Feb 17, 2012

Anyone interested in Fantasy Baseball?

So I belong to a competitive Fantasy Baseball league that a friend of mine runs, and it's a blast! For those of you who don't know what Fantasy Baseball is, here is a wiki link.

Fantasy Baseball, and the most popular variety called Rotisserie, has been around for around 30 years now. I've been participating in leagues for about 22 years, and they are always fun for the baseball fan.  The league I participate in now is a keeper weekly Head-to-Heat points league with playoffs.  The "keeper" there means that we can offer players on our teams 2 or 3 year contracts within the rule structures of the league.  We choose players in an auction and each team has a salary cap.  So you have to fill your fantasy roster with real players using fake money. Basically, if you really want Albert Pujols on your team you can spend the most money to get him, but it's probably gonna hurt the overall team you "field".  It's all kinda complicated, but fun.

But I've been thinking back to a simpler time and I think I'd like to participate in an old-school 5X5 Roto league with a plain, old draft.  Just for shits and giggles.  So I thought I'd see if there was anyone here who reads this pathetic blog who would like to join me in this endeavor.  I figure if I get another 9 or so people who want to join, then I will go ahead and do it.

My Rules
  • You don't have to be a big baseball fan to join. Just someone who thinks they might enjoy interacting and playing along with other like-minded folk.  It's all in good fun.
  • It will be a 5X5 Rotisserie League, probably run through Yahoo! Sports. If you don't know what a 5X5 Roto League is, but you are interested, you can email me and I will edumacate you.
  • It will be an online draft.  I'll select a time that is agreeable to all.  All you will need is a couple of hours in front of your computer sometime in late March to be involved.  There is an option with these leagues to set your draft order and let the software auto-draft for you, but what fun is that?
  • The draft order will be randomly selected. Basically, I will randomly select the preference order and then ask each team, in order, where they want to pick. If there are 10 teams, then the team that picks #1 overall gets the 1st pick in the 1st round, the last pick in the 2nd round, the 1st pick in the third round, etc...  The team that picks last gets the last pick in the 1st round, but the 1st pick in the second round.  It's called a "snake draft". There is some strategy here. Some people prefer to pick in the middle of a round, some at the beginning, some at the end.  
  • This league will only be for fun. No money or prizes. Just something to make the long baseball league a bit more interesting for those involved.
That's it. Everything else will be determined once I see if there are enough folks interested.  

Even if you aren't interested, maybe you can forward this around to some of your bloggy friends who might be interested.  I can't imagine getting 9 other people from just my small number of readers. But I'll ask through Twitter as well, and maybe some of you kind folks can re-Tweet that shit and we'll see where we wind up. If there is enough interest after a week or so, I'll contact those who want to be involved and set the whole thing up.  Easy peasy.

So what say you? Anyone interested?

7 comments:

RW said...

I'm much better at the money-managed rosters but I can give this a go. Just tell me what/when/how.

Paticus said...

What's a 5X5 Roto League? I am interested, but have never played any of the fantasy sports stuff before. Do we get to dress up like the Baseball Bunch from the Warriors? that would be pretty badass.

Slyde said...

i'll take Bae-Bae-Bae-erga!

Verdant Earl said...

RW - We'll see if there is enough interest from the madding crowd. If it's a bunch of noobs, then I'd rather stay away from the auction/salary cap type of league.

Paticus - It's called "Rotisserie" because that was the name of the restaurant where it was invented. That's all that Roto means. 5X5 means 5 hitting and 5 pitching categories. Batting Average, Runs, HR, RBI and SB for hitters. Wins, Saves, Strikeouts, ERA and WHIP (Walks + Hits)/Innings Pitched. Each team gets ranked by their cumulative totals. If there are 10 teams, the team with the best Batting Average, for instance, gets 10 points. The next team gets 9 points, and so on. Each of the ten categories is ranked this way. Then the points earned by these rankings are totaled, and that's how you see who is winning the league.

Slyde - Wow! Nice old Oxford reference!!!

sybil law said...

Man, I don't know. Last time I tried playing I sucked royally and didn't enjoy it at all.

hello haha narf said...

love you, and thanks for the offer, but OH HELL NO

Slyde said...

btw if you want, libo does something similar.. you could always join theirs...