Offseason Checklist

Now that 2022 is over and we turn the page to 2023. If you are getting ready for the next season, you should be prepared and when I am preparing for something, I like to make myself a checklist to make sure I am not forgetting something. Here is my Offseason Checklist. 

• Deep dive teams from the previous season. 

I think the most overlooked part of prep work for an upcoming season is forgetting to look back. After the season, I do a deep look into what happened to my teams. Did I win or lose? Were there any flaws in my strategies? Was I deficient in categories? Were there positions I completely whiffed on? This is especially important to do on your teams that struggled. I know it can be painful, but “those that forget history are doomed to repeat it.”  You can read all about my 2022 teams in my Apology Tour series. 

 

• Do ranks/projections

I think that way too often people just take the ranks and projections of others without coming up with their own first. I know that the average player doesn’t have the time or desire to do the work on their own, but if you are reading an article about fantasy baseball in November, then you probably aren’t the average player. I highly recommend doing your own ranks before you see other people’s ranks or ADP. This gives you a baseline of what you think before you are influenced by others. There is nothing wrong with absorbing other’s advice (more on that later), but it is important to start with your own clean slate. If you are feeling really bold, I recommend doing your own projections. This one is a bit harder, but you can start with 3-year averages and then play around with them. After you have your own baseline set up, you should start comparing them to others. 

 

• Look at others ranks, projections, and ADP

I know that there are other people in the industry that say they don’t look at others ranks and projections. I think that is foolish. I want to compare my ranks and projections to others so that way I can look at the outliers. If I have Cedric Mullins 100 spots ahead of the consensus or ADP as I did in 2021, then I want to do a deep dive on him and see if I am missing something or if the market does. If I am way lower on Corey Seager than everyone else, as I was in 2022, then I want to know that and examine if that is my bias or astute analysis. This is why it is so important to do your baseline ranks first before you start really looking at others. I want to be challenged by others’ work because it makes me better, but I want to be influenced and not a carbon copy of others. 

 

• Read, listen, and FILTER!

I read and listen to just about anything to do with fantasy baseball. I do have a blackout period where I don’t listen to any fantasy baseball podcasts up until I have finished my ranks, but once my ranks and projections are done in early October, I binge on podcasts and articles. I want as many voices as I can get. If I only rely on my own research, I will be lacking. There are people better than me in diagnosing mechanics, doing projections, and noticing things that are important changes to players and the game itself. No, I am not saying you should outsource everything, but I want as much information as possible and then I filter it. Filtering information is the most crucial skill a fantasy player can have. There is a lot of bad, misleading, and useless information out there. If you can filter out what is good and what isn’t then you will be in a better spot. When I read or hear something, I ask myself these questions as part of my filtration process:

1. Does the information make sense? 

You think this would be easy and it usually is. Way too often I hear or read things that do not make much sense. Sometimes it is the misapplication of a statistic or a logical fallacy. These are common in the industry. If something doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t. If you hear/read something that doesn’t make sense, ask the author AND ask a different analyst if it makes sense to them. Maybe you aren’t understanding the concept or maybe it is flawed. 

 

2. What is the data that supports the assertion?

Does the author offer supporting evidence for their assertion? We live in a world of hot takes and often we are overwhelmed with them in the fantasy industry. Hot takes get clicks. Hot takes get attention. Most hot takes are also garbage. If the author can’t back up what they think with data, then ignore them. 

 

3. Can the assertion be proven or disproven?

Sometimes the data is also being misinterpreted. Sometimes the data is being misused. Often we can see the mistakes if we take a closer look. There is a ton of data on Fangraphs, Baseball Savant, Brooks Baseball and many other sites. Use it to your advantage before taking someone’s word as gospel.

 

4. Who is the source of the data?

This one is important especially when you are newer at filtering information from others. If I get pitching information from Paul Sporer, Nick Pollack or Eno Sarris, I can feel pretty confident that I am not being misled. Doesn’t mean I will just accept it, but I can feel pretty safe that it’s not bad information. If I get the information from someone I don’t already know and trust, then I need to be a bit more discerning. You still want to double check the work of those you trust and you do not want to ignore everything that is from a new or unproven source as there are some amazing analysts that have small followings, but trusted sources are definitely safer. It is important to keep a list of good and bad sources of information. There are people in the industry I definitely trust more than others. There are also certain people in the industry that I won’t even click on their articles. 

 

5. Is there personal bias involved?

Biases are inevitable. I don’t care how good of a player or analyst someone is, they have biases. We all try our best to not let our personal biases affect our work and decisions, but they do come into play. Being able to see our own biases and the biases of others allows us to not fall into traps. 

 

6. Mock Draft (or really draft)

There is no substitute for drafting. You can prepare as much as you want, but until you enter that draft room it is all just theory. The more you practice what you may do in a draft, the better you will be. Now I prefer to do real drafts, but most people aren’t able to play in as many leagues as me or do not wish to. There are great mock draft tools out there and a number of people that run mocks in the fantasy baseball community. Getting as many reps in as possible before your big or important drafts gives you the opportunity to practice different builds and strategies. It also teaches you the player pool and drop offs in tiers and categories. It is one thing to look at ADP on a spreadsheet and it is another thing to watch the names come off the board in a draft. 

 

Once you have your checklist completed, you should be ready to dominate your drafts for the upcoming season. What is on your offseason checklist?