Grey Albright had a last-place finish in his first year in Tout NL, and was looking to improve his lot. He aced his auction, buying a Draft Day Roster winner, an easy one, and moved past Tristan Cockcroft into first place the week of May 7, opening up a seven-point lead. It was one he never relinquished.
Gamble built his team around three star offensive players: the reliable Paul Goldschmidt, second-year superstar Trea Turner, and the enigmatic and injury-prone Giancarlo Stanton.
To be able to afford the stars he went cheap and wide with his pitching, missing on John Lackey, getting mixed results from Jeff Samarzdija, and hitting it big on Robbie Ray and pretty big on Aaron Nola.
His only closer on opening day was Jim Johnson.
But the hits kept coming. He added Tommy Pham and Scooter Gennett in the reserve rounds. He also hit with modest buys Zack Cozart and Michael Conforto. And his $1 buy of Felipe Rivero resulted in 21 saves and a championship.