Although it may not be as popular as NFL or NBA DFS, fantasy sports started with baseball. With the site lobbies beginning to post their Opening Day contests, it is time to start thinking about your daily fantasy baseball goals. While hitting a large guaranteed prize pool tournament is always the main goal, many users work to build their bankroll by playing cash games. 

There are multiple types of contests that are considered cash games, but the idea behind them is that you don’t need to always win your contest, but everyone that finishes above a certain point receives the same prize amount, which typically double, or a little under double the entry fee. The most popular type of cash games are double-ups, in which you need to finish in the top 44-percent of the field to double your entry fee. Not as popular anymore, but still in the lobbies are the original cash games of 50/50’s. These are where the top 50-percent of finishers win double their entry fee, but minus the sites contest fee. The same situation takes place with a head to head contests.  For instance, a $2 double-up win returns you $4, but a $2 H2H or 50/50 win will return you $3.60. You’ll receive slightly less back but have a large chance to win. This article will take a deeper dive as to the value of cash games, and the approach to playing them.

Know Your Site:  While it is always best to know the rules and scoring for each contest you are entering, it’s also best to make sure you are playing on the site that best suits your style. While the payouts are roughly the same for each site, the sites have different features that may suit your style better than another site. Below are a few areas to consider when choosing which site to play your cash games on.

  • Head to Head Blocker: Does the same user constantly take your head to head contests that you place in the lobby?  On DK, you are able to block a certain number of users from playing you in head to head contests. If you are one that likes to post say, ten head to heads in a lobby, DK also provides you with the ability to limit the number of times a user can accept that head to head. On FanDuel, there is currently no restrictions, so the same user can snatch up all ten of those contests over playing ten different users. ProTip: If playing on a site with no H2H blocker, try submitting your H2H contests at different points in the day.
  • Contest Fees:  Remember when the standard site fee for a site was 10-percent?  That is hardly the case anymore, as the sites have raised their fees for entering cash games. A few percentage points may not seem like a lot, but it makes it harder for a user to consistently try for a profit with higher fees. Looking at the top two fantasy site’s MLB contests posted for opening day, both the FD and DK large $2 double-up has a 12.99-percent fee. ProTip: 50/50 contests are still at the standard 10-percent fee.
  • Entry Limits:  Each site, including some of the smaller ones, have established some type of entry limit for users. It is best to know what the limits are for each site to see what advantage or disadvantage you may receive. FanDuel does have a limit on the number of contests a player can join at a certain fee level, while DK does not allow any of their over $1 million lifetime winners play in contests under $5. ProTip:  Even with these limits, you’ll likely see many of the same usernames in your contests each day.

Lineup Building Approach:  Everyone may have a slightly different version of how they approach playing cash games, but for me, it is built around pitching. Even the best hitters can go 0-4 on any given night, but often, a solid starting pitcher won’t earn you zero or negative points. My approach to pitching is to take the pitcher that I believe has a floor of six innings, and six strikeouts. Strikeouts are the name of the game when it comes to pitching and is your best way to rack up points. You can find your pitcher or pitchers by either targeting the ace that is on the mound or targeting a heavily favored pitcher up against a strikeout prone team. With two pitcher sites, it’s best to try to find a pitcher that falls into each of those categories, but on certain slates, I also don’t mind spending up to take to top pitchers. I’d rather lock in the top pitchers of the slate on paper, forcing my opponents beat me, over trying to outthink them. ProTip:  I try to avoid taking two pitchers from the same game, but it can work at times on short slates.

When looking at which hitters to take in cash lineups, your best bet is to look for a combination of players that both will get on base, and from teams that are in a position to score some runs. The wOBA stat is a good one to look at when deciding on hitters, as well as the ballpark factors. If paying up for pitching, you may not be able to afford the top priced hitting options or need to punt a spot or two. In that case, look for a cheap spot starter that is leading off for a good team, or a catcher or other cheap option that is in the starting lineup batting before or after another player in your lineup. It’s not always ideal but note that many others will be looking for value plays in their lineups as well, and most will come from the leadoff spot, or teams with a high projected run total. ProTip:  There will always be hitters in solid spots to target, but at times, only a handful or less of top pitching options. Pick your spots for hitting, while letting you opponents try to out think you with pitching.

Are Cash Games Worth It?:  With the increased contest fees, and the ability to play the same users in every contest, some will argue that the idea of playing cash games in order to build your bankroll for GPP’s (Guaranteed Prize Pool) is done for. On a day to day basis, cash games are still your best odds for to return your money, but it will be a grind. Winning at a 60-percent plus rate is not easy at all and makes a strong case as to why play cash games  They aren’t for everyone, and you play in the types of contests that work best for you, whether that’s on a smaller site with less familiar names, head to head contests, or just forget about playing cash games all together. Below are a few thoughts to help determine which contests are best for you.

  • Double-ups:   Single entry ones are preferred, which allow just one entry per user. The large field one’s look more enticing, but it’s worth noting that users then enter their one lineup multiple times. For the opening day contests as an example, the FanDuel big double-up 13,792 entries, with top 6,000 winning. At 150 entries per user, it only takes 40 users max entering the same lineup to take up all the 6,000 winning spots. On DK, it’s easier to see a breakdown, and for recent NBA $5 double-ups, there were only 517 unique users in a 3,448-person double-up, and 405 users in a 2,298 person one. This essentially means users can spend $300 on a $2 double-up on FD, and over $500 in a $5 double-up on DK. 
  • 50/50’s:  They are harder to find in the lobbies, but all of them are single entry only, and a 10-percent contest fee. Most are no more than 100 user contests, which may keep you away from them, but still feel they are your best shot if playing cash games.
  • Potential Profit: Based on 100, $2 contests:
  • Double-ups:  Finishing in the top 45-percent at a 60-percent win rate= +$40, 75-percent= +$100, 45-percent= -$20. 
  • 50/50’s:  Finishing in the top 50-percent at a 60-percent win rate= +$16, 75-percent= +$70, 45-percent= -$38.

$2 Single Entry GPP for opening day on FD: Would entering this contest 100 times over playing 100 cash games be better?  This contest has 5,952 users, pays out 18.51-percent of the field, has the min cash at 2x buy in, and 29-percent of the prize pool going to the top ten. Let’s say you hit for the minimum prize at a 25-percent clip. That puts you down $100. Finishing in the top 1-percent just a few times though means a profit, and possibly a big hit.

Figuring out why you play DFS, and what you want to accomplish is key for finding out which site, and contests work best for you. While cash games are not for everyone, they help keep your bankroll around for longer, which could be needed during the long MLB season. Please feel free to share your thoughts, or ask any questions in our chat rooms, or in the comment section below. Good luck!