Fanduel Offers Six Leagues
Fanduel is one of the leaders in one-day fantasy sports. Players can select a contest or play against friends. There is an option to play in free contests that do not have a prize fund or pay an entry fee and enter a game with a financial reward. Users can enter as many teams as they like in a contest to increase the chances of winning. Teams are then selected for a weekly or daily contest within the limits of a salary cap. Players then accumulate points based on how they perform. The winnings are credited once the schedule of matches is complete. Fanduel offers daily and weekly games for the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL.
Competitor Activity
Fanduel have some tough competition in a market that is always evolving. Walt Disney Co. are investing $250 million in the fantasy sports operator DraftKings that will value the company at about $900 million. There will be a large advertising spend on ESPN, the sports broadcaster partly owned by Disney. This deal will not prevent FanDuel advertising on ESPN but DraftKings will have access to premium positions. In a move tieing in both deals DraftKings will become an official sponsor of showpiece MLB matches and events.
Multinational internet corporation Yahoo are also getting more involved in fantasy sports. The company will be competing with DraftKings and FanDuel who are the two most prominent fantasy websites in the United States. Yahoo will be counting on existing search business to get traffic to its games. With fantasy sport and sports betting markets expanding due to more relaxed regulations others could be following Yahoo’s lead in entering the fantasy sports space.
Fanduel Growth
The organisation has grown from 5 founders in 2009 to a company that now employs 79 staff at three offices in the States and Europe. The site currently rewards players with prizes of over $10 million each week. Sports have been added at regular intervals since the first game involving American Football was introduced in September 2009. Prize funds have gradually increased and the company has entered strategic arrangements with prominent media organisations. The company set out to transform fantasy sports by offering games that span just one day rather than a full season. Customers can enjoy fast plays and payouts and reinvest in a game the following day.
One-Day Fantasy Baseball
Baseball is suited to the one-day format as there are daily matches during the regular MLB season. Teams play matches seven days or afternoons a week and there are generally at least eight fixtures from Monday to Sunday in the two leagues and six divisions. Points are awarded to hitters and pitchers for every aspect of the game. The most valuable events are a Home Run for a hitter and an Out for a pitcher but players that reach each base are also assigned points. There is baseball game today with a salary cap format so here are our selections from the 14 matches on the schedule:
Friday’s Selections
Click here to see last week’s selections.
Ubaldo Jimenez (Baltimore Orioles host New York Yankees) is approaching a decade of experience in MLB and has maintained a good standard of pitching over the course of his career. His season ERA is almost one point below his career average which suggest he is continuing to master the art of pitching in baseball. He is also performing better in 2015 than his overall average for allowing players to walk. This season he has allowed 23 runs from 57 his in 11 games and 62 innings. At Cleveland last Sunday his standards dropped and six players walked and no more than two had walked in his previous seven starts.
David Price (Detroit Tigers host Cleveland Indians) has seven years experience in MLB and is current Earned Run Average is slightly lower in 2015 than for his whole career. A player’s ERA measures the average number of runs a pitcher concedes and Jimenez has a good number for the regular season. He has a win-loss record of 5-2 for 2015 to date and has won 63% of games played during his career. His statistics for allowing players to walk are solid and this season he has given up 32 runs in 83 innings. In his last match on Sunday at Chicago he had a decent first seven innings but eventually gave up eight hits. Despite ending the game with some average pitching overall Jimenez put in another quality performance.
Drew Hutchison (Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox) has a solid win-loss record over the course of a two year career in MLB but his ERA is above average for this level of the sport. The right-handed thrower has conceded 39 runs in 12 games and 69 innings but he can get his season on track this evening on the road at Boston. He won his fifth game of the season last Sunday at home to Houston, allowing one run from six hits in just over one innings. He now has his ERA below 5.00 for the first time since his first appearance this season and can continue to move in the right direction with some good pitching against the Red Sox.
Alex Wood (Atlanta Braves at New York Mets) is relatively new to MLB and the 24 –year-old has experience of just two years. It’s too soon to be comparing career and season Earned Run Average numbers and his win ratio in 2015 and overall is only slightly above 50%. He has also having a tough season in the context of allowing players to walk though his complete pitching statistics are good. .He has given up 26 runs and 77 hits from 67 innings this season. He lost his first six games this year but recovered to record three straight wins before a loss at home to Pittsburgh last Sunday. The pressure seemed to get to him as he was ejected after the fifth inning and will trying to get his season back on track at New York this evening.
Jordan Zimmermann (Washington Nationals at Milwaukee Brewers) has thrown and pitched with this right hand over six seasons in Major League Baseball. He has won more than 60% of his games but this season there has been a dip in allowing players to walk. However, his ERA for 2015 is marginally better than throughout the rest of his career so overall he can be said to be having a good season. He had a run of five wins during April and May but he has lost two of his last three games. He has given up 31 runs from 79 hits in73 innings during 2015. His last game on Monday night was one of the worst efforts of the current campaign as he allowed four runs from ten hits over five innings. His weakness was in allowing base runners and the bases were loaded too many times to make his side competitive and he will be hoping for some improvement in Milwaukee tonight.
Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres) is not having his best season from seven years in the league as the left hander’s stats are generally worse than for his complete career. His 2015 win-loss record compares unfavourably with an overall return of over 60% of games but his WHIP has remained consistently just over one. He has won five of his last six matches so is turning the season around and will want to maintain the momentum in San Diego tonight. He had a brilliant match last Saturday against the St Louis Cardinals that included eight scoreless innings as he completely dominated the opposition and the match. He is a player in form and full of confidence and can continue the winning run tonight.
