RWBC Finals Recap
As a breaking news writer at RotoWire, I have the fortune to be around news all day. In fact, I often input many of the player notes and lineups readers rely on daily. You'd think this would assist when I play in daily contests (which I do pretty consistently), and it does to a certain extent. However, many unpredictable factors can contribute to the outcome of daily games, and that's why many of us like to play. We've had the fortune of partnering with Fanduel for this competition, and it's provided a great opportunity for RotoWire experts to interact and compete with the users of our site.
Following 13 weeks of qualifiers, the RotoWire Championship Finals presented by Fanduel have been completed. While our experts couldn't earn entries into the $15,000 final available to other Fanduel users, the top five experts in the qualifiers each week and the overall top 10 received entries into an expert finals. Entering the last week of competition, I stood on the doorstep of at least two entries, sitting eighth in the standings and posting a strong enough performance in Week 5 to bag an entry. Unfortunately, my last qualifier went poorly, and I dropped to 14th overall out of the 50 experts who entered the competition, and took just one entry into the final.
My one chance in the final didn't measure up to others in the competition who earned multiple entries. Mocked for my selection of Collin McHugh, my night started promising with six strikeouts over five shutout innings. However, the night derailed when the sixth rolled around, as two runs allowed by McHugh and a lack of run support cost me the win and the four points that come with it. Even with those, I still wouldn't have cracked the payouts, as my offensive picks offered little support as well. My attempt fell flat, and I bested just 11 others to finish 64th out of 75 entries.
One entry was enough for Jeff Stotts, however, as he managed to compile the best lineup among experts behind a 24-point performance from Noah Syndergaard on the mound. He cleared his closest competitor by 1.25 points, totaling 56.25 despite passing on the biggest offensive output of the night in Mike Trout (14.5 points). I have decided to refrain from heaping praise beyond first place, mostly because of the person who finished second (just kidding Adam Wolf). Without further ado, the top 10 standings for the experts:
Rotowire Expert Championship
- Jeff Stotts (RotowireATC) - 56.25
- Adam Wolf (rotosomething) - 55
- Ronny Mor (ronnymor2) - 53.25
- James Anderson (realjranderson) - 52
- Tate McIntyre (tamc10) - 51.25
- Ed Kensik (chicagoed) - 49.5
- Ryan Rufe (rmrufe) - 49.5
- Paul Sporer (pjs24) - 49.41
- Mike Gay (phislamajama10) - 48.25
- Brian Pelowski (brianp) - 46.5
The rest of the standings can be found here.
Interesting Notes from the Expert Championship:
-The top pitcher used was Noah Syndergaard at 22.7 percent (scored 24 points).
-The top hitter used was Bryce Harper at 42.7 percent (scored 0.25 points).
Now, onto the $15,000 final for RotoWire and Fanduel users. The format for this tournament was similar, but instead of five qualifiers per week, the top 50 non-experts received an entry. Over the 13 weeks of the contest, 650 tickets were awarded to entrants, setting up a terrific final that included big payouts.
Six users managed to nab 10 entries into the final, but bigdad64 (who had just three) took home the top prize of $2,000. He blew away the competition, totaling 82.5 to outpace second place by a difference of 11.25 points. Led by Mike Leake on the mound (22 points), five of his eight hitters scored 7.25 points or more, with Mike Trout (14.5 points) and Yoenis Cespedes (10.5 points) scoring the most. None of the players he selected were owned by more than 6.8 percent of entries, the highest being Joe Mauer.
The top 10 rounded out as follows:
RotoWire Baseball Championship
- bigdad64 - 82.5
- bustersbaseballers - 71.25
- jimmies05 - 69.16
- dixonyu - 66.25
- barberri - 59.5
- dcexpress - 58.5
- tmc94 - 58.25
- isaacq - 58.25
- barberri - 57.5
- bartmania47 - 56.16
The rest of the standings can be found here.
Interesting Notes from the RWBC:
- The top pitcher used was Madison Bumgarner at 25.5 percent (scored 14.66 points)
- The top hitter used was Derek Norris at 37.1 percent (scored -1.25 points)
- The winners of the two competitions only had Yoenis Cespedes in common (pertains to both finals).
- bigdad64's pitcher, Mike Leake, was used in just 1.7 percent of lineups. He was one of the cheapest pitchers, but was only outscored by Noah Syndergaard on Friday.
That is all from the RotoWire Baseball Championship, with baseball's All-Star break now on tap. I'd like to thank Fanduel for partnering with us for this tournament, and would also like to congratulate all winners of qualifiers and the finals.