Fantasy Baseball League Structure

Welcome to the inaugural article of my new fantasy baseball blog. You are one of the first people to read my column. Just imagine what an edge you'll have over your competition!

This is the first in a continuing series of weekly articles. I'm bursting with ideas for future articles (feel free to email me with your ideas too). Leading off the first inning is one of the most important topics: league structure. Simply put, all leagues are not created equally.

For example, I am playing in five leagues this season, three on yahoo and two on cbssportsline. One of the yahoo leagues is a full keeper league, or dynasty format. We conducted our initial draft last season and filled out our rosters. Prior to the start of the 2007 season. each owner announced which players he was releasing. If you dropped three players, that is how many you were drafting. Because it's a keeper format, the players drafted this year were mostly young, highly talented players such as Brandon Wood and Elijah Dukes who have tremendous long-term potential.

The other two yahoo leagues are start from scratch, one year only leagues. Many of the most coveted players drafted right off the bat in the other league were chosen much lower here, in some cases going completely undrafted. The players are the same, of course. It's just the structure that alters their value. It's therefore important to note that when seeking out advice, an owner has to be careful in determining how applicable it is to their own format. One size does not fit all, so be sure to exercise your own good judgment as a filter.

To further complicate matters, both of my CBS leagues are set up where you can retain up to six players from the previous season, plus two rookies. If an owner feels he is out of the race, he may trade four or five good players for one superstar. In most leagues, such a deal would make no sense, but here it can help both owners.

My CBS leagues feature point-based, head-to-head matchups on a weekly basis. We actually play three teams simultaneously. By the end of the week, if you outscored all three of your opponents, you are awarded three victories. If you beat two of the teams, you go 2-1, and so on. Under this point system, a player stealing a base scores two points, while you lose one if your player is caught stealing.

On the other hand, in two of the yahoo leagues, we compare categories instead of scoring points. For example, on offense we use average, on base percentage, home runs, rbi's, runs, and stolen bases. We play only one opponent per week and compare the team totals in each category at the end of the week, so if you scored 50 runs and your rival scored 49, then you earned a victory.

In this case, the importance of stolen bases is magnified. In fact, many hitters can slug 15-20 home runs or more, but not as many can swipe 20 bases. A player like Corey Patterson might hit .265 and score 75 runs. Not bad, although not really what you might want from an outfielder. However, if he steals 45-50 bases, he can lead your team to many victories in that category. If he is caught 20 times, no problem-there is no penalty for being gunned down at second base. Again, due to the league structure, he goes from being a pretty good player to one with significant value.

In addition to the above, other league differences influencing an owner's strategy include:

• Starting Lineup Size-do you have to start one or two catchers? Three, four, or even five outfielders? How many pitchers vs. batters?

• Lineup Frequency-do you submit daily or weekly lineups?
• Roster Size-do you have plenty of room on your bench to stash away players with potential?
• Disabled List-are you allowed to shift players to the DL and free up roster space, perhaps for a player like Pedro Martinez who should help you later?
• Playoff Format-is it winner take all or do six of the ten teams qualify for the playoffs?
• Scoring Categories-very important. A couple of my leagues count double plays turned by infielders, for example, making second basemen and shortstops much more valuable.

• Type of Draft-is it an auction, a live draft, or fully automated?
• Minimum Qualifications-do your statistics not count if you fail to reach a team minimum of at bats or innings pitched?
• Player Pool-is it AL or NL only or mixed?
  

Good luck to everyone this week! If you are interested in a thorough, low-cost analysis of your team, please email me at tim10966@gmail.com for details.