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14 Jan 2009 |
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Tweet me!| Choosing the correct size of your fantasy baseball league is very important, because just like in real life: Size matters (don’t believe anyone who tells you differently.)
As a beginner you may be temped to start out in a smaller league, one with 8 or 10 teams, but leagues that small seem a bit silly, people may laugh. Fantasy baseball geeks will think you are a nerd, and there is nothing worse than having a geek think you are a nerd! A standard 12 team mixed league is a perfect league, with team roster settings of: 2-C, 1-1B, 1-2B, 1-SS, 1-3B, 1-MI (2B or SS), 1-CI (1B or 3B), 5-OF, 1-Utility player (a hitter from any position), 9-P (any combination of starters and relievers), and a bench of about 5 players from any position, including pitchers. This is an advice column and everything written here is just that: advice. Please take this particular advice and play in a league this size with these roster requirements. The reasoning here is that you will be playing in a league just like many writers here on this site will be writing about. It is the type of league our expert mock drafts are based on, as well as the mock drafts we will be doing together in the near future . There are also plenty of 15 team leagues out there. These are much tougher to compete in and are better off being tackled later on in your fantasy career. You will also have the option of playing in daily or weekly transaction leagues. Daily leagues can be tough, especially if you do not sit at your computer all day and night. In daily leagues all players are free agents, if you want to pick up a free agent you can do so anytime of any day. It’s first come, first served. If you are going to have any shot at winning a daily league, you will need to get to your league's website before any other team owner to pounce on a hot pickup. This is never more evident than in the wacky world of closers. During the season there will be many changes at the closer position on major league rosters. Some will pitch poorly and lose their job, while others will get injured and have someone take over. When word gets out about a team making a closer change, watch out! It is amazing how fast people will get to their computer to pickup the new closer in daily leagues. In weekly leagues all players are on waivers and you have to put a claim in on any player you wish to pick up and depending on your place in the waiver order, you may or may not get that player. Waivers are processed once a week, giving everyone a better shot at picking up wanted players. This system will keep the playing field a bit more level when it comes to picking up players. Finally you have to determine the type of scoring league you want to play. A standard 5x5 rotisserie league is most common. A 5x5 league uses 5 hitting and 5 pitching categories to keep score and determine a league winner. The hitting categories are; Batting Average, Runs Scored, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, and Stolen Bases. The pitching categories are; Wins, Strikeouts, Earned Run Average, Saves, and Walks plus Hits divided by Innings Pitched (WHIP). Some leagues may modify the categories, usually adding a hitting and pitching category or two, making their league a 6x6 or 7x7 league. The categories most commonly added are On Base Percentage for hitters and Holds for pitchers. In a 5x5 rotisserie scoring league, you take the compiled stats of each team and rank them against each other. In a 12 team league, the team that leads the league in a category receives 12 points, second place get 11 points, and continues down with the last place getting 1 point. The team with the most points wins. You can also play in a head to head league, also known as H2H leagues. In these leagues your team will play against one other team in your league each week. At the end of the week the two team's stats are compared to each other, the team that wins a category receives 1 point. The team with the most points gets a win and the team with the least gets a loss. Some people feel that H2H leagues are best suited for beginners, but the feeling here is that is just not true. H2H leagues are not very common and if you give them a try, you may find that you enjoy them. With that said, starting out in the more common rotisserie style leagues seems to make the most sense. Recapping the type of league that seems to be best suited for beginners:
It is worth repeating that this is just advice. If you want to play in an NL only, auction league, by all means do so! The type of league with the specifics above is the most common, least stressful type and will bring you a big enough challenge with lots of fun. One more bit of advice; don’t spread yourself too thin. As a beginner, playing in two or three leagues is plenty. Over doing it and playing in more will just get too hectic, making it hard too keep up with every league. Next step will be preparing for your draft. We will start to tackle this next week and set up our first mock draft. You can get ahead start by checking out the best Draft Guide in the industry, right here on the Premium side of our site. If there are any questions or comments from our beginners please leave them below. We also have plenty of experienced and very knowledgeable readers here on the site. If any of you have something to add that will help the beginners, please feel free to share your thoughts. Trackback(0)
Comments (10)
  written by JoeLano, January 15, 2009
I gave my opinion in the article: "12 team mixed league is a perfect league" That is what I wrote, because that is how I feel.
It is my advice to play in 12 team leagues, BUT I want too see more people playing the game no matter what the size. I do agree with you Sean,I would never play in a league smaller than 12 teams, but have in the past. It's not something I enjoyed.
written by SeanAgranov, January 15, 2009
10 team league...8 team league... come on you guys are better than that! Learn your players a little more. Hell you are reading this website you are already above average!
12 teams leagues are where you should start and then go up to 14,15,or 16. This of course assumes mixed leagues not AL or NL only. Despite the size the quality is what makes or breaks a league. A league with 8 great owners will always beat a league with 12 lousy ones. But if you have great owners who know their stuff. 12 is where you should start. If not, then go to the Entertainment network and read their columns. Jersey u were too easy on them!
written by JoeLano, January 15, 2009
Very Surprised to hear you guys liking the 10 team leagues so much.
I found that in 10 teamers there are too many players in the free agent pool, if that makes any sence. You can switch or replace players much too easily, making your draft and draft prep less important amongst other things. Like I wrote above, I feel 12 teams are perfect. That is not too say playing in a 10 team league is not just as much fun and rewarding. I am only giving advice, based on my experiences playing. But any beginners reading this, who are looking to play in a 10 or even a 8 team league, do it! Just play the game and enjoy.
written by D Wrek, January 14, 2009
Agree on the 20 teamer thing. I was in one last year and yuck. 1st it would take an act of god to create a 20 team public league without anyone quitting. Too much probability to attract the quitters.
Also there are sooo many teams to look through for trades. While i prefer deeper leagues, Id rather join a 10 team mono league than a 20 team mixed.
written by RobReed, January 14, 2009
nice article, joe... personally, i can't stand daily leagues... just isn't fantasy baseball to me...
if we compared daily league fantasy baseball to real life basketball, say, it would be like the NBA allowing Wilt Chamberlain to stand in the key for as long as he wants... ...when he was alive, I mean I prefer a ten-team, actually, like my money league... everybody can field a pretty solid team, and competition is intense. I tried a 20 team once, and it was the worst fantasy experience of my life... just dumb dumb dumb.
written by Pat DiCaprio, January 14, 2009
funny, that is what my wife keeps saying. i cant figure out why she is frowning though when she says it.
written by JoeLano, January 14, 2009
Great point on the larger bench, although most leagues will have smaller benches.
Thanks for the graet complement. I started playing so long ago there was no help for beginners anywhere, hell there were no computers! My 6 year old son has decided its time for me to quit smoking, and lose some weight too. So if Dice-K, wins 20 maybe you can send me some carrot sticks in place of the Marlboros. Good God, its going to be a long year!
written by big o, January 14, 2009
funny title.
do you smoke 100's ? disclaimer on the daily leagues ... more teams and/or larger bench size will cut down on FA pool after draft. winning is very possible without hawking the add/drops... imo. wish i had read your stuff a few years back .... would have made me more competitive from the start. nice article.
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Tags: Fantasy Baseball for Beginners league sizes daily transactions weekly transactions Standard 5x5 leagues Head to Head leagues WHIP
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I am big on having a large bench however many teams play in the league. This cuts down on the free agent pick ups and encourages trades even if they are minor ones.
Joe, now I know where those emails about "size" in my spam folder comes from...so KNOCK IT OFF! LOL