My Fantasy Baseball Expansion Plan: Interested?

I'm an overgrown nerd. I'll freely admit it. For more than 20 years now I've been playing fantasy baseball. I love the intricacies, the strategies and in recent years I've narrowed my focus to a couple of select leagues.

In particular, I run two pay leagues - deep dynasty setups of 12 teams (roto) and 16 teams (H2H style) with salary caps, draft pick trading and on and on. They're both on ESPN and I update everything that happens - full rosters - in a Google doc that's accessible from the front league page. These are very fun and active leagues if you love to study baseball, numbers, trends and all of that.

What does this have to do with you? Well, perhaps nothing. Those leagues are full. We average 1 opening a year and had zero in the roto league heading into this year.

I'm rambling instead because I've decided to open one more league that will go back to my fantasy baseball roots - a single-season league (although hopefully everyone will return year-to-year to draft fresh teams); 12 team, snake draft, mixed league, roto, 5×5.

The lineups will be:  C/1B/2B/SS/3B/CI/MI/5 OF/UTIL/9 P/1 DL/3 BENCH. 

Not this type of Bench.  That wouldn't make any sense.

The league will be its own separate league but will also compete against several dozen exactly the same setup leagues on a fantasy baseball advice Web site. That site will do all of the league strength calculations and the winner will win a fantasy baseball champion "Members Only" jacket. No joke!

OK, a silly prize, yes - and so we will charge $25 (payable via Paypal to me) and will pay the top two or three teams. Yet to be decided. Probably money back for 3rd.

I'm looking for a few serious baseball fans and fantasy baseball vets, preferably. I have six in the league so far from my ongoing leagues. I expect two or three more will join and thus I'll probably need two or three additional.

And, if you're interested then in a possible opening in the other leagues I mentioned up top, I'll put you first on the replacement owners list as currently that list is dry.

Thanks. Sorry for the fishing expedition but I figured this was a great place to look for great owners.

Fantasy Baseball: A Rare Opening

I competed for many years in fantasy baseball leagues - starting in 1991 when I graduated from Indiana University and moved to West Texas. I joined an existing six-team league operating from The Bar in downtown Midland, Texas. My Cross-Dressing Left Fielders won the league and I was hooked.

Today, I still enjoy the hobby. I had pared back my involvement drastically through the years until I was down to a single league that had been around awhile. Unfortunately, it wasn't as competitive as I would have liked. Too many owners who simply never got back about trade proposals or didn't set their lineups and thus skewed the competitive field.

So, three years ago I decided to form a large free league and I went about "interviewing" interested potential owners found on a couple of different good sites. The result was the formation of a 20-team league. I wanted us to go deep into the player pool. I love that kind of competition and challenge.

Once we had everyone in place, I got the idea for a second free league - this one with an MLB franchise hook. We would chose MLB franchises as they existed in 1977 - thus the Montreal Expos for the Nationals - and then chose four players from those franchises (current players of course) plus one "prospect keeper" - a player who has not appeared in an MLB game. We then drafted other players just like any fantasy league.

This free ESPN league has worked great and been hugely popular. This is where you may or may not come in. We lost just two of 20 owners after Year One and, now, it seems we will lose 1 owner before our draft scheduled to start ASAP.

It's an outstanding group of quality guys. The competition is a blast. Very knowledgeable baseball guys - active owners who adjust their rosters daily as needed.

The open team is the Atlanta Braves. Braves on the team are McCann, Hanson, Heyward, Uggla, Hudson, Venters and Teheran. At all times, we must have four players from the MLB franchise - plus 1 "prospect keeper" - on our rosters. That's the gist. There's slightly more to it - but not much more.

Prior to our slow e-mail offline draft, which needs to start immediately, the owner can choose one "prospect keeper" (a Brave who has not appeared in an MLB game) to add to their list of 20 keepers.

It's a head-to-head league. Last year the team finished 6-12 and second to last in the five-team NL West (ahead of the Dodgers). The league champion was the San Diego Padres - a team that finished last in Year One.

If it sounds interesting, then let me know only by e-mailing me at: dw.reds@gmail.com. You'll then see the full slate of rules. Please, only if you are a bit of a fantasy baseball junkie who's been looking for a higher level of competition. Also, be an active owner. I haven't had to do it, but I've promised everyone that if a team goes dormant for a period of time and the owner fails to respond, then I'll find a quick replacement to keep the competition high.

We had intended to start the offline draft - done through the league chat box and/or message board - yesterday but I was holding out for the last guy to rejoin as promised.

Fantasy Leagues

My cardboard chasing (or at least blogging about said efforts) has suffered greatly lately but I expect to turn that around soon.

Meanwhile, I'm a bit of a fantasy baseball junkie. I run four leagues (two pay and two free). The two pay are salary cap leagues entering their second years each - one roto and one H2H. The roto league is $50 on CBSSportsline; the H2H league is $30 on ESPN. 12 and 16 teams respectively.

(If the above is a foreign language to you, my apologies.)

In short, I need two new owners for each pay league. If you're a fantasy baseball junkie, if you're interested in learning more, let me know in the comments or e-mail me. Both leagues are just full of swell guys and are great fun.

Also, if you're interested in a free league. I have two openings in one of my free leagues and two well-known bloggers are already in it. It's a deep league - H2H play and 20 total teams. I'd love to continue adding bloggers as openings come up. FYI: In this particular league, I'm gradually turning over Commish duties to a very good friend of mine who does an amazing job running leagues. (I'm simply paring down to concentrate on my pay leagues.)

And so, there you go. I'm a supreme dork. It's out there now for the world to mock me if the world hasn't already been doing so.

Give me your best, World!

Up next for the blog: Hall of Potch, Tiger Edition

Fantasy Basketball: Owner(s) Needed

I run a couple of fun, free fantasy basketball leagues - each entering Year Three. We are recruiting an owner in each league. One is a very casual group - 14 teams, 14 keepers; the other is somewhat more hardcore - 16 teams, 16 keepers.

If you've played fantasy sports and are always frustrated by the owner turnover, dormant teams, etc. then never fear. I worked hard to recruit active owners and if anyone ever falls off the radar, well, they're replaced. I really work hard to keep things competitive.


Here's the league's link to the more laidback group

Here's the somewhat more intense group

I'll have a chat box open soon in the second league to allow owners to chat as needed.

If you join, you may end up inheriting a rebuilding effort if you're up for the challenge. Or, you may get a pretty solid team, depending on how it shakes down. If you're not up for a possible rebuild, then it's probably not for you. Just letting you know.

So, if fantasy basketball speaks to you and you'll be active on a near-daily basis, then let me know. Thanks.