We had a newcomer to the grading this week as we added Rotowire’s paid picks. They ended up at opposite ends of the spectrum after their first week. On the pitcher side of things, they are dwelling in the cellar with an awful performance out of the gate; however, on the hitter side of things, they find themselves at the top of the heap. For the full breakdown of grades check out our MLB Expert Standings to see where your favorite expert ranks. As we head down the final stretch of the season, it will be interesting to see who claims the top spots. 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: 5.08) maintains the spot at the top of the mountain. Stephen actually picked up .01 of a point this week.
#2) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 4.92) dipped a full .10 point but still holds on to a rather comfortable spot in 2nd place.
#3) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 4.82) created a bit of distance between themselves at DailyRoto for the 3rd spot. Last week was razor thin but they now have a rather comfortable lead.
Hitters
#1) Rotowire (Score: 3.04) came charging out of the gate in their first week on the hitter side. We can’t say the same about their pitcher selections. Can they keep it up and close out the season on top?
#2) DailyRoto (Score: 2.96) finds itself in somewhere other than 1st for the first time in a long time. They will hope that Rotowire falls back to the field and they can regain the top spot.
#3) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 2.84) slid down one spot as well with the newcomer taking the lead. They maintain a rather small .04 lead over DFSR for the bronze medal.
Week in Review
Monday (August 8th)
Industry Consensus Picks
The Consensus finished tied for 7th on the day in the pitcher category with a 1.50 score. You know it’s a bad day when you can put up a score that bad and tie for 7th. A 10th place finish on the hitter side with a 2.93 score.
A+ – Yasmany Grandal, Stephen Vogt, Edwin Encarnacion, Devon Travis, Adrian Beltre, Nolan Arenado
F – 16 of the 34 picks finished in the failing category.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) Fantasy Alarm (Score: 4.00) topped the day with a middle of the road score of 4.0. Three of their four plays finished “B” or better. FA was the only site to pick Kendall Graveman
#2) FantasyPros (Score: 3.75) claimed the 2nd spot by putting half of their four picks at a “B” or better. FantasyPros was the lone expert to play Tyler Duffey.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) RotoGrinders 6-Pack (Score: 3.83) took home the title for the 2nd Monday in a row. Two of his six plays scored an “A+” grade.
#2) DailyFantasyCafe (Score: 3.80) finished with a nice score on Monday. Two of their five plays scored an “A” or better.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Kendall Graveman (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Tyler Duffey (FantasyPros)
A+ – AJ Pierzynski (FantasyPros)
A+ – Brandon Belt (FantasyPros)
A+ – Brandon Crawford (FantasyPros)
A+ – Denard Span (FantasyPros)
Tuesday (August 9th)
Industry Consensus Picks
The Consensus finished in an 8th place tie for the day with a very solid 5.00 score for pitchers. It was quite the opposite on the hitter side where the Consensus turned in a 13th place finish with a 1.71 score.
A+ – Max Scherzer, John Lackey, Paul Goldschmidt, Jose Altuve
F – Thirteen of the 30 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A) Daily Overaly – BvP for MVP (Score: 10.00) played Scherzer to haul in a perfect score on the pitcher side.
#1B) FantasyWired (Score: 10.00) only made two plays but hit on both John Lackey and Tyrell Jenkins.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) FantasyPros (Score: 3.85) finds the top spot for Tuesday. Seven of their 20 picks scored an “A+” grade. They were the only site to play Howie Kendrick, Brandon Drury, Kyle Seager, Cheslor Cuthbert, Kole Calhoun and Jabari Blash, all of whom scored an “A+” grade. Now that is how you take the top spot for the day!
#2) Scout (Score: 3.44) scored a 2nd place finish with their hitters. Seven of their 18 plays scored an “A” or better. Similar to FantasyPros, Scout was the only site to play Yadier Molina, Miguel Cabrera and Andrew Benintendi who all scored an “A+”.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Billy Hamilton (Daily Overlay – BvP for MVP)
A+ – JD Martinez (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Yadier Molina (Scout)
A+ – Miguel Cabrera (Scout)
A+ – Andrew Benintendi (Scout)
A+ – Justin Turner (DK Playbook)
A+ – Wily Peralta (FantasyPros)
A+ – Trevor Bauer (FantasyPros)
A+ – Howie Kendrick (FantasyPros)
A+ – Brandon Drury (FantasyPros)
A+ – Kyle Seager (FantasyPros)
A+ – Cheslor Cuthbert (FantasyPros)
A+ – Kole Calhoun (FantasyPros)
A+ – Jabari Blash (FantasyPros)
A+ – Rick Porcello (ESPN Daily Notes)
Wednesday (August 10th)
Industry Consensus Picks
The Consensus finished in 6th place for the day with an impressive 5.57 score on the pitcher side. The hitter side was quite different with a 1.50 score and a 13th place finish.
A+ – JA Happ, Jason Hammel, Felix Hernandez, Jonathan Lucroy, Matt Carpenter
F – Fourteen of the 31 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1A) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 10.00) was part of a three-way split up top on Wednesday as they scored a 10 with Hammel.
#1B) FantasyWired (Score: 10.00) used King Felix to climb their way into the three way tie for 1st.
#1C) DailyFantasyCafe (Score: 10.00) also used Hammel on their way to a perfect score.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) DailyFantasyCafe (Score: 3.50) ended up in the top-2 on the hitter side as well. Half of their four picks finished with a “B” or better.
#2) RotoGrinders Consensus (Score: 3.30) rounds out the top-2 on the day. Seven of their 23 selections scored an “A” or better.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Scooter Gennett (RotoGrinders Consensus)
A+ – Edwin Jackson (FantasyPros)
A+ – Gary Sanchez (FantasyPros)
A+ – Addison Russell (FantasyPros)
A+ – Melvin Upton, Jr (FantasyPros)
Friday (August 12th)
Industry Consensus Picks
An outstanding day for the Consensus pitchers with a 5.43 grade and a 4th place finish. A 10th place tie on the hitter side with a 2.81 score.
A+ – Carlos Carrasco, David Price, Joe Musgrove, Jonathan Lucroy, Hanley Ramirez, Trea Turner, Evan Longoria, Billy Hamilton, Brandon Guyer, Charlie Blackmon
F – 16 of the 39 selections finished with a failing grade.
Top Experts of the Day – Pitchers
#1) FantasyWired (Score: 10.00) hit the nail on the head twice with Carrasco and Musgrove to cap the week.
#2) Scout (Score: 8.75) also closed out the week with a bang. Three of their four picks finished with an “A+” and the fourth scored an “A”.
Top Experts of the Day – Hitters
#1) Fantasy Alarm (Score: 3.83) found the right combo of hitters on Friday. Twelve of the 29 picks scored an “A” or better. FA was the lone expert site to play Freddie Freeman, Brandon Phillips and Rajai Davis who all scored “A+” grades.
#2A) DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 3.67) ended the week in a tie for the top-2. Six of their 18 selections finished with an “A” or better.
#2B) FantasyWired (Score: 3.25) found the top-2 by scoring an “A+” with one of their three plays.
Sleepers of the Day
A+ – Kendrys Morales (DailyFantasySportsRankings)
A+ – Freddie Freeman (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Brandon Phillips (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Rajai Davis (Fantasy Alarm)
A+ – Yordano Ventura (Scout)
A+ – Ryan Schimpf (Moxyball – Cheat Sheet)
A+ – Chris Davis (FantasyPros)
A+ – Cesar Hernandez (FantasyPros)
A+ – Carlos Beltran (ESPN Daily Notes)
Consensus Lineup Construction Review
Things went from pretty to pretty ugly for us this week in the Lineup Construction. Coming off one of our better weeks this season, we took a big leap in the wrong direction. FanDuel saved a bit of face on Friday and Brad’s three Cash game wins helped us to not totally tank.
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
As I mentioned above, if it weren’t for Friday, it would have been a really sour week on FanDuel. Two wins to close out the week helped me stomach what was not pretty overall.
| Day | Cash Score | Cash Place | Profit (Loss) | GPP Score | GPP Place | Profit (Loss) | Picks By |
| Monday | 127.1 | 60/100 | ($2.00) | 121.7 | 2,674/5,780 | ($2.00) | Matt |
| Tuesday | 85.6 | 83/100 | ($2.00) | 112.6 | 2,487/5,780 | ($2.00) | Matt |
| Wednesday | 60.2 | 97/100 | ($2.00) | 65.9 | 4,750/5,423 | ($2.00) | Matt |
| Friday | 139.9 | 42/100 | $1.60 | 199.3 | 2,942/50,096 | $3.00 | Matt |
Draftkings
Brad put together solid Cash game lineups all week. He found the money three of four times and barely missed the cash line with his fourth one. The GPP was not as kind, however. He couldn’t find the right side of the money at all with his GPP lineups.
| Day | Cash Score | Cash Place | Profit (Loss) | GPP Score | GPP Place | Profit (Loss) | Picks By |
| Monday | 144.65 | 5/100 | $1.60 | 66.5 | 2,135/2,352 | ($1.00) | Brad |
| Tuesday | 97.05 | 57/100 | ($2.00) | 81.85 | 1,681/2,352 | ($1.00) | Brad |
| Wednesday | 108.6 | 30/100 | $1.60 | 99.35 | 388/1,176 | ($1.00) | Brad |
| Friday | 131.55 | 16/100 | $1.60 | 89.2 | 1,773/2,352 | ($1.00) | Brad |
FantasyDraft
Stephen had a down wee on FantasyDraft as well. He found the money, for a minuscule profit, with his GPP lineup on Tuesday. Outside of that, it was all zeroes.
| Day | Cash Score | Cash Place | Profit (Loss) | GPP Score | GPP Place | Profit (Loss) | Picks By |
| Monday | 103.75 | 71/111 | ($1.00) | 77.35 | 280/342 | ($1.00) | Stephen |
| Tuesday | 88.8 | 68/96 | ($1.00) | 111.35 | 92/390 | $0.50 | Stephen |
| Wednesday | 75.15 | 67/100 | ($1.00) | 83.35 | 220/376 | ($1.00) | Stephen |
| Friday | 75.35 | 84/98 | ($1.00) | 115.55 | 147/228 | ($1.00) | Stephen |
The grid below shows a recap of the results so far this season. Just as we started making some headway the last couple weeks, we get knocked back on our behinds. Total ROI back to a -7.9%. The tough climb out continues this week.
| 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 | $126.00 | $118.80 | -5.7% | $129.00 | $117.51 | -8.9% | $255.00 | $236.31 | -7.3% |
| Stephen | $9.00 | $12.60 | 40.0% | $10.00 | $8.50 | -15.0% | $19.00 | $21.10 | 11.1% |
| FD Overall | $147.00 | $142.20 | -3.3% | $146.00 | $126.01 | -13.7% | $293.00 | $268.21 | -8.5% |
| 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 | $128.00 | $118.80 | -7.2% | $63.00 | $61.17 | -2.9% | $191.00 | $179.97 | -5.8% |
| 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 | $140.00 | $130.20 | -7.0% | $83.00 | $68.67 | -17.3% | $223.00 | $198.87 | -10.8% |
| 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 | $32.00 | $30.00 | -6.3% | $33.00 | $60.50 | 83.3% | $65.00 | $90.50 | 39.2% |
| FND Overall | $36.00 | $38.00 | 5.6% | $35.00 | $60.50 | 72.9% | $71.00 | $98.50 | 38.7% |
| Overall | $339.50 | $318.40 | -6.2% | $308.00 | $277.68 | -9.8% | $647.50 | $596.08 | -7.9% |
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 | 55.05% | 35.92% | 14 |
| 10 | 54.84% | 36.14% | 28 |
| 9 | 39.72% | 26.66% | 62 |
| 8 | 35.00% | 22.99% | 103 |
| 7 | 28.66% | 20.26% | 132 |
| 6 | 22.49% | 16.71% | 230 |
| 5 | 18.70% | 14.93% | 390 |
| 4 | 13.83% | 11.56% | 571 |
| 3 | 9.92% | 9.26% | 858 |
| 2 | 6.14% | 6.52% | 1486 |
| 1 | 2.95% | 3.63% | 3230 |
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 | 57.50% | N/A | 47.40% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 33.30% | 55.05% |
| 10 | 54.51% | 35.90% | 66.70% | N/A | 26.50% | 73.50% | 60.20% | 54.84% |
| 9 | 44.13% | N/A | 36.74% | 34.15% | 49.70% | 30.27% | 37.52% | 39.72% |
| 8 | 30.86% | 32.64% | 29.19% | 39.50% | 38.87% | 35.90% | 43.08% | 35.00% |
| 7 | 27.71% | 28.82% | 23.28% | 28.33% | 38.27% | 24.08% | 31.56% | 28.66% |
| 6 | 26.67% | 20.18% | 19.80% | 13.91% | 17.36% | 24.12% | 26.51% | 22.49% |
| 5 | 19.73% | 16.61% | 16.71% | 17.12% | 17.07% | 16.77% | 22.06% | 18.70% |
| 4 | 13.80% | 14.16% | 10.24% | 11.37% | 13.89% | 11.83% | 17.71% | 13.83% |
| 3 | 11.32% | 10.26% | 8.50% | 7.35% | 9.86% | 8.81% | 11.78% | 9.92% |
| 2 | 7.64% | 6.50% | 4.74% | 5.13% | 5.98% | 4.89% | 7.16% | 6.14% |
| 1 | 3.24% | 3.83% | 2.12% | 2.96% | 2.73% | 2.44% | 3.20% | 2.95% |
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 | 37.42% | N/A | 24.20% | N/A | N/A | N/A | 29.70% | 35.92% |
| 10 | 36.58% | 18.70% | 44.20% | N/A | 17.10% | 49.40% | 28.30% | 36.14% |
| 9 | 31.91% | N/A | 21.75% | 22.56% | 31.18% | 19.97% | 22.71% | 26.66% |
| 8 | 23.83% | 20.37% | 18.38% | 21.86% | 23.38% | 19.66% | 28.62% | 22.99% |
| 7 | 22.31% | 18.78% | 15.27% | 19.30% | 25.07% | 16.94% | 20.23% | 20.26% |
| 6 | 21.30% | 15.57% | 13.70% | 11.44% | 14.89% | 16.41% | 17.56% | 16.71% |
| 5 | 17.75% | 13.48% | 12.99% | 12.96% | 14.27% | 13.15% | 16.31% | 14.93% |
| 4 | 14.35% | 12.07% | 8.52% | 10.00% | 12.56% | 9.58% | 12.87% | 11.56% |
| 3 | 12.20% | 9.60% | 6.89% | 7.38% | 9.74% | 8.05% | 10.25% | 9.26% |
| 2 | 9.31% | 7.15% | 5.14% | 5.44% | 6.29% | 5.47% | 6.89% | 6.52% |
| 1 | 5.03% | 3.97% | 2.76% | 3.41% | 3.08% | 3.04% | 3.91% | 3.63% |
