Fantasy baseball 101: Get in the game
What Is It? A Brief History Lesson
The term "fantasy baseball" is used to describe any contest that puts its participants into the roles of owner and general manager of his or her own baseball team. Point totals and league standings are generated by the real-life performances and statistics earned by the players on each team's active roster. Participants work the waiver wire and trading hotline in the style of real-life professional baseball personnel. Fantasy owners battle through injuries and slumps right along with major league managers.
The origins of fantasy baseball are not quite cut and dry with some references to such a contest existing as far back as the early 1960s. However, one type of scoring can trace its roots to a group of baseball fanatics who constructed the system at a French eatery in New York City. Veteran fantasy fanatics owe their countless hours of lineup tinkering and trade wrangling from a long lunch meeting led by Daniel Okrent and Glen Waggoner at "La Rotisserie Francaise." The classic rotisserie scoring system, which will be explained in full as it relates to fantasy baseball in short order, celebrated its 25th anniversary in January of 2005.
The first years of administrating fantasy baseball leagues were certainly far more difficult than today, as commissioners once spent hours putting pen to paper to compile player stats. Owners had to check the math of their commissioners with the arrival of each week's data report. Some individuals quickly identified another use for the rapidly expanding world of personal computers and early database software. It didn't take long before newsletters and periodicals began to crop up on the bookshelves for this network of sports aficionados to consider when assembling their rosters.
As the Internet evolved, fantasy owners and entrepreneurs flocked to this new medium. The ability to transmit data quickly and receive immediate updates on players and league standings pushed the industry to dizzying heights, and the current involvement of Major League Baseball in the promotion of the industry will only fuel added growth.
The beauty of it is that those who climbed aboard this pastime at its earliest stages still have the pen and paper entry form submission process available to them after all of these years. The game appeals to fans at all levels and forces its participants to learn the names, stats and value of players from all teams. In short, fantasy baseball helps to take fandom to the next level.
What Are The Standard Scoring Systems?
Rotisserie (Roto)
The administration of points and the constantly adjusting standings page in leagues using rotisserie scoring vexes all fantasy novices. A common question I've heard over the years is "How do I lose points? Two days ago, I had 80 points. Now I only have 65. What happened?"
Participants are ranked in decreasing order from highest to lowest within each individual scoring category. The highest point total available in a single category equals the number of teams participating in the league. The lowest point total available for that category is equal to one.
So, the leader in home runs has the highest point total available. The second-place team's score in the category is one lower, and so on, until one point is awarded to the last place team.
Therefore, to find a team's total score on a particular date, one must review their ranking in each of the league's chosen categories. The summation of their ranking for each of the categories in use within the league will equal their overall ranking. With games being played on a daily basis, team point totals are subject to fluctuation throughout the season. Naturally, the swings will be much more volatile early in the season as statistical baselines are established.
However, even in the heat of the summer, point totals will rise and fall based on the day's games. Teams' overall score may rise several points one day as a result of tremendous output by their starting lineups, but participants must always view their team in the context of the overall team performance against the rest of the league.
Head-to-Head
Head-to-head scoring entered fantasy baseball as a means to carry over the excitement of fantasy football competitions to "America's pastime." Teams are matched up against one another for an entire week of games. Scoring for each category is based on the results for each individual category, which are viewed in the same manner as the rotisserie system described above. However, instead of adding the results together, each category counts as a win, loss or tie on its own. In a league using 10 categories, teams will rack up some combination of 10 wins, losses and ties per week.
Commissioners have the ability to choose a "one win" setting that sums the wins for each team. The team who captured more category wins in the week would receive one win in the standings. The team with more losses would receive one loss in the standings.
Fantasy Points
Fantasy point scoring is administered exactly as you would expect. Fantasy teams receive points toward their total for each event included in the scoring configuration. Some categories have traditionally accepted point modifiers (1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run). However, others such as pitching wins or saves, strikeouts or stolen bases do not translate as easily and must, therefore, be carefully considered by game providers and league commissioners.
There is a huge drawback to fantasy point leagues that serves to limit the number of leagues that utilize this system. Fantasy point leagues cannot include the normal ERA and WHIP scoring categories for pitchers or batting average for hitters because of their cumulative calculation rather than the simple counting mechanism of the other categories.
How Do I Obtain Players? Draft Styles
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Live Draft
This type of draft allows your league to conduct the draft online through an individualized and tricked-out applet. You'll have the ability to make your selection, review the other teams as players fly off the board and scout the remaining players using this tool. You also have the ability to deride your colleagues about their latest blown pick or any other topic that floats to mind in the built-in chat function.
Auto-Pick
The auto-pick draft is another style of draft available for selection. In this format, the computer processes the draft in accordance with your pre-selected list or the default player rankings (if you make no changes). Generally, there is no specific time of day at which the draft is run. An approximation of when the draft will occur is displayed on the league home page, and the participants receive notification once the process has been completed.
The auto-pick draft is a popular function for leagues first getting together and becoming acclimated to the fantasy world. It is also used quite frequently when joining a public league, as nobody knows one another and the ability to make informed smack-talk is decreased. Participants can begin trading and adding/dropping players as soon as the draft is completed.
Off-Line Draft
The off-line draft is processed just as the title indicates, in person and without the aid of computers. Each member of the league arrives at a place to be determined and buries themselves for an undetermined amount of time, much the way we all do to beat the clock on April 15 every year. More thought goes into booking the largest conference room on the floor for this gathering than for any work-related function (except for maybe the holiday party)!
There's usually a large board to post each team's picks, and the commissioner tries to keep the event moving, often enforcing a time limit for each selection.
How Long Is This Going To Take?
Scoring in fantasy baseball leagues begins with Opening Day at the end of March and terminates with the end of the regular season in early October. Most fantasy owners get to sit and enjoy the playoffs and World Series while shifting their fantasy attentions to football.
Like your parents and teachers tried to tell you through your school days and those TV diet gurus and your boss are telling you now: "You get out of it what you put in."
There are very few times that an inattentive fantasy participant will be victorious at season's end. Injuries, demotions and prolonged slumps generally conspire to send these managers to the back of the pack. As such, fantasy baseball participants need to be ready to make a sizable time commitment. According to a 2004 survey, fantasy baseball owners spend an average of three hours working on their teams per week, not including the time spent watching action in person, on television or online.
One way that leagues among friends or work colleagues can help to make the game more manageable and promote participation is by using a weekly lineup submission deadline. Owners can then follow the action as passively or aggressively as they desire all week, and all transactions are processed on a single day each week. This helps to avoid situations where the amount of free time available to make transactions on a daily basis creates advantages or disadvantages.
The Golden Rule: Enjoy The Game
Fantasy baseball has its peaks and valleys, and participants live and die with each grand slam or hitless game. Nothing's worse than repeated viewings of walk-off home runs against your closer or the ankle turned by one of your stars while rounding second base. But, it's a learning process, a formula that changes each and every year.
There are many draft strategies and formulas to apply to your draft-day and waiver wire analysis that I'll be covering.
For all of the different statistical measures to be analyzed, there is one elemental truth ... enjoying the game and the challenge is the main goal. Draft a couple players from your hometown team. Enjoy owning the local favorite. Just make sure you secure the rights to a couple of all-around studs to keep your team competitive and your interest level up.
As they say in life in general, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Fantasy baseball requires a nice balance of both elements to make a run for the championship.
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