Here's a thread I'll update whenever possible to try and help everyone from the biggest beginners to those on the cusp of exiting the amateur ranks.
Terminology (Categories):
Standard 5x5 Scoring - Standard 5x5 Scoring is defined as the following ten categories:
For Batters - Runs, Homeruns, Runs Batted In, Batting Average, Stolen Bases (
R, HR, RBI, AVG, SB)
For Pitchers - Wins, Strikeouts, Saves, Earned Run Average, Walks + Hits Per Inning Pitched (
W, K, SV, ERA, WHIP)
- Abbreviations/explanations of other common (and not so common) statistics and scoring categories can be found here.
Terminology (Scoring Types):
Roto or Rotisserie - A style of fantasy baseball in which statistics are compiled over the course of a season. This is the ultimate marathon. A Hit in April counts the same as a Hit in August, and scoring is determined, for example, in the following way.
(
In a 12-team league, the team with the most/best of a certain category earns 12 points, with the team with the next most earning 11, and so on down to 1. Rank is determined by adding up the point total from each category and totaling them.)
H2H or Head-To-Head - A style of fantasy baseball in which statistics are reset every week. Each week a team will square off against a designated other team in the league based on a pre-determined schedule and the teams will compete in each designated category. The most common method of scoring places each category worth valuition in a W - L - T styled format of '1'.
(
For example, if Team A posts a better mark in Runs, Homeruns, Runs Batted In, Wins, and WHIP, and has the same number of Saves as opponent Team B in a week in which they are facing each other, Team A's 'record' for that week will be 6 - 3 - 1 in Standard 5x5 Scoring *.)
* See Standard 5x5 Scoring for further explanation.
Points Leagues - Points leagues are a Wild Card, in that they are very flexible with point valuition. A basehit may be worth 1 point, a Homerun worth 4, a Stolen Base worth 2, and so on and so forth. The main difference between Points and Category-based leagues is that teams are competing (either in a Roto or H2H style) to earn more total points than their opponents, regardless of how they are earned.
The Draft (Styles):
Live Draft - The most commonly used draft style utilized by major providers such as Yahoo! and ESPN, the Live Draft is best described as organized chaos. This draft generally takes place in some sort of chat room type medium, but can be taken literally and be done in the comfort of one's living room, if all teams are able to make it at a particular time and date. If your league settings allow for a 23-man roster, the draft has 23 Rounds. Most commonly, draft position is randomly drawn, and a 'snake style' draft is implemented. Players are 'on the clock' for a short amount of time, generally not exceeding 90 seconds in a Live Draft. While Live Drafting is the fastest method of initially dispersing a player pool, it can still take several hours to complete.
(
Snake style refers to, in a 12-team league, Round 1 having Draft Position 1 -> 12 pick in order, Round 2 having Draft Position 12 -> 1 pick in order, with all odd rounds mirroring Round 1 and all even rounds mirroring Round 2.)
Slow Draft - Often using the same 'snake style' draft outlined above, the main difference between a Live Draft and Slow Draft is, you guessed it, the amount of time a player is 'on the clock'. Teams are given a designated number of hours, be it 6, 12, 24, or anywhere in between (or otherwise) to make their picks, and this style of draft is generally held on some sort of forum rather than a chat room atmosphere where all parties are required to be present. Slow Drafts can take weeks (sometimes
several weeks) to complete, but can be a nice change of pace from Live Drafting.
Auction - Auctioning a player pool is a different beast from both Slow and Live Drafting completely. Often utilizing a forum type of medium much like the Slow Draft, that's about where the similarities end. Players are brought up for auction, and then bid on by owners, with a team landing a player for their roster after a pre-determined amount of time (often 12 or 24-hours) has passed without them being out-bid. Who and when players are brought up for auction are determined prior to beginning the draft, often with each team selecting a player of their choice to be brought up for auction a certain number of days per week (every Tuesday and Friday, for example). Each team begins with the same amount of cash to 'bid' with (generally $260 but not necessarily), and may never have more than the amount of current cash in their account out in open bids. Furthermore, players may never have less cash in their account than they have open roster spots. Undrafted players are commonly credited with the pricetag of $1. Leagues vary on whether teams may or may not exceed their original $260 salary cap during the course of a season.
(
Outlining some of what was mentioned above -- for example, if an owner has spent all but $17 of their available cash, they may not bid $10 on one player, and $8 on another player, as if they win both bids, they will have overspent their budget. Also, if a player has 5 roster spots to be filled, they may never have less than $5 in their account not on open bids, to ensure they can spend at least $1 on every player to fill out their roster.)
Last edited by bigh0rt on Sat May 05, 2007 1:31 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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by bigh0rt » Sat May 05, 2007 12:52 pm 
" on my orginal post. 
