Draft Kings vs. Fan Duel

I was asked why I chose to play on Draft Kings over Fan Duel, and my answer is really one of ease rather than preference.  I already had a Draft Kings account from playing in a Football Free Roll they offered last year.  My plan was to have accounts on both sides, which will happen next week (I wanted to withdraw my initial deposit from one to feed the other, using the same starter money on both sites).  Both sites offer fine, highly playable formats and I don't think one is better than the other, just different.  [More differences are listed on a follow up post here]

What are the primary differences between Fan Duel and Draft Kings?

• Draft Kings utilizes two pitchers while FanDuel one.

The two pitcher format may make it seem a little less pitcher orientated at first blush, because it's much easier to find a good pitcher when you are tossing two guys out there on any given day.  But in playability, the opposite feeling rises to the surface.  Since the range of scoring for Pitchers is so much higher for Pitchers on Draft Kings, nailing two high performing Pitchers can carry your team to victory almost by themselves.  Also since, you're fielding two pitchers daily on Draft Kings, it increases your odds of having one of them simply kill your night.  Furthermore, the two pitcher mode, especially in shorter slate games (Turbos, Lates, etc.), will often put you into situations where you have to decide between relatively average pitchers to anchor your roster around.  It often forces you to make really tough decisions about second pitcher, requiring you to decide between players like Chris Young and Adam Warren or Jeremy Guthrie and Nick Martinez for your final slot.  Now don't get me wrong, they are all MLB level talent guys, but not exactly pitchers you'd want to have to bank on.  Tough decisions like these also occur on one pitcher sites, but they are certainly less frequent.  And if your one pitcher wets the bed that night, you night and money are done.  FanDuel is probably an easier format for the beginning player.

• Draft Kings uses a scoring system that creates higher Daily Scores.

The Fan Duel Scoring is really straight forward: a point for a BB or 1B, 2 for a 2B, 3 for a HR, 1 pt for R or RBI.  Pitchers get a point for a strikeout and lose one for allowing an earned run.  The two outliers are the 2 pts for a SB and the 4pts for the Pitcher win.  Draft Kings uses what I kind of like to think of as a bonus system, where the better thing your player does, the more points you get: 2pts for a BB, 3 for a 1B, 5 for a 2B, 8 for a 3b, and 10 for a HR.  An inning pitch gives you 2.25 points and a K is 2 points to help match the higher scoring on the hitters side.  The value of a Win is the same as FanDuel at 4 pts, while a SB is worth 5 just like a double.  However, Draft Kings penalizes for getting caught stealing (-2).  Draft Kings also has special bonuses for stellar pitchers games like Complete Game (+2.5), Shutout (+2.5), and even No Hitter (+5).

Listing the scoring system is kind of boring, but it let's you know where the focus of each game is: Fan Duel gives a big bonus for Wins when compared to other player possibilities, so its a big focus of the FanDuel game.  Draft Kings focuses the batter scoring on Extra base power and Steals, I think Fan Duel is far easier to understand than DraftKings for the beginning player.

• Draft Kings player penalties are harsher, but less frequent.

The pitcher penalties are higher in Draft Kings but only in respect to their overall pricing, so the penalties play out pretty much the same across both formats   Though they do add in an additional -0.6 penalty to a pitcher for allowing a baserunner via Hit, BB, or HBP.  On the Draft Kings site, 99 out of 100 times you see a player go into negative points, it will be Pitcher.  But with DK's higher scoring system overall a negative outing for a pitcher will be as much as 50% worse than on FanDuel.  The only negative to Draft Kings gives hitters is the -2 for a caught stealing, so unless the batter gets on base via error or fielder's choice, the points received for getting to first base will keep the batter out of negative points should he be caught stealing.

On FanDuel, there is no penalty for a caught stealing, but a -0.25 for making an out.  On that site, it is not uncommon for a batter to score a small negative score.  If a batter fails to reach base with an 0 for 4 outing, he will receive a score of -1, even a weak 1 for 5 day can yield a -0.25.

I'd almost like to call this one a draw between the two sites, because FanDuel makes it easier to pick a batter that will hurt you, while Draft Kings makes it easier to chose a Pitcher who will crush you. However, I'm going to give the edge for a beginning player to Draft Kings because of potential disheartening feeling a new player might have when rostering 3 or 4 negative scoring hitters, and how easy that is to actually do.

• Draft Kings interface is a bit more user friendly.

If you're going to take the time to play these types of games, I don't think the user interface should be a deciding factor.  But Draft Kings does one thing better than Fan Duel here: it makes a player who you don't have enough money left to roster clearly identifiable by changing the salary color on the grid.  That's pretty much it.  To Fan Duel's credit they include a piece of information on the player card that Draft Kings should include: the handedness of the batter or pitcher.  Draft Kings roster interface and tab system to find contests is a little more intuitive and feels cleaner.  But these are minor points.  I'm going to give the edge here to Draft Kings, but this shouldn't be a make or break factor.

• Draft Kings player pricing is usually higher than FanDuel

FanDuel gives you $35K to field 9 players, while DraftKings give you $50K to field 10.  Simple division seems to show you that you have more money per player on Draft Kings.  But because Draft Kings has a wider variance in pricing, it is easier to run out or low on funds on Draft Kings than Fan Duel.  Every day on Draft Kings, there will be half a dozen or more hitters that cost $5K or more, while that threshold is reserved only for the Mike Trout's and Miguel Cabrera's on FanDuel.  And Draft Kings messes with the pricing a lot, there was a game last week where it would have cost you $5,000 to roster Brandon Crawford (sure he was playing at Coors Field, but Brandon Crawford!).  On FanDuel, you rarely see the merely good players go at a super high price, and the clustering of pricing yields more players with exactly the same cost, so swapping out one player for another if he your guy gets a day of rest is easier.  I think it's easier for the average guy to field a roster he likes on Fan Duel.

• Draft Kings allows player substitutions during the game day

This one is simple to understand: On Draft Kings, you can change your lineup up to the start of the particular player's game, while on Draft Kings, once the first game starts in the contest, all rosters are finalized.  So if your playing the evening games, once the 7:05 game begins, the 10:05 games can't be altered, even if the lineups haven't yet been announced.  It makes it very difficult to play a full day contest on FanDuel.  If there's a 12:05 game, it's very hard to determine what the manager is going to be thinking in a different game 7 or 10 hours later.  From a baseball purity standpoint, this is a big edge to Draft Kings, but for the beginning player I don't think it hurts as much.  A seasoned vet is more likely to see problems and make good changes throughout the course of the game, while a beginner is more apt to use the "set it and forget it" concept.  The workaround is easy here: just don't play full day slates.

• Multiposition Eligibility

An interesting quirk that allows someone to gain advantage in season long fantasy baseball is the multi-position eligible player.  Getting OF level production out of a SS or 2B has turned players like Ben Zobrist into household names, at least in Fantasy baseball circles.  The two sites handle these things very differently.  On FanDuel, a player is assigned one position, period.  Zobrist is only a 2B.  Marcus Semien is only a SS.  Stephen Vogt is only a Catcher.  This gives less flexibility, but more closely resembles the real life game of baseball.  Draft Kings allows a player to have as many as two position designations, which makes fielding a lineup easier and gives the flexibility one might be accustomed to from his season long experience.  I really can't call this one for one side or the other: it's a draw in my mind.  A superficial look would give the nod to Draft Kings, but there are two things that diminishes this apparent advantage.  First, a new player won't use this added flexibility as effectively as the seasoned pro.  Second, and more importantly, the way they choose what positions a player is marked as is arbitrary, bordering on a completely random act.  You might not know to look for a particular player because many are listed at positions their managers wouldn't even look for them at.  Also, they seem to change the position designations in the middle of the game based on phases of the moon or tide charts, something that is certainly not baseball related.

I tried to be objective and answer the question in detail.  The exercise has made me really rethink my love of Draft Kings.  Not that I would leave them completely, but it seems a lot clearer to me why FanDuel is the leader in the Daily Fantasy Sports world.  Both offer quality, highly playable options are #1 and #2 for a reason.  I'm a looking forward to joining FanDuel in earnest next week much more now than when I started this reflection on the two sites.