Spring is in full swing and that can only mean one thing to diehard baseball fans - time to get the old league back together. Men (and women) of all ages are once again coming together to play fantasy baseball, the oldest and most popular of all fantasy sports.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the roots of fantasy baseball, here is a quick history to fill you in. Daniel Okrent, a magazine writer and editor, created the first "active" fantasy baseball league in 1980. This league was the first to have "owners" draft teams from the list of active Major League Baseball players. Based on these players' compiled statistics during the ongoing season, the owner who had the best statistics would win. Therefore, just as real managers make predictions of talent, fantasy owners take players on their own predictions of players' expected performances.
Since 1980, fantasy baseball has come a long way. Today, fantasy baseball players typically compete in one of three league formats. Rotisserie leagues rank teams each week based on the statistical ranks of their teams compared to others in the league. Head-to-head leagues pit two fantasy teams against each other weekly and assign points for which team does better at each statistical category. Points-only leagues accumulate points for each team based on the total value of the statistics their players obtain throughout the season. Only head-to-head leagues have a "postseason," which typically runs the final three to four weeks of the regular MLB season.
Although fantasy baseball was originally played on paper, almost all fantasy leagues are now maintained online. Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, and MLB are three of the most frequently used Web sites, with at least one form of free fantasy baseball available to play. Many leagues play for a pot of money or use an advanced statistical analysis package that costs each manager a certain amount of money. However, the majority of leagues are free to play.
Regardless of the league format or cost to play, they all share similar principles. There are a set number of teams in each fantasy league (usually 10 or 12) and a draft of players occurs either before the season or in its early weeks. The positions of players and types of statistics vary by league. One traditional setup would have positions as: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Utility, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, and multiple bench spots. Managers have to make sure players who start in real life are in their fantasy lineup and not the bench each day, otherwise their stats won't count for that day.
The kinds of stats used in fantasy baseball are constantly changing. Many leagues use runs (R), hits (H), home runs (HR), runs batted in (RBI), batting average (AVG), and stolen bases (SB) for hitters. Pitching stats frequently include wins (W), saves (S), earned runs allowed (ERA), walks and hits per innings pitched (WHIP), and strikeouts (K). Most leagues allow total customization of the stats used, and this allows a wide variety of possibilities from errors to innings pitched being counted each week.
Just as real baseball teams can trade players, so can fantasy baseball teams. Most leagues require approval of trades from the majority of the other managers before they can go through, however. Fantasy trades that may appear fair sometimes end up extremely one-sided, like when I traded Ivan Rodriguez and Javier Vazquez for a struggling Brandon Webb midseason last year. Although Rodriguez and Vazquez had decent seasons, Webb went on to be a finalist for the National League's Cy Young Award.
Even though a big trade like the Webb one may put your team over the top, trading is not the most important part of managing a fantasy team. Success in a fantasy baseball league is dependent on each team's draft. Smart drafting, especially in the middle to late rounds, is where a fantasy championship is won.
The preparation for a fantasy draft is extensive, requiring knowledge of the projected starters for all 30 professional teams. Most leagues prefer to hold "live" drafts either online or offline, during which managers pick players in a predetermined order. Some leagues have computers autopick players based on the managers' pre-set rankings. Certain leagues (known as "keeper" leagues) also allow managers to retain a few of their players from the previous year. No matter the type of fantasy draft, pre-draft homework borders on an obsession for some, with many hours over several days being devoted to finding out some of the most obscure questions.
Will Brandon Lyon retain the closing role in Arizona?
Is Evan Longoria going to be recalled by Tampa Bay from AAA?
Can Francisco Liriano be the same pitcher he was before Tommy John Surgery?
Lyon and Longoria made it onto my roster this year, while I passed on Liriano. However, just to be safe, I also have Arizona setup stud, Tony Pena, just in case Lyon falters.
Of course, if you manage to completely screw up your draft, there is always the possibility of adding and dropping players as the season goes on. Undrafted baseball players become "free agents" in a fantasy league, and managers can choose to add one in exchange for dropping another. The "free agent" players are also especially handy when one of your players lands on the disabled list (DL). Most leagues grant fantasy managers at least one DL spot, which allows them to pick up another player while their original player is out. However, once the injured player returns from the DL, a player must be dropped to activate the no-longer-injured player.
In many ways, fantasy baseball becomes a religion for the diehard baseball geek. It is a form of competition in which knowledge of the game trumps everything else. A good fantasy manager can't just know about his or her favorite real team, but has to know about every AL and NL club. That is why fantasy baseball is such a great way for friends to get together and test their baseball knowledge with one another. It really is for the love of the game.
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