MLB DFS 5 Rules to Think About - a podcast by David S McIvor, Kurtis Little

from 2020-07-20T21:40:39

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By David S McIvor         @SemiProDFS              July 14th 2020

                                        Almost Unrecognizable.

        I’m certain will be on the minds of all MLB fans as we trudge toward the beginning of the 2020 Season on Thursday. As the world seems to come to grips with the stranglehold of COVID-19, the superiors at MLB headquarters have administered a wide variety of rule changes to the masses. Some understandable, some out of left field(yeah, I’m a pun guy).

         I think as the general DFS player gets prepared for an unaccustomed, shortened season; it would only be proper to delve a bit into this altered book of The American Pastime.

  1. National League using a Designated Hitter:

          Whether you’re committed to the antiquated system of batting pitchers or not. I think we can all agree that in a shortened season AND for DFS purposes, this makes a lot of sense. Gone are the days of having rostered an NL pitcher who is having a gem, only to get pulled for a pinch hitter/runner in dire situations. It makes it more of a reason to roster more NL Pitchers and stack NL Batters than previous seasons. Me personally, I love this change, and hope to see this picked up in future seasons.

  1. 60-man club roster + COVID-19 Injury List:

           Teams most likely won’t fill the entire expanded club roster, but it’s obvious we could see a lot of prospects make this list. Couple that with the already shortened “60 games in 70 days” season, then double down with the newly added COVID-19 IL on top of the 10 and 45 day regular IL… Is basically a recipe for a lot of low salary fresh faces to get their cracks in. My suggestion would be to do your homework on upcoming prospects and injury news as games come to lock.

  1. Relief pitchers must face minimum three batters or be on the mound for 3 outs:

           I’m not sure why this was adamantly added, but it’s here. No longer are we going to see specialty match-ups for nightmare batters. This rule makes me want to do my research on the underperforming bullpens and rigorously stack against them.

  1. Extra innings start with a runner on second base:

           Because who likes 11+ inning games? We all got shit to do. I like to call this one the beer league rule after my hometown league, where everyone gets too drunk to play after a tie. But I digress. In a condensed season, it’s crystal clear why this is being implemented. For fantasy reasons, those pesky Billy Hamilton’s of the baseball world will still have a job this year. The question is if this rule sees a future in the MLB?

  1. No Spitting or chewing sunflower seeds/Tobacco:

              Apparently, no bench brawling or umpire arguing either… odd. But the actual Coronavirus reared it’s ugly head on this rule. Bear with me on this one, this is where I get a tad bit attached to the narrative. We all know Baseball players as ritual/superstitious based characters. And there are some ridiculous instances.

(https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/22196/top-10-baseball-player-rituals)

In this certain case, how are players going to perform with such a minuscule, yet integral part of the game taken away from them?

I literally don’t know but can’t stop thinking about it… It haunts me.

If anyone out there has found a list of players who chew the most sunflower seeds, hit me up on twitter immediately so I can project it in my model. Just throwing that out there.

Have fun gearing up for the 2020 MLB season.

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