So you’re curious about Daily Fantasy Baseball, but you still haven’t given it a try? Well, it’s time to change that in 2015. Daily Fantasy Sports are all the rage these days and rightfully so. Daily games allow you enjoy the best part of the Fantasy season, the draft, every day of the season. Fantasy Baseball is a numbers game. We all use metrics in order to determine what a player will do over the course of the coming season. But what if we could use those same metrics and even incorporate some new ones into breaking down performances every day? You can. That is exactly what Daily Fantasy Baseball (DFS) is all about. 

Here is a brief tutorial on how to get started playing and winning at Daily Fantasy Baseball in 2015.

WHERE TO PLAY

There are actually quite a few DFS websites out there these days. It seems like a new one is popping up every couple of weeks. But the two largest DFS websites are Draft Kings & Fanduel. Combined, they account for nearly 90 percent of the entire DFS volume and each offers a wide variety of contest choices. I strongly suggest checking out both Draft Kings and Fanduel and deciding which (if either) you feel more comfortable with. If you are looking for somewhere less crowded, then check out some of the other DFS sites like Fantasy Aces, Draft Day, Amped Fantasy and Draftster. 

STARTING OUT 

Before making a deposit on any site, I highly recommend playing in Freerolls or non-cash games until you get comfortable with the format and pay structure of a site. Most DFS websites offer Freerolls of varying degrees. This is a great opportunity to win some money without having to make an initial deposit. It is very important that you feel comfortable with the design, layout and feel of a site before you deposit any of your hard-earned money. Take your time in learning the in & outs of whatever site that you choose, also. Trust me, there will be plenty of contests to join once you are comfortable. 

INITIAL DEPOSIT

How much to deposit is completely up to you and what you are comfortable with financially. I do recommend making a commitment to yourself and to the site, however. In my mind, a $100 deposit is the perfect place to start. Even if you only plan on playing in $1 contests, having a substantial bankroll will take the pressure off of you. If you put in $10 and play in a couple $1 contests, you will put pressure on yourself to win right away. We all get nervous when our bankroll drops and there is no sense in putting any more stress on yourself as you start out in Daily Fantasy Sports.

BANKROLL MANAGEMENT

Managing your bankroll is the single most important part of being a winning DFS player. A simple rule of thumb is to never have more than 10 percent of your total bankroll in play at one time. Obviously the more comfortable you are with risk, the higher percentage you could set. But this is something that even the very best of the best DFS players struggle with. Even if you are comfortable with losing 25 percent of your bankroll in a single day of play, that doesn’t make it a good idea. In fact, it's terrible. Setting rules and restrictions for yourself is a very good habit to form right from the beginning. 

MAKING MONEY

The place to play is 50/50 contests, often referred to as “Double Ups.” In these contests, half of the entries will double their entry fee for doing nothing more than finishing in the top half of the league. Seems pretty easy, right? Truth be told, it is. Double Ups are the basic training of the DFS game. If you can’t finish in the top 50 out of 100 entrants (for example) on a regular basis, then maybe you aren’t cut out for DFS play. Very few DFS players win right from the start, so don’t get frustrated right away. Honestly, I went through a few hundred dollars before I found my way playing Daily Fantasy Baseball. We all get into DFS with the hopes and dreams of a massive windfall right away, but the fact of the matter is you will have to grind it out if you wish to be profitable.

Another tip for the newer player is to look for overlay. During the course of an MLB season there will be many days where guaranteed contests do not fill up. This is what we call “overlay,” and it is your best friend in DFS. If there is a $10 Double Up with 100 entries guaranteed, that means the top 50 scores will walk away with $20 apiece. Obviously, you have a 50% chance at doubling your money. Now if that same contest only has 74 participants entered when it closes, each player now has a 68 percent chance at doubling their money. This happens almost every day on DFS sites and it is vital to be on top of these situations as they arise. 

ADVANCED STRATEGIES

If you’ve made it this far, then you are ready for some more in-depth strategies on how to take down the big prize pools being offered up on all DFS websites. Ideally, you are already a master of the Double Ups and have built yourself a quality bankroll that won’t be in jeopardy if we take a bit more risk in our contest selection. Remember that there is no better strategy than responsible bankroll management. 

MORE THAN ONE WAY TO WIN

Remember how we stress multi-category impact in the early rounds of your season-long leagues? Well, since every day is a draft in DFS, the same logic applies. The more category impact we can put into our lineup, the better our chances of having a huge day will be. Players like Chris Carter are tempting because in the right matchup they can go yard multiple times and generate a bunch of runs. However, they can also strike out four times and leave you empty. A player like Anthony Rendon, though, can hit the long ball but he can also get on base, swipe a couple of bags and score runs. Rendon thus presents a lot more fantasy upside than Carter on any given day at a very similar price point.

PAY ATTENTION TO ON-BASE PERCENTAGE (OBP)

Depending which site you chose to play on, chances are that a walk is as good as a hit in many of these contests. Therefore, players with poor batting averages who take a lot of walks are still quite useful. Brandon Moss is the new poster boy for this since Adam Dunn has retired. He has the upside of being able to hit the ball over the wall or he could take a couple of walks and score more runs which return value as well.

SPLITS

The splits, my dear lord the splits! You absolutely must research the splits prior to setting your DFS lineups. On any given night, there will be several left-handed starting pitchers facing lineups full of Jeff Baker's. Who cares about Jeff Baker, you ask? Baker is a career .301 hitter against left-handed pitching, as opposed to just .231 versus right-handers. Furthermore, Baker has hit 37 of his career 51 home runs against lefties. Researching these basic splits can unveil players you would have never dreamt of putting in your lineups before. It also is the key to unlocking the value plays, which are absolutely crucial in taking down big prize pools in DFS. Of course lefty/righty splits are only tip of the iceberg. When I research the DFS Playbook on Fantasy Alarm every day, I literally pore over 20 split categories including home/away, ballparks, day/night, ground ball/fly ball ratios and more. The more research you do, the more likely it is you will uncover the right mix of players to win your daily fantasy baseball contests.

PITCHING FIRST

The single most important player in your lineup is almost always starting pitchers. It is tempting to pay for the Clayton Kershaw's and Adam Wainwright's every time they step on the mound, but a little research can save you a ton of money on starting pitching. Things to take into consideration when selecting a starter are opponent’s lineup, ballpark, weather, time of game, recent performance, history versus opponent and bullpen. You can find value with pitchers, but understand that it is quite difficult to win in daily fantasy baseball if your starting pitchers fail you.