Draftkings MLB

If you're like me the idea of taking a passion such as baseball, using your knowledge of how players operate in certain conditions and applying that knowledge to win money seems like a dream come true. In a world full of fantasy season leagues were you must spend hours maintaining, trading and rotating players for an entire season it's refreshing to encounter a company such as DraftKings. Let's face it, most of us simply do not have the time for so much work in leagues that themselves usually offer a small or if any reward other than bragging rights. DraftKings has made it possible to build a team, play it for one day and no matter the outcome, build a new possibly ever stronger one the next day and for very generous amounts of reward money. So let me walk you through the process as well as some tips to hopefully make you the next successful DraftKings winner.

Don't let the word "league" concerned you, again these are daily games. In both the league and the Head to Head competition it simply means that you are competing against less opponents than you would be, say in a tournament so the odds may be better in your favor though the winnings will be lesser but still rather gracious depending of coarse on the amount you put into the game, for example a $3 game x 20 players = a pot of $60 minus a couple dollars that DraftKings takes because after all it is a business, but if the total is $60 then the pot will be about $58, barely even a difference for a platform that allows such an exciting and refreshing way to bet sports.

In Draftkings daily games you are not competing against a "house" or a "Houses edge" say such as you would in a casino. You are literally playing the odds of the number of opponents you are facing, so if there are 20 people in your daily league game for instance, then you have a 1 in 20 chance of winning and a head to head would be 1 in 2 chance of winning. In most games you can create multiple teams to increase your odds of winning a prize. In leagues usually the first to first five players win a prize that increases with placement at the end of the night's games.

These are where you make the real money, some prizes cashing out first place at $10,000 to even $100,000. Now understand that the higher the prize amount, the more opponents you will face, but don't let this discourage you, every single day there is a winner who sat at they're computer, created a team that in his or her's eyes would run the most efficient and walked away with thousands of dollars. Your odds are better spending $3-$100 on a team or teams than walking into your local store and purchasing scratch-offs or playing the lottery and by the end of the night you will know if you've won.

Now when I say won understand that you are placing, just like in a real life tournament, usually first, second and third win but in draft kings it's more like 1st through 8421st win a prize, deciding from first place down. The top 10 places usually award the most, in games called "Moonshots" well the larger ones, usually start at $10,000 for first and work down awarding say 5th $1,000 and last place $6 which is still double your money and for most, that money is use to rebuild the following day and try again for that first place prize.

The meat of the topic is simply building the team. Remember that just because you have a favorite team or favorite player does not mean you should always use them. Sometimes the match ups unfortunately are weighted against your team to win or sometimes even score any good run depending on the pitcher they are facing, remember you are here to win and make smart logical decisions. When I play I pretend I'm the GM and my duty is to create the best team possible, makes it a little more fun and takes away the loyalties that may hinder you from making the smart choice in players. Say your team's hitters have been on sort of a roller coaster as far as consistency and today they face Clayton Kershaw, well today may be the day to avoid playing them unless you feel this is the day, against the number one pitcher that your hitter will clear out of his slump but when reality finally sets back in you'll realize it may be best to move on to another hitter.

You will choose two pitchers, one catcher, one 1st, 2nd and 3rd basemen, one short stop and three outfielders for obvious reasons. Pitcher selection is paramount for two reasons, one if you have a good pitcher he will garnish you most of your points, a good pitcher will range from 20-30 points for a game and an ace even more but on the other hand they have the highest chance of going negative in points, either from too many hits and walk given or more damning runs allowed. Your hitters may come up 3-4 times a game but your pitcher is out every inning until he is sat down for the game. The implications of your pitcher selection could negate a great hitting preference from your hitters and there is nothing worst than seeing numbers like 15+ next your your hitters but a -12 next to your pitcher, "I almost had it" you'll say angerly. Remember the idea is to build a team that will work together though ironically they are on different teams.

As far as policy to choosing players. You are given a $50,000 cap in which each player is worth a certain amount based on past performances and predicted performance. This also helps to ensure that there will be thousands of different rostered teams because if someone out there just needs to play a player worth 11,300 then they'll need to be real creative in the rest of the team selection.

As far as who you pick,well that's your choice entirely pending two things, one that your pitcher are on opposing teams, which is impossible not to do, only starting pitchers are allowed; second as far as your hitters they must hail from three separate teams, easy enough. This still makes stacking, which I'll explain later, very possible. Again it just ensures diversity in team selections.

Knowing who will do what is almost impossible for anything let alone a game as spontaneous as baseball but there is truth in numbers and history. It is safe to say that anytime you invest money into something, you do a little research first, well the same should apply here; just as I said I pretend I'm the GM and my job is to enlist the best team possible, the only way to properly do this is to research players' averages and habits.

One of the most disputed stats in fantasy baseball is Hitter vs.Pitcher history. Some say that every time a hitter comes up to bat it's entirely random whether he hits or not, where as the other side, in which I am a part, says that history is more predictable for many reasons starting with the idea that if a hitter has seen a pitcher 10 times and hit 7 times he has learned the pitchers style and pitch type therefore creating confidence as well just the obvious fact that if you are trying to choose say a 1st baseman and one hitter is batting .700 vs. another who bats .200 against a given pitcher where are you most likely to put your money. Now is this foolproof, no, nothing is, if it were there would be no point in even playing, the magic of baseball after all is seeing the impossible become reality such as a rookie who almost no one picked who had costed $3500 hitting a grandslam in the 8th to go ahead and win the game and boosting those few who had given him a shot to high places in the tournament.

When stacking hitters, you are simply taking multiple players from a single team that you have deemed is facing an inferior pitcher, you are looking to exploit their weakness to your advantage, say he's not consistent against left handed hitters and by chance today's team is loaded with them, you stack all player with that given handiness, hopefully they are all close in the lineup so they can compliment each other in points, for example, hitter (a) hits a double 1st in the lineup, hitter (b) hits a single, second in the lineup and hitter (c) hits a homerun, third in the lineup, you are now receiving points for the single, the double, the runs that each hitter received for scoring, the two RBI's for hitter (c) plus his homerun which awards you about 28 points for the one event. Is stacking always a good idea, no, and sometimes a pitcher will surprise you, they did make it to being a starting pitcher after all. Just as Hitter pitcher history can't always tell the future, baseball is still a very spontaneous sport where a pitch put in the wrong spot can change your night for better or for worst but knowing pitcher weaknesses can truly help promote a better created team.

A really good thing to be aware of is the pitcher's handiness and the team he is facing. Remember that Lefty hitters tend to do very well against Righty pitchers and vice versa, the reason being the way the baseball breaks as it enters the strikezone. Again there are exceptions to the rule but for the most part this is a true fact, does it mean if you pick a lefty tonight you are guaranteed points from him, no, but you've increased your odds and in betting, odds are always your friend. If a team has chosen to play a player who usually doesn't bat, say a newer player, this is usually a reason, when you see these types of changes in a lineup, say you see a name you don't see a whole lot, do some research and find out why they may have made the move, remember they are also trying to increase they're odds of winning based on a hitting strategy. Be the GM, be the coach, this is your team, so be smart don't be afraid to follow your gut but be cautious when doing so.