Fantasy Journal: Week I

So I got an invitation to play fantasy baseball a couple months ago, and for some reason (ok, it was because I was unemployed and jumped at anything that might fill up my days (and I'll never turn down a competition)) I assented. This was a bit out of character for me because I just don't believe in fantasy (and no amount of clapping...)

I really just can't stand rooting for opposing forces in the same game in any sport; hoping the Cleveland defense gets a pick 6 but Chad Johnson scores two TDs on them. And I am not going out of my way to watch Kansas City play Pittsburgh just because "I have a couple of guys going." It's still a shitty game. I liked sports long before I ever heard of fantasy, and I can't figure out how it improves the experience. I'm just as likely (i.e. not very) to land on KC and the Bucs for some random baseball now as I was before this little experiment.

I also don't believe that any amount of analysis or savvy or skill can make anyone "good" at fantasy sports. People who say they are good at it have just as much basis for their claims as blue-haired ladies that are good at bingo. Case in point: Last year I was playing fantasy football, and went 3-0 before I made any roster moves. Then I started trying to "improve" and ended the season 5-10. I realize this only proves that I suck, but seriously, unless Matthew Berry wins the Sportscenter pool every year, I'm just not going to buy it. There are an infinite number of sound arguments and cogent statistics to prove or refute any opinion. Beyond the top 20 or 30 players it's all a crap shoot.

Nonetheless, here I am. I am part of a Fantasy Baseball League for the first time, my third foray into this realm overall. I had that one fantasy football season last year, and once in college I played fantasy hockey to try to get more into that sport. It didn't work. Still though, I was looking forward to the draft and to trying my hand at something that might ultimately end up winning me some completely unearned bragging rights (and some unearned cash to go with it).

Then an event occurred that turned out to be a perfect metaphor for my feelings on this subject: I missed the draft. But why, you ask, why after looking forward to it for months did you miss the draft for your fantasy league? Because I went to watch an ACTUAL BASEBALL GAME. Go fucking figure. I found out the Sox were playing their last exhibition in Nats Park the day of the draft and, well, that's not even a question. Of course I went. Brought my whole family. It turned out to be a great game, and I was rather accepting of the prospect of building a team from the free agency scrap-heap to try to achieve Not Last.

But I was in for another surprise, this time in the form of the Best Player Available function. Lo and behold, I already had a team. And as it turns out, it's damn good. I discovered this in Week 1 as I put a shellacking on by buddy Cole, who you will be hearing from soon on this site and also runs The Appleyard Drive which more or less inspired this site. He's a smart guy, with a lot of fantasy experience and a better draft position than my computer-driven team enjoyed, yet I crushed him. I mean, it was a massacre. Did I mention I destroyed him? Anyways, this made me wish I could play two teams. One would be auto-drafted and I would make only the most basic of maintenance moves (benching injured players or those with off days), and the other where I would do everything myself and tinker on a daily basis. I have no doubt that the laissez-faire team would kick relative ass, but it would be a fun experiment. Maybe next year.

I'd say that that is quite enough exposition for one day. So the following will be my Week I Fantasy Journal for real. That thought about an untouched, auto-drafted beast of a team prompted me to leave my boys to do their thing in week one. Like I said, they did work. Still, I started to ponder strategies, if only to feel more like I was earning the W. Most of my roster came as no surprise but I did notice that Tim Lincecum had dropped all the way down to me to be picked up 13th overall. It seems that the other cats in my league were not prioritizing pitching. Since wins are 10 points a piece and position player categories only score one at a time I thought I might be able to hunt down a rotation of all-stars and dominate. That was until I saw that my position players were the ones doing most of the damage. So for now, Laissez-Faire it is. This week I have a tough match-up against a college buddy of mine. I'll give you the skinny next Tuesday.