Guide to Fantasy Baseball Scoring - 2009 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide

Fantasy baseballis the oldest form of fantasy sports as well as one of the most complex due to the sheer length of the 162 game Major League Baseball season. There are two common types of fantasy baseball scoring once the drafts are done, teams are formed, and its time for play to start: 1 - Rotisserie and 2 - Head to Head contests. If you're thinking of joining a fantasy baseball league in the 2009 season (or future seasons), make sure you read-up on the differences in the types of play to include how you win and lose games, use players, how points work, and how some players are better for use in some formats but not others!

Fantasy Baseball Drafting

Fantasy baseball leagues draft teams right before the season begins. The draft is normally held via one of two means: 1 - By auction with each team owner allotted a fixed amount of money to bid, and 2 - Performing a draft of all available players until team rosters are filled. Team Managers use a various amount of information provided by fantasy baseball forecasters in order to draft players for the coming season. If a league permits owners to keep players between season, they are known as "Keeper Leagues". In most variants, leagues permit teams to trade players, and replace those who get hurt or cease performing well. In leagues where post-draft additions for injuries are not allowed, the importance of the fantasy baseball draft becomes more important.

Rotisserie Fantasy Baseball Scoring

Originally, rotisserie fantasy baseball leagues would compile statistics from players from each team and rank by category with the team having the highest rank at the end of the season determined to be the winner. Statistics used in what is referred to as a 4 x 4 league (four hitting and four pitching statistics) are: 1 - Team Batting Average, 2 - Total Home Runs, 3- Total Stolen Bases, 4 - Total Runs Batted In (RBIs), 5 - Total Wins, 6 - Total Saves, 7- Total Earned Run Average (ERA), and team 8 - WHIP (total number of hits and walks allowed by a teams pitches divided by the total innings pitched). A number of leagues adopt a 5 x 5 format where runs and strikeouts are included in the above statistics with additional statistics being used for non-standard 6 x 6 leagues which include On-Base percentages, slugging percentage, and holds. Some leagues will also enforce a minimum number of at-bats for one's players and other minimum thresholds to use for statistical analysis. Wins, losses, and ties in the rotisserie format are dependent on a team's individual performance in individual categories.

Head-to-Head Fantasy Baseball Scoring

In Head-to-Head fantasy baseball scoring, each league team competes against one team from the league each week. After each week is completed, the team tallies their wins and losses based on the league criteria. The winner of the head-head match-ups only gets one win vice one per category when playing another team head to head. A number of head-head leagues also feature a playoff system the last month of the Major League baseball season. A difference in strategy when determining one's lineup in head-head competition as compared to rotisserie leagues is that one is playing another owner only. So, if you might be tempted to play a weak relief pitcher in rotisserie competition and basically give up on the save statistic while you focus on others, in head-head you will not want to fully punt on any one statistic category.

Choosing the Right Players for Fantasy Baseball

Whichever style of play your fantasy baseball league has, you have to know the stats that are being used to determine points and wins. A common mistake made by new fantasy players is to neglect to pay attention if strikeouts by hitters are used as a statistic or not for the hitting stats. This difference can be huge and cost you wins over the course of a season. Typically hitter strikeouts is only used in a 6 x 6 league, so if you are playing in a 4 x 4 or even a 5 x 5. The same is true for on-base percentage if used in 6 x 6 leagues. Another piece of information to remember is that over the course of a 162 game season, even your studs are not going to have great stats every night, or even every week for that matter. That's why its important to keep up with player trends and to not be afraid to bench a player on a cold streak, place one of your favorites on waivers, or sign new blood that is up and coming. In head-head competition, the information to keep up with gets more complex since you need to pay closer attention to how your opponent(s) are doing and what moves are being made throughout the season.