The calendar is about to turn July and nearing the MLB All-Star break, but we are now in the Final Round of the RotoWire & FanDuel Fantasy Baseball Championship.
The RotoWire/FanDuel Fantasy Baseball Championship tournament ran from April 5 through June 14 that also included three more chances to qualify for the final round, which takes place today, June 28, where you'll compete for an extra $2,000 in cash prizes plus RotoWire subscriptions.
The RotoWire/FanDuel Fantasy Baseball Championship tournament ran from April 5 through June 14 that also included three more chances to qualify for the final round, which takes place today, June 28, where you'll compete for an extra $2,000 in cash prizes plus RotoWire subscriptions. If you finished in the top-25 on the overall leader board, you are as good as in. Inquiring minds can learn more by clicking here.
The RotoWire experts were participating in a contest that ran parallel to the main event. Congratulations to Scott Jenstad (oaktownsj), Peter Merrill (black26), Ronny Mor (ronnymor2), Andrew Parr (aparr013) and Jake Letarski (rotojakeski) who finished first through fifth in the regular season of the contest.
And it was Letarski who came from behind to grab second place overall with a big result last week and a score of 217.60 to grab the week as Jake did well with the combination of Dodgers' catcher Yasmani Grandal with his 37.4 points and his mini-Yankees stack of Matt Holliday (27.9), Chase Headley (15.7), Didi Gregorious (22.2) to go along with the selection of Mariners' pitcher James Paxton (31).
You can check out the full expert leader board here, but here's the final top 10:
1. Scott Jenstad (oaktownsj) 1735.20
2. Peter Merrill (black26) 1691.50
3. Ronny Mor (ronnymor2) 1668.60
4. Andrew Parr (aparr013) 1662.60
5. Jake Letarski (rotojakeski) 1601.80
6. Josh Fathollahi (jashfath) 1586.70
7. Tate McIntyre (tamc10) 1582.90
8. Derek VanRiper (rotowiredvr) 1574.10
9. John McKechnie (mckech3) 1565.90
10. Darin Brown (dabsabre) 1561.40
Strategy Tips
RotoWire subscribers have plenty of tools at their fingertips for building winning lineups, with the most-helpful tool coming in the form of the MLB lineup optimizer.
Using RotoWire's daily projections, the lineup optimizer will show you the highest projected lineup using FanDuel's salary limits. While simply generating the best possible lineup with one click of a button is the easiest way to get started, daily fantasy players can scroll below the optimizer and view each position's breakdown, looking for their own values within the available player pool.
When it comes to DFS strategy, why not take advantage of some of RotoWire's gifts this season? Use tools like the lineup optimizer in conjunction with our daily lineups and weather reports in order to take home the gold.
For the Championship edition you have two pitchers that you might want to pick on with a nice stack (four hitters from the same team and hopefully the top four batting positions) of the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros.
The two targets for the Daily players will be Blue Jays hitters against Baltimore's Wade Miley and for Astros' hitters it is Oakland A's pitcher Jesse Hahn.
In seven games on the road this season, Miley has been lit up with a 5.45 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP with opposing batters hitting .286 against him. At the Rogers Centre in five starts Miley has a 4.55 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. And Astros batters have hit .333 with a .993 OPS and a .394 OBP against Hahn in the pitcher's career.
Value Picks
1B Kendrys Morales, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Baltimore Orioles
FanDuel Price: $3,500
Here is a combo pick (if you look below). Morales and teammate Justin Smoak are listed at first base while Morales is mainly the designated hitter on the team (FanDuel does not have DH designation). Both have hit very well against Wade Miley. Morales is hitting .421 in his career against the Orioles hurler, but the one downside is that he does not have an extra base hit.
1B Justin Smoak, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Baltimore Orioles
FanDuel Price: $3,500
Here is a combo pick (if you look above). Smoak and teammate Kendrys Morales are listed at first base while Morales is mainly the designated hitter on the team (FanDuel does not have DH designation). Both have hit very well against Wade Miley. Smoak has hit .364 with a 1.000 OPS against Miley.
3B Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays at Pittsburgh Pirates
FanDuel Price: $3,400
Longoria has been feast or famine against Pirates hurler Ivan Nova. While Longoria has struck out 10 times against Nova in 38 at-bats, he has three home runs along with eight RBI.
P David Paulino, Houston Astros vs. Oakland A's
FanDuel Price: $7,500
A lot of people will probably be on either Nats pitcher Stephen Strasburg or Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish so a contrarian pick might be Paulino. Paulino has been up and down this season, but he has a great chance of grabbing the W against the A's who are throwing out Hahn.
C Evan Gattis, Houston Astros vs. Oakland A's
FanDuel Price: $2,700
Gattis was hitting fourth in the Astros lineup on Tuesday night so as part of picking on Oakland A's starting pitcher Jesse Hahn the Astros catcher/DH would be a nice cheap option. Gattis though has struggled recently with only one home run in the last two weeks and seven RBI while hitting .240. The lone homer did come Sunday against Seattle.
High Risk/High Reward
OF George Springer, Houston Astros vs. Oakland A's
FanDuel Price: $4,100
Springer's price might be pretty high, but he has hit well recently. In addition he has hit the Oakland A's starter Jesse Hahn very well with a .500 batting average and a 1.083 OPS. Springer could be very well be part of an Astros stack against Hahn who has been hard by Houston batters in the past. At Minute Maid Park, Hahn has a 0-3 record in third starts with a 9.24 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP to go along with a .339 batting average.
1B Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks vs. St. Louis Cardinals
FanDuel Price: $4,500
Goldschmidt has been one of the hottest hitters this month. Going into last night's game, the D-Backs first baseman was hitting .405 average, 1.203 OPS and six home runs so far in June. In addition he has been solid in hitting against Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright with a pair of home runs in only 11 at-bats while hitting .364.
Steer Clear
1B Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs at Washington Nationals
FanDuel Price: $3,500
The price is not bad, but Rizzo has not been hitting well lately in the last few games. And even more so, he has not hit well against Nats pitcher Steven Strasburg. It is a small sample, but Rizzo has only two hits in 10 at-bats. You can do better at first base.