More than any other league, the MLB seems to hold a strange trajectory in many fan’s lives. Almost everyone in the US plays baseball for at least a couple of years. Talking about the league news with your friends, gathering neighborhood kids for a pickup game. Doing anything baseball related except actually watching baseball games. The league has long had a reputation of being the sport your grandpa used to fall asleep to while watching.
In recent years, the MLB has done a lot to change its image for the better. Implementing long overdue changes such as:
- Pitch Clock
- High emphasis on pitching
- More accurate tech
- Sweet retro jerseys
- And more..
The league, however has maintained its timeless treasures as well. As always, the MLB is rife with personality and personalities. Increased scoring and stellar pitching matchups in daily form is just a bonus. Especially for Daily Fantasy.
MLB Characteristics and Their Effects on Daily Fantasy
There are plenty of characteristics that surround the MLB making it a unique league. In turn affecting the subtle nuances of betting and daily fantasy contests. For this article, we focus exclusively on the latter. Knowing the scheduling, important positions and having a general understanding of the MLB goes a long way in keeping you competitive.
High Volume of Games
The MLB has the longest season in professional sports lasting from April to October. Each MLB team plays a 162-game season over those six months. MLB teams play a game pretty much everyday, with few to no breaks. This means a large pool of games and players to select from. MLB daily fantasy regularly hosts tournaments with as many as 16 teams to draft from. The long, condensed schedule gives plenty of variety as well when selecting tournaments.
Great Pitching Matchups
What do you know? If you don’t know much, know that strikeouts are important in MLB daily fantasy tournaments. Each one recorded will net two points each. The high density of star pitchers in today’s MLB gives you lots of options to lead your team. Almost every team in the league these days has at least one star pitcher. A lot of the have two with the best teams have a full rotation of studs.
MLB teams generally try and match pitchers evenly against their opponents. Some days will have a long list of ace pitchers while others will be less than spectacular. The basis for selecting your pitcher will remain the same. Helpful things to check out are the opposing lineup the pitcher will face that day, momentum going into the game for both sides and how well they hit right/left-handed pitchers.
High Scoring, High Slugging
On the opposite side of the aforementioned pitching stars we have the batters. And if you’ve made it this far then you learn this valuable truth:
“Home Runs are Way Big Dude”
That’s like, 14 points minimum way big. Grand Slams will get you 20. Sink or swim buddy. And you ain’t swimming very far if you ain’t hitting home runs. Once your starting pitchers are set, all that’s left to do is draft whoever you think will hit a home run. Since baseball is a slow game where the best players get a hit only a third of the time, one or two home runs is almost a guarantee of your team placing in a winning position.
Home runs can come from any player of course, however players whose main job is hitting home runs will be valued at a much higher draft price.
Stacking MLB Lines for Optimal Points
MLB daily fantasy strategy is all about picking games rather than fishing from a wide pool. Stacking is about as common as you like here. You want to start with the teams you predict will score big. The max hitters allowed from one team is often five, though three or four should be plenty. To build a successful stack play there shouldn’t be any more than two spaces in the lineup between players.
Notice the lineup order next to the players. The number indicates which order in the lineup they will be batting.