FanDuel adjusted MLB scoring effective April 27

FanDuel Announces MLB Scoring Adjustments

FanDuel has announced changes to its Major League Baseball scoring system.  The changes will be effective with the games being played on Wednesday April 27, 2016.

The changes are as follows:

  • RBIs will be worth 3.5 fantasy points
  • Runs scored will be worth 3.2 fantasy points
  • Negative fantasy points have been eliminated

FanDuel stated they were addressing a complaint from its users and apparently that complaint was the negative points.

“our analytics team has determined that this additional change to scoring will result in substantially fewer ties than any of our previous MLB scoring systems, which results in a better experience for all of our users.”

The fractional point values are a welcome change as we have experienced quite a few ties leading to reduced payouts at the bottom of cash games.

In my opinion though, they are missing the biggest discrepancy in their baseball scoring model; overvaluing pitcher strikeouts.  Being able to comb the K/9 category with little regard to the pitcher’s end result is a disservice to our lineup crafting strategies.

An obvious example came in the opening series of this season.  On April 6, Jose Fernandez faced the Detroit Tigers.  He struck out 13 Tiger hitters over 5.2 innings and ended up in FanDuel’s perfect lineup for the night.  The problem I have is he also gave up 5 earned runs during his start including a home run and took the loss.  So despite a first start ERA of 7.94, Fernandez was the stud pitcher for the evening.

Are we missing something or is this just a FanDuel anomaly that sets the company apart and that you enjoy?  Let us know in the comments.

Chris Racic

Chris Racic lives and plays in NE Ohio. He works full time in the Financial Services industry and owns an absolutely horrendous short game. Chris chipped in for an eagle at Seven Hills Country Club in Hartville the day before his oldest daughter was born and is positive it’s some sort of sign.