DFSGhost 
Welcome to Ghost’s first edition of MLB season-long coverage! Firstly, I’d like to start off by wishing the entire WinDaily community well during this tough time. While COVID-19 has been a terrifying force throughout the entire world, the entire staff over at WinDaily wishes nothing but the best for you and your loved ones. Be safe everyone!
I will be beginning with my coverage of season-long MLB points leagues in the first of two 5-part series’, later moving on to categories’ leagues. The differences between the two are numerous, but I will break it down as much as I can: points leagues are more volume-based whereas categories leagues involve more strategy. The former is typically all about how many games your pitching staff plays in a given week, in addition to having the more prolific batting performance that given week, thus accumulating more points for your team in your head-to-head (H2H) matchup. The latter is typically nine “mini-matchups” in a battle for winning the most categories by outscoring your opponent in a given statistic, and thus involving more strategy on draft day, which we will further develop in the second 5-part series.
The MLB points league 5-part series will be broken down as followed: OverallStrategy, Players to Target & Players to Avoid, Draft Preview: Top ofRound, Draft Preview: Middle of Round, Draft Preview: End of Round. Enjoy!
Overall MLB Strategy
My overall recommendation for MLB points leagues is straightforward and can be applied to any draft position that you may find yourself in. I have been using this draft strategy through my three years in season-long leagues and have won the championship in all three seasons (weird flex, I know) and it has proven to be crucial to a good start out of the gate throughout opening weeks. Baseball is one of the sports where I change my roster the most, with a few of my drafted batters consistently disappointing me and a few undrafted gems finding themselves on the waiver wire early on. Here are my keynotes:
- Draft pitchers early and often!
My number one recommendation for MLB points leagues: bolster your pitching staff early and often! Pitching spots in these kinds of leagues are often broken down into two Starting Pitcher (SP) spots, two Relief Pitcher (RP) spots, and four Pitcher (P) spots where you can play both SPs and RPs. Make no mistake, starting pitchers are king in points leagues. Yes, they usually only pitch once per H2H matchup (or twice if you’re lucky enough for them to be starting on Monday or Tuesday), but they will accumulate the most points for your team throughout the season’s entirety if you don’t land a Mike Trout or Cody Bellinger at the top of the first round. I will get into further detail in each of the MLB draft previews as to where you should select which pitchers, but no, you do not pass on one of the five premier batters (Mike Trout, Ronald Acuña Jr., Cody Bellinger, Christian Yelich, and Mookie Betts) in favor of a premier pitcher. Ideally, I like to have 4 starting pitchers selected by the end of round 8 and at the latest by the end of round 10 if certain batters slip, locking down a safe floor of points on a weekly basis. In doing so, I leave myself room for reaches on batters (based on ADP) in the later rounds when everyone is scrambling for their pitchers. Lastly, I am not a fan of relief pitchers in my RP spots. I much prefer solidifying my pitching staff with dual-eligible pitchers who are starters in their respective rotations but are both SP and RP eligible, such as Tyler Glasnow and Carlos Carrasco.
- Keep tabs on the MLB waiver wire
Just like in every other season-long sport, the MLB waiver wire could be a differentiator in your final standing when the season comes to an end. Those that stay active are often the first ones to grab someone that is off to a hot start or on a hot streak and could ride it out for more H2H wins or use that player as trade bait. I wouldn’t recommend jumping the gun on a certain player who has one multi-homerun game with a sub .250 average in his last ten games, but someone that is having strong contact on a consistent basis and plays in a “hitter’s park” is a guy you would want to keep an eye on. Lastly, specifically in MLB H2H points leagues, a bench spot reserved for waiver wire pickups is useful, if you can afford to have it. It comes in handy should one of your bats be on a cold streak and you want to replace him for someone hitting in Coors Field, for example, or if you want to stream a pitcher to either get ahead in the matchup at the beginning of the week or play catch up at the end of the week.
- Do NOT getemotionally attached to a player!
I personally try my best to avoid drafting MLB players from my favorite team, as it is likely the source of your emotional attachment to an underperforming player on your roster. However, should your favorite team by the Yankees, it’s kind of tough to justify not drafting players of the likes of Gerrit Cole, DJ LeMahieu, and Gleyber Torres, amongst others such as Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, so I am not completely opposed to it, but I try my hardest not to because it makes trading them or dropping them a lot harder. Obviously, you would not drop one of the players I have listed above, maybe Judge or Stanton if anyone, but allow me to elaborate: do not be afraid to drop someone that you took in rounds 5-15 should they be underperforming. The MLB is surely going to have a shortened season, so do not allow yourself to get emotionally attached to a player because you had high expectations for them heading into your drafts. Lastly, just like we recommend for MLB DFS, I like to hedge in positions where I reached for a player that I have high expectations for. For example, at the shortstop position, second-year pro-Bo Bichette of the Toronto Blue Jays is poised to build on his MLB rookie campaign. However, should I reach for Bichette in either earlier rounds than his ADP or simply reach for him in terms of his ceiling because of my lofty expectations, I would recommend hedging with a second shortstop with a safer floor such as Paul DeJong of the St. Louis Cardinals. While DeJong does not offer the same flash as Bichette, he has top 100 upside with a floor in the 150-175 range for ranked players in points leagues.
Make sure to follow me on twitter @DFS_Ghost and stay tuned for morecontent!
