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Mixed Tout Wars Draft Order Set

Tout Wars kicks off its season with the 15-team Mixed Draft league on Tuesday night, March 6 at 8:00 PM ET. The draft will be covered live on SiriusXM Fantasy by Glenn Colton, Rick Wolf and Jeff Erickson.

Tout Wars allows the participants to select their draft spot based on last year’s finish. The 2017 champion, Razzball’s Rudy Gamble opted defend his title from the top spot. The rest of the picks were far from chalk (last year’s finish in parentheses):

1. Rudy Gamble (1st)
2. Ray Murphy (3rd)
3. Tim McCullough (9th)
4. Greg Ambrosius (10th)
5. Perry Van Hook (12th)
6. Tom Kessenich (14th)
7. Jeff Boggis (15th)
8. Gene McCaffrey (8th, Mixed Auction)
9. Michael Beller (9th, Mixed H2H)
10. Adam Ronis (5th)
11. Charlie Wiegert (7th)
12. Scott White (2nd)
13. DJ Short (6th)
14. Anthony Perri (8th)
15. Corey Parson (4th)

Keeping in mind this is an OBP league, Gamble cited Mike Trout as his reason for wanting the first pick. Was he on the up-and-up? Scott White from CBS Fantasy hopes so, as he elected to slide to 1.12, wanting the option of an elite arm, depending on how things go.

Baseball HQ’s Ray Murphy was prepared to opt for the back end of the snake, but when the second pick fell in his lap, he decided not to overthink things and start near the top.

Tim McCullough from Rotoexperts and Greg Ambrosius from NFBC/SportsHubTech parlayed mid-pack finishes into Top-5 picks, saying they want a shot at the best available player left on the board.

After examining the results from the recent FSTA and Mixed LABR drafts, CDM Sports Charlie Wiegert used the 7th choice to slide to the 11th pick. One spot later, Anthony Perri from Fantistics/Insider Baseball chose to pick 14th, feeling the end of the round is optimal for OBP leagues.

While others were jockeying for early or late starts, Fantasy Football Empire’s Jeff Boggis was perfectly content to be left with 1.07, in a great spot not to miss out on a run.

So far in early drafts, the consensus top-two picks are Trout and Jose Altuve. However, after that, over ten players have been selected from the three-hole, helping to explain the motivation behind the Tout Mixed Warriors selections. This promises to be a wild 2018 campaign, with a myriad of approaches as everyone has their sights on wresting the championship from Rudy Gamble.

Next week we’ll introduce you to the 15 combatants, a day in advance of Tuesday’s festivities where you’ll be able to follow along and comment.

 

 

Finally! Doubt Wars 2017 Results Are Here!

It took some time. Data had to be collected and collated and, in some cases, entered.

Rankings needed to be made.

And finally, a blog post written. All done? We now have final results for Doubt Wars 2017.

For those who don’t know, Doubt Wars is the game in which contestants choose their own fantasy teams based on the prices paid in the Tout Wars Auctions, before the season starts. For the price a player went for, plus $1, teams roster 23 player squads with a $260 budget and compete all season long in the 10 Tout Wars categories (5×5 with OBP instead of BA) using the same rosters. There are no substitutions.

When it comes to collating, the multiple leagues are joined and compared to the draft day results of the actual Tout Wars teams. For the first time this year, all three Doubt Wars leagues were won by Tout Wars owners, not surprising in a year in which Tout Wars winning owners set records for most points and biggest margin of victory.

The winners are:

Doubt Wars NL:

  1. Grey Albright, Tout Champ
  2. LynchMob, civilian
  3. Witty Puns, civilian
  4. Team 19, civilian
  5. Phil Hertz, Tout

Doubt Wars AL

  1. Jason Collette, Tout
  2. Jon Pierce, civilian and two league champion in 2016 Doubt
  3. Mike Podhorzer, Tout Champ
  4. Jeff Erickson, Tout
  5. Staff Ace Trevor Bauer, civilian

Doubt Wars Mixed

  1. Jeff Zimmerman, Tout Champ
  2. Ron Shandler, Tout
  3. Mixed Strategies, civilian
  4. Jason Reyes, civilian
  5. The Laser Show, civilian

You can see the entire results here.

Civilian winners will receive some fantasy products from our sponsors Shandler Park, Rotowire, Mastersball, Pattonandco.com,  BaseballHQ and The Fantasy Baseball Guide.

Thanks to onRoto for supporting Doubt Wars.

 

Tout Wars Head To Head Champion 2017: Vlad Sedler

At the end of April, Vlad Sedler, Andrea LaMont and Howard Bender were tied for second place, behind Peter Kreutzer’s hot start. But Kreutzer stumbled the next week, and so did Sedler and Bender, leaving LaMont alone in first.

By the end of May, Sedler had climbed back up to second place, four games behind LaMont, and in the last period in June he moved ahead by three games. While his lead seesawed from series to series, Sedler didn’t reliquish the lead the rest of the way, and finished with a three-game lead over LaMont in the end.

Sedler’s team was built around the power of Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton. He bought Noah Syndergaard as his ace, but when Syndergaard went down he relied on break seasons for Robbie Ray and James Paxton, and the reemergence of Dallas Keuchel as an ace to carry his staff. Plus Craig Kimbrel as a closer.

Tout Wars Mixed Draft Champion 2017: Rudy Gamble

He was in contention all year, in fourth at the end of April, in second behind Charlie Wiegert at the end of May, and in second behind Ray Murphy at the end of June, but by the All Star break Rudy Gamble was in first place all by his lonesome. By the end of July there was only dust in his rear view mirror.

After finishing in second the preceding two years, behind Adam Ronis, Gamble finally ended a season in Tout Wars in the driver’s seat.

The result was a bit of draft day magic (he finished first in the Draft Day Roster standings, slightly ahead of Corey Parson, behind a team that featured Bryce Harper, Giancarlo Stanton, Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel. But it was some breakout years, from Mike Moustakas and Keon Broxton, plus late May trade for Dee Gordon that bumped Gambles team to slight favorite to monster.

Tout Wars AL Champion: Mike Podhorzer

At the end of April, Mike Podhorzer was in second place, a few points behind Jason Collette. By the end of May he was solidly in first. By the end of June his lead was pretty much insurmountable. In any case, it was never surmounted.

Podhorzer’s team was built on two big stars, Mike Trout and Francisco Lindor, and a solid closer, Craig Kimbrel, but his season’s success depended on a pair of young Yankees, Aaron Judge and Luis Severino, and the emergence of Matt Olson as a power hitter in Oakland.

Podhorzer built his pitching staff on the back of David Price, but when Price went down, he was able to sustain because of the continued excellence of Severino. The result wasn’t a ton of innings, but it was top finishes in ERA, Ratio, Saves and, surprisingly, a second-place in strikeouts despite only putting up 1100 innings. That’s thanks to Severino and Kimbrel.

 

 

 

Tout Wars Mixed Auction Champion: Jeff Zimmerman

His season started slowly. At the end of April he was in 11th place. But by the end of May he was in sixth, and in the week ending June 25th he’d climbed into first place. For good.

While a team built on Corey Kluber and Buster Posey, Ken Giles and Jose Ramirez, has talent, the difference came with the breakout season of Robbie Ray, the freakishly good season of Chase Anderson, and the Dodgers callup of Cody Bellinger.

In the end, Jeff won the league in his first season in Tout Wars Mixed Auction, and has finished first in both of his Tout Wars seasons (he won Tout Head 2 Head in 2016).

This Week’s Tout Tip for the Daily Championships at Draft Kings

Tim Heaney is in the lead. Steve Gardner and Ray Murphy, Derek Carty, Derek VanRiper and Todd Zola are all within shot of a first or second place finish to earn a golden ticket to the September 1st finals, when this year’s Tout Daily champion will be crowned.

Derek Carty has a ticket to the finals already. Todd Zola has two, and those two are also the top two point scorers for the season on the whole, with Ray Murphy in third. The Top Scorer for the season will also win a ticket to the finals.

Tonight’s contest is Week 3 of Period 5 in this year’s season. The Tout are picking:

JEFF BOGGIS

My top hitter for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Giancarlo Stanton (MIA – OF) at NYM $5,700. Giancarlo Stanton had his 6-game home run streak snapped yesterday, so it’s time to start a new one beginning tonight. He faces Mets pitcher Chris Flexen and his 7.02 ERA and 2.10 WHIP. Stanton is hitting .286 with 34 home runs and 69 RBI against right-handed pitching this season. Over the past week, Stanton has an OPS of 1.659.

My top pitcher for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Max Scherzer (SP – WAS) at San Diego $14,100. He’s expensive, but good for 10 strikeouts, 0-2 earned runs, and hopefully a win. If we take a closer look at his last 10 starts, Max Scherzer is 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA. He is on the road tonight at San Diego where he owns a 1.79 ERA and 0.82 WHIP in away games this season.

PHIL HERTZ

Corey Kluber and Yoenis Cespedes. Kluber’s recent record speaks for itself; Cespedes is heating up and facing a lefty.

TIM HEANEY

Max Scherzer ($14,100), WAS at SD: I’ll keep this one close to the vest.

Jonathan Schoop ($4,400), LAA at BAL: Stack against my fourth cousin seven times removed, Andrew Heaney, who’s making his first start coming off Tommy John rehab.

TODD ZOLA

PITCHER No-brainer for me, Max Scherzer ($14,100) is the clear-cut choice for my SP1. I’m most interested in protecting  my 34 point lead for the overall points title so there’s no reason to take chances. The match-up and weather both favor Scherzer over Kluber. That said, I’m still flummoxed over my SP2. It may come down to lineups and late weather scenarios.

HITTER Because I don’t know where I’m going with SP2, my hitting roster is in flux. A couple names I’m strongly considering include Neil Walker ($4,500) facing German Marquez in Coors and Shin-Soo Choo ($4,300) squaring off with James Shields in Arlington. Both should be hitting second in great hitting environments, in contests with no weather concerns.

The Final Period: Tout Daily Picks Tonight!

Four periods are done. Seven Touts have eight tickets to the September 1 Tout Daily Finals at Draft Kings. We can name them: Todd Zola has two tickets. Andrea LaMont, Derek Carty, Howard Bender, Lenny Melnick, Jeff Boggis and Jeff Erickson have one apiece.

Tickets will be awarded to the first and second place finishers in Period 5, and an 11th ticket will be awarded to the tout who scores the most points over the contest’s 20 weeks. Right now Zola has a 50 point lead over Carty for that bonus ticket.

For tonight, we have picks for tonight’s contests at Draft Kings.

MIKE GIANELLA

Top pitcher: James Paxton (12,200)
I generally don’t like running non-Kershaw/Scherzer arms out there over $12K but Paxton has been dominated and gets a nice matchup against the Royals tonight

Top hitter: Mike Trout: ($5,300)
The best hitter in baseball gets a soft matchup against Cotton

CHARLIE WIEGERT

Top pitchers…going on the cheap side again with Jamie Garcia, making his Yankee debut at Cleveland.  This will be bust or boom, as the Indians could pound him and he’ll be gone by the third, or as I’m hoping, he turns in one of those unexpected performances like he did in St. Louis many times.

Top Hitters…stacking Colorado, why not? Reynolds, Arenado, Story and Freeland (although I’ll get 0 points for his hitting). Also hot hitters Upton, Sanchez, Revere and  Altuve.

PHIL HERTZ

I’m going with Madison Bumgarner and Evan Longoria.

JEFF BOGGIS

My top hitter for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Andrew McCutchen ($5,400 OF-PIT) versus San Diego. Andrew McCutchen is hitting .265/.409/.559 with three home runs and nine RBI against Travis Wood in his career, and owns a 1.292 OPS against left-handed pitching this season. There is a 72% chance of rain tonight, so check your lineup prior to 7 PM tonight to make sure that the game is not postponed.

My top pitcher for tonight’s #ToutDaily contest is: Madison Bumgarner ($11,300 SP) versus Arizona. Back from the DL, de was terrific in Sunday’s no-decision against the Dodgers, allowing just five hits and a walk over seven shutout frames.

LAWR MICHAELS

Yu Darvish ($11,100): Darvish has certainly been dominant with 148 strikeouts over 137 frames, allowing just a .225 opposition batting average, and the Mets have not seen much of him.

Elvis Andrus ($4600): Low price tag for a guy with a .290-15-46 line hitting atop the order, but Andrus also gets to face Bartolo Colon, and that should be fun for the entire Rangers team.

RICK WOLF

Kevin Gausman: No pitching in baseball has been hotter in his last three starts except maybe the Klubot.  Kevin Gausman comes with a $4,000+ savings over Paxton or DeGrom. He has struck out 24 hitters in the last three games in only 20 2/3 innings pitched.  He averages 30 DraftKing points a game in those three contests.  That is FILTHY.

Tim Beckham: Love to ride the hot hitters, especially at off positions.  Tim Beckham has an OPS of 1.356 over the past 7 days.  He has settled into the Orioles lineup nicely.  He homered last night and is 7 for 12 with 5 EXB hits since joining the Os.  He will continue that tonight as the implied runs for the Os is greater than five.  Ride the hot hand.  That means two things.

TODD ZOLA

PITCHER Still waffling, especially since I’d love to use Ivan Nova but the weather looks risky. I reserve the right to change my mind, but currently my lean is Madison Bumgarner hosting the DBacks in AT&T. I like using an ace and even though Arizona is dangerous, the park helps a bit.

HITTER Jaime Garcia has done a reasonable job keeping the ball in the yard, but it’s rare finding a top power hitter, with the platoon edge priced as cheaply as Edwin Encarnacion ($4200). My only concern is I don’t like using one-offs against a team with a good bullpen and I’m not sure if I’m going with a full Tribe stack.

GENE McCAFFREY

Pitcher – outstanding Ks continue from Brad Peacock, with a much better than average chance at a Win vs. the Blue Jays.

Hitter – Adrian Beltre is rarely a bad bet; certainly not against what’s left of Bart Colon.