What We Learned: DFS Lessons from June 22-26

By foxsports
Published

The FOX Sports Fantasy team takes part in a one-day fantasy baseball contest every weekday (except for Thursday) to see who comes out victorious, and to learn a few things in the process. Here are the lessons gathered from this week’s action.

What We Learned…

Sleeper Picks: Byron Buxton, Dustin Ackley and Josh Phegley were the leading scorers on three different winning lineups this week, which was unexpected, to say the least. Each choice was a good example of what can happen when you target a pitcher that you think will get roughed up.

No Wins? No Worries: Out of the eight pitchers in this week's winning lineups, only one of them actually recorded a win. And, believe it or not, that pitcher was Stephen Strasburg. Point being: the win bonus isn't nearly as important on Draft Kings as it is on FanDuel.

Pineda A Pinata: The nice thing about playing smaller 50-50 contests? If one highly owned pitcher falls flat on his face, you're almost guaranteed to cash. Monday's winner in our contest only had to score 91 points...because Michael Pineda gave all the other lineups a -15.7 to deal with. 

Rocky Mountain High: As per usual, the games in Coors this week provided some fireworks. Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado were both in the top-5 of total fantasy points scored per hitters this week. Blackmon averaged 18.7 points a game, while Arenado averaged 16.3. Blackmon was also the top-owned player in winning lineups (29 percent), while 1B/OF Ben Paulsen was third on that list (18 percent). On days where it's affordable to stack hitters in Coors, it's almost always the chalk play in big tournaments.  

Average Salaries From All Draft Kings Winning Lineups:

This Week's Champion: Now this is how you take the belt! Adam Meyer came in and laid the smacketh down on all of us, winning three of four contests in emphatic fashion while nearly pulling off the full sweep, which has yet to be done. Meyer averaged 122.23 points over the week and was giving you gems in the DFS Advice column all week.

This Week's Revelation: Last week, we discussed the value of strikeouts and how they're the currency of DFS. That's particularly true on FanDuel, where you can really load up with high strikeout pitchers against lineups that whiff a lot, even if they hit the ball hard (think Houston, Baltimore). On Draft Kings, you shouldn't let a lowered chance at a win (on the road, against another good starter, etc.) deter you nearly as much.