Hey everybody. I've put below a description of the unique league that I'm. This league is coming up on it's 20th anniversary, I've been in it for 4 years now. Everything is done in a live draft at a bar where 90% of the league members live. I'd really appreciate any comments anybody has on this format. I happen to think it is great, but I'm sure there are lots of people out there that would criticize it. Really I'd like to see what some traditional fantasy players think of it, as everybody involved in the draft is obviously biased and interestingly very few play "traditional" fanstasy baseball.
I am in a 27 team draft with 4X2 scoring and no trades or waiver wire pickups. The hitting categories are HITS, AVERAGE, RBI, and HOMERUNS, while pitching categories are WINS, and ERA. Each team picks nine hitters (one from each position and one DH) and four pitchers. Detailed rules can be found at the bottom of this post.
Obviously, this format places a heavy emphasis on draft performance as there is virtually no chance to change your roster. Coincidentally, injuries are very powerful indicators of performance as an injured players stats is replaced with zeros while he is gone, not with the replacement level stats found in other leagues.
Also any feedback on what you think of my league setup would be interesting.
Thanks
*VERY UNIQUE LEAGUE* 27 TEAMS Scoring: 4X2 - Hitting categories are hits, average, RBI, and homeruns. Pitching categories are wins and ERA. DRAFT: Teams draft in a classic snake draft format. Each team drafts ONE player at each hitting position and ONE DH that can have any position eligibility. Players are eligible for a position if they played 20 games there in the previous year, or if the majority of their games were at that position, or for those with no previous MLB experience, the position they are expected to play. Each team drafts FOUR pitchers. REDRAFT: At the all-star break there is a redraft where each team has the ability to drop two players and pick up players to replace them that are eligible for that position (10 games played). The newly picked up players replace the dropped players' stats for the entire year. There are no trades, waiver wire (with 27 teams there would be very little leftover anyway), etc. At the end of the year the stats for all the players on your roster are added up with points going based on finish (i.e. finishing first in hits yields 27 points, last 1 point).
that takes out the whole aspect of fantasy baseball to probably everyone here... you pick 13 guys and then just watch the rest of the year...
no offense... but F that
edit.. sorry, that comes off very mean... but i dont mean to, it just has no interest to me, because I love being able to trade players and the aspect of trying to figure out which players would be great WW pick ups... i feel alot of "traditionalist" will feel the same
My honest opinion is why bother having pitching at all. W's and ERA are so luck based that it is almost just random who wins it, especially with 27 teams.
Actually everything about that league fails, but if you have fun with it then I guess it works for you.
First the pitching critique: I agree that wins and ERA are pretty luck based, but I don't really know what other categories would be better suited. I really don't like strikeouts as a category. While it may be true that a high strikeout rate tends to lead to good performance, I don't think strikeouts are important enough of an indicator of a pitchers value to be taken into account. I have similar feelings on WHIP. There are pitchers with low strikeouts and high WHIPs that are very valuable and effective. I'm not saying that I necessarily disagree that the pitching categories aren't the best, but I think they do a pretty good job in most cases of rewarding the owner that is good at selecting reliable pitchers (albeit from good teams).
As to RyanK's comments, I understand what you are saying, but I'd argue that exactly what you deride is why I think this format is superior. I don't like that in traditional leagues the players that have the most time and availibility of internet access are the ones that will probably do the best. I feel that instead fantasy should be about correctly predicting good and bad players before the season. In my opinion, this format is closer to the kind of restraints that a real baseball evaluator faces; while there is some flexibility in a team's makeup during the year, for the most part a real baseball team's roster is pretty fixed. I like the fact that draft preparation and execution determines the winner, not in-season activity.
Finally, I strongly disagree that "everything about this league fails". I think the focus may differ very much from traditional formats, but I would agrue that the skill required to succeed is higher given that study requires a lot more than just taking available rankings (because of the absense of runs, steals, strikeouts) and that you need to have a good grasp on a lot more players.
Check out the rules to my unique 4X2 27 team league
That is fine, like I said if you enjoy it then it obviously works for you.
27 teams is just too many. Not being able to trade or pick up players to me ruins the fun of fantasy baseball. The categories you picked are actually less balanced than standard 5x5 and I don't really understand the reasoning behind it. K's have as much to do with a pitcher being good as W's does.
My perfect league is one that tries to remove luck so for me K's is the best of the 5 stats because it is the most predictable.
So for my money you have too many teams, the wrong stats, unbalanced stats (favors hitters) and you've taken the fun out of fantasy baseball by removing the in season moves.
But again if that is what you like playing then I'm glad it works for you, I just don't think very many people would enjoy it.
I don't think that the lack of balance between hitters and pitchers in necessarily a bad thing. It definitely changes the strategy (the first pitcher usually goes in the third round, most teams wait until 6 or 7th round to start taking pitchers) but I don't see this as lowering the enjoyment.
As for 27 being too many, I counter that less than 20 is way to little. I don't think a team should be able to have 3 superstar hitters and an ace pitcher. I think there is more skill in carefully choosing your one superstar (and those teams at the end of the draft don't really get even that) and culling through the rest.
I can understand where you are coming from on the other points but I don't really get why you would say that 27 is too much. Is it just because you are used to seeing less?
Check out the rules to my unique 4X2 27 team league
blaseta... "In my opinion, this format is closer to the kind of restraints that a real baseball evaluator faces; while there is some flexibility in a team's makeup during the year, for the most part a real baseball team's roster is pretty fixed. I like the fact that draft preparation and execution determines the winner, not in-season activity."
Im starting up a league right now for next year off one that JTWood started a few years back and its what really got me back into baseball. Its h2h with weekly lineups, but also a contract keeper which gives you that "fixed" roster and also helps you build the team you desire over the years. The off season mimics real baseballs very much so in giving you, the owner, a lot of flexibility to do what you want they want with there team, having a free agents and allocated amounts of money to sign players.
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by blaseta » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:53 pm 
