Friday, March 30, 2012

Fantasy Baseball Time is Here!


It's that time of the year again.  My annual addiction disease has returned.  It's fantasy baseball draft week!

Every year since I was about 13 I've done fantasy baseball.  As each year passes I tell myself I'm only going to do one team... So far this year I have 5 teams, 4 of which were live drafts, one of which was a 20-person, 31-man-roster auction draft. (which, if you're familiar... is insane.  It held me in front of a computer for a good 5 hours)... It's a problem.

For those who aren't familiar with the 'fantasy' craze, you draft a team of players who you think will have good statistical seasons, which in turn earns you the most fantasy points.  There are two main kinds of drafts: snake and auction.  In a snake draft, there is a draft order, and team owners make picks from the total pool of available players in order 1-10, then backwards 10-1, and again until all of the teams' rosters are full.  In an auction draft, there is no real order, just an order to nominate players for bid.  Each team owner has a set amount of money with which to bid on players, and anyone can bid on any player if they have the money.  An auction draft takes a little more strategy.

Fantasy football is great because pretty much all the games are played one day a week, so it's not much of a time sink...

But fantasy baseball is a 162-game season.  Games every day.  Constant roster changes.  Over that large a sample size statistical analysis becomes much more reliable.  Which gets into why the drafts are so much fun.  With a little work, you can try to find the guys who are undervalued, the 'sleepers', and any guys who are primed for a breakout season.  But sometimes it's fun too just to go by a 'gut' feeling.

I could go on and on about this, but I'd guess most of you probably aren't interested and have already stopped reading.  Sufficed to say I'm well versed in this subject, and if you are interested and want any sleeper picks... let me know in the comments.

And if you have an addictive personality and love sports, STAY AWAY

18 comments:

  1. I always draft Nolan Ryan as my #1, with Bo Jackson as my cleanup.

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    1. If punching Robin Ventura was a stat, I would definitely draft Nolan Ryan

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  2. I knew about Fantasy Football but not Baseball, but I don't do either anyway.

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  3. My favorite team the Cubs could probably use your help.

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  4. I didn't know about this. Sounds cool.

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  5. Not addictive.. not a baseball fan.. but I've been curious about this whole fantasy thing for a while now.

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  6. Used to play fantasy basketball, it was awesome. Good luck with your roster.

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  7. I'd noticed Fantasy Baseball icons on another site and wondered what it meant--thanks for the explanation.

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  8. I knew it was out there but never tried it, addicted I might become so I avoid it..haha...plus the Blue Jays couldn't win even with my help..haha

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  9. Sweet looking forward to it!

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  10. I have no experience with Fantasy Sports. Gotta take a look.

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  11. My dad is really into Fantasy Football, I don't think he does baseball though...

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  12. I don't love sports so I'm safe!

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  13. So I am. Maybe I'll try.

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  14. Im a fan of fantasy but never really been into baseball.

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  15. There's such a thing as Fantasy baseball???

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  16. If it's free then I see no harm. Do you watch The League?

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