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For daily fantasy sports, like in most things, getting the fundamentals down is integral toward laying a foundation of knowledge to build from as you progress as a player. Playing MLB DFS has many aspects that you’ll need to master, but while some of them don’t take a ton of hardcore analysis, they do take time and commitment. One of those commitments is to following the weather near each outdoor game.
DFS weather
Definition
You know what weather is, but DFS weather is specific to weather that could cause a delay or cancellation in an MLB game or impact how the ball travels in the air.
Strategy
Rain outs
If a game you have players in is rained out, you don’t get any DK points for that player, so keeping on top of the weather situation is extremely important. DraftKings gives you weather updates for games, but going a bit deeper can be useful to feel as informed as possible. If there is areal chance for a rain out, fading the game completely is prudent.
Postponement
There are some weather situations in which you can be confident that what rain is out there or that might appear won’t be bad enough to keep the game from completing. In these situations, your main concern is for your starting pitcher. If the postponement is going to take place during the game, it could end up knocking the pitcher out of the game as well. Knowing the when and extent of weather around a game is going to be an important aspect of your research.
Air density
Air density is influenced by elevation, temperature and humidity. The higher the elevation and humidity and higher the temperature, the better the ball travels through the air. You’ll see how elevation plays a factor when we look at ballparks, but adding in temperature and humidity can help you understand how well or poorly a ball will travel.
Wind
Factoring in wind can be helpful when it’s really blowing. Common sense tells us that the wind blowing toward the outfield will help the ball travel further and if it is blowing in, it will help knock it down. Some ballparks are impacted by wind more than others, with Wrigley Field being the extreme and Oracle Stadium being one of the least impacted. We’ll look into ballpark factors in more detail in another post.