Yes, it’s February. But pitchers and catchers have already reported, the rest of the squads are due this weekend, and MLB declared yesterday “Fantasy Opening Day”. Who am I to argue? Noone, that’s who.
Every year there are several SDMB leagues, as demand is high. We piled 18 teams into a league last year, which proved to be a blast. But we still turned people away. “How can you get more than 20 participating at the same time?” I asked myself. And I came up with the following answer:
Split them into different leagues, but all be part of the greater whole. 3 leagues, 30-36 teams, all inter-related by using a soccer/hockey inter-league system. At the end of the year, the top 3 teams move up a league, the bottom three move down*. So if you feel so inclined, please post here, and I put your name down for a spot. Once we have enough teams, I’ll randomize the list and sort people into leagues A, B, and C. If you want to be included, just post with answers to the following questions:
Are you willing to commit to checking in on your team at least once a week?
Are you capable of creating a somewhat amusing and/or witty team name?
Can you try to make every effort to be present at the online draft?
Do you promise to not draft *too * overtly in favor of your favorite team?
Are you familiar at all with the game “baseball”?
If you’ve answered “yes” to these questions, I’d love to have you aboard. Beginners are absolutely welcome, as I need someone to cushion me from the cellar.
*I’m thinking that after the first year, we may move people from C to A, since these placements are random. But we have ample time to hash that all out. Welcome aboard!
One tidbit of advice, maybe go ahead and sign up three private leagues and select draft slots now that look to be solid. I’m thinking mid-week, 9ish EST as close to opening day as possible. That way all three leagues have decent draft slots and are on a somewhat similar playing field, maybe even have a one league with a weekend draft time and one with a weekday mid-day time to account for various scheduling or internet access conflicts. Though, my guess is that the vast majority of people will have access at home on non-work hours. I know a weekday night is vastly better for me than the weekends.
I liked the 18-team depth too, though it felt a bit shallow at times. I think maybe 16 teams would be a sweet spot as long as the benches are an appropriate size.
2 16 team leagues would probably work too. Though, if having 2 16 team leagues means shutting out people, where 3 12 team leagues works better I’m cool with it.
I have a question: is there any reason why you can’t set up an SDMB-only league at cdmsports.com? They have a few different types of fantasy baseball games available, if you do “Budget Baseball” there is just a one-time entry fee per team (all transactions are free), and each league can accomodate 25 teams. I’d be willing to participate in that.
Because $24.95 is about $25 over my budget, give or take a nickel. I’m also not a fan of salary cap baseball, as participation in those is much much lower than traditional rotiserie. Asking dopers to cough up $25 to play would seriously reduce the number of people willing to join.
As for the size and number of leagues, I think it’s probably a good idea to see what sort of interest we generate. If it’s less than 20, one league is the way to go. But if we have bunch more than that, multiple leagues would best accommodate everyone.
I’ve secured at least one league spot, with a decent draft time. Wilson and Omni, either of you are welcome to secure more and we can flip a coin later to see which league is which. But those are pretty minor details until we get a crowd in here.
Yup, Yahoo. I have a mid-March draft slot, but I’m not afraid of finding something closer to the season. Yahoo always puts in more server space for it. And feel free to invite people, even if they’re not on the SDMB. The more the merrier.
The Mark Grace Slump-busters league has been created and will be made available when the details are ironed out. I’ve scored a March 31st, 9:00PM CDT draft slot.
Munch, keep me posted via email when you think you have the details ironed out in case I lose track of this thread over the next week or so.
Will add in to the chorus of people liking the depth of the 18 team league. As well as the grasping as straws in the twentieth round of the draft in said league.
Am in for whatever, regardless. I have a title to defend, and I imagine a correspondingly large bulls-eye on my back
I’d like to join up as well. And Mullinator, about the Cubs winning the World Series this year? I think their neighbors to the south (St. Louis) will have a little something to say about that.
Folks from last year’s league (and other leagues) who I haven’t heard from/need to contact:
rackensack
Weirddave
petelin
deb2world
terd_ferguson
Winnowill
Treviathan
ArchiveGuy
Fatwater Fewl
Treviathan
JimSox5
Lamar Mundane
Montfort
wolfman
cmkeller (cm, if you join, I’ll name my league after Freddy Patek)
blakeformayor
If I left anyone off, it wasn’t intentional. Also, if you know of any non-SDMBers who are really in need of a league and you think will be good for the commitment, send 'em on in. This is definitely the more the merrier.
