DraftKings user “Boopscoop4” woke up six figures richer this morning and he has Freddy Galvis to thank.
True, Maikel Franco did the heaviest lifting, but any time your bargain-bin special at shortstop out-produces your highest-priced hitter by a factor of four, that dude deserves a tip of the cap.
The Phillies were far and away the contrarian play of the day in GPPs. And though Franco’s four-hit, two-homer day carried many DFSers to the money, only Boopscoop4 had the gumption to go all-in on a light-hitting Philadelphia team in an unfavorable matchup against Michael Pineda.
The winning lineup in the day’s richest tournament—DraftKings’ MLB $250K Swing For The Fences—featured four Phillies hitters, all of whom outscored Mike Trout pretty significantly despite none being more than 1.9 percent owned.
That’s how you get separation from the field.
Pineda was more than 58 percent owned in the tournament, owing to his strikeout stuff and the Phillies’ general ineptitude on offense. Of course, hindsight is what it is, but retrospectively, it made some sense to go against the grain in this game.
First, there’s Yankee Stadium. Even casual DFS players know the park’s reputation for producing big offensive numbers—especially via the ever-valuable long ball. Then there’s Pineda. The mercurial 26-year-old has shown real signs of living up to long-awaited potential and rounding into ace form this season. But he’s also displayed a tendency toward the total meltdown—last night’s game was the fifth time in 14 starts he’s given up at least five runs.
Not to be overlooked is the fact that the Phillies don’t actually strike out much. Of course when you’re plugging in Ryan Howard as your first baseman, it negates a good deal of any safety you may gain from the contact the other guys are making, but still. Worth mentioning.
Monday night it added up to a perfect storm. The park did its part, Pineda served up batting practice (and sank more than half of the tournament field with minus-15.7 points), and not even Howard went down on strikes.
The result is a big payday for Boopscoop4.
By the way, shout out to “mlytal10,” who managed 196 points and a 57th-place finish despite Pineda. The rest of his team was so good he would’ve had a top-10 finish if he just could’ve left one pitching slot open.