DFS Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the daily fantasy terms you'll see in projections, optimizer outputs, and DraftKings contests.

Bankroll

The total amount of money you have set aside for DFS contests. A common rule is to risk no more than 5–10% of bankroll on a single slate.

Cash game

A DFS contest where roughly the top half of entries win — double-ups, head-to-heads, and 50/50s. Low variance, requires a high-floor lineup.

Ceiling

The realistic upper bound of a player's fantasy score on the slate. GPP lineups maximize ceiling; cash lineups prioritize floor.

Chalk

A player owned by a very high percentage of the field. Playing chalk is safe in cash games but reduces leverage in GPPs.

Correlation

How players' scores move together. A team stack is positively correlated — when one bat in the lineup goes off, others usually do too.

Cover (lineup cover)

Whether your lineup beats the cash line or finishes in the money. A 'covering' lineup is the minimum quality needed to cash.

DFS

Daily fantasy sports — contests where you draft a new lineup each slate under a salary cap, scored on real-game stats.

DraftKings

One of the two largest DFS operators. Uses a $50,000 salary cap for MLB with PPR-style classic scoring.

Exposure

The percentage of your entered lineups that contain a given player. Used in multi-entry tournaments.

Fade

To leave a popular or projected player out of your lineup to gain leverage on the field.

Floor

The realistic lower bound of a player's fantasy score on the slate.

GPP

Guaranteed Prize Pool — a top-heavy tournament where only the top ~15–25% of entries cash and the largest prizes go to the top few finishers.

Implied total

Vegas' projected run total for one team in one game, derived from the moneyline and the over/under.

Leverage

Roster construction that wins more when the field is wrong. Low-ownership pivots off chalk create leverage.

Lineup

The 10 players (8 hitters + 2 SP for DK MLB) you submit under the salary cap.

Locked

A player whose game has started — they can no longer be removed from a lineup.

Multi-entry

A contest that allows you to enter more than one lineup.

Optimizer

Software that solves the salary-cap problem and returns the highest-projected lineup given your inputs and constraints.

Ownership

The percentage of entries in a contest that include a given player. Lower ownership = more leverage.

PAPPI

Points Against Pitchers Per Inning - A Diamond DFS created statistic that measures the average fantasy point impact a team's offense has against opposing pitchers on a per inning basis. Expressed as a negative number.

Park factor

A multiplier showing how a ballpark inflates or suppresses scoring. 100 = neutral. See the MLB parks table for current values.

Pivot

Swapping a chalky player for a similarly-priced lower-owned alternative to differentiate your lineup.

Projection

A point estimate of a player's expected fantasy score. Diamond DFS projections combine park, weather, pitcher matchup, implied total, and recent form.

Punt

Filling a roster slot with the cheapest viable option to free up salary for elite players elsewhere.

Rake

The operator's fee, taken out of the prize pool. Cash games typically have lower rake than tournaments.

SIERA

Skill-Interactive ERA — an ERA estimator that strips out luck and defense. A better predictor of future pitcher performance than ERA.

Slate

The set of games you can draft from on a given day. Main slate (afternoon ET start), Showdown (single game), and Turbo slates vary by sport.

SP

Starting pitcher. DraftKings MLB classic requires two SPs per lineup.

Stack

Multiple hitters from the same team in the same lineup, used to capture correlation when that team scores.

UTIL

A utility roster slot that accepts any hitter regardless of position.

Value

Fantasy points per $1,000 of salary. A common target on DraftKings MLB is 5x value (e.g., 25 points from a $5,000 player).