Though it features a multitude of statistics, baseball is perhaps the toughest sport to predict for a particular day. The best players seem to post the greatest numbers by season’s end, but any player can have a good or bad outing on a particular day. This is what makes daily fantasy baseball so challenging.
While we cannot expect to succeed on each and every slate, we can establish a routine in building our daily fantasy baseball lineups. Sticking to the same process when constructing a lineup will help to limit variance, assuming that we are employing strategies that are successful.
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Evaluate the Slate
We should start by glancing over the slate of games as a whole. What sticks out to us? Is there an obvious game that we can look to exploit? Who are some of the elite aces that are pitching today? These are some of the things that we can notice right off the bat. We do not have to make any firm decisions at this time, but we can identify some areas that we want to research further.
At this point, we should also look at the size of the slate. Are there a lot of teams in action today, or are our options rather limited?
Select a Contest
Now, we have to set our goals to determine the type of contest we want to enter. Discussed in further detail in our daily fantasy baseball contest types article, we can shoot for upside in a GPP or pick some higher-floor guys in a cash game contest.
The type of contest you want to enter could be influenced by our initial look at the slate. It’s also possible that we will enter lineups into both types. No matter the case, we want to know if we are entering contests that allow multiple entries and how the prize pool is allocated.
Research
This step is going to vary for everyone. If you are just starting out in daily fantasy baseball, you will have to establish your process. You can look for stats that you find predictive or explore advice from experts. As the season gets going, we will often feature articles that break down some of our favorite plays on a given slate.
Once you have found a process, it’s important to stick to it. Maybe you check the same five sources and cross-compare for any players that are mentioned by multiple sources. Perhaps you have found a stat that highlights underrated and undervalued players. Whatever the case may be, your process should remain consistent from slate to slate.
Of course, your lineup construction will vary, and no two days will be the same. However, you should always feel solid in your process and be able to corroborate your lineup choices. This means always referencing the same sources and utilizing the same stats. Now, it’s fine to make some of your own choices and play some upside players. After all, the fun is building your own lineup. However, the key decisions in your lineup construction should be supported by your process.
Lineup Submission
Once you are happy with your research, your contest selection, and you have a good feel for the slate, it’s time to put your lineup to the test. If you have built a player pool, then you should remain consistent with how you incorporate this player pool into multiple lineups. You can utilize a tool like our MLB DFS lineup optimizer to do this. The last thing you want to happen is to have built a solid player pool but to not properly allocate the players across your lineups.
Remaining consistent in your process will put you in the best position to win while also minimizing frustration. As fantasy owners, it’s frustrating to make a poor sit/start decision that went against all of our research. Daily fantasy baseball can have the same effect. It is important that we make decisions that we can feel good about by maintaining our process and routine.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, daily fantasy baseball should be treated as a means to have some fun, cheer on a lineup, and possibly make some money. While I don’t want to force anyone to strictly abide by some sort of boring process, the process does not need to be mundane. You are likely playing daily fantasy baseball because you love the game. You should enjoy the process of researching the players, investigating the matchups, and balancing your salary cap.
The message is to not get reckless or make ill-informed decisions. This is an easy way to grow frustrated with daily fantasy baseball, and any positive results you have will not be repeatable. If you do find yourself getting burned out, feel free to take a break. You can also make small changes in your process or simply add in more sources of data to strengthen your research.
Best of luck in daily fantasy baseball this year. There is no better feeling than seeing your process yield positive results.
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Shane Bryant is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Shane, check out his archive and follow him on Twitter @ShaneBryant31.
