Things are getting tight as we head down the final stretch of the MLB season. We now have a tie atop our season-long pitcher standings and the top-2 in our hitter standings are separated by .01! It’s shaping up to be quite the race to the finish for our experts as they look to lay claim to being the top expert in the DFS industry. As always, check out our MLB Expert Standings to make sure that you’re up to speed on who is making the grade. Enjoy!
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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.
As a reminder, we are currently gathering selections and publishing the MLB Industry Consensus article each weekday 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. As an added bonus in 2017, we will publish the Consensus on weekends when we have a writer available. To begin the 2017 season, we will grade 20 experts that provide pitcher selections and 21 that provide hitter selections daily.
Leaderboard
The top-3 for both pitchers and hitters are below. Be sure to check out the full MLB Expert Standings to see how your favorite experts check out.
Pitchers
#1A) DailyFantasyNerd (Score: 5.02) held fairly steady for the week but now has a companion in the top spot. Should be an exciting race to the finish.
#1B) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 5.02) surged a bit to forge a tie at the top. DFSR used a .05 bump to lock things up.
#3) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 4.82) reclaimed their top-3 slot with a nice week. FTA is once again the lone expert in the top-3 on the pitcher and hitter side.
Hitters
#1) RotoGrinders 6-Pack (Score: 3.07) held steady as he took the week off.
#2) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 3.06) is as close as anyone has been to Beer all year. FTA can vault to the top with another solid week.
#3) Daily Overlay – Value Index (Score: 2.89) saw a slight bump in overall score but saw the gap between himself and the top-2 spots widen.
Week in Review
Monday (August 14th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 3.86 (5th)
Hitters – 3.02 (6th)
A+ – Kevin Gausman, Zack Greinke, Gary Sanchez, Anthony Rizzo, Rhys Hoskins, Chris Davis, Rougned Odor, Tim Beckham, Kris Bryant, Josh Donaldson, Manny Machado, Giancarlo Stanton
F – Twenty-five of the 50 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A) DailyFantasyNerd (Score 6.00) hauled home an “A+” and a “C” to start the week.
#1B) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score 6.00) doubled up with their “A+” and “C” grades.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1A) RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (Score: 4.29) scored an “A” or better with three of their seven picks on Monday.
#1B) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 4.29) knocked down an “A” or better grade with six of their 14 plays for the day.
Sleepers of the Day
There were no players that scored an “A+” grade selected by only one expert.
Tuesday (August 15th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 3.88 (17th)
Hitters – 2.89 (12th)
A+ – Alex Wood, Dinelson Lamet, Danny Salazar, Edwin Encarnacion, Rhys Hoskins, Mark Reynolds, Matt Capenter, Jason Kipnis, Jonathan Schoop, Trevor Story, Josh Donaldson, Jay Bruce, Giancarlo Stanton, Dexter Fowler
F – Twenty-six of the 54 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score 10.00) took home a share of the top spot with two “A+” grades.
#1B) DK Playbook (Score 10.00) matched FTA with two perfect scores on Tuesday.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) Daily Overlay – Value Index (Score: 5.80) nailed down an “A” or better with three of his five plays on the day.
#2A) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 4.57) scored an “A” or better with six of their 14 selections on Tuesday
#2A) Rotowire (Score: 4.57) nailed down three “A+” grades on their seven total picks for the night.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Victor Martinez (DailyFantasySportsRankings)
A+ – Matt Joyce (Scout Fantasy)
A+ – Robinson Chirinos (DK Playbook)
A+ – Cory Spangenberg (DK Playbook)
A+ – Austin Jackson (FantasyPros)
A+ – Gio Gonzalez (FantasyGuruElite)
Wednesday (August 16th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 4.50 (11th)
Hitters – 2.71 (T-11th)
A+ – Charlie Morton, Marcus Stroman, Anthony Rizzo, Joey Gallo, Elvis Andrus, Trevor Story, Adrian Beltre, Nomar Mazara, Josh Reddick
F – Eighteen of the 41 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) Rotowire (Score 6.00) took the top spot with an “A+” and a “C” on Wednesday.
#2) FantasyPros (Score 5.33) just missed out on the top spot by scoring an “A+”, an “A” and a “D” on Wednesday.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) FantasyLabs (Score: 6.00) scored an “A+” with four of their seven plays for the evening.
#2) Daily Overlay – On the Hill (Score: 5.50) nailed down a perfect “A+” score on half of his eight plays for Wednesday.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Mark Reynolds (DailyRoto)
A+ – Ian Kinsler (DailyRoto)
A+ – Gerrardo Parra (RotoGrinders Consensus)
A+ – Carlos Beltran (RotoGrinders Lineup Builder)
A+ – Jon Gray (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – DJ LeMahieu (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Nicky Delmonico (FantasyPros)
Thursday (August 17th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 7.20 (10th)
Hitters – 2.43 (12th)
A+ – Luis Severino, Jhoulys Chacin, Edwin Jackson, Gary Sanchez, Jose Abreu, Yoan Moncada, Wilmer Difo, Nomar Mazara
F – Fourteen of the 33 selections finished with a failing grade (all failing grades were hitter selections).
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score 10.00) scored an “A+” with their lone pick on Thursday.
#1B) FantasyCPR (Score 10.00) hauled in two perfect scores on Thursday’s pitcher selections.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) FantasyCPR (Score: 6.00) brought home the clean sweep for the day with an “A” or better score on five of their eight picks including four “A+” grades.
#2) Rotowire (Score: 4.00) scored an “A+” grade on one of their three plays.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Jedd Gyorko (DailyRoto)
A+ – Tommy Pham (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Brett Nicholas (FantasyPros)
Friday (August 18th)
Industry Consensus Picks
Pitchers – 5.17 (8th)
Hitters – 2.53 (T-7th)
A+ – Matt Moore, Dallas Keuchel, Matt Carpenter, Jose Altuve, Brandon Crawford, Todd Frazier, Mike Trout, Gerardo Parra, Carlos Gonzalez, Nickey Delmonico
F – Twenty of the 49 selections finished with a failing grade (all the failing grades were hitter selections).
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score 10.00) nailed a perfect score with both of their plays to end the week.
#2) DailyFantasyNerd (Score 7.50) also hauled home an “A+” and “A” on Friday to find the top-2.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score 4.15) scored an “A” or better with five of their 13 selections on Friday.
#2) DailyFantasyNerd (Score 4.00) scored an “A” or better with half of their eight plays to cap the week.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Logan Forsythe (DailyFantasySportsRankings)
A+ – Manny Machado (DailyFantasySportsRankings)
A+ – Christian Vazquez (Scout Fantasy)
A+ – Edwin Encarnacion (FantasyGuruElite)
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 % chart shows the average ownership percentage of those players in a Cash game. The GPP % chart shows the average ownership percentage of those players in a GPP tournament.
Cash by Position
| Count | SP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | Total |
| 16 | 79.70% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 66.40% | N/A | 75.27% |
| 15 | 65.73% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 65.73% |
| 14 | 64.98% | 63.10% | N/A | N/A | 48.50% | 61.60% | 79.25% | 65.41% |
| 13 | 71.14% | N/A | 66.10% | N/A | 72.90% | 64.20% | 65.10% | 70.12% |
| 12 | 55.08% | N/A | 48.25% | 50.60% | 27.10% | 70.43% | 46.90% | 54.45% |
| 11 | 52.24% | N/A | 43.55% | 27.58% | 33.00% | 46.17% | 50.25% | 47.32% |
| 10 | 48.61% | 32.53% | 41.53% | 50.02% | 42.57% | 39.46% | 50.11% | 45.44% |
| 9 | 38.75% | 26.40% | 33.69% | 38.96% | 26.22% | 34.97% | 37.56% | 34.87% |
| 8 | 31.71% | 21.24% | 29.77% | 28.66% | 26.16% | 36.56% | 34.26% | 30.78% |
| 7 | 23.03% | 26.30% | 26.20% | 20.76% | 24.65% | 22.38% | 27.68% | 24.57% |
| 6 | 22.70% | 23.13% | 20.69% | 20.10% | 16.51% | 20.11% | 22.50% | 21.23% |
| 5 | 16.19% | 16.24% | 14.94% | 15.10% | 15.85% | 11.53% | 19.51% | 16.20% |
| 4 | 12.24% | 11.04% | 9.56% | 10.10% | 9.88% | 8.49% | 13.45% | 10.98% |
| 3 | 7.40% | 8.33% | 6.45% | 8.08% | 7.07% | 6.74% | 8.93% | 7.69% |
| 2 | 4.86% | 5.87% | 4.41% | 4.87% | 5.19% | 4.17% | 5.76% | 5.10% |
| 1 | 2.33% | 3.57% | 2.22% | 2.60% | 3.38% | 1.88% | 3.15% | 2.80% |
GPP by Position
| Count | SP | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | Total |
| 16 | 52.65% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 46.50% | N/A | 50.60% |
| 15 | 38.13% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 38.13% |
| 14 | 40.16% | 40.40% | N/A | N/A | 27.30% | 42.30% | 50.90% | 40.85% |
| 13 | 44.94% | N/A | 31.93% | N/A | 36.40% | 19.20% | 27.30% | 41.44% |
| 12 | 34.90% | N/A | 23.00% | 25.70% | 27.10% | 36.03% | 31.00% | 33.25% |
| 11 | 32.22% | N/A | 21.05% | 22.10% | 25.20% | 23.89% | 27.36% | 27.68% |
| 10 | 31.03% | 20.94% | 21.30% | 31.44% | 27.41% | 18.18% | 26.80% | 26.78% |
| 9 | 29.70% | 19.11% | 21.54% | 20.27% | 18.35% | 18.90% | 23.50% | 23.74% |
| 8 | 25.58% | 17.72% | 19.73% | 17.81% | 17.95% | 20.16% | 21.32% | 20.63% |
| 7 | 20.99% | 18.59% | 15.76% | 14.06% | 18.71% | 15.85% | 17.67% | 17.64% |
| 6 | 21.34% | 15.85% | 13.58% | 13.95% | 13.73% | 14.16% | 15.13% | 15.97% |
| 5 | 16.55% | 12.72% | 10.75% | 12.03% | 11.61% | 10.48% | 13.72% | 12.84% |
| 4 | 13.68% | 9.76% | 8.54% | 8.68% | 10.22% | 8.14% | 11.02% | 10.14% |
| 3 | 9.91% | 8.16% | 6.63% | 7.51% | 7.43% | 7.25% | 8.54% | 7.94% |
| 2 | 7.65% | 6.17% | 5.20% | 5.40% | 5.91% | 5.31% | 6.25% | 6.04% |
| 1 | 4.47% | 3.96% | 3.24% | 3.62% | 3.82% | 3.25% | 3.95% | 3.77% |
