If you’ve followed me on Twitter @DavidGonos over the past year, you know that I like five things: chicken wings, beer, making fun of my friends, chicken wings, and playing Draft Day Rapid Fire!
Well, Monday’s game matchups have already been released, three days ahead of time, and I’m all jacked up to discuss!
This might be the easiest Daily Fantasy Baseball game to play, and one of the best to put money in your pocket.
The way this game works is – you pick which player will score more Fantasy points between five different matchups. If you get three out of five correct – you double your money (minus the 10-percent rake).
Making Draft Day Rapid Fire Even Easier to Play …
Last season, @EricMackFantasy and I started discussing our #RapidFire picks regularly on Twitter, each day. Then we started getting a few other guys (like @coachesser and SiriusXM host @Dan Strafford) that joined the club, and we ended up with a #RapidFire Twitter club of about four or five people that shared their picks nearly every day.
There were varied successes among the group, but we all ended up winners. I finished with a 69-38 record in that game (winning almost 65-percent of my attempts). In the early going, I was much more cautious, playing just $1 or $5 entries. After I had like a 15-5 record or so, I realized I needed to amp it up, and started hitting the $10 and $20 games.
On Friday, March 28, I woke up to find that the new Draft Day Rapid Fire game had been set up for Opening Day on Monday, March 31!
That means a couple things:
- We’ll be able to dissect these matchups more than any other matchup this season. (Although, coming out of the All-Star break, we’ll likely have a couple days then, too.
- We can lock in our picks now. (Don’t worry, you can change them later!) But you want to lock in your picks, and choose the highest amount you can bet. Here’s why: If someone gets hurt between now and Monday, he’ll be removed from this game, and that matchup will be replaced by a different one – for everyone else that hasn’t locked their picks in! Wouldn’t you rather choose between a player that’s playing and a player that’s not playing?
Let’s look at the Opening Day matchups!
Draft Day Rapid Fire for Opening Day
We’ll go matchup by matchup for these 10 players. If any of these matchups are changed, we’ll try to go back and assess those, too. Since I can’t see if they’ve changed, please comment or tweet at me @DavidGonos to let me know they’ve changed.
Justin Verlander, SP, DET vs. KC – vs. – Adam Wainwright, SP, STL at CIN
This is a matchup that I’ll be going back and forth on all weekend, I have a feeling. Verlander is coming off of one of his worst seasons since 2008, but he had offseason core muscle surgery, and he didn’t allow any earned runs in 21 innings in spring training. Unfortunately, he’s going up against James Shields, who threw a complete-game loss (3 ER) in his first start for the Royals last season.
Wainwright had Tommy John surgery in 2011, so his first start in 2012 is tough to assess. His 2013 opener, however, was a complete game shutout over the Brewers. I’m a big fan of the 6-foot-7 righty this season, and I made a strong case for why I’d take Wainwright over Stephen Strasburg in standard drafts on SI.com.
Winner: I like Wainwright, despite Verlander’s spring numbers. Verlander is 1-1 with a 5.19 ERA in his first starts of the season over the past five years, and he’s up against “Big Game” James.
Johnny Cueto, SP, STL vs. STL – vs. – Jeff Samardzija, SP, CHC at PIT
I don’t like this matchup at all! If I’m picking Wainwright to win, that means I’m picking Cueto to not win, which forces my hand to choose Samardzija on the road, against a Pirates team that’s coming off a huge season. I’m going to have to think about this one over the weekend.
Winner: Samardzija … for now.
Jason Heyward, OF, ATL at MIL – vs. – Jay Bruce, OF, CIN vs. STL
Tigers SP Justin Verlander is no stranger to Opening Day starts, but can he beat “Big Game” James Shields and the revamped Royals?
Photo Credit: Genok
Bruce will hit cleanup against Wainwright Monday, and he hit .270 with 20 homers and 79 RBI against right-handers in 2013.
Winner: Heyward, barely. I like Wainwright better than Gallardo, which makes me like Heyward a bit more.
Evan Gattis, C/OF, ATL at MIL – vs. – Ryan Ludwick, OF, STL at CIN
Those Draft Day Rapid Fire people are tricky! Gattis has a tough time against right-handers, hitting just .236 with an OBP of .284, but he does hit for three-times more power than against lefties. Ludwick, on the other hand, is coming back from shoulder surgery, so he’ll have to prove his health to me in the early going.
Winner: Gattis, again, as I’m betting it all on Wainwright Monday.
Miguel Cabrera, 3B, DET vs. KC – vs. – Mike Trout, OF, LAA vs. SEA
The top two picks in the draft go Head-to-Head in Rapid Fire to start the season! What a great way to start this year off on Draft Day.
Cabrera flashes a little more power and ability to get on base, and Trout, of course, has the speed and the ability to score more runs.
Last season, in Draft Day’s scoring system, Cabrera scored 20.3 points per game, compared to Trout’s 20.1 ppg. For that reason, along with the fact that I love Kinsler to start the season really strong ahead of Cabrera, I like Miggy.
Winner: Cabrera, who hit .348 against right-handers last season (and he hit .366 at home), is my pick. Trout faces Felix Hernandez, and while Trout hits righties better than lefties, King Felix had a 2.45 ERA against right-handed batters last season – and he posted a 2.63 ERA on the road.
Remember – we’ll be discussing these matchups on Twitter, so follow me @DavidGonos and on @DailyFantasyD to join in on the discussions!
Or leave some comments here for everyone to debate. I think one of the reasons why Draft Day Rapid Fire is one of my favorite games is that it’s a community game. I’m not playing against you, I’m playing against the house. So let’s share info and win some money!
