When do MLB lineups come out?
MLB teams usually submit their starting lineups anywhere from 3 hours to just minutes before the first pitch. It's rare to get a starting lineup in baseball posted the day or night before, except for on opening day when teams will build hype and start releasing lineups early.
Who gets first access to MLB starting lineups?
MLB managers are required to submit their lineup cards directly to the commissioners office first, before releasing to the public or media. This gives the league time to publish this information on mlb.com and in their data feeds, making the league the source of truth when it comes to official starting lineups.
Can MLB starting lineups change after they are posted?
It can happen once in a while that final lineups submitted to the umpire-in-chief on the field will be different than the ones submitted only a few hours earlier. This is usually going to be because someone was a game time decision due to illness or injury, or there was a last minute pitching change.
Why do pitchers have to bat?
Pitchers are required to bat in the National League, while the American League has allowed a designated hitter since 1973. Because of this, you'll notice that NL games always have a pitcher batting, usually in the 9th spot or sometimes in 8th. Most pitchers aren't going to be producing Shohei Ohtani batting numbers, so managers will give them less action and take on less less risk by keeping them in the back of the lineup.
What's the best batting order strategy?
From a basic stats perspective, the leadoff hitter is guaranteed more AB's than any other player. As you go deeper in the lineup you are guaranteed less at-bats. For this reason teams are going to cluster their best players in the 1-4 slots, with their 1-2 batters more often trying to just get on base, and the big hitters in the 3-4 spots focused on bringing them home. You'll want to keep an eye out for players that have moved up in rotation from 5-6 and into 1-4, since their DFS salaries might not have caught up yet and there's some value you can potentially pick up.
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