Hi. My name is Dave McDonald. Some of you may know me from Twitter (@RunDMcD), others by my team name and Twitter display name (Less than Dave), and maybe even some will be familiar with my work in Michael (@SPStreamer) Simione’s Draft Guide where I wrote a very in-depth strategy section. Many of you won’t know me at all yet – and that’s fine too. I’m a high stakes fantasy baseball player – specifically the 5×5 standard rotisserie (roto) game.

How do you define “high stakes” you ask? No one really knows. My friend John Laghezza (@MLBMovingAvg) attempted to find out the answer to this question awhile back.

How do you define a high stakes fantasy league?

— John Laghezza MLB / NFL Moving Averages (@JohnLaghezza) March 13, 2021

The poll was decidedly undecided on the topic. Also, John’s poll didn’t include higher options above a $1,000 entry fee. I know some people would classify high stakes as $2,500+ (which is actually how NFBC defines it as their “high stakes” leagues are $2,500-$15,000 entry fee leagues). So while I don’t exactly know how to define “high stakes,” I can say with certainty that I am a high stakes player.

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The DC Area Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Britt Ghiroli

Personal history in the business

Strategy Section

• 2021 Doubleheaders – Setting fantasy lineups

Sticky Substances

Washington Nationals

• Will the Nationals be buyers or sellers?
  • Potential Trade Candidates
• Closer Situation
• Josh Bell
• Updates on Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg
• Nationals Prospects
  • Cade Cavalli
  • Jackson Rutledge

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The Angels Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Jeff Fletcher, Orange County Register

Personal history in the business

Los Angeles Angels

• Who is the Angels MVP to date?
• Can Shohei Ohtani be the American League MVP?
• Jared Walsh
• One Up, One Down
  • Alex Cobb’s resurgence
  • Dylan Bundy’s regression
• Will the Angels be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline?
  • Trade deadline needs
• Mike Trout injury update
• Jo Adell
• Other Angels Prospects
  • Brandon Marsh
  • Reid Detmers

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Having officially gotten more regular-season baseball than we got in 2020, let’s check in on some team offensive trends. At least those trending poorly. Because while it’s still less than three months of baseball, it’s enough to start getting a handle on which teams you should exploit for streaming gains, and who you should avoid.

Matchups are obviously king in streaming but not all bad teams are the same. At least, not in terms of how they fare against each hand, both in general performance and strikeout tendencies. The Baltimore Orioles have the worst record in baseball, as well as the worst run value (per 100 pitches) against right-handed pitchers. However, you play a dangerous game when streaming a leftie against the Orioles, as their 1.29 RV/100 and .353 wOBA vs LHP are the highest in baseball, while their 20.4% K% is beaten only by the 16.8% K% of Houston.

Using Run Value (per 100 pitches), wOBA, xwOBA, and K%, we’ll see which teams currently look like the juiciest targets when considering a stream and then take a look at some of their matchups with starters who are currently rostered less than 50% in Yahoo leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

Patience.

In this day and age, with every moment needing to be gratifying and an end result needed that day, that hour, and even that minute, season-long fantasy baseball is seemingly quite the opposite. The daily grind takes a toll mentally, and it is hard to remind yourself not to live and die with every moment this early in the season. I am not saying that these stats do not matter as much as the stats needed in September to win your leagues, we all know they count the same. But season long fantasy sports are a different animal when you add the human element into it. That human element is what makes our game so fun, and not to mention stressful. We have so many decisions to make for 6 months, it is hard to quantify the decisions we made in April and May come September.

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The Yankees Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Sweeny Murti, WFAN

Personal history in the business

New York Yankees

• Who has been the Yankees MVP to date?
• Gerrit Cole
• DJ LeMahieu
• Deadline trade needs
• Gleyber Torres
• Giancarlo Stanton / Luis Severino – Injury updates
• How will the Yankees handle innings limits for starting pitchers down the stretch in 2021?
• Is Aaron Boone on the managerial hot set?

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The Rays Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Steve Carney

Personal history in the business

Baseball in 2021

• Effect of fans
• New rules – 3 batter minimum, 7 inning doubleheaders, extra innings

Tampa Bay Rays

• Who is the Athletics MVP to date?
• Tyler Glasnow
• Closer situation
• Ji-Man Choi
• Vidal Brujan / Wander Franco – Timetables

AL East Predictions

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The Bay Area Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Jessica Kleinschmidt

Personal history in the business

Oakland Athletics

• Chris Bassitt
• Who is the Athletics MVP to date?
• Ramon Laureano Injury Update
• Closer situation
  • Jake Diekman
  • Lou Trivino
• Athletics needs via trading
  • Potential trade candidates (as buyers)
• Athletics Prospects
  • Daulton Jefferies
  • Grant Holmes
  • Nick Allen
  • Logan Davidson
  • Luis Barrera
• Marcus Semien contract thoughts

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The Miami Marlins Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Craig Mish

LABR Mixed Auction Update

Working in the Business & Playing Fantasy Baseball

• Craig Mish Personal History
• Advangates gained for fantasy baseball
• Thoughts on Marlins GM Kim Ng [later in the show]
• Working as a beat reporter in COVID times [later in the show]

Miami Marlins

• Closer situation
  • Yimi Garcia
  • Anthony Bass
• Trade Possibilities as sellers
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. outlook rest of season
  • Rankings game
• Trevor Rogers
  • Innings Limit
• Sixto Sanchez Update
• Marlins Prospects
  • Edward Cabrera
  • Jake Eder
  • Max Meyer

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The NL Central Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Sara Sanchez

Strategy Section

• Injured List roster slots in fantasy baseball
  • Do they add or remove “luck” to the game?
  • Do they take away “decisions” that fantasy owners have to make?
  • Is 2021 different than other seasons with regard to its use?
  • The use of a Limited IL slot for high value / undropable players.

Chicago Cubs

• Closer situation
  • Will Craig Kimbrel still close if traded?
  • Who is next in line for saves?
• Anthony Rizzo & Kris Bryant
  • Contract status
  • Who is more likely to be traded?
  • Who is more likely to be a Cub in 2022?
• Javier Baez outlook rest of season
  • Who would you rather have ROS – Baez or Lindor?
• Kyle Hendricks outlook rest of season
  • HR/FB rates and when FIP differs greatly from xFIP
• Prospects that may have an impact in 2021
  • Keegan Thompson
  • Miguel Amaya
  • Brailyn Marquez
• Underperforming players worth considering in fantasy
  • Ian Happ
  • Joc Pederson
  • Matt Duffy

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