Most of the world seems to be covered in snow, and here in Indiana we’re supposed to be hitting below zero temperatures for most of the week. So naturally, my thoughts steer towards baseball, and with it, fantasy baseball. Yahoo just opened their leagues up the other day, and I’m eager to start going through the player lists, catching up on preseason rankings, and……wait.
Wait for spring. Wait for the owners. Wait for the players. That’s always been the other rite of spring - the waiting. Luckily, fantasy baseball has been a great tool in filling that void of what to do with yourself while you wait for meaningful games to get going (and this year, that might be even longer…).
The SDMB has been, through my two decades here, a tremendous community to draw fantasy players in from. Folks in the Game Room are smart, have pretty strong rooting interests, and follow through with their team throughout the season - all really important aspects of being a good fantasy managers that make up a fun league. There used to be a lot of leagues going on each season, but with the dwindling membership has come a dwindling number of active leagues. There are currently two long-standing leagues that need some new blood.
Both of these leagues are great places to start for people new to fantasy baseball, as well as the long. time veteran. That’s not always the case - the fact that this is possible is because the people in each league really does foster a great community. So if there’s anything in my description of the leagues that seems foreign or confusing, that’s just because I’m doing a poor job of explaining - feel free to ask questions. (I’m omitting the nitty-gritty details, but am happy to expand if anyone wants them later.)
The SDMB (Not Nearly As) Big League
Back when we started this league up in 2003(ish), the league got as big as 20 teams. Last year it was 8. This league has slightly expanded rosters to really pull players from further down the depth charts. It was the very first baseball league I ever joined back when I was trying to get back into baseball - it worked. This is a year-to-year redraft league (no players are kept, the year starts fresh with a brand new draft each season). It’s a 6x6 roto league (swapped out AVG for OBP and SLG, added Holds). Last year we narrowed the player pool by going to a National League-only format, which complimented the…
Melting Pot League
This is an American League-only keeper league that’s been going on even longer than the Big League. There are two openings this season. This is also a 6x6 roto (added OPS and K:BB) league. Teams keep 5players each season (players can be kept up to 3 times). Both teams are set up very well in terms of potential keepers, so that shouldn’t be a big deterrent in joining.