Category: Data

It’s Full Moon on a Full Moon This Week! Plus, Tout Daily Finals Field Is Set!

Screenshot 2016-08-20 09.20.23Last night’s full “sturgeon moon” was anything but a fish for Rick Wolf’s Full Moon Tout Daily entry.

Launched by Cole Hamel’s dominant win and brought home by Masahiro Tanaka’s equally strong performance, Rick’s team danced in the moonlight to a 17 point victory.

Full Moon’s offense was powered by stalwart Joey Votto, the surprising Keon Broxton, this year’s biggest surprise Jonathan Villar, and youthful powerhouse Gary Sanchez.

full-moon-2Last night’s contest, the last of the Tout Daily regular season, determined the winners of the final three golden tickets to the Tout Daily finals, which will be held next Friday, August 26th, at RTSports.com/tout-wars.

Brian Walton finished 11th on the week and first for Period 5, winning his second ticket to the finals. He’ll have two entries next week, having also finished first in Period 1.

Todd Zola finished third on the week, and second for Period 5, winning his second ticket to the finals. He finished first in Period 4.

Mastersball partners Zola and Walton also finished first and second in Total Points over the 20 weeks of Tout Daily. There’s no award for that, apart from the special satisfaction of a job well done.

Eno Sarris finished 12th on the week, and third for Period 5, winning his first ticket to the finals. He finished 19th overall, demonstrating that there are many paths to the staging ground for the assault on the pinnacle (otherwise known at the 2016 Tout Daily Championship).

The estimable Charlie Wiegert is the reigning Tout Daily Champion, and he will pass his crown next week to one of these on the full roster of Tout Daily Finalists (sorted by Total Points on the season):

Todd Zola X 2
Brian Walton X 2
Mike Gianella
Jeff Erickson X 2
Tim Heaney
Tristan Cockcroft
Rick Wolf
Jason Collette
Eno Sarris
Patrick Davitt
Rob Leibowitz
Patrick Mayo

You may follow along live next Friday night, or check in on the results at RTSports.com/tout-wars. And check ToutWars.com for a preview of the night’s contest, and the game story on Saturday morning.

Use the RTSports.com/tout-wars link to sign up to play daily fantasy baseball games for free for fun or enter pay contests to win prizes.

The regular season final leaderboard can be found here.

The state of the moon on August 26th will be Waning Crescent.

 

Sarris Crushes Tout Wars Daily Field! Walton Takes Big Lead!

Screenshot 2016-08-13 10.13.58Eno Sarris got a monster game from Charlie Blackmon in Philadelphia (his three solo homers added up to 19 points on the night) and a solid game from Rajai Davis (his three steals were owned by just one percent of RTSports players), plus nice games from Dylan Bundy and Evan Longoria to lap all the Tout Daily by RTSports.com field except Todd Zola.

Zola finished six points behind Sarris, riding Yu Davish’s first 100+ pitch game since starting his recovery from TJ, Hanley Ramirez’s rout (two homers, six RBI) and Longoria’s nice game, plus solid contributions from Stephen Vogt, Jabari Blash, and Billy Hamilton (3 steals on one hit, one walk, three strikeouts).

Derek VanRiper led the rest of the pack, 13 points behind Sarris, with Brian Walton in fourth. Walton’s strong finish vaulted him to the top of the Period 3 standings, 19 points ahead of second place Steve Moyer.

Moyer’s lead after period two was erased following his weak performance in week 3 (Christian Yelich, for example, was 0-4 with four strikeouts), and he is now in a dogfight with VanRiper and Sarris for the final two golden tickets to the finals, about 15 points ahead of the next pack of contenders led by Zola, Adam Ronis, Jake Ciely and Lawr Michaels.

Ronis (fourth) and Ciely (sixth) have the most total points in the Tout Daily series in 2016, without earning a ticket to the finals. Next Friday’s contest is their last chance this year. Before the season Ciely was a strong advocate for giving the highest scoring team to not earn a ticket a ticket into the finals. What did he know then?

Walton and Zola are the only contenders who already have tickets to the finals.

See the complete leaderboard here.

Join us next Friday for the final week of the final period of Tout Daily by RTSports.com.

And join us August 26th, when 15 teams compete for the title of Tout Daily 2016 Champion!

Tout Daily Tonight! Third week of final period kicks off at 7pm!

Steve Moyer and Brian Walton have big leads going into the third week, but one stumble can erase those. Jake Ciely, Lawr Michales, Derek Van Riper, Adam Ronis, Scott Pianowski, Jeff Erickson, Jason Collette and Rob Leibowitz trail them, right now competing for the final ticket to the Tout Daily Finals on August 26th.

You can watch all the action at rtsports.com/tout-wars. Or play along for cash prizes or fun, just follow the link to get set up.

Of those competing for the final tickets, Brian Walton, Jeff Erickson and Rob Leibowitz already have tickets. Jeff Erickson already has two tickets!

Adam Ronis has the third highest point total for the season, but doesn’t not yet have a ticket to the finals.

We asked the Touts for their best picks in tonight’s games. Here’s what they told us:

PHIL HERTZ

Favorite Pitcher: Stephen Strasburg ($9,200 vs. Atlanta). Favorite Hitter: Neil Walker ($4,200 vs San Diego).

BRIAN WALTON

Yordano Ventura ($7,100 @ Minnesota) may not excite, but the Royals right-hander has allowed three runs or less in each of his last six starts while averaging almost 10 points per outing. On Friday evening, Ventura draws the last-place Twins, 23 games under .500 and coming off three straight losses during which they were outscored 32-14.

Neil Walker ($4,200 vs San Diego) is working on a nine-game hitting streak during which the Mets’ second baseman is 17-for-37 (.459), including three home runs and six RBI.  He will take on Paul Clemens of San Diego this evening.

LAWR MICHAELS

Going high and low with my pitching, riding David Price ($9,200 vs Arizona) and then Jonathan Gray ($6,000 @ Philadelphia), hoping both can twirl away from home.

For hitters I like Ryon Healy ($2,800 vs Seattle) on the low end facing newbie Southpaw Ariel Miranda, and Michael Saunders ($5,100 vs Houston) facing Joe Musgrove.

JEFF BOGGIS

I’m just playing the role of spoiler and need a DFS miracle tonight, so I am going to go with SP Joe Musgrove ($4,000 @ Toronto). He faced Toronto on August 2nd a and struck out 8 betters in only 4.1 innings pitched. For my top hitter, I am also going try to steal some DFS points with starting Billy Hamilton OF ($4,500 @ Milwaukee) for $4,500. If he gets on base and steals some bases, he’s good for 10-15 points. If he goes 0-4, then I will take the 0 DFS points for the night. High risk, high reward player.

HOWARD BENDER

Ross Stripling, SP ($4,400 vs. Pittsburgh) I love his ground ball rates, especially when he’s facing a team like the Pirates who have been mashing the ball in the dirt 49.2-percent of the time over the past week. On top of that, Pittsburgh has just a .292 wOBA which comes with a .095 ISO and 22.7-percent strikeout rate.

David Dahl ($4,600 @ Philadelpha) and Gerardo Parra ($4,500 @ Philadelphia) Stacking Rockies? Come on! How cheap can you get? Well, they’re not in Colorado tonight so the prices are a bit more reasonable. With Dahl and Parra batting fourth and fifth in the lineup tonight against Jake Thompson, I’m looking for a whole lot of BOOM and hopefully very little bust. Thompson’s MLB experience isn’t extensive but when I see lefties posting a .484 wOBA against him, I’m willing to overlook the sample size.

[We’ll update later if more picks come in. Good luck tonight!]

 

 

August 8 Tout FAABaganza Commentaries.

The big trading-deadline FAAB bids have been made. Who are the winners? Who are the losers?

Mastersball has all the action here.

George Bissell of Baseball Prospectus takes on Tout AL and NL, plus LABR mixed, with his commentary here.

Zola by a nose and a half in Tout Daily Period 4, while Shandler wins night!

Going into the final week of Period 4, Todd Zola had a big lead over Jeff Erickson, who in turn led Mike Gianella by seven points. Zola stumbled in week four, finishing 26th on the night, while Erickson finished 11th and Gianella tied for fifth. Lots of action, but the results ended much the same, with the three week-three leaders finishing atop the board after week four closer but in the same order.

zolaonskypeZola, Erickson and Gianella win golden tickets to the August 26th Tout Daily Finals, when a season champion will be crowned based on that night’s play.

For Erickson it is his second ticket of the year to the finals, and he’ll get to enter two teams in the 15 team finals field, and play for a third ticket in Tout Daily Period 5, which starts next Friday, July 29th.

Other holders of tickets to the Finals are Brian Walton, Rick Wolf, Rob Leibowitz, Tim Heaney, Tristan Cockcroft, Jason Collette, Patrick Davitt and Patrick Mayo.

Ray Murphy and Brian Walton finished seven and eight points back of Gianella, respectively, finishing fourth and fifth for the Period.

As each Tout Daily Period ends, all eyes fall on the race for the golden tickets, and the Friday night contest is overlooked. Last night’s first place team was Ron Shandler’s, edging Michael Beller and Ray Murphy.

Screenshot 2016-07-23 09.52.42Shandler was one of only two Top 10 teams to roster Jonathan Gray, in Colorado, and was rewarded with the night’s second-best pitching performance.

Big nights from Joey Votto and Christian Yelich, plus another strong game from popular pick Daniel Murphy, pushed Shandler to the top position, despite a woeful games from Tanner Roark and Jordy Mercer.

Shandler’s winning total was 26 points fewer than the winning total in week 3, and the lowest total winning points in Period 4.

Michael Beller rostered two meh pitchers on the night, Danny Duffy and Matt Shoemaker, who each cost $5,900, and received meh performances, but Duffy scored a Win. Beller used the money he saved to roster Nolan Arenado, Dexter Fowler, and Cameron Maybin, who did enough to prevail over all but Shandler.

Ray Murphy was the only other Top 10 team to roster Jonathan Gray, and he coupled him with Lance McCullers, the night’s best pitcher, who generated 21 points. Alas, his only solid hitter was Cameron Maybin and he came up one point short of first.

You can see all the night’s results at RTSports.com/tout-wars.

You can see the whole leaderboard here.

You can play daily fantasy baseball at RTSports.com, for prizes or just for fun.

Come back here, to Toutwars.com, next Friday afternoon, for the Touts’ top picks for Friday night, and follow that night’s action at RTSports.com.

Catching Zola! Mission Impossible?

Todd Zola leads the Period 4 race after three weeks by 16 points over Jeff Erickson, who leads Mike Gianella and five other challengers by from seven to 14 points. But as we’ve seen time and again, anything can happen on any given day in DFS, so no one is resting easy today.

Here are today’s picks from the Touts:

JEFF BOGGIS

I like Madison Bumgarner ($9,400 @ NY Yankees) and Josh Donaldson ($6,800 vs Seattle).

PHIL HERTZ

Brandon McCarthy ($4,500 @ St. Louis) and Wilmer Flores ($3,100 @ Miami)

LAWR MICHAELS

Since it all comes from pitching, I grabbed a pair of starters I like, but guys who are hardly marquee names, starting with Michael Fullmer ($6900 @ Chicago White Sox) trying his very strong skills (9-2, 2.16 with 77 whiffs), pairing him with the equally effective and modestly priced Tanner Roark ($6400 vs San Diego), with a 9-5, 2.82 record and 106 punchouts.

I like a couple of Fish a lot, so Christian Yelich ($4800 vs NY Mets) and Jake Realmuto ($3600 vs NY Mets) are in the lineup against the Mets Logan Verrett and staying with the Big Apple theme, Didi Gregorius ($3600 vs San Francisco) is becoming a very good hitter with a .296-11-41 line.

SCOTT SWANAY

Matt Shoemaker ($5,900 @ Houston) Seems underpriced given how well he’s pitched this season and how much the Astros strike out.

Alex Gordon ($4,500 vs Texas) He has to start hitting at some point, doesn’t he?

CHARLIE WIEGERT

Going with two who should get 7-10 K’s and have a good chance for a W: Tanner Roark ($6400 vs San Diego) and Michael Fullmer ($6900 @ Chicago White Sox). 

Top hitters, I’m looking for long balls tonight from Giancarlo Stanton ($5,700 vs NY Mets), Bryce Harper ($6,500 vs San Diego) and Adam Duvall ($4,700 vs Arizona) plus riding a hot Joey Votto ($6,400 vs Arizona) and Zack Cozart ($4,600 vs Arizona) against Archie Bradley.

MIKE GIANELLA

Top Hitter: Kris Bryant ($6,200 @ Milwaukee). Taking one of the best home run hitters in one of the best home run parks in baseball is a pretty easy call, even if opposing pitcher Jeff Nelson isn’t necessarily homer prone. I saw Bryant hit his first major league home run last year at Miller Park; hopefully, he can repeat the magic tonight and push my team into the finals.

Top Pitcher:Madison Bumgarner ($9,400 @ NY Yankees).  I was burned (slightly) using Bumgarner last week in what should have been an easy matchup against the Padres but figure it’s worth getting back on this horse against a Yankee lineup that has not hit lefties well this season. The park’s home run factor makes me a little nervous, but in a week where there aren’t a lot of strong options, I feel comfortable using Bum here.

TIM HEANEY

OF Khris Davis ($4,500 vs. Tampa Bay): Davis has not cared about Oakland’s immense pitcher-friendly rep, as he’s hit 14 of his 23 homers at the O.co. His 24.2% HR/FB is also one of the league’s best. Add more gasoline because of his matchup against fly-ball-heavy hurler Jake Odorizzi.
 

SP Tanner Roark ($6,600 vs. San Diego: Roark’s magical year has included a 2.32 ERA at home, which makes his price tag all the more enticing. The Pads remain a middle-of-the-road offense even when they leave Petco.

BRIAN WALTON

At $5900, Matt Shoemaker ($5,900 @ Houston) is just the 20th-most expensive pitcher on the board Friday night. The Angels hurler fanned 13 White Sox last time out and against his Friday night opponent, Houston, this season, Shoemaker has 24 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings and averaged over 18 points per outing.

 Joey Votto ($6,400 vs Arizona) is working on a six-game hitting streak, coinciding with Cincinnati’s current homestand. The Reds first sacker has gone deep in two of his last three games while amassing 25 points. Votto has a nice home matchup with Archie Bradley and the Snakes Friday night.

GENE MCCAFFREY

Pitcher: Danny Duffy ($5,900 vs Texas), at home at a nice price.

Hitter: Jake Lamb ($4,800 @ Cincinnati) is a bargain against an atrocious Reds’ staff.

Mini FAAB Reports for July 18!

A second FAAB run, three days after the last, but there is still action, especially for a man named Pomeranz. Todd Zola and his henchmen at Mastersball have comments on five leagues.

Mike Gianella tackles the Pomeranz issue, too, with charts, plus all the other moves in Tout AL and NL, with some mixed league discussion too at Baseball Prospectus.