I finally gave in and I’m going to give daily fantasy sports (DFS) a shot this year. This is my first year playing so there will be bumps in the road, but if you read my fantasy guide you know I am going to be overly prepared before I do something.

I’m playing at Draft Kings so all of my analysis and picks will be based on their scoring system.

My Strategy

To maximize your scoring potential you need to find pitchers who throw a lot of innings, strikeout a lot of batters and have a good chance for a win. Since you also lose points for hitters reaching base (hits, walks, hits batsmen) you want to avoid high strikeout, high walk pitchers (Francisco Liriano for example). Also, if they’re walking a lot of batters their pitch counts will be high, which means they won’t pitch deep into games.

With hitters you want players who will hit for extra bases because the scoring increases progressively for extra base hit type. Also, there are no penalties for hitters making outs so you can draft a Mike Zunino and not worry so much if he goes 0-4 with three strikeouts. Power is emphasized in the scoring so it’s imperative to find players who are going to hit home runs and make hard contact.

Speed is another way to find easy points at a low cost, but you want to make sure you grab players who have a high stolen base success rate because you lost points for every caught stealing.

Last Note

This is the most obvious thing, but it has to be said. You are responsible for your own lineup. It is your decision to play or not play a specific player or in general. I’m giving the best analysis I can and if you agree then, that’s great. I’m going to be wrong sometimes. In fact I’ll probably be wrong a lot because like I said at the start I am a beginner there’s going to be a learning curve.

My 50/50 Lineup

• P: Francisco Liriano (PIT) — $8,900
  
• P: James Shields (SD) — $9,500
  
• C: Andrew Susac (SF) — $3,100
  
• 1B: Freddie Freeman (ATL) — $4,900
  
• 2B: Alex Guerrero (LAD) — $2,700
  
• 3B: Miguel Cabrera (DET) — $4,900
  
• SS: Hidden
  
• OF: Ryan Braun (MIL) — $4,900 Mike Trout (LAA) —$5,100
  
• OF: Hidden
  
• OF: Hidden

I would have won yesterday’s 50/50 if Stephen Strasburg didn’t get lit up, but you know what they say; do not let a bad beat get the best of you and get back up on the horse. Choosing two pitchers was a bigger challenge than I thought because all the “elite” pitchers had warts. Matt Harvey didn’t look good in his last outing and despite what the overall numbers say the command hasn’t been that sharp. Cole Hamels is walking 11 percent of batters and that number was not fueled by 1-2 starts. He’s walking a lot of batters each outing. I went with Francisco Liriano because he’s facing the Phillies and the lineup is fairly left handed. Of all the elite pitchers I’m the most confident James Shields should be able to provide 7 innings, 0-2 ER with 6-plus strikeouts. All that said, I’m not very confident with my pitchers. Liriano walks a lot of batters and Shields’s has been giving up a lot of home runs.

If Alex Guerrero is going to continue to be priced this cheaply he’s always going to be in my lineup. I don’t know why the Giants are not playing Andrew Susac that much, but in his brief Major League career he’s mashed lefties (.325/.413/.575) with a lot of hard contact. Overall, I’m choosing hitters who make a lot of hard contact because they have the highest probability to hit home runs.