TOUT WARS!

There was nothing more taxing for the Touts this week than taking on Tout Daily Week 1 winner Brian Walton, and losing again.

Walton built his team around the day’s most selected pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, and one of the day’s popular (at least among high-ranking teams) hitting picks, Mark Trumbo, boosted him.

It was the offbeat stars of the day, however, namely Jonathan Schoop and Kiki Hernandez, who put him over the top.

A big day from Jonathan Villar, taken on only 4 percent of teams, was the difference maker.

Another owner of Villar on the day was Patrick Mayo, who finished second in Week 2 of the four-week first period.

The Patrick Mayo Experience had finished third in Week 1 of the contest.

This week he loaded up on two of the best performing pitchers, got a big game out of Ryan Braun, and went with Stephen Vogt as his backstop, to good effect.

He also shared popular pick Adonis Garcia with Walton.

With their top-notch performances in the first two weeks, Walton and Mayo are way out in front of the rest of the pack in the four-week contest.

To see the current standings from top to bottom, visit the Tout Daily by RTSports.com Leaderboard, click here.

Here’s the rest of the Week 2 Top 10. You can see the full results by clicking here.

If you would like to try daily fantasy baseball, in either free or money games, visit RTSports.com. They will set you up for fun.

Week 2 of the first period of Tout Wars Daily, sponsored by RTSports.com kicks off tonight at 7pm.

Brian Walton was the leader in Week 1, followed by Doug Anderson and Pat Mayo. You can see the whole leaderboard here.

You can watch tonight’s results live at RTSports.com.

Here’s who the Touts are picking this week:

Phil Hertz like Zack Greinke ($9,400 @ SD) and says that Wilson Ramos ($3,800 @ Philadelphia) is a bargain at Citizen’s Bank.

Charlie Wiegert: I’m spending top $ on top pitcher Clayton Kershaw ($9,900 vs. SF).  He helped win me the Tout Daily title last year, hopefully he can do it again.  Plus pitching at home against the Giants and Bumgarner will provide extra incentive. As for top hitter, I’m going with a hot hand in Justin Upton ($5,500 @ Houston) vs Keuchel, and for another pick, Jeremy Hazelbaker ($4,100 vs. Cincinnati) at home against the Reds.

Lawr Michaels likes Zack Greinke ($9,400 @ SD) facing the largely anemic Padres in San Diego. True, Greinke has been roughed up his first pair of starts, but a safe chance to establish his game (and prove the hurler was worth his massive contract) in a pitcher’s environ against a team with a .291 OBP and 81 strikeouts–sixth worst in the league–thus far makes for that opportunity. On the hitting side, Jacoby Ellsbury ($5,000 vs. Seattle) facing Nate Karns (7.20 ERA) and averaging 3.34 points a game looks like a nice play.

Ray Murphy shares a two-headed pitcher play for tonight: maybe it’s buying too much into early-season performance, but it’s hard to ignore the combo of Rich Hill ($6,700 vs. KC) and Jeremy Hellickson ($5,100 vs. Washington). At a combined $11,800, both pitching at home against offenses that have been below-average so far this year, the pair could turn a nice profit on their own and set you up to build a monster offense. As for hitter, Mark Trumbo ($4,500 versus Texas): he has 2 HR in 9 AB vs LHP this year, and a career-long record of mashing southpaws. Tonight he draws Martin Perez in Texas. Sign me up.

Gene McCaffrey: Pitcher: Clayton Kershaw (duh) ($9,900 vs. SF). Hitter: Robinson Cano ($5,300 @ Yankees)

Brian Walton notes that Garrett Richards ($8,100 @ Minneapolis) did not get off to a great start to 2016, but the Angels’ right-hander should feast on the toothless Twins offense Friday night. Minnesota’s team batting average through nine games is barely above the Mendoza Line at .201, dead last in the American League. My top hitter is third baseman Matt Carpenter ($5,800 vs. Cincinnati) of the St. Louis Cardinals, who draw Reds’ fill-in starter Tim Melville at home. St. Louis’ leadoff man is heating up with seven hits, five runs scored and eight RBI in his last five games.

Jake Ciely: Pitcher: Garrett Richards ($8,100 @ Minneapolis) Hitter: Tyler White ($4,200 @ Detroit).

How are our Head 2 Head players doing this week?

onRoto.com, our stat service, has put together a standings page that reflects the current situation in Wins and Losses. With four days of games left in the first period (worth six games of W-L) that’s good news for some, a bitter pill for others. But hold your heads up, there are four days of games left to play!

Click the image to see the current standings.