On Wondrous Variety

I can’t really remember the first fantasy baseball league I was in. One of the first ones I was in was hand-scored. I remember, after I had been playing for a few years, I was hosting a draft at my mom’s house and, in the eighth round, someone asked if Pedro Martinez was still available. Nothing more hilarious had ever been asked.

I can’t really remember at which point fantasy baseball developed into an obsession, either. I guess it was a slow growth, slow enough that I didn’t feel it until I woke up one morning earlier this spring and realized I was in ten leagues. (Is that a lot? You tell me. To me, it feels like a lot. Too many, but not too much.) I lay in bed and literally counted them on my fingers; getting to that last pinky, I kinda felt a little gross. And then I got up and started preparing for my next draft.

I don’t think I would be in so many leagues if they were didn’t comprise wondrous variety. I’m now in three ottoneu leagues that have the same scoring system (FanGraphs points), but other than that, each league is different—so, eight different formats.

Also, I don’t think I’d be in so many leagues—or in any leagues at all for that matter—if I didn’t feel like fantasy baseball enhanced my enjoyment of the game. The different scoring settings help me to evaluate players in new ways; the deeper leagues cause me to broaden my knowledge of the player pool; dynasty leagues lead me to learn about minor leaguers and teams’ future outlooks. Being in so many leagues assures that that I can have all my favorite players in at least one league; it increases my chances of winning at least one league (it could also cause me to lose focus and do a half-assed in all of them, I suppose); it keeps me sharp and organized. So, despite the time suck, it has its benefits.

I’m sure many of you know the glory that is ottoneu, so I won’t talk about those leagues here (though the league that started from scratch this year has progressed in a very interesting way so far). But I wanted to highlight the specs of some of more unique leagues that I am in.

I invite you all to share the same in the comments. What are your favorite leagues? What have you learned from them or done differently to exploit their idiosyncrasies?

League Name: sneeze
Platform: Yahoo
# of Teams: 20
Scoring Type: Points
Draft Type: Slow Draft (no snaking)
Keepers: Can keep any players 26 or younger for free; keep up to ten “old” players at the cost of a draft pick
Positions: 2xC, 3B, 2xSS, 2xMI, 2xCF, 2xOF, 3xUtil, 5xSP, 5xP

COMMENTS:
Cistulli had been in this league for a while and asked me to join a couple years back. The hitter slots emphasize the premium defensive positions, obviously. Rosters spots are not exactly what they seem because each slot allows for only 115 Games Played; so if you have a stud that you want to get 150+ games out of, you have to make sure to save enough GP for him in the second slot, while trying to fill in the rest of the GP cap with lesser (perhaps platoon) guys.

I can’t believe that it took me two years to figure out how pitching-reliant this league is (and my pitching is still awful) but it makes sense: many of the best hitters don’t have a natural slot here, while there’s plenty of room for the best pitchers (1350 IP cap).

Given that there are 20 teams, there are always teams “going young,” with a couple of teams accumulating very few points because they barely roster any MLB players. Everyone in the world is in the player pool via use of proxies: Nippon leaguers, high schoolers, your mom, my butt (it has its own Social, so it counts)—they’re all fair game in sneeze league.

The points are based on linear weights. The draft is ten rounds. Roster spots unfilled after keeper and the draft can be filled by adding free agents. If you keep an “old” player, he costs you your first pick; if you keep two old guys, it cost you your first two picks; and so on.

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League Name: Scrappy Nation
Platform: CBS
# of Teams: 14
Scoring Type: H2H
Draft Type: Snake Draft
Keepers: None
Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3xOF, Util, 5xSP, 4xRP, 6xB, Minors
Hitter Categories: HR, H+ (H+BB+HBP), RBI+R, SB-CS, AVG, OBP, SLG, wOBA
Pitcher Categories: QS, SV+HD, ERA, FIP, HR/9, IP/GS, K/BB, TB/9

COMMENTS:
It did not take me so long to figure out the inefficiency here: the lack of a minimum IP requirement and the fact that there are five rate stats that tend to favor relievers. Add in the use of Holds and you get a league wherein dominant setup men have real value. I won the league last year (well, as the active half of a co-managed team, my first year in the league) partially by exploiting this inefficiency, and partially by talking advantage of a rare feature in H2H leagues: daily lineup changes. I played platoon bats a lot.

This year the league expanded to 14 teams and I assumed my own squad. I waited until the 13th round to take a SP, but had four elite relievers by then and eight good bats. I’ll also look to roster a reliever or two who will have chances at Saves and Holds but retain SP-eligibility with good rate stats. I should be able to win six of eight pitching stats on a regular basis.

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League Name: Northern Rotisserie Baseball Association (NRBA)
Platform: Custom
# of Teams: 14
Scoring Type: Roto (four periods and overall winners paid)
Draft Type: Straight Draft with preset salaries, $480 salary cap
Keepers: Keep up to ten players under contract or via option years
Positions: 2xC, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, CI, MI, 5xOF 9xP, Util/P, 13xB
Hitter Categories: HR, R, RBI, SB, TB, AVG, OBP
Pitcher Categories: W, QS, K, SV+HD, ERA, WHIP, K/IP

COMMENTS:

The predetermined salaries make for an interesting draft and can seriously alter the value of a player. Per the league constitution: “The salary of a player is determined by using the Sagarin Ratings (from the USA Today web site, Sagarin Web Site). To get a current year free agent salary, we will use the 3-year weighted average of the last 3 years of Sagarin. All Salaries will be rounded up to the nearest $1.” Veterans can be way overpriced if they had a good year even three years ago, but there are enough $1 deals that by the end of the draft you can stomach a $60 Jimmy Rollins.

The player contract structure is more complex. Consider:

Base Salary: 1-40
2 Year Contract $4 bonus
3 Year Contract $6 bonus
4 Year Contract $8 bonus
5 Year Contract $10 bonus
Base Salary: 41+
2-5 Year Contract $10 bonus

All Option Year contracts have a $4 bonus, regardless of base salary

Like IRL, contract salaries are guaranteed, and if you drop a guy who has a contract, you’re responsible for the whole thing unless someone else claims him, at which point you’re off the hook.

Given the deep benches and the uncommon salary/contract structure, there will probably be a few teams every year that default to a “rebuild” and stock up on $1 minor leaguers. This is only my second year in the league, and it’s been a slow adjustment. Also, I haven’t put quite as much time into preparing for this league as some of my others [yet] because sometimes it reminds me of when I finally started to wade through the Guided by Voices discography in 2008: I listened to three albums, really liked two of them, and figured that would be enough, leaving [what would increase to] 20 albums unlistened to. However, my enthusiasm for this league it growing after this year’s draft, about which I feel very good.

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League Name: A League of Treats
Platform: CBS
# of Teams: 16
Scoring Type: H2H + Roto
Draft Type: Auction
Keepers: Keep 16-23 major leaguers and 5 minor leaguers
Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 5xOF, CI, MI/C, U, 9xP, 5xBench, 5xMinors
Hitter Categories: HR, SB-CS, nHRB (non-HomeRun Bases+BB+HBP), AVG, wOBA
Pitcher Categories: QS, SV+HD, K, FIP, WHIP

COMMENTS:
I started this [quasi-]dynasty league about five years ago before ottoneu was available to the public. If ottoneu had come out a year or two earlier, this league wouldn’t exist. But we’ve expanded twice after starting at 12 teams, so I guess it’s going well enough.

The involvement level of the owners varies a bit in this league, which, if you have ever been a league commissioner, you know you frustrating that can be. In a league this deep (and it’s not even super deep), this can lead to haves and have-nots if you’re not careful. Still, I’m proud of the intricacies.

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League Name: Big C’s Baseball F*ckhouse
Platform: CBS
# of Teams: 14
Scoring Type: H2H + Points
Draft Type: Live Snake Draft
Keepers: keep up to 5 players at their original draft position for up to three times
Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, IF, 4xOF, Util, 4xSP, 2xRP, 8xB, 2xMinors

COMMENTS:
I’ve been in this league for ten years now, and I still think it is one of my favorites. (It helps that I have been in the playoffs every year since it started and been to the championship game four times.) To me, there’s just something about a H2H points league that creates excitement.

No negative points are assigned for playing time (AB, PA, GP), so I have always focused on power in this league while trying to maintain starting pitching depth—with Wins and Quality Starts awarded points, two-start pitchers become very important. I almost never have a top (or even a stable) closer, which has bitten me hard in some years and been fine in others. I tend to run out of transactions before the season is up (55 total allowed for the season).

I’ve only been able to make the live draft once in the last three year, and now that I live in California and the draft is back in Milwaukee, it looks unlikely that I will ever be at the live draft again. I’m not friends with all of the guys in the league, but live drafts are super fun; you should do one if you have the opportunity.