10 Suggestions To Make Your Fantasy Baseball Season Fun

By Todd Farino, Fantasy Baseball Search


I've been playing fantasy baseball since 1990. It has been a blast to play the game that has brought so many people back to baseball. The initial fun of playing fantasy baseball really came when it allowed people to watch the ESPN Sunday night game just for their fantasy players. All of sudden so many games became relevant. More and probably the bulk of fun came from being able to pick and manage your own team and watch your work be successful. The best part of course is winning against your friends. Since you've started playing fantasy baseball, how many times have you called your buddy and chatted about your players, upcoming games, or just baseball in general. More of the enjoyable aspects of fantasy baseball is you not only have the games to watch, but now you have sports news and baseball tonight. The entertainment fantasy baseball brings to your life has a tremendous impact and believe it or not can improve your quality of life. Over the past 6-8 years fantasy baseball has evolved and changed from being a simple rotisserie 5x5 to having all sorts of different league systems from rotisserie to points, to including new stats to head-to-head leagues. It has expanded and with that the enjoyment and fun has expanded. Even drafts have evolved with auction style drafts and keeper leagues have expanded to new types and rules. Everything has been going great for fantasy baseball, but recently over the past couple of years with the advent of fantasy baseball web sites has come fantasy baseball advice. Obviously, we will support managers using advice to help their teams win, but some of the advice takes away the fun and that isn't good.



Over the past several seasons baseball has evolved so fast that allot of the fun has been lost. We aren't talking about most of the fun we mentioned above. We are talking about the most basic loving fun that we all expect from fantasy baseball. The fun that originates the first moment fantasy baseball season starts. The pure kid like joy you expect and if you don't get it you lose everything. We will give you our top 10 ways that you can make sure you will have fun this season and continue to enjoy the game that you've always had fun playing.


1. Stay Away From Sabermetrics - Whoever adapted this statistical method of projecting your players performance for fantasy baseball was insane. Sabermetrics was originally developed as a tool to assist scouting in MLB, but not to replace it. What sabermetrics guys have done in fantasy baseball is removed the scouting portion and just left the numbers, formulas, and statistics. It's a known fact that most sabermetrics guys hardly even watch baseball and base everything on wild formulas and repetitious statistics like batting average and batting average balls in play (???HUH???). I will admit that some basic sabermetric stats like OBP (On Base Percentage), OPS (on base and slugging, Strikeouts Per 9 Innings, WHIP (Walks-Hits Per Inning), and a few other pitching stats are very useful for fantasy baseball. However, sabermetrics guys just turn fantasy baseball into a calculus class and your fantasy baseball homework really is homework! Here are some amazing and crazy formulas and calculations for you to consider courtesy of sabermetrics: line drive rate, batted balls in play, and BsR(Base Runs). Now the true crazy sabermetric measurements used in fantasy baseball and these are freaky; LIPS (Late Inning Pressure Situations, DIPS (defensive Independent Pitching Statistics), and the best one Equivalent Average (EqA). If you think I'm making it up, here is the formula for EqA:



Now I will agree that sabermetrics is an incredible asset for MLB, but for fantasy baseball it sucks the fun out of the game, unless you like equations like the one above. Avoid using most of sabermetrics and stick to the formulas you see in the statistical categories in a players stats and you will have much more fun than a sabermetrics manager. To identify a sabermetrics manager, they probably drink lots of coffee, wear glasses (because of some much reading), and have dark circles under their eyes. They are also probably going bald because they pull their hair out from insanity of doing so many calculations just to decide to pick up Garrett Anderson and most likely they have a MIT degree!

2. Smack Talk Or Post In Your League - In order to truly have fun in your fantasy league, you have to smack talk. Leagues that don't chat and don't have money on the line don't exist for very long. Communication in a league is just as important as running your team. So smack talk with the other managers. Just remember to keep it clean and never make it personal. If you are uncomfortable with smack talk, just post. League members love articles about the league like power rankings, matchups, funny league news, etc... You can have allot of fun with it.


3. Play Head-To-Head Leagues - If you play in multiple leagues this season, try a head-to-head league. Its much different then playing the standard rotisserie or points leagues and it carries with it more fun, excitement, and drama. In a H2H league, each week you will take on a different manager and score wins according to your matchup. This allows for strategies to not only be season long, but weekly as well. Overall you will have the fun and excitement of real baseball because each week you will face a team with 10 or more wins on the line. It allows you to play more short term, rather than the drawn out long-term version that 5x5 rotisserie offers.


4. Try Auction Style Drafts - Auction style drafts are not for the weak at heart or for the rookies. However, at some point you have to give them a try. They combine the excitement of a draft with the anxiety of an auction. They require advance study of your budget and how you will spend your allotted money. Its a much more exciting way to draft fantasy baseball.

5. Keeper Leagues - Keeper League rock for one main reason. They allow you to build a franchise and do it in a league that will exist for along time. If you play in multiple leagues, make one a keeper league. Keeper leagues carry a different flavor then the standard yearly leagues and you will get to know you opponents very well. Furthermore, it allows you to get credit for your outstanding draft picks and free agents because you get to keep them for years.

6. Listen To Podcasts and Read Blogs - Fantasy baseball podcasts are full of great information and can be very entertaining as well. Now, there are some awful ones were the information can be deadly to your team and I know of some. There are many were you will get outstanding information every week and podcasts that you can learn from. We highly recommend you listen to at least one per week. We favor The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show and The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report. If you are reading this article, you probably already read blogs. Its good to find 2-4 blogs and to read them regularly. You can find great thoughts, strategies and breaking news in good blogs.

7. Prepare For Your Draft - This one sounds weird when we are talking about having fun, but if you don't prepare for your draft I promise you will have no fun drafting or playing the season. In order to prepare we recommend buying one magazine and reading on breaks at work, on the toilet, or before you go to bed. Then as we mentioned in #6, listen to podcasts. Good draft preparation makes the draft very exciting and therefore fun.

8. Don't Worry About The Score Early - Allot of us will fall behind early as other teams have a fast start out of the gate. You shouldn't worry about this one bit or allow it to bother you that you are in last place at the end of April. Just like in real Major League Baseball it just doesn't matter. Managers who make moves and trade away studs in September make the rest of their season stressful and sad. Imagine the managers who traded CC Sabathia last May. Exactly. Their season probably wasn't a happy one.

9. Go With Your Gut - This is critical. Nobody will be more upset if they make a decision that went AGAINST their gut and their gut ended up being right. Most of us trust ourselves and if our gut is wrong we are OK with that. The whole reason we get into this game is for the excitement of winning based on your own strategies and making your own decisions. Sure reading blogs and listening to podcasts help, but in the end you must make your own decisions and therefore go with your gut. Your gut might be wrong more than right, but if you don't win, at least you did it your way.

10. Break Up The Season By Months - The last piece of the puzzle to having a fun and exciting fantasy baseball season is developing a timeline for it. Obviously you have to play your team nearly everyday, but you don't have to strategize daily. We recommend breaking up your season by the month. Build a strategy for victory month by month and not only will your season feel shorter or even quicker, but you will always have something to play for and most of all hope. For example, in April strategize to have a strong start. After April ends, evaluate where you stand and based on those numbers, stratagize what you have to do in May. If you examine your team and score in detail every month you will get a much better picture then if you do it daily or weekly.

I hope our 10 suggestions for making your fantasy baseball season more fun will actually work for you. Even know we take the game very serious and in some cases lots of money rides on them, the bottom-line is its a game we play for fun and in the spirit of competition. We don't have the skills to play Major League Baseball or the chance to manage a MLB team, but we can fantasize about drafting a team and winning a championship. That is the excitement and fun and fantasy baseball and everything else is a cherry on top. Have fun in the 2009 season. If you have comments or questions about this article, email me at Toddf@fantasybaseballsearch.com.

The Fantasy Baseball Expert League II is Coming in 2009!

Hey everyone. I'll be defending my championship against a slew of great experts in the industry and some new faces in the 2009 Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League II

Here are some of the confirmed experts who will be in the league:

Sean Sultaire - Fantasy Baseball Geeks
Jon Williams - Advanced Fantasy Baseball
Evan Dickens - Fantasy Baseball Search
The Fantasy Man - Mike Kuchera
Ryan Hallam - Fighting Chance Fantasy
AJ Pelletier - Fantasy Baseball Starters
RC Rizza - Junkyard Jake
Geoff Stein - Mock Draft Central
Todd Farino - Fantasy Baseball Search
Matt Lutovsky - The Sporting News

And special celebrity expert Fred Lynn will be joining us for this year. Fred is known for playing baseball for the Boston Red Sox, Angels, and Orioles. He won the ROY and MVP in 1975 along with 4 Gold Gloves, a batting title, and the record for hitting the only grand slam in All-Star game history.

We are waiting for a few more confirmations, and we will keep you updated.

The Fantasy Man's Latest Crush: Jacoby Ellsbury

In the true spirit of my apprecaition for Jacoby Ellsbury, I proudly bring you another great blog post on the player I discovered last season who is finally getting the respect he deserves. This is a wonderful blog pos by The Fantasy Man

By The Fantasy Man Mike Kuchera (www.thefantasyman.com)


Okay, enough is enough!! Let me justify my love for Jacoby Ellsbury in 2009! In 2008 it was Joba Chamberlain and Nate McLouth (oh, and Rickie Weeks, and Felipe Lopez...oops)! In 2007 it was Rickie Weeks and Ronny Paulino (bad move). In 2006 it was Grady Sizemore (I'm a genius)! Three out of eight isn't bad, right?This year I am very high on Ellsbury, the same way everyone else is way too high on Evan Longoria and Dustin Pedroia. I happen to pick Ellsbury as my guy to have a crush on this year. There has been a debate among Fantasy Man faithfuls and loyalists because I recently compared Ellsbury to a one Grady Sizemore in my 2009 Top 50 Rankings.For the record, whether on paper, on this blog, or the podcast, never have I said Ellsbury was a proven hitter. If I ever said Sizemore was only "slightly better" than Ellsbury, it's because I was talking about what his potential fantasy numbers can do for your fantasy team. I just want to make that clear. Of course, I currently believe that Grady Sizemore is a better real life player, but in fantasy life, there's another story here to think about! The Sizemore/Ellsbury Debate...I never said Ellsbury was a proven hitter. What I am saying is that Ellsbury will potentially be better in BA/SB while Sizemore will be better in the power departments of HR/RBI. I think we can all agree on the SB winner, the HR, the RBI and that runs will be a wash since now Ellsbury is the everyday CF. The question is the batting average. Is Ellsbury proven? No. But.....2008 - Ellsbury hit .280 in 554AB2007 - Ellsbury hit .353 in 116AB in his short stint in Boston, hit .298 in 363AB in AAA and .452 in 73AB in AA.2006 - In A he hit .299 in 244AB, hit .308 in 199AB in AA.2005 - Ellsbury hit .317 in A ball in 139ABWhat part of that says that Ellsbury will hit lower than .280? I know Ellsbury is unproven, but you have to look at these past minor league numbers. Sizemore has similar quality minor league numbers but Sizemore is a K machine, thus the yearly poor average. Those numbers above clearly suggest a potential .290+BA on the safe side and upside of .300+. That's clear I think. Is he proven? No. But does his past numbers in the minors show potential? Yes. Does his minor league numbers show that his numbers could increase as he moves up a level? Yes they do. This is why I like Jacoby Ellsbury in 2009. Add on the fact that he has the everyday job, should pull in 650+AB, has Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Jason Bay and J.D. Drew hitting behind him and has speed with some developing power. With the Coco Crisp trade, Boston is about to unleash a beast in Ellsbury! He won't have Sizemore's power, but he certainly has a bit more speed and I believe will have a better batting average, and as much as 20 points higher than Sizemore. The downside on Ellsbury is the potential for a monster slump. However, he's always on base so I don't know if he's a guy who can have entirely terrible halves.Its not like I just jumped on the Ellsbury bandwagon. I've done my homework on him specifically because I upgraded him over a lot of other young players. There is potential to be a fantasy stud is here! However, want to get a little more crazy???? Compare his numbers with that of Jose Reyes!!! Take away about 20 steals (potentially as we all see Reyes as a 70+ guy) and you have a Jose Reyes type in the 4th-6th rounds. Even better, sometimes I've seen Ellsbury drop into the 7th or 8th.2008
Jose Reyes -...........297/16HR/68RBI/56SB/113R in 688AB2008
Jacoby Ellsbury - .280/9HR/47RBI/50SB/98R in 554


Give Ellsbury another 100AB and is it realistic to think that he could hit 3-5HR/12RBI/6SB/15R more to match those Reyes numbers?? I sure do! So for a minute, forget comparing Ellsbury to Sizemore, how about comparing him to Reyes??!! Of course, this is assuming Ellsbury is still a 50+SB guy, which right now, we have to believe!! If he's a 40+, which I think is more likely, all the other numbers may still match up meaning you are getting a steal later in the draft. What this means for your fantasy draft is that if you pass on Reyes or miss him in the first round, feel free to draft big time power, because you can make up these stats later with a guy like Ellsbury in maybe the 5th round, to be safe!Not as many people value Ellsbury the way I do, but the kid has talent that is designed for fantasy baseball. Period. Better than Sizemore? No. Better than Reyes? No. Actually, better than Sizemore/Reyes fantasy wise? Not yet, but maybe after 2009! If you value batting average the way I do, you might feel this way too.FYI....Sizemore BA numbers suck because he's a strikeout king!! Sizemore had 130 K in 634AB in 2008! Ellsbury had only 80 in 554AB. That's why Sizemore's BA blows, the K's. In those 3 minor league seasons, Ellsbury only struck out 127 times in 1017 AB. Sizemore K'd 604 in 2695AB(his last 5 seasons). That's insane! That's 130-150K per year!So yeah, I based my analysis on the fact that I believe Ellsbury can be a .290+hitter. If he hits .310 and steals 50+, don't kill me here, but now your looking at Jose Reyes numbers rather than Sizemore's. That's assuming Ellsbury can hit 3-5 more HR this year! So that's my take on Ellsbury! If you see me blast Ellsbury in the 5th or 6th round of a draft and it seems early...that's why! Good luck this season!

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Fantasy Impact: The Mets New Bullpen

SO now the vaunted Mets bullpen has its anchors. JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez will now rescue and save the Mets team. his is great news for all Mets fans, but from a fantasy perspective its just as important. With the Mets now have a worthy bullpen for closing out games automatically increases there value across the board. Consider this. If Johan Santana had a good bullpen last season, he'd had 23 wins. From a fantasy perspective that is tremendous. Obviously that will impact the other 4 starters on the team as well. This also adds two new draft day closers into the mix, Jose Arredondo and Brandon Morrow. Now, we still have to see that happen at the start of the season, but right now in December we think those are to the two closers for those teams. The Angels are pursuing Brian Fuentes who was born in California. If they get him, he could very well close, but we will say this now. Jose Arredondo will be he Angels closer by season end.

So the overall fantasy impact of the Mets new bullpen is the value of Johan Santana increases, and so will the value of the other 4 starters. Also, two more closers are created because of the moves. Overall the signing and the trade were great for fantasy baseball.

My Night At The MLB Winter Meetings

By Todd "The True Guru" Farino

I had the privilege of going to the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings this year in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since there wasn't allot I was going to gain by being there during the day, I went in the evening (I'd rather watch ESPN for the updates). I went both Tuesday and Wednesday nights and I have to say it was one of the greatest professional experiences of my life. First and foremost I'm a fan. I've been watching baseball since 1982 (I was 8 years old), so this was an eye opening experience for both my professional perspective, but also my fan perspective. Both nights I was there for one main reason, to meet up with my friend Cory Schwartz of MLB.com. You all know Cory Schwartz from the MLB.com Fantasy 411 podcast and his numerous appearances on the Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show on Blog Talk Radio. Cory was an amazing host both nights and in my opinion the nicest guy in fantasy baseball and a man with an amazing career and an unlimited future ahead of him. As we hung out at the Bellagio we were able to schmooze and talk with some of the heavyweights in baseball, both real and fantasy. If you kept your ear to the ground you could overhear Joe Maddon discussing his need for more relief pitching, whether or not David Price will be in the starting rotation this coming season, what holes the Cubs need to fill in order to win this season, and other great baseball talk. Just trying to get drinks at the bar was a battle and I went head-to-head with Steve Phillips (Baseball Tonight) and I have to say I lost badly. I just can't compete with Phillips when it comes to the bartender, but I chatted it up with him while waiting. There were so many great people in the lounge like a childhood favorites Eric Davis and Mike Pagliarulo (though at first glance I thought it was Kent Hrbek. Must have been the beer goggles).

As Cory led me through the lounge introducing me to some of the biggest names in fantasy baseball I felt like Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire when they walked through the draft convention. What a feeling it was as Cory introduced me to industry heavyweights like Will Carroll, Kevin Goldstein, Joe Sheehan, Casey Stern, Mike Siano, and so many more. They were are so gracious and you will be seeing more of them in my blogs and podcast as they all offered to do interviews and give their valuable time to our show and site. Besides that and having tremendous fun with Cory, I got a crash course lesson on how the industry worked and how to best position myself to bring my listners and readers better interviews. This kind of information was invaluable to me because I always strive to bring my readers the best expert information from the sources, and that is one area I've been lagging in. So in 2009 you will see many more Q & A interviews with big name fantasy baseball experts.

I'd have to say the highlights of the evening (there were so many of them), start with my amazing and funny conversations with Cory Schwartz and Joe Sheehan. Not only is Joe one of the top experts and writers in the industry, but he is also a very funny guy. He was on his game all night and seriously was a joy to meet and hang out with. Just listening to Joe and Cory talk was like listening to General Patton and General Eisenhower talk war strategy. Flys were all over the walls. Just amazing information on the Winter Meetings, the industry, and their lives. Joe told me that evening that a key to success in the industry is, "don't be afraid to go with your perspective. If you've done the research, got the data, publish it. You have to go with what you feel and know is right. No matter the opposition." That might not be verbatim since I wasn't writing things down, but I think I got it right. Another highlight was getting to meet Sig Mejdal, who is the Senior Quantitative Analyst for the St. Louis Cardinals. Listening to his conversations showed not only his super intelligence, but even better was his amazing sense of humor. What a great man and it was a privilege to meet him. He also was wearing his 2006 World Series ring, and both Cory and I were grateful to get to checkout it out and put in on. Other highlights were meeting Omar Minaya who was so nice with his time to talk with me. I'll tell you this, the man likes Joe Sheehan allot and I know exactly why. Joe is absolutely amazing at what he does and even Omar Minaya uses it. Other highlights included getting to watch Cory tape one of his segments for MLB.com with Mike Siano, meeting and listening to stories from Matthew Leach and Ken Mandel (both MLB.com beat writers), playing craps with Lee Mazilli, and watching some of the top guys in the baseball industry fill up a blackjack table and run it.

The evening was just awesome. I can't say it any better than that. It was an adrenalin filled evening that I will never forget and that I will always be indebted to Cory Schwartz for. The things you can learn at the Winter Meetings are amazing and I recommend that if they come to your town, go check it out Stop by to meet people, and just listen to whatever you can hear. You won't forget it and you will get to meet people that you never thought you would. I took away from the experience a greater respect for the industry and not only how big it truly is, but how everyone is so close and friendly. It has opened my eyes and changed my perspective on what is important in reporting the best fantasy baseball analysis and information. Again, I want to thank Cory Schwartz for everything he did for me that night, and thank my new buds Joe Sheehan, Matthew Leach, Ken Mandel, and Sig Mejdal.

The New Fantasy Baseball Search Site Is Coming In January!

Get ready everyone. Fantasy Baseball Search will be redesigned and ready to give you all the fantasy information you need for the 2009 season. Best off all its 100% FREE!

New sections that will be added to the 2009 Site

The Free Fantasy Baseball Bible - This section will help people who are new to fantasy baseball get up to speed.

The Starting Line Blog - Evan Dickens will be keeping everyone updated on starting pitchers for fantasy baseball.

The Coaches Box Blog - This is being upgraded from 2008. Bloggers like AJ Pelletier, Todd "The True Guru" Farino, Ryan Hallam, and more will be blogging all season!

The 2009 FBS Draft Kit - Get our one-of-a-kind draft kit to help get your season started strong.

We have more coming to that, so stay tuned.

Keep an eye out in early January for the unveiling of our new premiere and free fantasy baseball content site.