While the focus for cash games is to play not to lose, GPPs are about shooting for the moon. You don’t want to play it safe—you want to be different. It’s normal to miss the cash line often in tournaments since the goal is not consistency but ceiling. You’re playing to win big.
If you simply play the chalk and high-owned players, you’ll need a near-perfect lineup to win, which is nearly impossible given baseball’s variance. Even if you do hit, you’ll often split the winnings with hundreds of others. This doesn’t mean you should roster poor offenses against elite pitching—avoid negative EV approaches like stacking weak teams in bad matchups.
In large-field GPPs, stacking is essential. On DraftKings, common stack builds include 5/3, 5/2/1, 4/4, and 4/3/1 combinations, where the numbers represent hitters from each team (e.g., a 5/3 stack means five hitters from one team and three from another). On FanDuel, where the stack limit is four, builds like 4/4 or 4/3/1 are standard.
Sometimes you can get different by partially stacking a popular offense—taking three to four chalk hitters and adding one or two low-owned teammates. While it’s best to focus on hitters 1–5 in a lineup, mixing in lower-owned players from the same team can make your lineup unique while maintaining correlation.
For pitching, the same fundamentals from cash apply—prioritize strikeout potential and control. However, ownership plays a bigger role in GPPs. If your pitchers are projected to be highly owned, your hitting stacks should lean more contrarian.
Target pitchers with high strikeout rates (K%) facing teams that also strike out frequently. High-variance pitchers with elite strikeout upside—those who could post 8+ K games—are viable for tournaments. On FanDuel, these pitchers can still score well even if they allow hits or walks since the scoring system rewards strikeouts heavily.
When choosing hitters, target strong offensive environments such as Coors Field or Great American Ball Park. Focus on teams facing weak pitchers, especially those with a high walk rate (BB%). Pitchers who allow free passes create more RBI chances and compound fantasy scoring within stacks. Solo home runs become two- or three-run shots, multiplying your points quickly.
Leverage is key to GPP success. While bad weather should be avoided in cash games, it can be used strategically in GPPs. If a high-upside game—like Braves vs. Rockies at Coors—has weather concerns and most players avoid it, stacking that game can provide massive leverage if it plays.
Your risk tolerance dictates how aggressive you can be. This is a high-risk, high-reward approach that often fails but occasionally produces slate-breaking results.
GPPs are also where you can mix in volatile players. A power hitter like Giancarlo Stanton may strike out four times but also has the potential for a two-homer night. The same applies to pitchers like Hunter Greene—they can score 30+ fantasy points or go negative. Sprinkle volatility strategically, not across your entire lineup.
Your GPP approach should adjust based on contest size. In small, single-entry GPPs, you don’t need to get overly contrarian—slight differentiation is enough. In large-field GPPs with 150 entries, you’ll need to take more risks with ownership, stacking, and variance to separate from the field.
Playing MLB GPPs successfully requires embracing variance, leveraging ownership, and building correlated stacks that can produce explosive upside.