Fantasy Baseball in its orginal form was meant to be fun and entertaining. Even though it has become big business for some, people need to remember it should be enjoyable. When selecting a league to participate in, you need to do your homework. Is it 5X5? Is it rotisserie? Is it head to head? Keeper league or dynasty league? Or maybe some other form of fantasy baseball? For those new to fantasy baseball, the 5X5 redraft is the easiest for your first time. After the order is selected, teams draft in order for the odd number rounds and in reverse order during the even number rounds. The Auction leagues are probably the most challenging. Each team is given a certain salary cap (often $260 or $300) and that money is used to bid on and purchase players. Some view this as the fairest type of league as you can theoretically get any player you want if you are willing to spend money from your salary cap. Keeper leagues and dynasty leagues allow you to keep players from year to year, often at an increased cost (auction league) or at the loss of a draft position (draft leagues). These leagues have spawned the increased interest in prospects.
Another factor to consider is the cost of the league. Most leagues require an entry fee and then appropriate money from the entry fees to pay out winners. Certain leagues play season long rotisserie leagues, where teams are ranked throughout the year in 10 categories: 5 pitching categories – Wins, Saves, Strikeouts, ERA and WHIP, and 5 Hitting Categories – Runs, RBI’s, HRs, Batting average and stolen bases and points accumulated. Other leagues play head to head each week and often have playoffs at the end of the year to determine league placement. It is also important before you enter league to know the cost of trades, add and drops. Make-up of the roster is also an important part of what league you may want to enter. I have had leagues where you play as few as 16 players each week to as many as 25. The number of players you have on your roster is important to know because it reflects the amount of preparation time you need to use and the number of potential players you need to have on your list from each position. What are the number of reserve spots on your roster and do you have additional spots for players on the Disabled List.
Other league rules include whether changes are made daily or weekly, is the draft done on-line or in person (much preferred by me) and who are the other owners who make up the leagues. If someone has referred you to the league, get as much information as you can about the other owners. Knowledge of the other owners tells you a little bit about the competition. During the initial stages of fantasy baseball, statistics were kept by hand, using daily newspapers or the weekly sporting news in order to find statistics from MLB games. However, that has changed as most leagues now rely on different websites to track statistics. These leagues often even do real time scoring to you can see at any point of time how you are faring in the league standings. CBS and Yahoo are the most common. Yahoo typically does not charge for this service but CBS charge is around $150. These websites have been perfected over a period of time and both are user-friendly once you spend some time on them. But remember most of all, fantasy baseball should be fun, give you a better understanding of players in both leagues and allow you acquaint yourselves with other who love baseball.
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TAICHUNG, TAIWAN – NOVEMBER 11: Bats sit in the dugout during the IBAF 21U Baseball World Cup Group B game between Japan and Nicaragua at Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on November 11, 2014 in Taichung, Taiwan. (Photo by Ken Ishii – SAMURAI JAPAN/SAMURAI JAPAN via Getty Images)
