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.
2008 Woodie Awards
