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

Adbert Alzolay is in play on DraftKings ONLY due to his strikeout upside and $6,400 price tag. While the Pirates are not necessarily a team I want to pick on right now, especially with their plethora of solid left-handed hitters, Alzolay should have his pitch count bumped on Monday and likely have a longer leash as the Cubs try to find out if he is a viable long term replacement in the rotation.

Mike Minor is in play due to a lack of quality options. While his ceiling isn’t as high as it necessarily could be due to the Angels rarely striking out, he is in a nice tournament spot with the potential for a win and quality start. He has a quality start in four straight starts and has pitched 31.1 innings over those contests. He has given up 5 or fewer hits in all four games, too. The Angels don’t have a ton of upside in a tough matchup against a guy that can go the distance and Minor has a lower ceiling than normal, too. Again, he’s in play due to the lack of quality options. A tight pool is in store for Monday.

Logan Allen has looked decent in his first two Major League starts. He has a good matchup against the Giants (potentially the best on the night) and has two quality starts and wins under his belt against the Orioles and the Brewers. I think his ownership might be a bit high for me for single entry but I like him a lot for GPP.

Tyler Mahle is cheap enough and strikes out enough people that he’s in play on a very tough night for pitching options. Most nights he wouldn’t sniff my pitching pool but I don’t want to roll out just 3 pitchers for 150 max (you can get away with that in 20-max and leave Mahle off if you’d like). If the Brewers are a popular offense on Monday I would absolutely leave Mahle in play because he’d be a great leverage play against the Brew Crew ownership and stacks.

Single Entry/Satellite GPP Pitchers

I likely roll out Tyler Mahle for satellite tournaments and single entries. However, he’s not for the faint of heart. He’s been very bad as of late and the Brewers have a ton of power on the left side of the plate. The optimistic side of me thinks Mahle will do okay. The Brewers have not been good as of late and the offense has bombed in a few matchups that were way better than this one.

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.

San Diego Padres 40-60%

Manny Machado is absolutely on fire right now. The dude has gone supernova and the Padres can absolutely smash left-handed pitchers. With 5 guys at the top of the order that should all finish around 30 (and some way more) home runs, there is plenty of upside here against a stumbling Jeff Samardzija who has given up a 40% hard-hit rate this season.

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.

Tampa Bay Rays 30-50%

This is a team I always have trouble stacking when creating by hand because they don’t have many bats that stand out as excellent options. They have a bunch of hitters with solid upside, who are pesky at the plate and have put together a solid lineup that is fighting for a playoff spot this season. A bullpen day for the Orioles is a good thing for any opponent and it looks like Jimmy Yacabonis (or someone of similar talent) will take the mound. Yikes!

Pittsburgh Pirates 30-50%

The Pirates have Bryan Reynolds, Josh Bell, Colin Moran, Corey Dickerson, and Adam Frazier potentially all in the top 5 or 6 hitters in the lineup and all batting on the left side of the plate. Alzolay has looked good but has lost control at the mound a bit, too. He has just a 61% strike ratio and has walked 6 batters in just 8.2 IP.

Chicago Cubs 30-50%

The opposing pitcher, Trevor Williams, has given up 4 home runs and 11 earned runs in his last 11.2 IP against the Tigers and Astros. The Cubs have plenty of upside and if Kyle Schwarber can set the table with a leadoff double or home run to unnerve Williams, I think we could see fireworks. I expect their 4.9 implied run total to climb throughout the day.

Cincinnati Reds 20-40%

They have a 5.2 implied run total at the open. The Great American Small Park is known for home runs and the weather should be hot and humid. Adrian Houser takes the mound for the Brewers. He’s been pretty great out of the bullpen this season but didn’t look good as the opener against the Mariners in his last start. He threw 64 pitches to get out just 6 batters (2 IP) while giving up 3 ER and putting 7 men on base. The Reds have a low probability of hitting their upside but are in play at a lower exposure.

Honorable Mentions: 

The Milwaukee Brewers are a viable hedge against Tyler Mahle shares if you are playing high dollar games or have a lot of money invested. If you are a low-roller, don’t bother hedging something like this. If you have a ton of money on the table, I certainly would hedge against Mahle and the Reds bullpen if the Brewers get hot nice and early.

This is my personal strategy to use the DFS Army Domination Station optimizer for MLB MME

1. Cut all pitchers out of my player pool that I know I 100% DO NOT WANT

   1. Add in all the pitchers I am okay with the optimizer using my playbook and uncheck all the other pitchers.

2. Identify all teams I want to stack

   1. If using controlled stacks then create my player pool of hitters for MME
   2. 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%
   3. 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

3. Prepare my 150 entry settings

   1. 3 uniques
   2. tournament mode
   3. DFS Army points
   4. Make sure allow opposing pitchers is unchecked
   5. 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%.
   6. Set random stack setting to 4-3 for FanDuel and 5-2 for DraftKings and CHECK “PRIORITIZE LINEUPS”
4. Run the optimizer
   1. 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.
   2. You have to tinker a bit to get the higher upside guys sometimes ^^^
5. Re-run the optimizer until you get what you’re looking for
   1. Go watch Netflix until the games are over and your daily fantasy sports entries are final
   2. 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!

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Fortune favors the bold, go make your own luck!
Twitter me @DFSnDONUTS