1st Fantasy Baseball
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From the 2004 Season, Final Standings, 2004 Rosters and Draft, Player Points 2003,
From the 2003 Season, 2003-04 Winter Lists, Final 2003 Standings, 2003 Standings as at August 17, 2003
2003 Mid Season Report 2003 Minor League Draft
2003 Standings and Stats as at May 4 2003 Batter Stats through 40 games 2003 Pitcher Stats through 40 games
From the 2002 Season, 2002 Winter Protected Lists & Rosters & Drafts
New Pitcher Points Possibility
2002 Championship Series: Game 5 Results, Game 6 Results, Game 7 Results
2002 Season Ending Team Stats, 2002 Season Ending Batting Stats, 2002 Season Ending Pitching Stats
From the 2001 Season
2001 Winter Protected Lists & Rosters & Drafts
New - Periodic Point Standings
Draft Analysis by Herm Winningham
Chronological Listing of Upcoming Winter Draft Dates
2001 Championship Series Game 1, 2001 Championship Series Game 2, 2001 Championship Series Game 3
2001 Season Ending Team Stats, 2001 MLB Batter Stats, 2001 MLB Pitcher Stats, 2001 Winter News …
MLB Depth Charts by RotoWorld …. MLB Dept Charts in Microsoft Word 5 page Format
From the 2000 Season
Rosters at the Start of the 2001 Season
2000 Playoffs … Batters Stats … Team Stats … Pitcher Stats … Want to Join? … Great Links
RULES
1st Fantasy Baseball is a
non-profit organization. Our express purpose is to promote the gaming side of
baseball. Our flagship is the fantasy game BB2000, which is only possible
through the graces of Yahoo.com’s Fantasy Baseball section. However, we hope to
reach a much wider audience through the writings submitted by our staff and by the public at large, to help
support the greatest game of the 20th Century into this new
millennium.
Our first product is a fantasy
managerial game whose 10th full season will be the Year 2009.
This is a keeper’s league. Once the
20 franchises have been established this year, even if the GMs may change from
year to year, the franchises will remain intact. The 20 franchise names are as
follows:
Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers,
Giants, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Reds, Braves, Indians, Tigers, White Sox,
Cubs, Cardinals, Senators, Angels, Athletics, Twins, Colt 45’s
These were the 20 franchises that
baseball had when it first expanded to the 162 game schedule in the 1960’s. The
Braves were still in Milwaukee, the Senators moved to Texas and became the
Rangers, KC moved to Oakland, and the Colt 45’s changed their name to the
Astros when the Astrodome in Houston was built.
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1a. Batters accumulate points and
are ranked using the following formula:
Runs + Hits + RBI’s + Walks + Hit by
Pitch
1b. Pitchers accumulate points using
the following formula:
(saves x 4) + holds + (innings x 3) - (earned runs x 2.25) +
(strikeouts x 0.5) - walks - hr's
We are currently using Yahoo's Free
Fantasy Baseball to keep score. Included in the Yahoo rules regarding the issue
of player eligibility is the following:
1c. from the Yahoo site
Please note
the following conditions that apply to a player's position eligibility.
1.
A
player's position eligibility will not be adjusted prior to the beginning of
the season. (If a player in spring training is playing "new"
position, that position will not appear until a player has met the criteria for
a change.)
2.
Players
will not lose eligibility at a previously established position at any time.
(For example, if a catcher-eligible player begins to play first base
exclusively, he will remain eligible at catcher for the entire season.)
3.
It is
not possible to customize this setting within Custom Leagues. All leagues are
subject to the same constraints.
Gaining
eligibility at a new position:
If a
position player makes five (5) starts or 10 total appearances at a new position
during this season, he will become eligible to play that position in Yahoo!
Sports Fantasy Baseball.
Pitchers
need to make three starts to become eligible as a starter and five relief
appearances to qualify as a reliever.
To track a
player's progress toward eligibility at a new position, go to the Players
section and click on Position Eligibility. For each player shown, an
"E" means they are eligible at a given position, a "-"
means they have not played at that position yet, and a number indicates how
many games remain before eligibility is earned.
Players will
not necessarily be eligible for all positions listed in their Player Profile
(viewable by clicking on the player"s name)
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2a. Our draft will consist of enough
rounds to bring all rosters up to 25 players for the start of the season.
2b. Any of these 25 players can be
protected during the winter at the end of the season.
2c. If you release one of these
players during the season and another team picks him up at a later time, he can
no longer be protected over the winter. The same rule applies if you pick up
your own player at a later time.
2d. The draft will begin in
mid-December and conclude just before the start of the regular season.
2e. (NOT in effect until December 1,
2003) If any of your players, whether they are on your Winter Protected List,
or they are drafted, suffers a MLB CAreer Terminating/major interrupting
Situation (CATS) between December 1 and April 1, then you are eligible for
compensation in the form of a draft pick for his roster spot. That pick must
take place at least 24 hours before the start of the next round of the draft.
Forms of CATS are:
2e.1. your player leaves MLB (either retires or decides to
play baseball in another league)
2e.2. your player suffers a season ending injury
2e.3. your player is thrown in jail for at least one week
2f. The drafting order in the
succeeding springs will be based on worst to best teams, with the teams with
the fewest protections selecting first. For example, a team that protected 6
players will draft before a team that protected 7 players, regardless of where
they finished. However, once both teams have 7 players on their roster, then
the team with the worse previous season will select first.
2g. However, to begin the draft
there will be a Round Zero. Every team will get one pick, based on last
season's order of finish. The worst team will pick first, all the way to the #1
regular season team picking last.
Round Zero is for all teams.
Round -10 is only for teams who
protected no player over the winter.
Round -9 is only for teams who
protected no one, or just one player over the winter.
Round -8 is only for teams who
protected from zero to just two players over the winter.
Round -7 is only for teams who
protected from zero to just three players over the winter.
Round -6 is only for teams who
protected from zero to just four players over the winter.
Round -5 is only for teams who
protected from zero to just five players over the winter.
Round -4 is only for teams who
protected from zero to just six players over the winter.
Round -3 is only for teams who
protected from zero to just seven players over the winter.
Round -2 is only for teams who
protected from zero to just eight players over the winter.
Round -1 is only for teams who
protected from zero to just nine players over the winter.
Round +1 begins the regular phase of
the draft. All teams will have 11 players on their roster by this time. The
draft will conclude in Round +14. All teams will have a 25 man roster
(excluding trades) at this time. If your roster is greater than 25 then you
must cut players to get down to 25, unless players are on the DL. If your
roster is less than 25, then you may add players from Yahoo's Available list,
but these players cannot be protected after the season.
************ The Commissioner's
Office will draft for any team that has no GM. Picks will be made keeping with
the Best Interests of Baseball. This Commissioner's Office holds the integrity
of Baseball as top priority, unlike the current MLB Commissioner.
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3a. You may protect up to 10 players
maximum on your Winter Roster at the end of the season.
3b. c. d. If a player is under 30
years of age he can be protected on the Winter Roster. If 30 or older he cannot
be protected if he has been protected 4 or more straight winters, regardless of
how many different teams protected him during that 4+ year stretch. The
player's age is determined by the calendar year ending December 31.
3e. Once a player is released,
either during the season or at the end of the season, that player goes back
into the re-entry draft. He can be kept for a brand new 5 year tenure.
3f. Players picked up after the last round
of the spring draft cannot be protected. Thus, if you pick up a player during
the season, he must be put back into the available pool. The rationale for this
is as follows:
3g. We will also have a 3 man
minor league system. A player is eligible to stay in your minor league system
until either a batter gets to 130 MLB at bats or a pitcher gets to 50 MLB
innings, going into the next season.
3h. If your player exceeds minor
league system eligibility at the end of the MLB season he must be put on your
Winter Protected List, or you lose the rights to that player.
3i. The minor league draft will take
place each season during the MLB All-Star break. Anyone with NO major league
experience can be drafted.
3i. *********** If the
Commissioner's Office takes over for a GM after the Winter Protected List has
been submitted, but before the draft starts, the Commissioner's Office has the
right to make changes to that Winter Protected list in keeping with the Best
Interests of Baseball. This Commissioner's Office holds the integrity of
Baseball as top priority, unlike the current MLB Commissioner.
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4. Rosters
4a. Your active playing roster can
never exceed 25 players. You must cover 8 fielding positions (outfield is
broken into CF, OF, OF starting in the 2005 season) and a DH for 162
games. There are 2 starting slots for
each of the 9 batting slots, which means you could start 2 players on the same
night and get stats for both. However,
those 2 slots cannot exceed 162 games without penalty. At season’s end, if the missed games as
tabulated by Yahoo is less than 162 for the 2 slots, then you will be penalized
5 points for each game less. This
amount will be deducted from your season total in an after season points
adjustment. If by chance Yahoo changes
its scoring system for batters to be set up like pitchers, then we can use the
Yahoo system. However, that is not
likely to happen.
For example: Your main 3rd baseman plays 160
games and you have him in the 3rd base starting slot all year. However, you had another player fill in the
other 3rd base starting slot for 3 games. The total 163 games would produce a Yahoo accounting ledger
showing –2 games missed in one slot, and –159 games missed in the other
slot. The total of these 2, -161, is
one less than our approved –162. This
would result in a penalty of 5 points to be deducted from the team’s season
total. Of course, if in that extra game
the player produced 8 points, you would still be ahead of the game by 3 points. However, the best players in the league
produce just over 3 points per game.
There are 5 Starting Pitcher slots
that can only be filled with SP’s, and one RP slot that must be filled with a
Lefty reliever. Beyond these 6 pitching
slots there are 6 more pitching slots you can fill with either starters or
relief pitchers. Your pitching staff
will not accumulate points beyond 1450 innings, as controlled by the Yahoo
scoring system.
How you make up this 25 man roster
is up to you. If you wish to go with 10 batters and 15 pitchers, then that is
your prerogative. (In this scenario at least 3 of the pitchers would be on the
bench.) Also, during the course of the
season you can change your balance based on your current needs.
4b. If a player goes on the DL you
can pick up players that are not on anyone's roster from Yahoo’s Available
list. Once the player comes off the DL then you must decide whether to keep him
or release him. If you keep him then you must release another player.
4c. This league will be keeping a
lineup balance. You MUST have at least 3 left handed and 3 right handed batters
in your starting lineup at all times, and one left handed pitcher in your
starting rotation, and one left handed pitcher in the bullpen (the RP slot).
Switch hitters count as left or right-handed batters and make it easier to meet
your requirements. If you have 3 switch
hitters then you have met requirements for both sides of the plate. The starting and relief lefties must be
appearing at least once a week to meet the requirement.
4d. I have listed our teams in
alphabetical order. The team that is directly after you is the team that you
will monitor this season for their lefty / righty minimums. Thus, the Angels
will check on the A's, the A's on the Braves, etc. The Yankees will check on
the Angels.
Angels, Athletics, Braves, Cardinals,
Colts, Cubs, Dodgers. Giants, Indians, Mets, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Red
Sox, Reds, Senators, Tigers, Twins, White Sox, Yankees
4e. If you find any team not
complying with the lefty / righty rules then please email me. This list does
not prohibit other teams monitoring you. Anyone can monitor anyone and make a
report of non-compliance. I would suggest a weekly check to be enough.
4f. You will receive one warning of
non-compliance. A second infraction will eliminate you from any playoff
considerations.
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5. Trades
5a. Trades are allowed. However, any
trade is subject to appeal. If a GM disputes a trade then that trade will be
voted upon. A simple majority of all cast votes will determine yea or nay.
5b. The trade deadline for the
current season will be around August 15. Trades after that date are only for
the future season.
5c. Draft picks can be traded, but
only after the Winter Rosters have been declared December 1, and not after the
completion of the draft. Draft picks for future years cannot be traded.
5d. New *** If a trade involves a
draft pick, the trade must be reported at least 49 hours before that pick’s
round. Thus, if a draft round starts
Sunday at noon, then the trade must be reported by Friday 11am … if the trade
involves a pick from the upcoming round.
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6. Playoffs
6a. While the real winner of the
league will be the team with the most points at season’s end, ya gotta have
playoffs.
6b. Nine teams make the
playoffs. The regular season pennant winner will receive a bye to the
BCS. Teams 2 through 9 will play down as follows:
Tom Jones Bracket: 2 vs
9, 5 vs 6
Englebert Humperdink Bracket: 3 vs
8, 4 vs 7
6c. Each series is a best of 7, but
the higher seeded team is leading the series 3 games to 2 when we pick up the
series. What this means is, if the higher seeded team wins the first
game, they advance. If they lose two straight then the other team
advances. The winner of this play down will play the season's pennant
winner in a normal Best of Three in the BCS.
6e. The winner of the playoffs will
have to win something, and that something is the elusive Elvis Cup, emblematic of 1st
Fantasy supremacy. By the way, we are not talking about Elvis Grbac’s jock
strap. We’re talking the King here. Elvis. Presley. The cup will be engraved
with your name, your team name, and the year of your Championship Season and
shipped to you 3rd class at the end of the playoffs. Last
year's winner was the Twins. GM Scott (now Angels) is still awaiting the
trophy. Elvis was last seen, reportedly, on a Vegas junket at the
Balaggio, icognito of course, with 2 babes on each arm.
Playoff Mechanics
If all playoff teams, and any others
who wish, could please send in a string of 10 random numbers from 0 to 9, with
none of the digits repeating, for example:
31472 50986
In the order these numbers are
received, they will be intermingled to come up with magic dates. For
example, if 3 sets of numbers are received, then they will be placed as follows:
First received: 31472 50986
2nd received: 48763 20195
3rd received: 83056 74192
The magic numbers are then read in a
vertical fashion. The first magic
number takes the first digit from each set of 10. The first magic number is 348, March 16 (see explanation below)
Date selection is as follows:
First digit 3 = March, 4 = April, 5
= May, etc. to 9 = Sept. and 0 = Oct.
(If the magic number does not fall within the start and end dates of the
MLB season then another number will be taken.)
2nd and 3rd digits
divided by 3 gives the day of the month.
For example, if the 2nd and 3rd digits are 4 and
8, then 48 divided by 3 equals 16.
Round to nearest whole number.
If 2nd and 3rd digits divided by 3 are greater
than # days in the month, then select the next 2 digits.
If the chosen date saw all MLB teams
play that day, the day will be used for the playoffs. If no full slate of games are found, then the first available day
forward would be chosen. No 2 magic dates can be within 7 days of each
other for our playoff games If the
magic date found is within 7 days of any other magic date used during the
playoffs, then another magic number will be chosen.
Player stats on the magic day will
be used. If the player played in a double header, the first game of the
day he had at least 3 plate appearances or 1 inning pitched is the game
used. If he meets neither criteria, then the game he had the most pa's or
batters faced will be used.
If a starting batter did not
play, or did not cover 3 plate appearances (pa’s), then go to the bench.
If no one covers the position, then Nerfum Milcuff will accumulate the at-bats
to get to 3 pa's, all outs. If your team does not cover 27 outs then
Nerfum will finish the game off with no more points.
If a pitcher did not play,
then look up to 7 days ahead to get an appearance. If still no one then
go to the next pitcher on the list. If you do not cover 27 outs then
Nerfum Milcuff will pitch innings allowing one point for each out.
We enter each series into the
6th game with the team higher in the standing up 3 games to 2. Thus, the
higher up team need win just one game to advance, while the other team must win
2 in a row to advance. The finals will enter the series in Game 5 with
the series at 2-2.
Batters accumulate points for
hits, runs, rbi, bb's. Each of the starting 8 fielding positions must
cover 3 plate appearances. When you list your lineup, do as follows with
ALL eligible positions, but their starting position in CAPS. Always rank
lineups and benches from best to worst.
1. Wright 3B
2. Hafner 1B
3. Sizemore CF
4. Wells LF,cf
5. Wilkerson RF,cf,1b
6. Garciaparra SS
7. Mench DH,of
8. Hernandez C
9. Graffanino 2B,1b,3b
b1 Rios of
b2 White of
b3 Fick c,of,1b
b4 Ellison cf,of
b5 Ardoin c
b6 Infante
2b,3b,ss
s1 Sabathia
s2 Bonderman
s3 Lieber
s4 Weaver
s5 Lopez
r1 Gordon
r2 Crain
r3 Linebrink
r4 Carrara
r5 Shouse
r6 Weaver
r7 Lopez
List 5 starters in case of no shows
by starters ranked higher. Rank starters a second time at bottom of
reliever list.
Series 1 – gm6 goes with #1, gm7
goes with #2
Series 2 – gm6 goes with #2, gm7
goes with #3
Series 3 – gm 6 goes with #3, gm7
goes with #1
Finals – gm5 goes with #1, gm6 goes
with #2, gm7 goes with #3
If your starter misses his start in
the series, he cannot pitch in that series, but is eligible for the next.
Pitchers allow 4 points for each
earned run allowed. The idea is to accumulate 27 outs without giving up
any runs. If the starter goes 7 (21 outs), then the bullpen kicks in for
the remaining 6 outs. Rank your best at the top. A bullpen pitcher
cannot exceed 3 innings in the last 2 games of the series. This new rule
is to stop starters in the bullpen from going big innings in back to back
games.
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In order for one of these rules to change we need a
2/3 of those voting majority to pass. At least 15 must vote for the voting to
be valid. (10/15, 11/16, 11/17, 12/18, 13/19, 14/20)
Strategies
Since this is a keepers league, your
drafting strategy can take many forms. If you wish to try and win right away
you can go for older and established players who will give you consistent
numbers. However, if you are willing to sacrifice this season in hopes of great
teams down the road, you can draft younger players with a huge upside. Or, you
can take a middle of the road approach, blending youth and experience.
The YAHOO system, while not perfect,
is OK. I set up the simple Runs + Hits + RBI's + Walks + Hit by Pitch
system for batters. It is so easy to look at the boxscore (USA Today style) and
immediately see how your player did
I have approached Yahoo with the
proposal to change their computer program to Cap batters based on plate
appearances as opposed to Games Played. Included in the proposal, but something
I believe they failed to pick up, was the program’s ability to allow multiple
players at one starting position, but still with the position’s plate
appearance cap.
I think there is a reasonable
approximation between a player's value and his total number of points from last
year. Curt Schilling and Randy Johsnon broke the 500 point barrier for the top
pitchers Roger Clemens led the AL. Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds cracked the
magical 600 point barrier while Alex Rodriguez led the AL (uh, a shortstop).
When viewing the batter stats PTS is
the total number of runs, hits, rbi’s, walks, and hit by pitches. PAV is their
PTS divided by plate appearances. Their Team is last year’s last team, and the
position is probably the position they played the most.
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Want to Join?
If you are interested in joining this league please
send an email to thomvan@yahoo.com. Please indicate your experience in fantasy or simulation baseball
leagues, and why you want to join a long term keepers league.
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