I’ve been competing in fantasy baseball for as long as I can remember. I’ve won my fair share of titles, and have come in the top three of countless others. My worst finish in any season has been fifth out of twelve teams. That season I lost several key starters to injuries, and couldn’t recover to higher than fifth. Competing in fantasy baseball can be tough. The season is long, players get hurt, other owners sometimes let their team go dormant, and in the worst cases, some owners collude with each other to win by not so fair means.
Despite all of the downsides, we compete for the thrill of the hunt. There’s nothing quite like coming in first place after a long season. Contrary to my better judgment, I’m going to share with you some of my strategies for coming in first for years to come. Who knows, we may compete with each other down the road, or one of my tougher league rivals may come across this. But I’m not worried about that right now. My goal here is to make fantasy baseball more competitive across the board. Let’s get started with what it’s going to take to be successful.
The draft is the most important part of your fantasy season. Though a poor draft can be recovered from, it’s not ideal. It can take some luck and a lot of other factors to win your championship. You need to prepare for your draft. This doesn’t mean read every chart known to man. Find a cheatsheet that you can rely on such as one from Sports Illustrated or ESPN. Make note of your league’s scoring system, and target players that fit into the system. For example, if your league awards four points for a homerun, and only one point for a stolen base, you need to focus on the homerun hitters.
Position scarcity is another huge factor you need to keep in mind. If your league starts one catcher or two will be a large factor in your draft plans. There is usually a big gap between the upper tier catchers, and the middle of the road catchers. You may want to reach a little earlier in a league such as that. You’ll want to sift though each position and mark out where you think the drop offs are. What I like to do is take each cheatsheet list by position, and draw a line at each level. If I think the top tier guys are the first four at a position, I’ll draw a line under the fourth player. Then, during the draft if I see the top four players at that position going off the board, I know I can wait until later to pickup that position and focus on another position. There’s no reason to reach at a position with lesser players when there are higher tier players available at another position.
One of my hard and fast rules of drafting is never draft a pitcher in the first round. I know there are a lot people out there that will say this is dumb. But I can tell you this. If you go back through the last few years of drafts, more often than not, pitchers taken in the first round don’t pan out as well as the position players. There are always plenty of quality pitchers available. This is a position you can afford to wait on.
When drafting, don’t get caught up in the emotion of a “run”. For those of you who don’t know, a run consists of three or more players at the same position being drafted one after another. This can be for any number of reasons. Usually it’s because that top tier I wrote about earlier is seen as drying up. Whatever you do, don’t be the fourth or fifth owner who gets involved in this. At the time it seems like a good idea so you can stake your claim on “your guy”. But usually what ends up happening is the smart owner who lets everyone else panic draft fills other draft holes with higher quality talent throughout as opposed to getting a mediocre prospect at the scarce position. Just be aware.
Don’t overvalue closers. There are usually plenty of saves that can picked up from the waiver wire. Everyone always says this, but it’s true. Even though it’s seen as common knowledge, there is always someone who will spend a fourth or fifth round pick on someone like Mariano Rivera. Closers are usually sporadic. If you see good value and an opportune time to pick one up, go for it. Just don’t waste a pick on a closer when you can draft a better player instead. There are plenty of saves that can be drafted in the middle to late rounds.
After your draft is complete, you’re not done. Make sure that you stay up to date on injuries, trades, minor league call ups, etc. Don’t be the owner that starts someone who get injured last week and won’t be back for months. Stay active, and stay informed. Make sure your starting pitchers are all going to pitch that week, and the hitters you start are regulars on their own team. Backup outfielders that get five at bats per week don’t do you much good.
Stay on top of free agents in your league. Don’t be the owner that has to top waiver wire position and never uses it. But, don’t just pickup free agents just for the sake of doing it. There has to be a balance. Some free agents fizzle out, others perform like champions. There’s no true way to predict, but do your homework, and make an informed decision.
The biggest thing is to have fun. If you drop a player that your opponent picks up and that player breaks all kinds of records, shake it off. It could just as easily happened for you. There’s no way to know for sure. In the end, it’s still a game. But if you follow this guide, you may have a lot more fun, especially if you’re winning. Good luck, we’ll see you on the diamond.
Nicholas Kirt is an online entrepreneur. He’s developed websites for e-books, ticket sales, and real estate. His latest venture ACG Ready E-books Inc. at http://www.acgrei.com is in the beginning stages of business, but has already become a top reference for all things e-book related.
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