Fantasy Baseball League Game Styles
What factors should I consider when choosing the game style for my fantasy baseball league?
You want to decide amongst your fantasy baseball owners what everyone can agree to. If you happen to be joining a fantasy baseball league by yourself, I think the easiest way to start is with the standard rotisserie scoring. Do it online and add it up through the year. That's probably the best way to go. You don't need to get complex in terms of salary cap. If you really like the head to head scoring, where each week there's a winner or a loser, then go with that, but the standard format is definitely not head to head.
What is a 'beat the streak' style game in fantasy baseball?
The beat the streak style game is a certain kind of fantasy baseball game, where you will pick a different player each day to get a hit, and you're basically trying to keep that streak going as long as you can. You pick one player; if he gets a hit then your streak is going and you pick a different player the next day, and you just try to keep that streak going as long as possible.
What is a 'home run derby' style game in fantasy baseball?
The home run derby style game is an easy way to play fantasy baseball where only home-runs are kept track of, so that's the only statistic; you don't have to worry about any other categories. Big boppers like David Ortiz or Alex Rodriguez are going to be the most valuable because they hit a ton of home runs. It's a real simple and fun way to do fantasy baseball.
What is a 'bracket challenge' style game in fantasy baseball?
The bracket challenge style game is something to do after the season, in the playoffs. Basically, you'll pick, out of the playoff teams, who you think are going to keep advancing throughout the major league playoffs. It's like when you pick your brackets for the NCA tournament. Whoever can pick it the best, they will win.
What is a 'salary cap' style game in fantasy baseball?
Salary cap style games aren't quite as popular, but they do have them on sites like Sandbox, and there are also some national competitions, like on USA Today. You have a salary cap for your fantasy baseball team; let's say a million dollars, and within that million dollars, you have to build your team. You still have the same number of players; let's say 22 or 23 players, and fit them into that salary cap. The company running the event will assign a salary to each player, so great players are going to have a really big salary, and take up a huge chunk, and really bad catchers, backup catchers, are going to be as cheap as possible. Salary cap is not just about picking the best players, but about picking the best values, and throughout the season their salaries change. You can see someone during the season that looks like they are a little undervalued, they have a cheap salary; you can drop your player and pick up a guy who you think is a better value, as long as you keep it under that salary cap.
What is a 'simulation' style game in fantasy baseball?
A simulation style game is pretty cool. It is something that fantasy baseball owners do when they want to take the next step. If you like the idea of being a GM or a coach, even, simulation style is for you. You can pick teams through different eras. You can pick the 1986 Yankees and manage them. You can pick players from different eras. It all depends on how your fantasy baseball league wants to set it up. You don't need to do it that way. You could just pick players from this year. But, what you also do, is set your line-up depending on what pitchers you're facing. If you're facing a left handed pitcher, maybe you'll stack your line-up with hitters that are good against lefties. If you have a player slumping, maybe you'll bench him for a little while. A simulation style game takes a lot more work, a lot more strategy in terms of when you want to bring your pitchers in from the bullpen. It's pretty intense and takes a lot more time and energy. But if you're really into baseball, it's a fun way to do fantasy baseball.
What is a 'full fantasy' style game in fantasy baseball?
A full fantasy is basically the most popular way of playing a full fantasy league. You're going to draft your team at the beginning of the season. You're going to be able to win the league by accumulating the most home runs, or the most RBIs, and your league will basically score those points every week at the end of the season. You'll just play full fantasy baseball from April to October, and whoever has the most points in October wins the title.
What are 'roster options' in fantasy baseball?
Roster options in fantasy baseball are basically the choices that you have in terms of how the roster is going to be comprised. A traditional way would be to have in your infield maybe one first basemen, one second basemen, one shortstop, one third-basemen, and then one corner-infielder, which is a first or a third, and one middle-infielder, which is a second and a short. When you're starting the fantasy baseball league, you can basically have your commissioner decide what the roster rules are going to be; you can add some hitters or he can take away some pitchers, depending on what league system you want to do. Just make sure everyone in the fantasy baseball league knows the rules before you start playing.
What are 'single leagues' in fantasy baseball?
Single leagues are fantasy baseball leagues that only use players from the AL or the NL. A lot of times you'll hear them called AL only leagues or NL only leagues. I think it's a great way to do it. I've always played in AL only fantasy leagues because I happen to be a fan of the Boston Red Sox, and growing up those were the players I knew: the players the Red Sox played against. Using single leagues makes it more competitive because you really have to dig deep when you're only using one baseball league. It's very popular; I would say maybe a third to a half of the fantasy baseball leagues out there are leagues specific, single league - AL only or NL only.
What is a 'standard roster configuration' for a fantasy baseball team?
I think the standard roster configuration in fantasy baseball is 9 pitchers, first of all, and it's up to you how you want to allot those 9 pitchers. Usually, it would be about 6 to 7 starters and 2 or 3 relievers. There will be about 14 slots for hitters. Now I'm going to go through the meat. Firstly, you will have 2 catchers - that is something that can change depending on the league, I would take 2 catchers. You also are going to have 1 first baseman, 1 second baseman, 1 shortstop, 1 third baseman, 5 outfielders, and 1 corner player, which is either a 1st or 3rd - you have the option to use it there. In the standard roster configuration, you will also have one more middle infielder; that can be either 2nd baseman or Short stop. Finally, on top of that, you'll have what's called a Utility player. That's a player that can play any position in fantasy baseball. Basically, it's a last part you want to fill: just pick the best hitter you can find.
How many scoring categories are there in a standard fantasy baseball league?
The standard fantasy baseball leagues use ten categories: five for hitting and five for pitching. The five hitting categories are home runs, runs, RBIs, stolen bases, and batting average. The five pitching categories are ERA, wins, saves, strikeouts, and WHIP, which is Walks plus Hits divided by Innings Pitched. We can also say it's base runners per inning.
What are the standard fantasy baseball hitting categories?
Standard fantasy baseball hitting categories are Batting average, Home runs, RBI, Runs and Stolen bases. When you look at those categories, maybe the most easily predictable ones are power categories. If you have a guy that has good power, he's going to get a lot of Home runs, a lot of RBI and a lot of Runs, so to me, power hitters are the most valuable.
What are the standard fantasy baseball pitching categories?
Standard fantasy baseball pitching categories are wins, ERA, WHIP - which is Walks plus Hits divided by Innings Pitched, or base runners per inning - saves and strikeouts. It's balanced pretty well between starting pitchers and relief pitchers. Starters will definitely help you a lot more in wins and strikeouts. Relievers tend to have better ERA ratios and they'll of course get you saves.
What are 'waiver rules' in fantasy baseball?
Waiver rules are how your fantasy baseball league decides to pick up free agents and use waivers throughout the year. There are a lot of different options. Some leagues have daily waivers, so basically you can pick up a player on a daily basis. The fantasy baseball league will run who has the priority and who gets to pick it up. Some leagues just have a free for all. All season long you can pick up whoever you want and you can drop whoever you want at any point. A lot of leagues do that. The traditional style, the original style, is rotisserie: if you do transactions once a week, those are called weekly leagues, and in those leagues you can make waivers. Usually on Monday you have to put in all your pick-up requests for the week. Then the commissioner will run waivers and award different players to all the teams in the fantasy baseball league.
What are 'trading rules' in fantasy baseball?
Trading rules are just the commissioner's rules in fantasy baseball that guide any trading that happens. Some leagues will decide that every trade has to be approved by the league. If a certain amount of teams contest the trade, it wont go through. Most fantasy baseball leagues don't do that, though. Most leave it up to the discretion of the commissioner. If he decides it's a fair trade, he'll let the trade go through. In a lot of leagues, you have a minimum roster requirement, so any trade that happens has to fulfill those minimum roster requirements.
