Sunday, December 13, 2009

Fantasy Baseball Leagues Are Fun

By Jacob Biggs

Learning some things about Fantasy Baseball Leagues can be well worth doing. If it interests you at all, you owe it to yourself to learn how it works and get involved. Many people today are enjoying this fun way to enjoy the sport of baseball. You can either form a league, or join one that's already going. A league consists of ten to twelve baseball teams. The number can rise to as many teams as 24. And the rules may cause you to limit your teams to the American or National leagues.

The first move is to choose yourself a team, and the next move is to start the team building. You have two separate options for building the team. You can choose to use the 'draft' system, or you can go by way of 'auction'. The draft is done by rotation and picking players when your turn comes around. You make the decision at the beginning about whether or not to clean the slate after the season. Or you can opt for 'protecting', or keeping back, a certain number of players and carry them over to the next season.

For bidding on players, everyone gets credits to use in bidding. 260 credits is the starting amount. Eligibility is decided according to whether or not a player played a certain position in at least twenty games the previous year. If the amount of twenty wasn't reached at any position, then the one played the most will suffice.

The scoring in these fantasy baseball leagues is pretty much the same. You use the stats from games to determine the points. You count things like home runs, runs batted in, batting averages, stolen bases, saves, wins, run average, and a thing called the WHIP. This is a figure determined by taking the amount of Walks divided by the amount of Hits. Then everything gets added up when the season is over and a winner is picked by the highest score.

The roster for each team has a total of nine pitchers, with five outfielders, then two catchers, just one first baseman, and a single second baseman, then one third baseman, one shortstop, than a corner man, a middle infielder, and finally a single miscellaneous player. This miscellaneous player is used differently from the American League (used as a designated hitter) to the National League (he's used as a utility man).

These fantasy baseball leagues 'do' offer a lot of options as far how they run and are played. You will no doubt find one that suits you, and will have a lot of fun with it. There's no hard set or fast set rules for some of the leagues. The basics are the same, but there are plenty of variations to choose from. So don't limit yourself to any one league, try out a few to see which one suits you.

For newbies you can get draft guides and all kinds of help online. There are publications for sale that can assist you in learning the fine points and strategies to propel you into a competitive state in order to compete with seasoned players.

Fantasy baseball leagues are fun ways to enjoy the sport that so many Americans are so passionate about. There's a lot to learn, but it doesn't take long if you understand baseball. While there's a lot more than you can find out in just this one article, there's plenty of information to be had online if you search for it. Go ahead, take the plunge. You could be the next big winner!

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