Another week in the books and there was some movement in our MLB Expert Standings. If you did not catch last week’s article, we are now providing two separate grids in the MLB Expert Standings. One for pitchers and one for the hitters. Later this week, I will be adding a column to each chart that shows points per DK dollar. That will allow you to differentiate between those sites that provide some value plays and those that just stack the top names night after night. Enjoy!
In this article, I will give a brief recap of each day we gathered and graded the experts, including how the Industry Consensus picks did, highlighting which experts were at the top for the day and which players were only called out by one expert, but produced an “A+” grade. We will also review the overall standings and highlight the top experts so far this season. And finally, I will publish results of our Lineup Construction series.
As a reminder, we are currently gathering selections and publishing the MLB Industry Consensus articles and MLB Consensus Lineup Construction articles each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday during the season, so be sure to check back about an hour or so before the first pitch of the first game to get a look at the consensus picks and sample lineups for the day.
Leaderboard
The top-3 for both pitchers and hitters are below. Check out the full MLB Expert Standings to see how your favorite experts check out.
Pitchers
#1) Daily Overlay – BvP for MVP (Score: 5.30) continues to provide solid pitcher selections. His scored dipped a bit but he still maintains a solid cushion. Make sure you check out his BvP article today where he provided two pitching picks.
#2) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 5.09) is still holding onto our 2nd spot. Once I add in the points per dollar number, you will likely see that the RG Consensus is not providing a lot of value options.
#3) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 4.91) hops into the top-3 this week with a nice bump in their pitcher selection scores. DFSR is only providing 1 or 2 pitcher selections a day typically. They do; however, provide some solid value options at times during the week.
Hitters
#1) DailyRoto (Score: 2.97) took a bit of a step back this past week; however, they still stake claim to the #1 spot. As with the RG Consensus, once the point per dollar numbers come out, you’ll see they typically suggest the highest salary options at each position daily.
#2) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 2.83) is in the #2 spot on the hitter side as well. They may struggle to catch DR in a short period of time, as these two sites provide many of the same plays daily.
#3) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 2.78) climbed into the top-3 on the hitter side, as well. They will look to keep up the momentum and try to climb the leaderboard.
Week in Review
Monday (July 25th)
Industry Consensus Picks
The Consensus finished in 9th for the day in the pitcher category with a 3.00 score. A 12th place finish on the hitter side of things with a 1.36 score. All around it was a pretty crappy day for the experts, including the Consensus.
A+ – Aaron Sanchez, Danny Valencia, Ryan Braun
F – 24 of the 41 picks finished in the failing category.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) FantasyPros (Score: 10.00) hit the jackpot on all four of their pitcher picks. The crazy thing? They were the only site to select those pitchers (De La Rosa, Cosart, Anderson, Gallardo).
#2) ESPN Daily Notes (Score: 5.80) scored a solid 2nd place finish to start the week. Three of their five picks scored an “A” or better. ESPN was the only expert site to play Michael Pineda.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 2.83) was the best of the worst in the hitter category for Monday. A score like that does not go a long way on most days. Despite five of their 12 plays finishing with a failing grade, they take the cake.
#2) RotoGrinders 6-Pack (Score: 2.67) claimed the runner-up prize. Half of their 6 plays scored a failing grade, yet, here they are in the top-2.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Salvador Perez (RotoGrinders Consensus)
A+ – Albert Pujols (DK Playbook)
A+ – Jorge De La Rosa (FantasyPros)
A+ – Jarred Cosart (FantasyPros)
A+ – Chase Anderson (FantasyPros)
A+ – Yovani Gallardo (FantasyPros)
A+ – Luis Valbuena (FantasyPros)
A+ – Jose Iglesias (FantasyPros)
A+ – Alex Dickerson (FantasyPros)
A+ – Michael Pineda (ESPN Daily Notes)
A+ – Kevin Pillar (ESPN Daily Notes)
Tuesday (July 26th)
Industry Consensus Picks
The Consensus turned in an 6th place finish for the day with a 4.00 score for pitchers. A 9th place finish with a 2.50 score on the hitter side.
A+ – Bud Norris, Chris Archer, Buster Posey, David Ortiz, Joey Votto, Josh Donaldson
F – Sixteen of the 35 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 6.00) turned in another 1st place finish on Tuesday. An “A+” and a “C” added up to a 6.00 score.
#2) DailyRoto (Score: 5.25) took home a 2nd place finish. Half of their four plays scored an “A+” grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) RotoGrinders 6-Pack (Score: 5.00) finished with a gold medal on Tuesday in the hitter category. Four total picks brought home two “A+’s” and two failing grades
#2) DailyFantasyCafe (Score: 4.00) scored a 2nd place finish with their hitters. Two of their five plays scored an “A+”.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Tyler Skaggs (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Billy Hamilton (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Matt Kemp (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Franklin Gutierrez (DK Playbook)
A+ – Marwin Gonzalez (DK Playbook)
A+ – Brandon Crawford (FantasyPros)
A+ – Josh Reddick (ESPN Daily Notes)
A+ – Marcus Semien (ESPN Daily Notes)
A+ – Adam Duvall (ESPN Daily Notes)
Wednesday (July 27th)
Industry Consensus Picks
The Consensus finished in a 6th place tie for the day with a 5.50 score on the pitcher side. The hitter side brought a 2.18 score and a 12th place finish.
A+ – Lance McCullers, Dylan Bundy, Gerrit Cole, Jason Hammel, Kris Bryant, Ian Desmond, Starling Marte
F – Fourteen of the 36 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 10.00) scored an “A+” on their only pitcher selection for Wednesday.
#1B) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 10.00) was the 2nd expert in a 3-team tie for 1st. FTA made two selections and scored an “A+” on both.
#1C) Moxyball – Cheat Sheet (Score: 10.00) was the only expert to play Archie Bradley. He was their lone pitcher selection on the day and scored an “A+”.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) FantasyWired (Score: 5.00) slotted at the top on the hitter side. Two of their three plays scored an “A” or better.
#2) Scout (Score: 3.82) scored an “A” or better on five other 11 selections on Wednesday. Scout was the lone expert site to play Kurt Suzuki.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Yasmany Tomas (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Kurt Suzuki (Scout)
A+ – Archie Bradley (Moxyball – Cheat Sheet)
A+ – Logan Verrett (FantasyPros)
A+ – Coco Crisp (FantasyPros)
A+ – Yoenis Cespedes (FantasyPros)
A+ – Khris Davis (FantasyPros)
A+ – Addison Russell (ESPN Daily Notes)
Friday (July 29th)
Industry Consensus Picks
A pretty solid day for the Consensus pitchers with a 3.17 grade but a 12th place finish. Things weren’t much better on the hitter side with a 14th place finish and a 1.43 score.
A+ – Max Scherzer, Edwin Encarnacion, Xander Bogaerts
F – Fifteen of the 34 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 6.50) had a nice finish to the week with an “A+” and a “B”.
#2) DailyFantasyCafe (Score: 6.00) rounded out the top-2 on the pitcher side for Friday. One of their two picks scored an “A+”.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) FantasyWired (Score: 4.00) also rounded out the week with a nice finish. One of their three picks scored an “A+”.
#2) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 3.63) found themselves in the top-2 on the hitter side on Friday, as well. Two of their eight plays finished with an “A+” grade.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Tyler Chatwood (Rotocurve)
A+ – Rick Porcello (Scout)
A+ – Yadier Molina (Scout)
A+ – Tommy Pham (DK Playbook)
A+ – Zack Godley (FantasyPros)
A+ – Brandon Finnegan (FantasyPros)
A+ – Mark Reynolds (FantasyPros)
A+ – Brandon Phillips (FantasyPros)
A+ – Justin Upton (FantasyPros)
A+ – Jose Quintana (ESPN Daily Notes)
Consensus Lineup Construction Review
Here is a list of the “rules” we are following when constructing lineups:
- Matt will make two separate lineups for FanDuel and Brad will do the same for DraftKings, one for Cash games and one for GPP tournaments. Stephen will now provide a FantasyDraft Cash and GPP lineup for those same days.
- For Cash games, we will try to build our entire lineup from the Consensus list using any player listed regardless of what tier they are in. This has proven a bit difficult to get a top-tier pitcher in our lineups by using only Consensus plays. For that reason, we now have tweaked the rules a bit and allow for one off the board play in the Cash game format.
- For GPP games, we are allowed to choose up to two players that are not on the Consensus list.
- We can modify any lineup as we see fit for any late-breaking news updates that open up good options even if they are not on the Consensus list.
Weekly/Overall Results
FanDuel
I broke even in the GPP format this week thanks for a nice finish on Tuesday. A split on the Cash game side cost us the juice. Pitcher selection in the GPP killed me this week. I went off the board twice with Jimmy Nelson and Ivan Nova. It cost me dearly both times.
| Day | Cash Score | Cash Place | Profit (Loss) | GPP Score | GPP Place | Profit (Loss) | Picks By |
| Monday | 87.8 | 72/100 | ($2.00) | 96.3 | 8,143/15,028 | ($1.00) | Matt |
| Tuesday | 167.7 | 8/100 | $1.60 | 186 | 337/15,028 | $4.00 | Matt |
| Wednesday | 105.5 | 70/100 | ($2.00) | 97.1 | 7,632/11,560 | ($1.00) | Matt |
| Friday | 117.7 | 44/100 | $1.60 | 104.6 | 3,352/5,780 | ($2.00) | Matt |
Draftkings
Brad was back from vacation for the final three days this week. Solid Cash game lineups this week from Stephen and Brad as they found the money three of four days. The GPP struggled though as we failed to cash at all.
| Day | Cash Score | Cash Place | Profit (Loss) | GPP Score | GPP Place | Profit (Loss) | Picks By |
| Monday | 113.4 | 76/574 | $1.00 | 75.3 | 11,343/17,647 | ($1.00) | Stephen |
| Tuesday | 63.6 | 95/100 | ($2.00) | 101.15 | 1,013/2,352 | ($1.00) | Brad |
| Wednesday | 134.65 | 27/100 | $1.60 | 83.85 | 877/1,176 | ($1.00) | Brad |
| Friday | 97.75 | 49/100 | $1.60 | 95.6 | 1,145/2,352 | ($1.00) | Brad |
FantasyDraft
Stephen put together another nice week. He found the money in five of the eight games he play on FantasyDraft, including three of four in the GPP format. Stephen is killing it on FantasyDraft. It may not be a bad idea to plug his lineups in every night and ride the wave.
| Day | Cash Score | Cash Place | Profit (Loss) | GPP Score | GPP Place | Profit (Loss) | Picks By |
| Monday | 106.4 | 16/100 | $1.00 | 114.3 | 67/416 | $1.00 | Stephen |
| Tuesday | 61.6 | 96/98 | ($1.00) | 125.45 | 91/441 | $0.50 | Stephen |
| Wednesday | 136.4 | 32/109 | $1.00 | 138.5 | 55/325 | $0.50 | Stephen |
| Friday | 80 | 86/97 | ($1.00) | 77.35 | 265/340 | ($1.00) | Stephen |
The grid below shows a recap of the results so far this season. We continue to further our campaign towards climbing out of the negative ROI number. Stephen’s last two weeks on FantasyDraft have been a major contributor in doing just that. We have a couple months left to get this ship sailing.
| FanDuel | Cash Entry Fees | Cash Tot Winnings | Cash ROI | GPP Entry Fees | GPP Tot Winnings | GPP ROI | Tot Entry Fees | Tot Winnings | Tot ROI |
| Brad | $12.00 | $10.80 | -10.0% | $7.00 | $0.00 | -100.0% | $19.00 | $10.80 | -43.2% |
| Matt | $110.00 | $108.00 | -1.8% | $113.00 | $106.51 | -5.7% | $223.00 | $214.51 | -3.8% |
| Stephen | $9.00 | $12.60 | 40.0% | $10.00 | $8.50 | -15.0% | $19.00 | $21.10 | 11.1% |
| FD Overall | $131.00 | $131.40 | 0.3% | $130.00 | $115.01 | -11.5% | $261.00 | $246.41 | -5.6% |
| DraftKings | Cash Entry Fees | Cash Tot Winnings | Cash ROI | GPP Entry Fees | GPP Tot Winnings | GPP ROI | Tot Entry Fees | Tot Winnings | Tot ROI |
| Brad | $110.00 | $97.20 | -11.6% | $54.00 | $52.00 | -3.7% | $164.00 | $149.20 | -9.0% |
| Matt | $6.00 | $3.60 | -40.0% | $9.00 | $0.00 | -100.0% | $15.00 | $3.60 | -76.0% |
| Stephen | $6.00 | $7.80 | 30.0% | $11.00 | $7.50 | -31.8% | $17.00 | $15.30 | -10.0% |
| DK Overall | $122.00 | $108.60 | -11.0% | $74.00 | $59.50 | -19.6% | $196.00 | $168.10 | -14.2% |
| FantasyAces | Cash Entry Fees | Cash Tot Winnings | Cash ROI | GPP Entry Fees | GPP Tot Winnings | GPP ROI | Tot Entry Fees | Tot Winnings | Tot ROI |
| Stephen | $16.50 | $8.00 | -51.5% | $44.00 | $22.50 | -48.9% | $60.50 | $30.50 | -49.6% |
| FA Overall | $16.50 | $8.00 | -51.5% | $44.00 | $22.50 | -48.9% | $60.50 | $30.50 | -49.6% |
| FantasyDraft | Cash Entry Fees | Cash Tot Winnings | Cash ROI | GPP Entry Fees | GPP Tot Winnings | GPP ROI | Tot Entry Fees | Tot Winnings | Tot ROI |
| Matt | $4.00 | $8.00 | 100.0% | $2.00 | $0.00 | -100.0% | $6.00 | $8.00 | 33.3% |
| Stephen | $23.00 | $26.00 | 13.0% | $24.00 | $57.50 | 139.6% | $47.00 | $83.50 | 77.7% |
| FND Overall | $27.00 | $34.00 | 25.9% | $26.00 | $57.50 | 121.2% | $53.00 | $91.50 | 72.6% |
| Overall | $296.50 | $282.00 | -4.9% | $274.00 | $254.51 | -7.1% | $570.50 | $536.51 | -6.0% |
Ownership Percentage Tracking
Below is the current table showing the data we have tracked so far this season. Results are using DraftKings Double-Up or 50/50s for Cash and large field multi-entry tournaments for GPP. The Count column shows the number of times a player was selected by the experts for a given day. The Cash % column shows the average ownership percentage of those players in a Cash game. The GPP % column shows the average ownership percentage of those players in a GPP tournament. The Total column shows the number of occurrences that a player was selected that many times.
In addition to the Overall Ownership chart, we have broken down ownership percentage by position for the Cash and GPP. You can find those charts below as well.
Overall
| Count | Cash% | GPP% | Total |
| 14 | 68.10% | 42.00% | 1 |
| 13 | 49.60% | 28.40% | 1 |
| 12 | 60.56% | 41.53% | 8 |
| 11 | 56.78% | 36.78% | 12 |
| 10 | 54.37% | 36.33% | 25 |
| 9 | 41.27% | 27.41% | 56 |
| 8 | 34.85% | 23.05% | 94 |
| 7 | 28.94% | 20.44% | 116 |
| 6 | 22.87% | 16.81% | 207 |
| 5 | 19.29% | 15.32% | 347 |
| 4 | 13.81% | 11.59% | 505 |
| 3 | 9.96% | 9.31% | 759 |
| 2 | 6.13% | 6.53% | 1293 |
| 1 | 2.93% | 3.63% | 2836 |
Cash by Position
| Count | SP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | Total |
| 14 | 68.10% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 68.10% |
| 13 | 49.60% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 49.60% |
| 12 | 72.48% | 32.50% | N/A | 17.10% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 60.56% |
| 11 | 57.63% | N/A | 47.40% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 56.78% |
| 10 | 54.52% | 35.90% | 66.70% | N/A | 26.50% | 79.50% | 60.20% | 54.37% |
| 9 | 46.81% | N/A | 40.86% | 34.15% | 49.70% | 30.93% | 37.52% | 41.27% |
| 8 | 29.89% | 32.64% | 29.19% | 38.70% | 40.25% | 35.02% | 45.31% | 34.85% |
| 7 | 28.05% | 28.82% | 25.17% | 26.02% | 38.27% | 26.01% | 30.46% | 28.94% |
| 6 | 27.41% | 20.71% | 20.47% | 13.59% | 17.82% | 24.39% | 26.51% | 22.87% |
| 5 | 19.97% | 16.77% | 16.85% | 18.84% | 17.33% | 17.06% | 23.22% | 19.29% |
| 4 | 13.99% | 14.62% | 10.47% | 11.17% | 13.83% | 11.70% | 17.54% | 13.81% |
| 3 | 11.20% | 10.46% | 8.36% | 7.41% | 9.91% | 9.03% | 11.79% | 9.96% |
| 2 | 7.46% | 6.79% | 4.61% | 5.19% | 5.79% | 4.76% | 7.30% | 6.13% |
| 1 | 3.31% | 3.74% | 2.03% | 2.92% | 2.78% | 2.42% | 3.18% | 2.93% |
GPP by Position
| Count | SP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | Total |
| 14 | 42.00% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 42.00% |
| 13 | 28.40% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 28.40% |
| 12 | 47.73% | 29.90% | N/A | 15.90% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 41.53% |
| 11 | 37.92% | N/A | 24.20% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 36.78% |
| 10 | 36.95% | 18.70% | 44.20% | N/A | 17.10% | 61.00% | 28.30% | 36.33% |
| 9 | 33.80% | N/A | 23.00% | 22.56% | 31.18% | 20.17% | 22.71% | 27.41% |
| 8 | 23.54% | 20.37% | 18.38% | 21.79% | 23.98% | 19.43% | 29.67% | 23.05% |
| 7 | 22.04% | 18.78% | 16.58% | 18.26% | 25.07% | 17.74% | 20.17% | 20.44% |
| 6 | 21.68% | 15.21% | 14.00% | 11.23% | 15.05% | 16.68% | 17.37% | 16.81% |
| 5 | 18.02% | 13.64% | 13.12% | 13.80% | 14.56% | 13.36% | 17.07% | 15.32% |
| 4 | 14.31% | 12.38% | 8.79% | 9.94% | 12.49% | 9.49% | 12.90% | 11.59% |
| 3 | 12.19% | 9.82% | 6.68% | 7.53% | 9.81% | 8.04% | 10.37% | 9.31% |
| 2 | 9.36% | 7.39% | 5.07% | 5.59% | 6.24% | 5.37% | 6.91% | 6.53% |
| 1 | 5.10% | 3.94% | 2.76% | 3.41% | 3.06% | 3.03% | 3.93% | 3.63% |
