Fantasy baseball has become an amazing way to get together with friends and enjoy sports that you love. Whether it is fantasy baseball or basketball, you can surely find a fantastic spot that fits your fancy.
So, if you are someone more used to other types of fantasy sports and are looking for a new experience or you're just a novice playing for the first time, here is a basic rundown on how to play the game.
Once you set up a league and get your account going, you won't be able to quit playing!
Where to Get Started
If you want to start playing fantasy baseball, you need to first choose a site to create your league with. You can choose from sites like ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, CBS Sports, and more. Most of these sites allow you to play for free and even have accessible mobile applications so that you can play on the go!
Picking a League for Your Fantasy Baseball Team
The first important thing that you have to do to start playing is to pick a league. Leagues generally have three major categories: points, head-to-head, and rotisserie. These three categories vary in difficulty. They also vary based on point distribution and how a winner is decided.
Points are the easiest league to participate in, as you need to score the most overall points to win. Head-to-head is a little more complex, as you need to score the most points in each category, and for every category that you excel in, you get one point. So, someone who achieves the most categories wins.
Rotisserie is the hardest of all of the leagues. You get points depending on the rank that you get in each category. So, if you have the highest points in the category for total home runs, you get 10 points. And your points drop when the ranks drop. So, the person before you gets 9, the person before them gets 8, etc. And the person with the most points at the end of the season wins.
Categories
There are nine categories in fantasy baseball.
- Total wins
- Total team whips
- Total strikeouts
- Total stolen bases
- Total saves
- Total runs scored
- Total home runs
- Team earned run average
- Team batting average
Points in each of these categories fuel the entire game, and depending on the league, will decide the winner.
Types of Fantasy Baseball
There are also varied types of fantasy baseball. Each of them drastically changes the rules without changing the basic play of the game. These types include the following.
Daily Fantasy
You choose between teams that are already playing on a given day. This is one of the best ways to get the full experience of fantasy sports without investing too much time and money.
Round-Robin
This lasts the entire season, where you have to keep track of the wins and losses of your team, and at the end of the season, the team with the best win/loss ratio wins.
Single Elimination
Single elimination is very risky, as when your team loses, you’re out instantly. But if you win, you progress further until the end of the season where the winner reaps all the rewards and walks away with the fantasy baseball prize.
In conclusion, don’t let all of these complications make you think that fantasy baseball is too complicated. The main reason for playing these sports is to have fun. So, get some friends, grab a beer, and enjoy a nice game of baseball like never before. There is so much to love about fantasy sports!
