Fantasy Baseball: A New Game

I love fantasy sports. I play them all and they are a big part of my life. Why, you may ask? Why would something that is based largely on luck and doesn't require much skill to perform? Besides the fact that I resent that last statement, it has a lot to do with being a part of something greater than yourself. Being a part of a game that is cherished by millions is something pretty neat, even if it is only recognized by those who share the passion with me.

But onto the point of this post. As much as I love the current state of fantasy baseball, it couldn't hurt to change the game to make it stronger and better.

So here are some ideas to improve or change up the game (Note some of these are just ideas to switch it up and may not be the best gameplay):

1.) One of the most interesting parts of fantasy baseball are its multitude of different categories that can be used. But as good as that is, it is also extremely annoying when you join different leagues with different commissioner who have different philosophies on the game. Some commish's like holds, some don't. Some value walks, some don't. It is a crapshoot as to which fantasy team is the best, because each league values different things. As interesting as this gets, the fantasy minds of the world should get together to make a set list of categories so we can really find out which players are the most valuable in the game. This will also help make projections and rankings a little bit more unified, helping people draft better teams and teams closer to their likings.

My suggestion would be to make the following stats across the board:

Hitters:

Average, Runs, Hits, Rbis, SBs, Total Bases, Ks (negative points) and then either Homeruns, Walks, HBP, OR OBP, OPS, SLG(because OPS is a mixture of OBP and SLUG it would seem that this is unnecessary, but because the conversion is not exact, it is an important stat)

The reason for the OR is that OBP, OPS, SLG would be inlcuded in Homeruns, Walks, and HBP, so it just becomes personal prefernce (some people really like seeing homeruns on there, while other people like decimals).

Pitchers:

ERA, Wins, Ks, Innings Pitched, WHIP, Complete Games, L (negative points), Quality Starts, Holds, Saves (if you are really bold, we can substitute ERA with Adjusted Pitching Runs which follows the following equation: APR = IP/9 * (LeagueERA - ERA) which is just a park-adjusted era; and we can substitute Quality Starts with Game Score (Game Score = GS = 50 + 3*IP -2*(H+R+ER)-BB+SO + (+2/each full Inning completed starting with the 5th)). But once again, that is for the bold.

So with these stats universal around the sphere of fantasy, the game will take a much different form.

2.) Leagues that Lock Yearly.

This is a weird one, but something interesting to try. This wouldn't be a very fun league, but it would be interesting to put it aside to see how preseason rankings hold up. You choose a team, set up a lineup and don't change it all year. This way we could get a good reading how much picking up players and trading really does change your team.

3.) Stats that Reset Midyear (idea given to me by Ian).

Just like the minor leagues, the winner of the first half and the winner of the second half in each division make the playoffs. This would be an interesting way of rewarding the fast starters and the strong finishers. This is somewhat opposite to conventional fantasy thinking, but it is something to think about.

4.) Rotating Teams.

Each owner has two teams. Throughout the course of the year the owner is allowed to transfer players to and from both of the teams and allowed to trade/pickup players with other owners in the league. The caveat in this would be, however, that the team that finishes the best wouldn't necessarily win the league. The owner who has the two teams that are in the highest position would win the league. For example is someone finished 2nd and 4th and the 1st and 3rd positions are two different owners, that team would win. This way, we could see who can successfully manage two teams to make them as even as possible.

5.) Leagues that add multipliers based on situations

Player A goes 4/5 with 5 rbis in a blowout 15-7 loss. Player B goes 3/4 with a gamewinning 2rbi double in a 4-3 win. Who was more valuable to their team that day? Well in the case of a league that adds multipliers, Player B would get bounus points for hitting in a clutch situation. The same would apply to pitchers. A pitcher getting a hold in a close game would be more valuable than one getting a hold in a blowout.

6.) Redraft the Playoffs (this may work better if they add more playoff teams)

Have the playoffs in real play-off time. Take all the playoff teams and allow them to keep their players who made the playoffs. Then based on playoff seeding, redraft the teams in a snake draft. This way the fantasy season could last deeper into the season. Or make 2 playoffs, one during the regular season, and one with this method after the playoffs are over.

Hopefully you enjoyed these ideas, but in reality, I like fantasy pretty much the way it is now.