do, the example provided), I’ll have my highest percentage on the Tier 1 teams). Daily fantasy sports are not just about being contrarian. A key strategy is to also have contrarian exposure to your plays.
Boston Red Sox 40-60%
Marcus Stroman is not a terrible pitcher but the Red Sox have a very hot day in Boston today. They also have plenty of power and have a loaded lineup 1-5 today. With the wind blowing out to right-field, I expect Boston to break out of their team hitting slump.
Houston Astros 30-50%
The Astros don’t have the highest IRT on the slate but face off against JA Happ who has really struggled this season. The Astros have a lineup with plenty of pop on the right side of the plate and newly called up Yordan Alvarez continues to smash the ball.
Texas Rangers 30-50%
They really have let us down the last two days. However, here we are again with another nice matchup and a very high 6.3 IRT against Ivan Nova. This is a very winnable matchup and it’s supposed to be 95 degrees in Texas today. I am going back to the well.
Tier 2 MLB Stacks for FanDuel and DraftKings
These are the teams I am generally using to hedge my pitcher investment and/or don’t have a clear read on what might happen but understand extreme outcomes are possible. My strategy is to have the volatile stacks paired with the Tier 1 stacks that have a higher success rate.
Minnesota Twins 20-40%
They really have not had that massive explosion offensively over the last week with plenty of great spots for it to have happened. They get another pristine matchup against HomeR(un) Bailey and have stacked the lineup with 7 left-handed hitters!
San Diego Padres 20-40%
They are good against left-handed pitchers and face a lefty, Steven Brault. They surprisingly have a 5.2 IRT and I am fine with the public being on them a little bit. They have 5 guys in their top 5 in the order that can finish with 30 + home runs this season. Manny Machado is going scorched earth right now, too.
This is my personal strategy to use the DFS Army Domination Station optimizer for MLB MME
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Cut all pitchers out of my player pool that I know I 100% DO NOT WANT
- Add in all the pitchers I am okay with the optimizer using my playbook and uncheck all the other pitchers.
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Identify all teams I want to stack
- If using controlled stacks then create my player pool of hitters for MME
- If using the randomized stacks (which I do) then I begin to create percentages for all my favorite teams to target adding up to 160-180%
- Leave 20-40% stack exposure to allow the optimizer to fill in some random optimized stacks according to your pitcher pool to have some unbiased lineups
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Prepare my 150 entry settings
- 3 uniques
- tournament mode
- DFS Army points
- Make sure allow opposing pitchers is unchecked
- Maximum exposure cap of 60% is how I roll with it. The higher the exposure cap the more “all-in” you will be on a player or two. Sometimes when I feel great about my pitching pool or stacking tiers I will run it at 80-100%.
- Set random stack setting to 4-3 for FanDuel and 5-2 for DraftKings and CHECK “PRIORITIZE LINEUPS”
- Run the optimizer
- Look at the batters used in the stacks. Did I create 100 Houston lineups and only get 5 George Springers? Okay, use the like/love/adore buttons or boost his projection until I get more of him. Did I get 50 out of 50 Boston stacks with Jackie Bradley and no J.D. Martinez? Boost Martinez and potentially use the dislike buttons on Bradley until he’s a bit lower and Martinez is involved.
- You have to tinker a bit to get the higher upside guys sometimes ^^^
- Re-run the optimizer until you get what you’re looking for
- Go watch Netflix until the games are over and your daily fantasy sports entries are final
- Make a plate of chips and salsa, too
I slapped this video together during the kiddos’ nap time to show you the ease of use with the DFS Army optimizer. I hope it helps seeing it on video in conjunction with the article
Closing
I really hope this helps you get your feet under you at the beginning of this MLB season for Daily Fantasy. Please subscribe to me on the following platforms and I would love to hear from you on Twitter or in our member service in my #Donut-Shop coaching channel!
Fortune favors the bold, go make your own luck!
Twitter me @DFSnDONUTS