More than 17 percent of people that participate in Fantasy sports in the US and Canada play DFS exclusively. Yet, the Daily Fantasy Sports world still doesn’t reach a huge portion of sports fans.
Obviously, there will continue to be a rise in DFS popularity in the coming years, but it likely won’t overtake season-long Fantasy play anytime soon. DFS has something that season-long Fantasy can’t duplicate—a new game and a chance to win every day—but many long-time Fantasy players shake their heads at DFS baseball because they say it’s missing the heart of their game and panders to our instant gratification society.
In a way, they’re right, but I don’t think it’s something that can’t be overcome.
6 Things Daily Fantasy Baseball Needs
Some of these are games and some are just concepts, but I do think these are missing pieces of the game worth discussing.
A Way to Reward Relievers/Closers
For a while, there were Daily Fantasy sites such as DraftStreet that allowed the drafting of relievers, which essentially had you fill three pitcher spots. And you could either do three very cheap starters, or you could go two starters and a closer. The problem? Unlike all the other positions, you never knew if a closer was even going to enter the game that night.
My Fix: Use “Team Bullpen” as a roster slot in DFS lineups, and players could gain Fantasy points with innings, strikeouts, holds and saves for the bullpen they choose that day.
The Same Trash-Talk Connections as Fantasy Leagues Have
When you play DFS, you’re not chatting with other players in the same contest. Anyone that plays in friends or family leagues knows that the trash talk is half the fun. Either running your mouth about beating your buddy—or watching the guy that ran his mouth lose his game—it’s fun all around!
My Fix: DFS sites should make stronger connections with major Fantasy sites, then work to convert those season-long leagues into becoming a Daily Fantasy “King of the Hill” league, where they battle against each other every week in daily play.
Ease of Play For Beginners
Beginners that try Daily Fantasy are often eaten alive within the first couple weeks of playing because they don’t quite understand the differences between seasonal Fantasy strategies compared to DFS play. Newbies will often burn through their initial deposit—including any bonus deposit cash they got—and they walk away with a genuine DFS spanking.
My Fix: DFS sites should have a minor leagues that does everything but force people to play a couple free games in each format (50/50s, Leagues, Triple-Up and Tournaments), allowing them a chance to see how different they each are. Maybe there’s even an automated email that comes to them that points out their foibles (you started six right-handed hitters against six right-handed pitchers; your catcher had the day off and you left him in; your pitcher was starting a game in Coors Field).
Three-Game Series
I think there’s a happy medium between Daily Fantasy Baseball and traditional season-long leagues. What if you got to draft a standard DFS team on Friday for the entire upcoming weekend’s games—except instead of a pitcher, you pick an entire pitching staff? Maybe you could even have one or two bench players that you start or sit, depending on the matchups and platoons.
My Fix: This becomes a game that CBS and FanDuel partner up together to create as a bridge for traditional players into DFS play. CBS has the league setup and FanDuel already has the DFS engine to run it.
Set-It-and-Forget-It Lineups
One of the great advantages that DFS sharks have is that they’re on top of their lineups all the way up until game time. For those that don’t play this game for a living, it’s sometimes difficult to get players in or out of your lineups at 6:55 p.m. ET. This is also one of the reasons why new players get scared away initially.
My Fix: I have a couple possible fixes for this one —
- DFS sites should have optional early games that lock three hours before game time, so no one gets an advantage.
- Bench players are optional (one hitter and one pitcher), but you can only choose a player with a minimum salary. This could also work for rainouts.
Draft Day Excitement
Traditional Fantasy Baseball has one day that stands above the rest, and I think the same “Draft Day” magic can be built into some of these Daily Fantasy Baseball sites. The excitement of knowing the top picks for the day and the build-up before the first pitch is lost in DFS play.
My Fix: What if, along with the previous suggestion about early lineups, we have starting pitchers lock three hours before game time? It’s pretty rare for a starting pitcher to get yanked more than three hours before first pitch, so it’s unlikely owners would get screwed over (outside of a rainout, which would screw them over anyway). I also think it would be cool if the DFS sites released the ownership percentages of starting pitchers at this time too.