RADIO
Daily Fantasy Sports is becoming more and more competitive every day with the big sharks heavily diluting the pools and elbowing out the casual players with thousands and thousands of entries featuring the same algorithm, computer-generated lineups. You may be a pen and paper kind of lineup generator like myself - but how many days of the week do we actually have time for that kind of knuckle dragging?
Bottom line - if you want to succeed in the DFS world, you need a fast process for data gathering and presentation. Enter the RotoBaller DFS Lineup Optimizer. This is much more than you're typical Lineup Generator - this is a one stop shop for research - where even the old school guys like myself can process weather data, advanced statistics, vegas odds, and trends in less time than it takes to find your notepad and pencil. You tell the optimizer exactly what you are looking for in your lineup that day - and it will spit up to 150 (yes, 150) different variations of Optimized lineups based on your parameters and salary.
If you aren't using our Optimizer - plain and simple you are missing out on money. So I am going to walk you through all of its glory so you gain a better appreciation and understanding of this fantastic tool.
RotoBaller DFS Lineup Optimizer
The first step is the easiest. Pick what site you are using - FanDuel, DraftKings, or even Yahoo!. Then select the slate and contest type. Here you can select cash, GPP, or if you want to build your lineup based on trends you can even go with Last 30 or Last 60 for the hottest players.
Advanced Options
To the right of the contest type you will see a button for "Advanced Options". It may seem insignificant, but this is a portal to seem Statistical awesomeness. Here you can choose to filter your research to only show options that meet specific criteria that you deem necessary to bring down a tournament. These filters include Run Total - choosing guys on teams projected to score a lot of runs always helps, Salary, Point Projection - don't need to waste computer screen space or memory on guys who aren't going to score, Pts/$1K - if you only want guys returning value, Floor/Ceiling/Consistency Rating - trends for the last 30 days: guys who never scored below a certain point threshold or are the most consistent. You can even choose to only show guys playing at Home, or hitting in the heart of their respective teams Batting Order. It even gives you the option to exclude players whose game has above a specified percentage or rain that day! You can make save some serious time by setting these filters before you start the research process.
After you set your filters you now have the option to set a custom Lineup Budget and the max number of players you want to allow from the same team. You can even choose to input Batter vs Pitcher (BvP) influence into the optimizing process - which is always my favorite final-decision maker when it comes down to choosing between two players.
The last golden nugget you will find in the Advanced Options is some truly awesome and easy filters for the players. For pitchers you can choose to display only Strikeout Kings - or pitchers projected for a higher K/9 ratio, SP Favorites, or those pitching in Pitcher Parks that day. For hitters you can choose to display only Boom or Bust players - perfect for those GPP lines, All Around players - perfect for those cash lines, players in Hitter Parks that day, or even Lineup Values based on where the hitter is slated in the batting order.
Don't forget to save your custom settings to your Profile for quick access for the next day!
Projections
After you save the settings to your profile, next you are back at the main screen. Underneath the top row you see a row of buttons in blue, starting with Projections. This portion is the heart of the optimizer, and is pretty self explanatory. Based on your parameters and criteria these are the projected FP per player. You can sort to see the highest projected guys that you may want to Lock into your lineups - and likewise the lowest projected guys to Exclude from your lines.
Games
The next button you see going west to east is Games. This is your new One-stop-shop for all game information you need for DFS. It has weather - wind direction/speed, temperature, and precipitation percentage. It has starting lineups. It projected run totals - to help decide which SP to use for the easy W or which offense to stack, and even Vegas odds. Notice on this screen you can lock-in or exclude entire teams from your lineups. This is my favorite starting place when I start my daily research.
Players
The next button to the right is the lifeblood of the Lineup Optimizer: Players. This tab is a mixture of Projections and Games - and literally has ALL the necessary info but listed by Player. You can sort by Salary if you are looking for the perfect player to match your remaining monies. It has projected FP and CV - which is the players Value rating based on the FP and Salary. Next is my favorite part - the advanced statistics that would take you hours and hours to compile yourself. For pitchers it includes the opposing offenses wOBA vs same-handed pitching, ISO, and K%. For pitching it shows the opposing pitchers wOBA vs same-handed hitters, ISO, HR/9, and K%. Lastly if you continue scrolling to the right you will see Performance numbers. It has the players floor over the last 60 days - for cash games, the ceiling - for GPP, and his consistency rating to determine the players chance at returning value. I can sit on this page for 15 minutes and gather all the data I need to choose which players I want to target - something that could take me two hours on a statistics site.
Injuries
I absolutely hate the last 30 minutes before a slate starts - frantically looking for injury updates on players I have in my lineups, google searching like a fool. But no longer. The Injuries tab has literally all the injury updates and statuses you'll ever need. It gives you the ability to exclude all players on the DL, listed as OUT, or even players questionable for that day.
Stacks
The last few features I'd like to point out on the MLB DFS Lineup Optimizer are the row of goodies underneath the main tabs at the top of the screen. It starts with Stacks. If you ever look at the top of the leaderboard for your DFS contest, you will more than likely see the winner used a stack of some sort. Here you can choose for the optimizer to create a stack for you. Your first option is to create a Team Stack. You choose the number of different teams you want to create lineup stacks for. Next choose the team(s). Now how many players do you want from said teams? Lastly, it even lets you choose the batting order spots you want to target. The next stack option is Player Stacks. This is a team stack and player locks taken to the next level. You have your heart set on very specific hitters that you have to get in your line that day? Go ahead and choose up to four players and boom - they will be in all your optimized lineups.
Projection Models
After the Stack features, you come to my favorite feature on the Optimizer - the Projection Models. These are fast-easy ways to filter your results to exactly what you are looking for. From the players tab, you can watch the projected points change based on these "Bonus" stats being added into the formula. For pitchers you can select Park Factors, Opp Run Total, Moneyline, Opp wOBA, Opp ISO, and Opp K%. For hitters you can select Park Factors, Run Total, wOBA, ISO, and wRC+. Like I said previously, its basically you telling the formula to add additional weight to the things you care about more. Choose one, two, or all of them. There is not a more customer-customized Optimizer in the industry.
La Fin
After you have set your Advanced Options (and saved them to your profile), check the Game information, check the injury updates, excluded all your duds and locked in your studs, decided on a stack, and hand picked your specific Projection Models - now it is time to see the beauty unfold. Hit the red button. The Optimizer now takes into effect all your settings, categories, filters, models, exclusions, locks, and stacks and creates up to 150 DIFFERENT lineups for you. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY!
This is hands down my favorite tool on the internet - not only for DFS, but for Fantasy Sports in general. I use this thing to make season-long league lineup decisions almost every day. I use it for injury and weather updates.
If you aren't using it you are losing IT - your DFS bankroll, that is. If you aren't sold yet, that's fine. Try it for one week, ON US, with a Free One Week Trial. But if you have come to visualize the sheer awesomeness of this tool - and you have realized the vital necessity to have it in your life... sign up for a PREMIUM ROTOBALLER MEMBERSHIP TODAY!
