This article is part of our DFS Baseball 101 series.
Our friends at Sports Tradex are giving RotoWire users an opportunity to win $1,000,000 this Friday.
On May 30, Sports Tradex will launch its first Millionaire Maker tournament. In this contest, each contestant will make 20 selections predicting winners in fantasy matchups between sets of three player fantasy teams. If you pick all 20 correctly, you will win a million dollars.
The contest is limited to 100 entries so enter before it gets filled! In addition to the $1,000,000 bonus, the contest offers a $10,000 guaranteed prize pool and first place earns $2,000 guaranteed. We hope you go undefeated for the $1,000,000 but winners will still take home huge cash prizes if they fall short of winning the million. The buy-in for the contest is $108 and contestants can buy up to five entries. If you want to try and gain an entry at a discounted rate, Sports Tradex is also offering satellite contests into the Millionaire Maker on Wednesday and Thursday.
If you haven't tried the pick'em games at Sports Tradex, you should join today to start practicing for the big event. Simply choose which 3 player fantasy team will win its matchup. Here is an example of the type of matchup you would see:
Team A:
Cole Hamels
Miguel Cabrera
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
VS.
Team B:
Matt Carpenter
Sonny Gray
Mike Trout
The highest scoring fantasy team scores is the winner. Therefore, if you chose Team B, you will be correct if that team scores more fantasy points than Team A scores. If you have the most correct selections in a contest, you win. In the Millionaire Maker, if you go 20-0, you win a milllion dollars. The first Millionaire Maker occurs on May 30th and another contest will launch in June.
To make the contest even more enticing, Sports Tradex is offering first-time signups from RotoWire a 30 percent upfront deposit bonus using code "WIRE". Sign up here.
After signing up for SportsTradex's big contest this Friday, I highly recommend checking out RotoWire's very own Michael Rathburn's piece How to Win on SportsTradex. Rath takes a look at SportsTradex's unique Pick 'Em style contests and scoring system while offering up these ten tips:
Hitters
1. Opposite handed hitter vs starting pitcher (RHB vs LHP, LHB vs RHP): You gain about a 50 point edge in OPS when taking a RHB vs. LHP or LHB vs RHP instead of a RHB vs RHP, it jumps to almost 100 points when looking at LHB vs LHP.
2. Batting Order: You want to select players batting in the 1-4 spots in the batting order. There is a significant drop off in OPS and in STE scoring for hitters in the 5-9 spots especially in the National League.
3. Facing "Finesse" starting pitcher (defined as in the bottom 1/3 of the league in strikeouts plus walks – low k/high BB rate arm): You gain 90 points on OPS taking a hitter against a finesse pitcher.
4. Facing "Flyball" starting pitcher (defined as in the bottom 1/3 of the league in ratio of fly ball outs to ground ball outs): You gain 15 points on OPS taking a hitter against a flyball pitcher.
5. Favorable hitting environment: Look for OPS situations that are at least .720 or higher based on handedness in the ballpark. Notorious hitting parks like Texas, Toronto, Colorado, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and New York AL. Vegas total on the game is at least 8.5 runs or higher.
Pitchers
1. Heavy favorite to win the game according to the Vegas money line. Anything -150 or higher is a good barometer.
2. Weak opposing lineup with a penchant for striking out at a high clip: Highest K rates versus LHP in 2013 (Astros, Mets, Twins, Braves, Pirates) and highest K rates versus RHP in 2013 (Astros, Twins, Braves, Mariners, Mets)
3. Opposing lineup in the bottom 5 wOBA: Lowest wOBA versus LHP in 2013 (Marlins, Astros, Padres, Mets, White Sox) and lowest wOBA versus RHP in 2013 (Mariners, Marlins, White Sox, Mets, Cardinals)
4. Favorable pitching environment: Look for OPS situations that are at least .720 or less based on the handedness in the ballpark. Notorious pitcher parks are Citi Field (Mets), Miami, SF Giants, Seattle, LA Dodgers, Oakland, Minnesota, San Diego, Tampa Bay. Vegas total on the game is at least 7.5 runs or lower.
5. Pitcher is at home and has at least 8.0 K/9
