It wasn't just a losing week in DFS - it was a losing week in life.
My stocks, starting with TWTR*, got crushed, my season-long teams all seemed to slump at once, and I went from virtually break-even in DFS to down $93. And that's not counting my Tout Wars and RotoWire DFS pools in which I had been doing decently before Friday's debacle.
It could be worse, though - for example this dude (NSFW, graphic violence, possible spoiler alert if you're behind.)
For now, I'll list a few guys I like at their respective prices, and once the official MLB lineups come out, I assemble some contest lineups and add them at the bottom of the post:
| SP | $ | C | $ | 1B | $ | 2B | $ | 3B | $ | SS | $ | OF | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S.Stras. | 9,500 | Molina | 2,200 | C.Carter | 2,600 | Altuve | 4,800 | Bryant | 3,500 | Tulo | 5,100 | Dickerson | 4,800 |
| Miller | 8,700 | Chirinos | 2,300 | Abreu | 3,600 | Wong | 2,600 | A.Rod. | 3,300 | Castro | 3,100 | Ellsbury | 4,400 |
| Richards | 8,600 | Grandal | 2,600 | Fielder | 3,400 | Drew | 2,200 | Y.Tomas | 3,000 | Owings | 2,800 | Blackmon | 4,300 |
| Porcello | 7,800 | Morales | 2,600 | Walker | 2,700 | Harrison | 2,500 | Rollins | 2,600 | Harper | 4,200 | ||
| Salazar | 7,700 | LaRoche | 2,500 | Al.Ram. | 2,500 | Trumbo | 4,100 | ||||||
| Locke | 6,700 | I.Davis | 2,200 | Springer | 3,900 | ||||||||
| C.Gonz. | 3,800 | ||||||||||||
| McCutch. | 3,800 | ||||||||||||
| Pollock | 3,700 | ||||||||||||
| Moss | 3,300 | ||||||||||||
| Soler | 3,100 | ||||||||||||
| Beltran | 2,400 | ||||||||||||
| Me.Cab. | 2,500 | ||||||||||||
| Burns | 2,300 |
* While I arguably know even less about stocks than I do about DFS, I still believe in Twitter as a company/product and am in it for the long haul.
Lineups:
| Pos | Player | $ | Player | $ | Player | $ | Player | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Salazar | 7,700 | Strasburg | 9,500 | Locke | 6,700 | Miller | 8,700 |
| C | Y.Molina | 2,200 | McCann | 3,200 | Grandal | 2,600 | Y.Molina | 2,200 |
| 1B | C.Carter | 2,600 | P.Alvarez | 3,000 | Abreu | 3,600 | Abreu | 3,600 |
| 2B | Altuve | 4,800 | Walker | 2,700 | Altuve | 4,800 | Altuve | 4,800 |
| 3B | K. Bryant | 3,500 | A.Rod. | 3,300 | K. Bryant | 3,500 | K. Bryant | 3,500 |
| SS | Castro | 3,100 | J.Kang | 2,600 | A.Ramirez | 2,500 | Castro | 3,100 |
| OF | Soler | 3,100 | M.Cabrera | 2,500 | M.Cabrera | 2,500 | M.Cabrera | 2,500 |
| OF | McCutchen | 3,800 | Ellsbury | 4,400 | Trout | 5,400 | McCutchen | 3,800 |
| OF | Harper | 4,200 | Gardner | 3,800 | A.Garcia | 2,800 | Markakis | 2,700 |
| Total | 35,000 | 35,000 | 34,400 | 34,900 |
| Pos | Player | $ | Player | $ | Player | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Porcello | 7,800 | Salazar | 7,700 | Salazar | 7,700 |
| C | Y.Molina | 2,200 | Y.Molina | 2,200 | Cervelli | 2,200 |
| 1B | C.Carter | 2,600 | C.Carter | 2,600 | C.Carter | 2,600 |
| 2B | Altuve | 4,800 | Altuve | 4,800 | Altuve | 4,800 |
| 3B | K. Bryant | 3,500 | K. Bryant | 3,500 | K. Bryant | 3,500 |
| SS | Castro | 3,100 | Castro | 3,100 | Castro | 3,100 |
| OF | Soler | 3,100 | Soler | 3,100 | Soler | 3,100 |
| OF | McCutchen | 3,800 | McCutchen | 3,800 | McCutchen | 3,800 |
| OF | Springer | 3,900 | Marte | 4,000 | Marte | 4,000 |
| Total | 34,800 | 34,800 | 34,800 |
Going in order from left to right, starting with the upper lineups, the first one is a $3 large-field tournament (hence the gamble with Harper despite the rain), as is the second (hence the gamble with Strasburg.) The third is a $10 large-field tournament, the fourth a $10 Double Up, the fifth a $3 large tournament, the sixth a $10 tournament and the seventh a $5 tournament. So I have $44 in play tonight.
My ideal large tournament lineup is the first one with a stack of right-handed Cubs against Tyler Lyons, an underpriced McCutchen at home against a weak pitcher, a mini-right-handed Astros stack against Wandy Rodriguez, a dirt-cheap Molina and a high-upside strikeout pitcher in Salazar (albeit against a tough team to strike out.) I also love Harper against the current version of Latos if it's not rained out.
In the second lineup, I stacked Pirates against Mike Lorenzen and Yankees against Marco Estrada, but I'll need Strasburg to pitch. The third was a White Sox stack against Shane Greene, the fourth was a chalky, "safe" Double Up lineup with no stacks. The fifth, I stacked Cubs and Astros, the sixth Cubs, Pirates and Astros and the last one I swapped out Molina for Cervelli to complete my Pirates stack, though honestly I had intended to change up more than just that, but for some reason forgot.