Beginner MLB DFS: Salary Cap

In daily fantasy baseball, 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. For DFS, that means understanding the salary cap.

Salary cap

Definition

As in every DFS sport, you start with a certain amount of “cash” to spend on your lineup. For baseball on DraftKings, you’ll start with $50,000 and need to fill 10 positions, P, P, C, 1B/DH, 2B, 3B,SS, OF, OF, OF. That gives us an average of $5,000 to spend on each position, but actually allocating those funds to build the most-efficient lineup will spread that money out in some predictable ways.

Strategy

Pitchers will be your most expensive, as they are the most predictable day in and day out. You “pay up” for top pitchers because you can rely on them much more than you can hitters and they give you more DraftKings points.

Batters salaries will fluctuate, but power is king, which often shows up in first basemen and outfielders costing the most. Their upside from power numbers will outshine even the most consistent hitters who lack power.

Who you choose and how those players fit into your lineups will come down to the type of game you entered and strategy, which we will explore in this series of posts.