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We sincerely appreciate all our MLB subscribers! Thank you for joing us! We’re glad you enjoyed our MLB program; sadly, the fantasy baseball season has ended. Congratulations to all our members who made the World Championship.

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Ben Gamel – Seattle Mariners

If you haven’t read most of my articles by now, I love writing about under the radar players. Today’s under the radar player comes from the Seattle Mariners, and his name is Ben Gamel. The two spot for the Seattle Mariners has looked great throughout the season. Relative unknown Mitch Haniger was producing well before his trip to the disabled list. Now it’s Ben Gamel’s turn, and he is slashing .373 with 11 RBIs in just 13 games in the majors. The 24 year old left handed slugger is making it harder and harder for the general manger to option him to Triple-A when Haniger returns. Gamel was only a .200 hitter for the Mariners last year, but Ben has mentioned that he is becoming more patient at the plate, and his numbers this year are really showing it.

Gamel’s Future

The Mariners have a very talented young outfield with the exception of Nelson Cruz, so Gamel needs to keep hitting the baseball well in order to keep his spot in the majors. I expect Gamel to stay up with the ball club as a primary outfielder for the most part of the season, but I do not think that he will continue to bat in the two spot for the Mariners once Haniger returns. This may limit his at bats, as well as run scored, which may not be appealing to DFS or fantasy players, but for now, start him while he is batting in the top half of the order.

Is Gamel A DFS Option?

As of right now, yes. Gamel not only has the coolest hair in the MLB, but he also has one of the best offensive teams in baseball behind him. As long as Gamel is batting in the two spot of the order, I will continue to play him in all formats, as he has Cano, Cruz, and Seager batting behind him, as well as Segura in front of him. This lineup is stacked offensively, and that means that Gamel is going to see not only more at bats, but more runs and RBI opportunities. Keep a lookout for him once Mitch Haniger comes back, but for right now, Gamel is carrying a chip on his shoulder, as he does not want to be sent down to Triple-A.

Ian Desmond

Ian Desmond, who got picked up by the Colorado Rockies in the offseason, finally returned from the 10-day disabled list, and is a guy that should be on everyone’s radar as the season continues.

In his 2016 campaign, Desmond slashed .285 with 22 homeruns, 107 RBIs, and 21 stolen bases. This year he moves into a hitter’s friendly ball park in Coors Field, and will look to be one of the top baseball players this year. So far in Desmond’s return off the DL, he is slashing .357, with two homeruns, and one stolen base in three games. Yes, he played the struggling San Diego Padres, but when he returns to Coors Field for a home stand, watch out. He may put up some crazy numbers hitting in the five spot behind Blackmon, LeMahieu, Arenado, and Gonzalez. That hand sure does not look like it is bothering him anymore, which means the 31 year-old right hander should be owned in all fantasy leagues at this point.

Is Ian Desmond A Good DFS Play?

Absolutely. Ian Desmond is coming off a fantastic 2016 campaign, and is now being slotted behind better hitters so his RBI numbers are going to skyrocket as the season progresses. In addition, he plays at Coors Field half of the season, so definitely lock him in your lineups any time he is playing there. Desmond is one of my favorite players in terms of DFS because he does it all- he can steal bases, hit consistently, hit the long ball, and bats in the top half of the order. Ian Desmond is going to be a player that bats around .290, with 25+ homeruns, and 20+ stolen bases as the season progresses, bearing no setbacks. Desmond is the complete package, so never be afraid of playing him against any opponent this year especially if the Rockies are playing at home.

NBA Playoffs Preview
Utah Jazz (0-1) at Golden State Warriors (1-0)

Thursday, May 4
10:30 PM at ORACLE Arena

Jazz Projected Starters

PG George Hill
SG Joe Ingles
SF Gordon Hayward
PF Boris Diaw
C Rudy Gobert

Injuries- Bolomboy, Burks (GTD)

NBA Playoffs Must Start- Gordon Hayward

Warriors Projected Starters

PG Stephen Curry
SG Klay Thompson
SF Kevin Durant
PF Draymond Green
C Zaza Pachulia

Injuries- Jones, Looney

NBA Playoffs Must Start- Stephen Curry

The Golden State Warriors took care of game 1 and dominated the Utah Jazz. The Jazz will look to even the series behind Gordon Hayward, who had 12 points in game 1, which is something that you should not expect the be duplicated going forward. Hayward will look to bounce back tonight and try and even the series out. On the other hand, the Golden State Warriors are 5-0 in the playoffs, and will look to take care of business yet again. This game is going to be a blowout tonight in Oracle, so try and stack that other game in Washington on a 2 game slate.

We will update our Pro Lineup Builder to reflect any last-minute lineup changes or late-breaking injury news. Please check back with us before tip-off. You can also follow us on twitter @thedklegends for the latest NBA news and notes from our pros.

NBA Playoff Preview
Washington Wizards (0-1) at Boston Celtics (1-0)

Tuesday, May 2
5:00 PM at TD Garden

Wizards Projected Starters

PG John Wall
SG Bradley Beal
SF Otto Porter
PF Markieff Morris
C Marcin Gortat

Injuries- McCullough, Mahinmi (GTD), Morris (GTD)

NBA Playoffs Must Start- Marcin Gortat

Celtics Projected Starters

PG Isaiah Thomas
SG Avery Bradley
SF Gerald Green
PF Jae Crowder
C Al Horford

Injuries- Mickey, Jackson

NBA Playoffs Must Start- Isaiah Thomas

What a second half from a Boston Celtics team that was trailing 16-0 in the first 5 minutes of the basketball game. The passing of Isaiah Thomas’ sister has been a major story of the 2017 NBA Playoffs. Emotions are high and he has been dialed in so far this postseason. In game 1, Thomas notched 33 points, and nine assists in a huge win to take a 1-0 lead over a Wizards team that looked dominant in the first round against the Hawks. The duo of Thomas and Horford took over the 4th quarter in game one, and will look to stay red hot once again as they try to take a 2-0 lead on Washington.

On the other side of things, the Wizards may have lost a vital part to their offense in Markieff Morris, who got injured in the opening half of game 1. Kelly Oubre Jr. started the second half for Morris and scored 12 points over 26 minutes of play. If he starts, Oubre is a good play tonight at such a cheap salary. The Wizards had problems getting production from Wall and Beal in game one. They combined for only 47 points, and shot 18-49 from the field. In order for the Wizards to stay alive in this playoff run, they must win this game tonight, and Wall and Beal need to step it up.

How To Find The Right DFS Pitcher

It’s all about the Pitcher

People say that MLB is the hardest sport to play on both Draftkings and Fanduel, but I am going to tell you otherwise. 7 of my 11 top 10 Big GPP wins in my career come right from MLB, and the reason is due to my unique strategy. DFS Baseball is all about one thing, and that thing is to get the correct pitcher, and maybe 1-2 hitters right. Follow the steps below on how to select the right pitcher, and you will see an immediate impact to your score.

Matchup

Matchup is the first obvious factor when selecting a pitcher for two reasons, a win is a lot of points, and an earned run subtracts a lot of points. There are two ways main strategies when selecting your pitcher in terms of matchup.

First: If you are taking a strikeout pitcher, which is always a good move for Fanduel or Draftkings, make sure that your pitcher faces a team that strikes out a lot throughout the season. For example, last year in 2016, the Phillies and Padres were putrid when it came time for batting, causing me to always stack a pitcher against these two teams. If you type in on google, MLB Team Batting Stats, all of your data is right there. Baseball unlike any other sport, is all analytics and statistics because Clayton Kershaw is very rarely going to have an off game against a team that is not a very good batting team.

The second strategy is do not take a pitcher that faces a team that scores a ton of runs. This is very obvious, but I can tell you from experience, people take high end pitchers against teams like the Red Sox or Cubs for some odd reason. Sometimes things don’t go as planned because that is what daily fantasy sports is all about, but why take the chance when there are tons of other options out there. Overall, use the team batting stats to your advantage, because the pitchers are so vital to your everyday lineups

Vegas Odds

A lot of people are reading Vegas Odds and saying, “What the hell does Vegas have to do with DFS.” Vegas is a huge part in picking the right pitcher because a win is an extra 6 points on Fanduel, and an extra 4 points on Draftkings. My biggest rule when selecting a pitcher is this; do not take a pitcher that Vegas has projected to lose the game. If the spread is +120 for the Dodgers, and Kershaw is on the mound, I will not take him. Use the Vegas odds for over/under total as well. If the over/under total on a game is around 7 or higher, try and stay away from any pitcher in that game. Use Vegas to your advantage because the people that work for Vegas are highly educated analytical people.

Winning Team

Last but not least, make sure that your pitcher is on a winning team. A pitcher that is on a team that scores runs is so essential for Fanduel and Draftkings for two reasons. First, it gives you extra points like I mentioned earlier for picking up the win. Overall, try and take a pitcher on a winning team so that you can capitalize on the free points, which is huge.

Final Thoughts

Baseball was not my favorite sports to watch at all when I was younger, but then I started working for Citizen’s Bank Park when I was sixteen, and really just loved watching the Phillies get smoked every single game. By my second season working at the Phillies, when I turned 18, I started playing Fanduel. I started off really hating it because it was pretty hard, but then I started putting some time into it, and everything just clicked. Baseball is all statistics, and if anyone that tells you anything else they are wrong. Go to google, and search that page, and bookmark it because you are going to use that every single day.

I do recommend this, start off by betting small 50/50s or double ups, and as more statistics start to build, then you gradually increase your bets when there is more statistics to base your picks off of. Hopefully after reading this, you learned that the pitcher is the most important position on the MLB DFS roster, and that you have found some ways on how to maximize your pitchers score.

Let’s just say Thomas Pieters has some making up to do after one shot last week.

No sport interacts with its fans quite like the game of golf, in fact that was taken to a new level last week by Thomas Pieters.

While playing the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club, a wayward drive by Pieters flew into the gallery and struck a spectator. And of all the spectators at the southern California golf course, it was likely his favorite one.

Pieters’ shot actually hit his girlfriend, according to a video taken by another spectator and posted on Instagram. There’s no video of the accident, but the aftermath sure is entertaining.

OOPS. Its ok, he didn’t feel too good about it either.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQt18jUAgRt/?taken-by=a_j_ramirez

Will MMA Stars Rousey and Cyborg Fight in the WWE Ring?

Cris Cyborg Challenges Ronda Rousey to Fight in the Wrestling Ring

Who wouldn’t want to watch the two most dominant women in recent MMA memory enter the cage together? And as much as Cyborg tried to make that happen by consistently calling out Rousey, it hasn’t happened. And it most likely won’t happen. Cris Cyborg Challenges Rousey after her defeat at the hands of Amanda Nunes. With such a defeat, her career took a turn and it may be over. And even if it’s not entirely over yet, it would be stupid for her get in the cage with Cyborg.

Plus, Rousey’s long been rumored to have a future in the WWE. Hell, she’s already made a WrestleMania appearance. How about another?

Even if the MMA star says no, we wouldn’t mind seeing more of her modeling career.

Who wouldn’t want to get a little rowdy with Rousey?

Can you blame us?

NBA Game Preview
Cleveland Cavaliers (47-25) at San Antonio Spurs (56-16)

Monday, March 27
8:00 ET at AT&T Center

Cavaliers Projected Starters

PG Kyrie Irving
SG J.R. Smith
SF LeBron James
PF Kevin Love
C Tristan Thompson

Injuries- Jones, Felder, Shumpert (GTD)

Start Em- Kyrie Irving

Sit Em- LeBron James

Spurs Projected Starters

PG Tony Parker
SG Danny Green
SF Kawhi Leonard
PF LaMarcus Aldridge
C Dewayne Dedmon

Injuries- Anthony, Murray

Start Em- Kwahi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge

Sit Em- Pau Gasol

LeBron James vs Kwahi Leonard

LeBron James faces off against Kwahi Leonard in an epic showdown on TNT. This game is going to be very uptempo, and should be very close. On the Spurs side of things, look for Kwahi Leonard and Lamarcus Aldridge to take over this game. Kwahi has been very up and down, but at home, lock him into your lineups. He is going to be highly owned on all formats for a reason. Kwahi has played very well against Lebron James in his career, and should see a ton of minutes tonight as long as this game does not turn into a blowout.

On the Cavaliers side, look for LeBron and Kyrie to take control of this game. LeBron James is a player that we do not recommend taking tonight due to his matchup. We all know Kwahi Leonard is the best defender in the NBA, so he will be guarding LeBron all night. LeBron is going to get his fair share of touches to produce, but for daily fantasy purposes, we do not see him hitting value at all tonight. The player we do recommend considering is Kyrie Irving who is matched up against a veteran Tony Parker. Irving is much faster, and should be able to get a ton of shots up, especially with Kwahi denying the ball from LeBron all night. Overall, this game is going to be a thriller, and maybe they will meet each other again in Finals. We do not recommend a stack in this game, but we do recommend taking a one or two of the stars here.

@thedklegends Almost won another huge contest using the #ProLineupBuilder #DraftKings #pgatour $1,000 is still a nice haul though pic.twitter.com/n3lxQjAf2r

— T.K. Lankeezy (@lankeezy) March 26, 2017

Looks like tops are optional if you are UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste and we have the pictures to prove it.

The UFC’s reigning ring girl jetted off to the sandy Mexican paradise to show off her sexiest swimsuits and definitely had no problem dropping her top on the beach.

Arianny made the beaches of Tulum, Mexico hotter than a truck full of jalapeño peppers.

UFC Ring Girl Arianny Celeste!

Needless to say she fully embraced the whole “do as the locals do” thing, taking her top off showing off her best bikinis while lounging around and generally just being too hot to handle.

We approve.

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