At FantasyLabs, we believe that we have the best daily fantasy sports tools and data available. We also realize that these tools and data are only as beneficial as our ability to communicate their functionality and worth.
With this in mind, our Trend of the Day series features articles that walk subscribers each weekday through an important trend, created with our free Trends tool. Also, shortly after you create a trend, you will be able to see it under the “My Trends” column in our Player Models.
MLB Trend of the Day: Top-of-the-Order Batters with Average Vegas Totals
Whenever I’m creating my tourney lineups, I’m always looking for places to zig where others might zag. Often, zigging means avoiding the chalky players, who are usually the guys on teams with high implied run totals. So what happens when we look at top-of-the-order batters on teams that have only average implied totals according to Vegas? Can we effectively zig with these players?
Spoiler alert: You’re about to find out.
Step 1: Player Filters > Lineup Order > 1 to 3
No surprises here. We know that top-of-the-lineup players get more plate appearances and produce more points than their lower-in-the-order peers.
Step 2: Vegas Filters > Runs > 4 to 4.6
There’s no special reason I picked these numbers. I just wanted to be in the tier below the day’s top numbers. On a day like today we could bump that up with such high totals, but some days have top teams in the high fours. Remember, this is a trend for tournaments. If you’re playing cash games, there’s no need to avoid the players with the highest implied run totals.
Step 3: Fantasy Month Filters > Month Salary Change > -800 to -100
Here’s another sneaky way to get . . . sneaky. Salaries go down for a variety of reasons. It could be a slump, a matchup against a tough pitcher, or even leaving a ballpark like Coors Field. These are times when DFSers tend not to play certain players, but these results are hard to ignore.
Current Matches
There are nine matches for today’s slate, but four of those aren’t expected to play, according to our projected lineups.
Today’s expected-to-play matches are Justin Turner, Ben Revere, Jose Abreau, Adam Eaton, and Jacoby Ellsbury.
Be sure to remember that these players could fall out of the trend based on line movement and actual lineups. Also, other players could jump into the trend based on those same factors.
Note: Our Player Models update in real time to give subscribers the most accurate information available. As Vegas totals change, the current player matches may also change after this article is published.
