What's Your Fantasy Baseball Resume?

[lambo1203]

So I'm not sure if this has ever been done before (and if it has, this is a big waste of time) but I'm curious as to how us Cafers do in our fantasy leagues year in and year out. I know I value the input of some people a lot when I ask for advice on here, and it's interesting knowing that they could give out great info but just be struck with horrible injury luck (or just get completely lucky and know nothing about fantasy...I'm sure there's plenty of both types here.)

So, if you're interested in going into the past, post how you've done in some of your favorite leagues, the good and the bad. And if you've got a story to go with it, even better! I just think it'd be cool to see how we all do with the team we're dealt year in and year out...if we're a trader or WW fiend...when we started this crazy thing...are there players we draft every year no matter what?

Here's mine...

First year in fantasy: 2006 (commissioner of a 4-team league with buddies in our freshman year of HS...did all the stats by paper)

Best team: 2008...won the H2H championship against my "rival" by a third of a point...haven't beaten him since in the playoffs

Worst team: 2010...made terrible trades, left great free agents out there for other teams to pick up, finished 8th in my own league

Most embarrassing moment: Losing to my girlfriend in 3 of 4 meetings last year (including playoffs) in her first year doing anything with sports...she won 2nd place, I finished 4th and I still hear about it almost daily

Best team that never won it all: 10 team Yahoo! Pro League last year...had 4 of my first 10 picks on DL within the first week of the season, had a total of 15 players on DL that year...made 7 or 8 trades to get better, went from last at the end of May to 3rd at the end of the regular season and lost to the defending champ in the playoffs

Player I can't do without: David Wright...for some reason. I've had him on every single team since 2006. Also, I've had Lester on my team every year but one since he became relevant.

Leagues: Play in an 8-team H2H league that I run (started in '06), and have played in 1 or 2 random 10-team leagues annually, making the playoffs about 75% of the time

[Grounded Polo]

You did fantasy baseball in 2006 by pen and paper?

I started playing in 1999, would probably say I've had like 80+ teams for baseball alone. Career highlight is obviously having multiple teams in the yahoo top 50 way back when I did public leagues.

[lambo1203]

You did fantasy baseball in 2006 by pen and paper?

As four 15-year-olds with very simple stats and 2 without home computers, we all just decided to do it the old fashioned way haha

[J35J]

I think we've talked about this before and I've come to the conclusion that your actual outcomes have little to do with how much you know...plenty of factors are involved with your outcomes but don't really mean anything in regards to how much you actually know.

- Did you play in a crap public league, a crap league with friends, a cafe league, an experts league, an NFBC league...someone who's won 5-10% of their leagues but have done it when only playing 1 or 2 leagues(though still placing in top half when not winning) a year and in NFBC leagues or cafe leagues is a lot more impressive than someone that wins 50% of their public leagues while playing 10 leagues a year.

- How lucky or unlucky did you get each year...luck plays a bigger role than a lot of people want to admit.

- Some seasons you are more busy than others which hurts your in game management...in game management plays a very large role in fantasy baseball. You could draft a great team, spent many many hours in preseason prep and know a ton, but if things come up and you just don't spend the amount of time you should "in season" then your final outcome will suffer because of it. (I tend to fall into this category, especially the last couple years. Me losing interest or losing the time to commit during the year and consequently not finishing as high as I'd like doesn't mean I'm any less knowledgable, just means I don't care as much as I used to. )

...and there are other reasons.

I can tell how good someone is at fantasy baseball problem more just by listening to them talk here at the cafe, in person or whatever than if they just told me they won 2 leagues last year. A good example of all of this is watching the outcomes of the cafe leagues, it's a complete crapshoot each year who is going to win, when all the owners are knowledgeable, luck plays a much bigger role in the outcomes and in these cafe leagues you rarely see the same people at the top of the leaderboards year in and year out. I think I'd be more impressed with the person who has placed top 3-5 in 90% of their cafe leagues but never won one over the player that's won 40% of their public leagues.


I'm off my soapbox now...


First year was 1998

Just off the top of my head my favorite win was probably the Cafeholics Masters league a couple years ago. I also liked winning the H2H regular season 2 years in a row in a $50 "mostly" cafe league...though losing in the playoffs both of those years. Also made it to the H2H WS Finals(Wrveres's creation) but didn't finish great that year.

Favorite leagues are 14-16 teams with MI/CI/5OF setup, and enjoy both H2H and ROTO...pretty much any league I play these last couple years and going forward will be Cafe leagues or the equivalent.

Because of the whole losing interest/burn out I'm only playing 1 league this year and it's the $50 Cafe League.

[TheRock]

Agree with what J said. "I won my Yahoo public league" is the kick-me sign of fantasy baseball. I seek out competitive leagues because playing against actual competition is more enjoyable than meaningless victories. I've played against J a time or two. Plus then when I do win or at least do well, it means something.

[Quackman]

Been doing leagues seriously since 1998. Did a few in-person before that. Life long baseball/Tiger fan. Started back in the Middle 80's with Tiger players like Trammell, Whitaker, Gibson. Its sorta snowballed from there. For a long time i was only a Roto player, played alot at fanball and other similier sites, playing for that perfect season to win big pots of money. Ive branched out now and play on espn and some on yahoo. Now with my years of wisdom (haha) im not so concerned about "winning" as i was 15years ago, i just do my best and try to find fun/competitive leagues, emphasis on fun. If i do win, its a bonus. Too many things happen in fantasy sports thats out of your control so dont get too bogged down in all that. Put out the best team you can and worry only about things you can control.

[Izenhart]

I started playing fantasy baseball when Tony Clark was a breakout rookie and Ellis Burks and Larry Walker were fantasy legend.

Too many years to go thru, I've won my fair share and had a few bad years, but I usually do well

[daullaz]

My resume starts and ends with:

2011 Cafeholics Masters League

Rank Team Points Pts Change Pts Back Waiver Moves
1. daullaz 132.5 3 - 1 28
2. Old_Style 94.5 -0.5 38 2 7
3. Just Do It 91 0 41.5 13 40
3. wrveres 91 1 41.5 9 58
5. Pogo 86.5 1 46 4 36
6. slomo's scrubs 86 2.5 46.5 6 26
7. mbuser 80.5 -0.5 52 8 44
8. Spokane Cougars 80 -3 52.5 15 49
9. Stretford Enders 77 -1 55.5 5 17
10. J35J 70 0 62.5 7 32
11. Havok Hitters 69 2 63.5 11 32
12. Sluggin Fireballs 67 0 65.5 3 23
13. chris8 63 -3 69.5 14 50
14. zepfan 58 -1 74.5 10 9
15. BigLebowski 54 -0.5 78.5 12 55

Nothing. Else. Matters.

[J35J]

My resume starts and ends with:

2011 Cafeholics Masters League

Rank Team Points Pts Change Pts Back Waiver Moves
1. daullaz 132.5 3 - 1 28
2. Old_Style 94.5 -0.5 38 2 7
3. Just Do It 91 0 41.5 13 40
3. wrveres 91 1 41.5 9 58
5. Pogo 86.5 1 46 4 36
6. slomo's scrubs 86 2.5 46.5 6 26
7. mbuser 80.5 -0.5 52 8 44
8. Spokane Cougars 80 -3 52.5 15 49
9. Stretford Enders 77 -1 55.5 5 17
10. J35J 70 0 62.5 7 32
11. Havok Hitters 69 2 63.5 11 32
12. Sluggin Fireballs 67 0 65.5 3 23
13. chris8 63 -3 69.5 14 50
14. zepfan 58 -1 74.5 10 9
15. BigLebowski 54 -0.5 78.5 12 55

Nothing. Else. Matters.

LOL, that was a great season! You handed out the needles to all your guys like they were candy...it's the only explaination. My guys were clean.

[wrveres]

My resume starts and ends with:

2011 Cafeholics Masters League

Rank Team Points Pts Change Pts Back Waiver Moves
1. daullaz 132.5 3 - 1 28
2. Old_Style 94.5 -0.5 38 2 7
3. Just Do It 91 0 41.5 13 40
3. wrveres 91 1 41.5 9 58
5. Pogo 86.5 1 46 4 36
6. slomo's scrubs 86 2.5 46.5 6 26
7. mbuser 80.5 -0.5 52 8 44
8. Spokane Cougars 80 -3 52.5 15 49
9. Stretford Enders 77 -1 55.5 5 17
10. J35J 70 0 62.5 7 32
11. Havok Hitters 69 2 63.5 11 32
12. Sluggin Fireballs 67 0 65.5 3 23
13. chris8 63 -3 69.5 14 50
14. zepfan 58 -1 74.5 10 9
15. BigLebowski 54 -0.5 78.5 12 55

Nothing. Else. Matters.

yeah that league was over in may.
I spent most of the season in second, trying to figure a way to chase you down, before giving up the final month.
great win.