Author: Todd Zola

First off, a favor. Our friends at FanDuel have been kind enough to sponsor these Tuesday Night Tout Wars Challenge Double Up contests as a fun addition to our private Friday Tout Daily competition. We fell short of filling this week’s challenge which good for your odds of cashing but isn’t so good for continuing the Tuesday Challenge. With the understanding participation in general wanes this time of season, let’s all spread the word, Touts and friends of Touts and fill this bad boy up next week!

OK, last week the Tout’s took one on the chin but this week we, well, most everyone but me, finished in the money. To show just how unpredictable this endeavor can be, the same person that has finished with the highest score twice in the Challenge was barely above the default line-up this time around. What can I say, I chose poorly. Very poorly.

On the other hand, friend-of-Tout jeterson2 and Yahoo!’s Scott Pianowski chose wisely. Scott, who finished second overall, was joined in the top-ten by Jake Ciely and Scott Swanay. Five more Touts landed in the top-twenty.

Jeterson2’s week-leading squad featured Jon Niese (9.5% ownership) who tossed seven innings, allowing just one earned, fanning six while picking up the win for 16 big FanDuel points. The squad got homers from Josh Donaldson (6.3%), Chris Young (25.4%) and Carlos Gomez (6.3%).

Scott deployed Jimmy Nelson (7.9%) as his hurler, watching the Brewer’s righty twirl 6 2/3rd scoreless frames with four whiffs and the win, recording 14.66 points. Prince Fielder (14.3%), Nelson Cruz (4.8%), Kyle Parker (14.3%) and Young all went deep for Scott’s squad.

Scott’s roster is posted below. Remember, this is Week Two of the final phase of Tout Daily where the last three golden tickets into the Tout Championship will be awarded. Follow along with your favorite Tout and remember to look for next Tuesday’s Tout Challenge!

Is DFS an endeavor that you do primarily by yourself or is it more of a social experience, perhaps discussing lineups with friends and then following along together once the games begin?

Chris Liss, www.rotowire.com, @Chris_Liss

100 percent solo. Input from anyone else is a great way to poison your process!

Phil Hertz, www.baseballhq.com, @prhz50

It’s a solo activity. I mention what’s going on to a couple of close friends and my wife, but I think they listen only to be nice, not because they’re interested (except if I win).

Peter Kreutzer, www.askrotoman.com, @kroyte

I read some of my friends’ writing about DFS when I play, but haven’t found the experience very social. The normal variance for any player makes it difficult to get too invested in any prediction, though there is plenty of room for discussion about cheap plays.

Tim McCullough, www.rotoexperts.com, @Tim_RotoExperts

So far, DFS baseball is mainly a solo game for me. I can’t remember the last time I got together with friends to watch a ball game, aside from the occasional trip to see a game live. DFS Football is much more social. There were several occasions last season when I got together with friends to watch the hometown team and we all had our DFS plays with us. That’s a ton of fun because all the games matter to everyone in some way or another. If MLB could figure out a way to turn their Sunday games into an event like that, it would go a long way towards bringing fans back to the game.

Craig Mish, www.craigmish.com, @CraigMish

I really don’t have much interaction on DFS unless it’s when I am hosting on air. I do see people commenting nightly on twitter about their lineups but normally it’s more of an individual thing for me.

Patrick Davit, www.baseballhq.com, @patrickdavitt

Not only do I do my DFS solo, but I’m usually hiding the activity and doing it furtively when I think nobody is watching.

Scott Engel, www.rotoexperts.com, @scotteRotoEx

It  really depends on the sport. I find baseball to be a smaller circle that I don’t tend to play with the same people,although I do compare results with other colleagues. In football I find myself in more head to head games. In NASCAR, it’s a family affair, as my son and I watch the races and our live scoring together every week.

Nando DiFino, www.rotoexperts.com, @nandodifino

If I didn’t have the morning show with Tony Cincotta, DFS would be a totally antisocial activity for me. The only time I talk DFS lineups with anyone is when I’m showig someone what DFS is and how to set a lineup. The more opinions I have in my head, the lower I tend to finish.

Lawr Michaels, www.mastersball.com, @lawrmichaels

Todd Zola, www.mastersball.com, @ToddZola

In full disclosure, I concede I’m a bit of an odd duck, being self-employed, working at home, living by myself, sometimes not talking with humans for days at a time. That said, for me DFS is absolutely a social experience. Be it bouncing line-up ideas off friends via text, g-chat, IM, Twitter etc., sharing news as it breaks and then following along with the games, hopefully having someone vicariously share my sweat but more often than not, at least lately, vicariously sweating a tournament out with a friend, DFS is one of my favorite social outlets.

There’s absolutely nothing like the electricity of an in-person draft or auction, but once the season begins, interaction in seasonal leagues is limited to trade discussions and privately commiserating with another league member over the goofy offer you just received. DFS is a great vehicle to keep in touch with friends since there’s a minuscule something shared will come back to bite you that evening.

Honestly, it’s this social element of DFS, especially following my Twitter feed as the games are ongoing, that keeps me from going more nuts than I already am. If you’re not extracting some measure of social enjoyment from DFS, honestly, you’re doing it wrong.

Kudos to the readers as the Touts took one on the chin in this week’s Double-Up Tout Challenge. Of the 45 money spots, the participants of Tout Wars placed in just eight, lead by Jeff Erickson with the night’s 16th highest score.

The Touts joining Jeff in the top-20 were….no one. I told you it wasn’t our night.

Reader mikeyc913 took down the top spot behind Noah Syndergaard’s 21 point effort. His top hitters included Chris Young, Carlos Correa and Jose Abreu.

Erickson scored 53 points which would have led many of the Tout Challenge contests but on a night where the Yankees scored 21 runs, eight other teams plated at least seven, it wasn’t even enough to finish in the top-15. Erickson’s top scores was also the man called Thor with Correa and Eric Hosmer leading his hitters.

Friday begins the last phase of FanDuel’s Tout Daily. Twelve golden tickets have been awarded to twelve different Tout Warriors. Three more are left to be decided. The final phase will run four weeks and then the fifteen invitees will compete for the $1000 grand prize.

Be sure to check back on Friday as the Touts will share their favorite pitcher and hitter on Friday’s slate.

After a break for the All-Star break, we’ve assembled the Touts and posed another DFS question to those participating in FanDuel’s Tout Daily contest.

How much time do you spend researching and entering your DFS lineup(s)?

Seth Trachtman, www.rotoworld.com, @sethroto: I build my lineup around the pitcher, to the point that his salary determines how long it takes to build my lineup. Typically, if the pitcher is an ace, the high-priced choices for the rest of the lineup are limited. In that case, it probably takes about 15 minutes between looking at weather, matchups, and recent trends. For at least a couple positions, I simply scroll down to the bottom of the salaries to pick a player from there. However, if I opt to go for a cheaper pitcher, I have more freedom to pick the high-priced hitters. There’s more choices, and I’ll research pretty much every position. Unintentionally, it has taken more than 30 minutes to choose this lineup of hitting behemoths.

Phil Hertz, www.baseballhq.com, @prhz50: It depends on other life demands. This past Tuesday, it seemed I had 5 minutes to spare although I probably spent about 20 minutes. A week ago, I actually had some free time and spent about a half hour looking for some under the radar good match-ups. Interestingly I don’t think my results differed much.  :<(

David Gonos, www.SoCalledFantasyExperts.com, @davidgonos: Probably about 45-60 minutes on an average non-writing day, depending on how many contests and on how many sites I decide to play that day.

Tim McCullough, www.rotoexperts.com, @Tim_RotoExperts: On average, I’ll spend about 30 minutes on the research depending on the pitchers available on a given night. If there are only one or two obvious pitcher choices it might be a little less. But if there are four or five possible choices it probably takes more like 45 minutes.

Jeff Boggis, www.FantasyFootballEmpire.com, @JeffBoggis: Probably more time that I need to and it all depends on where I am in the Tout Wars DFS contest. On Friday night, I have a slight chance of obtaining a 2^nd golden ticket to the finals in late August, so Thursday night and maybe at noon on Friday, I will make one final review of my lineup. There has been an increased number of websites offering daily fantasy advice and rankings, which is a great thing for the industry, but can lead to “paralysis by analysis.” Each week is a learning experience and as much as we love to analyze statistics and look favorable and unfavorable match-ups, sometimes we out guess ourselves. Going with your gut feeling oftentimes outweighs a pile of player analysis and statistics. My research always starts with pitching as it is very difficult to finish high in the weekly standings due to a poor pitching performance. I like to research how the starting pitcher has fared over the past two weeks, and also against the team they are facing that night. I don’t necessarily have to roster the highest salaried pitcher, but I do want to roster a tier 1 pitcher in all of my contests. I can build a hitting team with the remaining salary. I spend more research on hitting versus pitching as I have to find great match-ups with my remaining overall salary. If I can find a hitter that is has a great match-up versus the opposing pitcher, is fairly priced, and is on a hot streak over the past 7-14 days, then they become candidates for my roster.

Rick Wolf, www.fantasyalarm.com, @RickWolf1: It is likely that I play less than others in this group.  I play 2-3 times a week.  At least one of those each week is a speed studying.  30 minutes before the lineup deadline, I look at the different components of the playbook, daily projections from the best in the business and then make quick selections.  The other two times, I spend between an hour and 90 minutes.  Recently because of the completeness of the DFS Playbook PRO – I do ALL of that on Fantasy Alarm.  Jeff lays out the steps here and I skip some, but that is my roadmap: http://www.fantasyalarm.com/articles/jeffmans/20939/how-to-use-the-dis-mlb-playbook-pro/

Craig Mish, www.craigmish.com, @CraigMish: It depends on the day really. Sunday is the trickiest so in general I spend the most time trying to sort through potential pitfalls. On Sunday morning it could take me 45 minutes. Typically Tuesday and Friday I spend 30 minutes. Other days I play very little so about 15 minutes just to stay active.

Scott Swanay, www.fantasybaseballsherpa.com, @Fantasy_Sherpa: Anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour, depending both on the time available and how much I care about a particular contest.  So far, I haven’t noticed any correlation between time spent and points scored by my lineups, which leads me to believe I haven’t yet figured out the “right” way to construct consistently successful DFS lineups.

Charlie Wiegert, www.cdmsports.com, @GFFantasySports: Less than an hour. Based on my results, I probably need to do more!  I check out the pitching to see who has a good chance of a good strike out night, and looking at Vegas odds, who has a chance of winning.  I also use the Vegas odds for over/under on runs to be scored in the game to get an idea which offensive players I might want to roster.  Then I check out the starting lineups to make sure everyone is playing.

Patrick Davitt, www.baseballhq.com, @patrickdavitt: I like to spend 90 minutes or more, but often I am squeezed into less because of other obligations on Fridays.

Scott Engel, www.rotoexperts.com, @ScottERotoEx: It takes me roughly about an hour to two hours depending on my schedule for the day. Ideally, first I like to do my own research and then target a few guys based on matchups, etc. Then I go over to our analysts at DailyRoto.com,  because of the high level they play at, and see who they are targeting as well. Ideally I will get a good mix of my picks and theirs. Or roll out different lineups with more of an emphasis on mine in some and theirs in others if I am going multi-entry.

Jeff Erickson, www.rotowire.com, @Jeff_Erickson: Short answer – 90-to-120 minutes, depending on which day it is, and what’s at stake. On Wednesday I probably agonized for two hours on just my Fantasy Aces Survivor entry (15th place, by .5 point!), other days less. Sometimes the slate is easier to crack than others.

Todd Zola, www.mastersball.com, @ToddZola: I’ll spend a minimum of two hours and up to four depending on timing, how favorable I find the slate and if I need a reason to skip another workout. This may be cheating a little but I’m counting the time I put into researching the DFS content I write on a daily basis primarily because the same effort that goes into the initial research for my work would be exactly what I do if I wasn’t writing and just playing. The actual lineup entering can take anywhere from an hour to twice that, depending on how many sites and lineups I’m playing. I probably play a little more than most in Tout Daily but my volume pales in comparison to others in the industry and certainly the real grinders.

After a week’s hiatus due to the All-Star break, the Touts were back at it on Tuesday in FanDuel’s double-up Tout Challenge. Five Touts finished in the top ten led by the night’s second high scorer, Baseball HQ’s Ray Murphy. Joining Ray in the top-ten was Jake Ciely, Jeff Erickson, Andrea LaMont and Brian Walton. Of the 24 Touts that entered, half finished in the top 45 of the field of 100.

Huge nights from Kyle Schwarber and Shin-Soo Choo paced Ray’s squad, scoring a whopping 16.25 and 17.75 points respectively. Michael Wacha wasn’t as sharp as usual but he made it through five frames, fanning eight and getting the all-important win which also contributed to Ray’s outstanding night. The rest of Ray’s lineup is posted below.

This is the last week of the fourth period of Tout Daily which means when Friday night’s action comes to a close, three more tickets into the Tout Daily Championship will be awarded. None other than Ray Murphy is the leader after the first three weeks, holding a commanding 10.25 point lead over the Godfather of Fantasy Sports, Charlie Wiegert. My Mastersball colleague Brian Walton currently holds down the third spot with a very slim .27 points lead over yours truly. The entire Tout Daily standings can be found here.

Be sure to check back Friday, aces will be wild on the hill which should lead to an exciting Tout Challenge sweat as three more seats in the Tout Daily Championship are decided.

How, if it all, has playing DFS helped or harmed your seasonal game play?

Jeff Erickson, www.rotowire.com, @Jeff_Erickson

Helped: I was able to jump on Jimmy Paredes right away by noticing how Buck Showalter was using him, adding him in both Tout Wars and in the XFL. While his plate discipline is rough, he’s still been worth a lot, especially in Tout Wars where I was hurting up the middle. In only leagues, a guy playing nearly every day, hitting in an advantageous spot in the lineup in a good park to hit off the waiver wire is gold.

Hurt: I’ve become so interested in DFS that I have missed a few opportunities to act in my season-long leagues, most often in Yahoo’s Friends & Family league, where we have First-Come, First-Serve pickups and daily moves.

Brian Walton, www.mastersball.com, @B_Walton

Given seasonal league rosters are primarily set before daily play begins, I don’t see a significant benefit to the former from the latter. Overall in my life, DFS is another mistress requiring more and more attention and time, which has to be taken from somewhere else. As a result, I have to believe DFS detracts from my seasonal play, which bothers me. I also sense it from peers who seem less responsive about trade inquiries with my guess that DFS is taking more of their time, too. I may be in the minority, but seasonal is still more important to me. If that makes me a dinosaur in a world of impending climate change, so be it.

Phil Hertz, www.baseballhq.com, @prhz50

No harm at all — perhaps because I don’t give DFS the same amount of attention ( and that may explain my level of success in DFS). The game that distracted me from seasonal play was ShandlerPark, but alas that is no more.

Scott Swanay, www.fantasybaseballsherpa.com, @Fantasy_Sherpa

It’s helped marginally by making me pay more attention to day-to-day transactions.  My better half would argue that’s not a good thing . . .

Gene McCaffrey, www.wiseguys.com, @gene2323

DFS has hurt me a little in roto, but I suspected that DFS would take over my life and went out of my way to avoid high-maintainance roto teams this year. I can’t do that completely, and I have missed a few “what are the implications of this injury?” FAAB matters. There are so many, you know? I’m going to play less roto next year. The injuries have always been a pain in the ass but the last few years are just ridiculous. Almost every day someone goes down, often two a day. It’s not fun. DFS is fun.

Tim McCullough, www.rotoexperts.com, @Tim_RotoExperts

The research that is needed to put together a lineup each week has led to the discovery of some interesting split stats that I’ve put to use in season-long leagues with daily lineup moves. Using that information I’ve benched starting pitchers and hitters against certain teams and started them against others. I’ve also used that research when streaming pitchers, something I need to do in two season long leagues that allow a higher total innings pitched than usual.

Jeff Boggis, www.FantasyFootballEmpire.com, @JeffBoggis

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) has helped me significantly on the way that I evaluate players for roster management, players to drop/add, and trades. DFS requires league managers to look at players via different sample sizes that you may not necessarily use in seasonal game play. In DFS formats, I like to use both the last 7 days and last 14 days of statistics when evaluating players to see who’s on a hot streak, who’s fading, and identifying bargains to play that evening. For example, over the past 7 days, J.D. Martinez (OF – DET) is the highest ranked player with 4 HRs and 10 RBIs, and FanDuel has raised his salary over the past month accordingly. But Gerardo Parra (OF – MIL) is the 2^ndhighest ranked player over the past 7 days with 3 HRs and 5 RBIs, could still be at a much lower price compared to his 7 days stats. These are the types of players that I like to use not only in DFS contests, but also for roster management, players to drop/add, and trades in seasonal game play.

Craig Mish, www.craigmish.com, @CraigMish

Playing DFS more intensely has probably helped me in season long but it’s marginal. In general I am aware of rosters, adds, drops but I suppose the intricacies of how Managers set lineups has helped me a bit. In the past I didn’t pay enough attention to that and I can gauge more value in a player thanks to DFS and where he is in his MLB lineup.

Jake Ciely, www.rotoexperts.com, @allinkid

It hasn’t harmed my seasonal play, but it has made me participate in less leagues. Isn’t that the case every year? We always promise to cut back and then never do. However, with DFS being infinitely easier in juggling multiple teams, I actually cut back on seasonal this year. I kept my requirements to three expert leagues and one home league, which is about 1/3 to 1/4 of what I normally do. A large part has to do with my uncanny injury luck… hence the fan-created #ICCU tag on Twitter (I Ciely Curse U). It’s frustrating to lose numerous valuable players to the DL in seasonal, and it creates a luck factor that baseball is supposed to have less of due to the long season. It’s also hard to maintain interest in leagues that don’t involve money (err… prizes) or have eight guys manning the DL roster. In DFS, your interest is renewed daily, and it’s why I’ve cut back on seasonal.

Paul Sporer, www,fangraphs.com, @sporer

It’s helped as I’m more in-tune with how players are doing RIGHT now as opposed to generally. Of course, even before DFS, I followed the game day-in and day-out and consistently looked at every boxscore everyday, but you really remember how players are performing when you DFS them. I think it’s helped me find some better waiver finds for my season long. If I have a guy in DFS, chances are I’ll try to check out at least 1-2 ABs and thus I feel I have a better handle on them and sooner.

Todd Zola, www.mastersball.com, @ToddZola

I play in a bunch of high stakes NFBC leagues and have noticed the hot-button players in DFS often go for more FAAB units so I know to bid a little more if the player was a DFS darling. In addition, following the transactions on a daily basis, which is necessary to identify lower owned DFS candidates lessens the amount of work I need to do on Sunday (NFBC FAAB day) since I’ve already done the legwork. Finally, with all the great DFS analysts out there, it has helped getting additional opinions and analysis on some players before I invest.

On the other hand, I wrote about this on Fantasy Alarm, the DFS grind has contributed to my overall malaise at times, feeling burned out and neglecting my seasonal squads, as well as not putting maximum effort into my DFS play.

The objective of a cash game like the Tout Wars Challenge is to assimilate a safe roster, as opposed to taking some chances to win a tournament. Sometimes it turns out your safe lineup hits on all cylinders and would have fared very well in a couple of tournaments played simultaneously. Tuesday night was bittersweet for the top points scorer in the Tout Wars 50/50 Challenge. Did I mention that was me?

One of the keys to DFS is having “closer mentality.” Whether it’s bouncing back from a rough losing streak or not letting something like the above get to you, successful DFS players keep an even keel.

The only other Tout in the top-ten was Andrea LaMont as she tied for tenth. A total of six Touts placed in the 45 money spots, meaning it was another very successful night for the fans of the Touts.

My contest-leading lineup, displayed below, featured Corey Kluber and his moderate 15 percent usage rate. Kluber was a bit of a risk, facing the hit-or-miss Houston Astros but I liked the whiff potential and took the chance. Alex Gordon made all the difference on the hitting ledger as he was only three percent owned. Gordon was attractive since he’s been hitting in the two-hole while Mike Moustakas is away from the team and held the platoon edge over Matt Andriese. At only $2500, he was a punt play with benefits.

Be sure to follow along on Friday for the second leg of Period 4 in Tout Daily. Another three tickets to the grand finale are on the line and the different strategies the Touts are using to position themselves for the invite are quite interesting.

This week we’re going to follow-up on last week’s question. By means of reminder, Tout Daily is 20 weeks long, divided into five periods of four weeks. Each week is a mini-tournament with a modest payout but the big carrot is a ticket into the one-day Tout Daily Championship with a $1000 grand prize. The top-three finishers in each period will get an entry into the finals. Each Tout is allowed to earn two tickets. With that in mind, here’s this week’s question:

IT’S THE FIRST WEEK OF THE FOURTH PHASE OF TOUT DAILY. WE’VE ALL GONE THROUGH ONE FULL FOUR-WEEK PERIOD, MOST OF US ALL THREE. WHAT, IF ANYTHING, DO YOU PLAN ON DOING DIFFERENTLY WITH YOUR LINEUP THIS WEEK AS COMPARED TO OTHER PERIOD-OPENING WEEKS?

Craig Mish, www.craigmish.com, @CraigMish: Friday night pitching has not been my strong suit so I am determined to pick the right starter Friday Night. I also see a ton of value in a few of the 2500 and under players lately it could be a night to go big on an ace.

Doug Anderson, www.fantasysportsnetwork.com, @rotodaddy: While still using platoon splits to hopefully gain value, I think I’ll start playing a few more “mini” stacks to try and create a little more upside in my hitters.

Gene McCaffrey, www.wiseguys.com, @gene2323: Nothing different, I’m going to try to get the most points. I’m going to look for the best players tonight and the best pricestonight and see where that takes me. Don’t you all just KNOW that one night you will pick the perfect team? I’ve been close but haven’t had that one more late home run. I thought I was gonna get it last night from Mike Zunino. I saw the delusion and knew it for delusion and expected it anyway. I need help.

Jeff Erickson, www.rotowire.com, @Jeff_Erickson: Because I lucked into one of the seats for the final in the first month, I have the freedom to try out new strategies if I see an angle that might help separate me from the pack. Maybe I’ll focus on finding lesser-owned yet still attractive options. Or maybe I’ll just simplify it and not get too clever. I’ve whiffed the last couple of months, so whatever I’ve been doing lately, it’s time to do something different.

Scott Swanay, www.fantasybaseballsherpa.com, @Fantasy_Sherpa: I’ll adjust my strategy somewhat based on the results of the first three 4-week phases.  The cut-offs for the top three spots have been 166, 152, and 160 points in the three respective phases, so I figure it will take an average of roughly 40 points over the four weeks to get a top-three spot in the next phase.  I’ll look for a starting pitcher that I think can get me at least 13 points without getting a win (e.g. – 7 IP, 8 K, 2 ER), then look for a collection of 8 hitters that I think can average 3.5 points (the key seems to be having three hitters score in the 5-10 point range).  I’ll continue to look for favorable match-ups for my hitters, but based on a small sample I’ve looked at, the idea of stacking hitters against a specific pitcher appears to be overrated.

Tim McCullough, www.rotoexperts.com, @Tim_RotoExperts: My experience with this from week to week has been that I either hit the pitching right but get the hitting wrong, or I get the hitting right but miss on the pitching. In general, I do better with the pitching overall, so my goal this week is to spend a bit more time researching my hitting to see if I can’t get this thing firing on all cylinders.

Phil Hertz, www.baseballhq.com, @prhz50: Having had a number of weeks screwed up by a bad pitching performance, I’m going to spend a little extra time — and probably budget — on who I use as my pitcher.

Michael Beller, www.SI.com, @MBeller: I locked up a spot in the final by winning Phase 3, so I feel like I’m playing with house money, even more so, at this point. Still, I’m not going to change up my strategy. I’ve now cashed in six of the 12 Friday Tout Daily contests, including one win and two more top-five finishes. What I’ve been doing works, so I don’t plan to change it. For me, it all starts with my pitcher. That doesn’t mean I’m automatically going with one of the two or three most expensive pitchers on the board, but I’m not reaching into the depths, either. After settling on my hurler, only then do I turn to offense. It’s just much easier to correctly predict daily pitcher than hitter performance.

Patrick Davitt, www.baseballhq.com, @patrickdavitt: Based on my success so far, I’m going to buy a blind monkey and have him pitch darts at a player list.

Jeff Boggis, www.FantasyFootballEmpire.com, @JeffBoggis: I was fortunate enough last week to claim a ticket to the FanDuel final on August 28^th by finishing 3^rd in phase 3 with a .25 of a point margin over Derek Van Riper. I am personally pulling for Derek to claim a ticket in one of the remaining phases of our contest as the .25 of a point victory for me over Derek came down to a single out by a single hitter over the course of four weeks. I did a lot of scoreboard watching late last Friday night and even woke up at 4 AM to calculate everyone’s final scores on our Google Docs site to ensure that I had claimed 3^rd place. Now that I have a ticket into the finals, my plan for this phase is to relax, not to stress out over the results, and most importantly, continue to use the game plan that was very successful for me last phase. My strategy of rostering a top 5 pitcher and building a roster of hitters with the remaining salary has worked best for me on FanDuel. Another lessons learned for me is that a higher salaried player does not always result in more fantasy points. Last week, my final roster spot that I struggled with the most was between Anthony Rizzo and Edwin Encarnacion in the first base slot. Rizzo was listed at $4,400 and Encarnacion was listed at $3,900. Over the past two weeks, Rizzo has outperformed Encarnacion and their salaries reflected their recent production. But I really liked the pitching matchup for Encarnacion and had a feeling that he would have a great night, but I ended up going with Rizzo. I was watching the Toronto game live and saw Encarnacion hit a grand slam. My remote almost went through the television screen as I was kicking myself for not going with my instincts on this roster decision. Encarnacion ended up with a single, 2 home runs, 5 RBIs, 2 runs scored, and 2 outs, which equaled 15.5 fantasy points on FanDuel. Rizzo, who costed me an additional $500 over Encarnacion went 0-4 and 1 hit by pitch for a total of 0 points. Ironically, had Rizzo gone 0-5, I would have not finished in 3^rd place in phase 3.  One last strategy that I am contemplating is that when I roster a lowered priced player that is somewhere around the minimum $2,200 salary that I roster players from the earlier games as opposed to the late games. The strategy here is that once our lineups lock at 7:05 PM ET, I am at the mercy of the team manager’s lineup for that night. Last week, I rostered Angel Pagan who is an outfielder for the San Francisco Giants. The game at home in San Francisco against Colorado and Pagan was owned in 4.7% of FanDuel league contests. Pagan ended up not playing at all that night, resulting in 0 fantasy points. Each player represents 1 out of 9 roster slots, or 11.1% of your team, and you can’t afford to have players in your starting lineup that are not contributing due to getting the night off or out of the lineup for that evening. By rostering a lower priced player that is not playing on the West Coast that night, I will know for certain if that player is going to be in the starting lineup in advance of the start of the contest. Good luck to everyone this contest phase, especially to Derek Van Riper.

Charlie Wiegert, www.CDMSports.com, @GFFantasySports: After weeks of frustration, I managed a 4th place finish last Friday.  The main reason, Mad Max.  Finding one of the top pitchers seems imperative to doing well.  He doesn’t have to be the most expensive pitcher, but the ones with the high salaries are usually the most dependable.  So I’ll be looking for the top pitcher of the day, the guy that will pitch at least 7 innings and have double digit strike outs, and hopefully get a win.  The tough part is finding the value plays that can get me at least 32 points on offense, that’s 4 per player.

Peter Kreutzer, www.askrotoman.com, @kroyte: I’ve wobbled between trying to get the most excellent pitcher with a good matchup, no matter the price, and a cheaper excellent pitcher with a good matchup and better hitters. Until this past Tuesday my point totals have been equally weak, except when my pitcher scored big. So, I’m going to start with the biggest strikeout starter I can find, and then load up hitters facing weak pitchers at good prices. This isn’t exactly different, but I hope to do it better.

Lenny Melnick, www.rotoexperts.com, @LennyMelnick: Going to rely more on what I recommend on my Daily Podcast That is, less relying on numbers alone  and more relying more  on my Baseball Judgement based on recent trends AND Numbers history.

Jake Ciely, www.rotoexperts.com, @allinkid: Not going to change a thing. I’m fifth overall for the year, but somehow, I have missed on a ticket all three periods… two by a hair. I’m going to keep working my current plan. It’s led to consistently good lineups, and the two times I went contrarian to mix things up actually resulted in my lowest scores of the year. And by using my same strategy, that means avoiding extremely high priced pitchers, as it hampers your ability to build stability with your hitters.

Ray Murphy, www.baseballhq.com, @RayHQ: Not planning anything unusual. We’ve established that you need about 160 points over four weeks to earn a finals ticket. I might stack a little less here in week 1, play it more like a cash game with the intent of hitting that 40-50 point mark and taking less risk in chasing the 70+ point night. But that statement assumes a level of precision in lineup construction that doesn’t really exist. Basically, I’ll just be putting forth a team I like, but it probably won’t be a go-for-it-all stack-heavy/cheap pitcher sort of lineup.

Lawr Michaels, www.mastersball.com, @lawrmichaels: Well, I am obviously going to try and make the best pitching play I can this first cycle, and then hope i hit it on a couple of hitters to at least stay in the middle of the pack at worst. with a little luck and a Jace Peterson-type big day that could be top tier and then it is more playing the safer bets. The further back, the bigger the crapshoot, I suppose.

Nando DiFino, www.rotoexperts.com, @nandodifino: I’m just going to keep on keepin’ on. I’m learning every day, putting things together, experimenting with different stats and theories. I’m close to breaking through, Todd! It’s going to happen! Swing for the seats and go for first!

Todd Zola, www.mastersball.com, @ToddZola: I’m going to do what I do best and that’s overthink things. Actually, my plan is similar to Ray’s. My goal is a ticket to the finals and a chance at the $1000 grand prize. I think the pathway there is a conservative cash game approach as opposed to trying to win the week, tournament style. So I’ll lock in a strikeout pitcher in a great spot then spread the hitters among as many teams as possible.