Why a Book on Fantasy Baseball Strategy?

Books and magazines about fantasy baseball generally do one of two things: Either they tell you the basics of how to set up and play fantasy baseball, or they attempt to give you insight into which players you should draft for your team by assigning values to them. What these publications are missing is that they do not help you win! These books do not provide strategies that will give you a competitive advantage. They are books that provide information, mostly in the form of data. The value of that information is questionable when it comes to actually winning your specific league. It is not that it is inaccurate, just irrelevant.

Certainly, countless hours of baseball research goes into preparing these publications. Many of the leading annuals are fabulous resources for the baseball enthusiast. They can be entertaining and engrossing, but they just are not going to do much to help you win your fantasy league. Valuing players is only a small portion of what you need to do to dominate your league consistently.

Fantasy Sports, Real Money

There is no doubt that fantasy baseball and fantasy sports in general are tremendously popular. Just go to ESPN.com, Sportsline.com, or Yahoo.com and you will find thousands of leagues. In fact, according to CNNMoney , over 15 million people participate in fantasy leagues. While football has surpassed baseball in popularity, fantasy baseball is the oldest and arguably the most intense fantasy sport. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association  estimates of those 15 million fantasy leaguers, 63% play in fantasy baseball leagues, have an average income of $76,000, and spend an average of $120 per year on fantasy sports. The fantasy sports industry generated $1.8 billion in 2002 and experts expect that number to increase dramatically each year. Fantasy gamers are not only willing to pay to enroll in these leagues, in many, if not most leagues, there is much more money wagered on the outcome of the season. It is typical for a 12-team league to have an “entrance fee” of $100 per team. Leagues usually distribute that $1,200 pot to the winner or top few teams. This is in addition to all the magazines and subscription services fantasy owners pay for each season. With so much at stake, and so much invested, including bragging rights over friends for the rest of the year, fantasy gamers are always looking for an advantage – as they should be.

Fantasy Magazines and Player Guides

It is fantasy tradition in many leagues to go to the bookstore and load up on the new magazines that rank players by their fantasy values. Everyone does it, and most buy several so no one else gets a leg up on them. This is a great business for the publishers of such magazines because every year, gamers need to purchase the latest version with updated statistics and player values. Like an annuity, the money flows out of fantasy gamers’ pockets and into the magazine publishers’.          

The problem with these magazines is that by themselves, they do not help you win because everyone has the same information. Several other members of your league have certainly studied the magazine you have. The bulk of the information in these publications, namely player statistics, is also available on the Internet. Some may claim to have a fabulous proprietary system for projecting future performance, but just about every free source has projections. If you look at enough sources, you will know which players are likely to do well. So will your competition. If everyone has the same information, who gains?

Fantasy Baseball Books

While there are many books on baseball in general, there are actually very few books about winning at fantasy baseball. Several books offer interesting baseball insights by analyzing player statistics, but they only loosely apply to winning your league. Most books about fantasy baseball tell you how to set up a league, the rules, and some basic cookie cutter strategies that can be summed up in convenient acronyms. You can think of these as popcorn strategies. They are light and airy with very little substance. Most people in your league will have heard of such gimmick strategies before. They may have worked for you once or twice in the past, but every league learns quickly. With the Internet, these tricks are fully exposed. Some books advocate standard “Rotisserie” format or some other variation. In many cases, these will guide you towards an affiliated premium subscription or league service so they too have a stake. Someone can tell you the basics of how to play fantasy baseball in about 15 minutes. You do not need a book for that. The most important thing about these books is to know that almost every league you enter in will be different from another league. Advanced league administration software and online services let the league commissioner tweak the rules in multiple ways. Why read about the rules of one league, when your league is different?

Strategies, Not Just Tactics

Strategies are big picture methods for winning your league. Which information source to use and the like are simply tactics or tools. Details matter, but not nearly as much as the strategies you implement. This book will show you how to create a strategy that fits your style, and guide you through the steps you will need to execute that strategy. Flip through the table of contents and you will see that there is much more to winning fantasy baseball than evaluating players.

To win and not simply participate in your league, you have to be more than a spectator. You have to come up with strategies and put them to work. If you have ever questioned the moves of your favorite Major League Baseball team’s manager or GM, this is your chance to back up your words. Don’t just be the guy yelling down from the cheap seats. If you think you can manage a baseball team better than the next guy, prove it. Win your league!

Execution is the key. Most people have a general strategy going into the draft, but they never think about it again once the season starts. Your strategy should guide your actions before the draft, during, and after. It should guide your actions when you are attempting to make a trade or trying to pick up a free agent. If you are not aware of how any move you make fits in with your strategy, you are just winging it – and you will be lucky to finish well in your league.

This book will help fantasy baseball owners of all levels. Beginning fantasy team owners will obtain a level of insight that many experienced fantasy-goers have never even considered. Experienced fantasy team owners will be able to apply the knowledge they have gained about themselves and their leagues to a customized strategy that will benefit them throughout the season.

Author’s Perspective

What makes me an expert at fantasy baseball? I know how to win. That is the bottom line. While I have participated in many types of leagues, I have been in the same league for the past 10 years and have won it five times. With 11 other smart, successful baseball fanatics, my winning is not a coincidence. I must be doing something right. There are definitely people who know baseball better than I do. Very few know how to win at fantasy baseball better than I do.

My approach to devising strategies may come from my career background. No, I am not a professional fantasy baseball gamer. If you know of anyone hiring for such a job, let me know. I used to be in the business of teaching communication and management skills. Later, I went on to trade stocks for a living. Maybe having made over 30,000 stock trades gives me a better sense of fantasy baseball trades than others have. I also happen have an MBA so I might tend to look at strategy from a business perspective. I am not sure if my background makes me any more or less qualified to write a book about fantasy baseball strategy, but knowing it might give you a sense of where I am coming from as you read.

It would be impossible to write a book from the exact perspective of every fantasy league owner. There are simply too many different kinds of leagues. The approach I take is to give specific examples to general situations that occur in fantasy baseball. You have chosen to read this book so you probably understand the importance of strategy. I assume you are smarter than the average fantasy owner is. I have faith that you will be able to draw the right conclusions of how it applies to your league and its rules.

When I write about the draft, I use it as a generic term for an auction. Straight and snake drafts may not have to deal with bidding tactics, but many of the same strategic objectives still apply. Consider draft and auction as interchangeable words for the rest of this book. Also, assume scoring to be on accumulated player statistics. I also use quite a few examples of a league I have been in for the past 10 years. It happens to be a Mixed  5x5 Fantasy  league, but the concepts the examples illustrate should apply to all kinds of leagues. Shifting back and forth between league types would be confusing and difficult to read. As I stated earlier, I believe you will be able to see how the examples apply to your league.

How to Use this Book

You can use this book as a reference guide to use at the draft and throughout the season. I recommend that you read it through once from start to finish. At the end of each chapter are a few questions to stimulate your strategic thinking. Jot down your initial thoughts. It will help solidify your understanding of how the concepts apply to your league and become a valuable reference later on. Then, refer back to the various chapters as you go through the process of formulating your strategies. At the end of the book is a worksheet to fill out your strategies. There is also a checklist to make sure you have not forgotten anything important. Bring your book to the draft. At the very least, it will intimidate your opponents to no end. During the draft, refer back to your strategy worksheet to make sure you are sticking to your strategy. Also, run through the checklist at lulls in your draft to keep you focused. If your draft performance fits into your strategy and can pass the checklist, you will surely be a dominant force in your league every single season.