OK, so I know April 1st is not opening day for MLB teams. But since we couldn't get our act together sooner, April 1st will be Opening Day for the Sagebrush Cactus Fantasy Baseball League. Yes, we will skip the first week - or so - of MLB play and begin our league a little later this year. And, since we're already behind, we have a lot to catch up on.
DRAFT
It's important to know when and how you will begin this year's decent into fantasy frustration...er, I mean glory. Our draft is scheduled for Sunday, March 24th at 18:00 PDT (21:00 EST), but you already knew that because you read the email I sent a few days ago.
The draft will be auction format - because that's the only correct way to draft. Each team's keepers will be subtracted from their $260 budget and that's what you'll have left to draft new players with. Try not to blow it all before the 3rd round.
KEEPERS
Since we're talking about keepers, let me explain how they work. It's a bit different than our football league for those that are familiar.
For starters, you get to keep up to 4 players that were on your roster at the end of last season. You're not obligated to keep 4, of course - you can keep 3, 2, 1, or none if you want. The cost for your keepers should show next to your player's name when making your selections. However, if the cost shows $0 know that they will actually be $1...nothing is free in this league.
Next, there's the Positional Rank (PRK) issue. Because baseball players are superior to football players - I said what I said - they're often eligible to play multiple positions. Therefore, PRK isn't truly a thing in fantasy baseball because a player may be the PRK3 shortstop, but only the PRK10 third base...which one would you use to calculate the tax?
We'll get around this issue by using a handy table that I've created. I calculated the 2024 Keeper Tax rates for each position based on where players played the most and/or are likely to play this year. If your player is not on this list under any position, then there is no tax and you just pay whatever their keeper cost shows on ESPN.
One thing I want to be crystal clear about with this list is that you will pay whatever tax value is listed next to a player regardless of the position you draft them at. For example, Ohtani is shown as a SP with a tax of $10. We all know he won't be pitching this year, but that doesn't matter. If you keep him as a DH, you still pay the $10 tax.
It's not a perfect science, but what do you want?
SCHEDULE
The current schedule that you see on ESPN is not our final schedule. I'll be randomizing it to ensure that each team will play their divisional rivals three times in addition to six inter-league contests. Gimme a few days to get that done.
Each week teams will also receive an additional win or loss against the average score for the league. That means each team will have a total of 42 wins & losses - mostly losses, I'm sure - at the end of the regular season.
PLAYOFFS
Last season's postseason was grueling for me. Watching you clowns battle it out over the course of 2 weeks per playoff matchup was excruciatingly painful. Plus, only 4 teams made it which meant that 2 quality teams were left out. Well, we fixed it...
This year there will be a total of 6 playoff teams, 3 from each division. The top seeded team in each division will earn a 1st round bye.
Even better, each round of the playoffs will last only 1 week - except for the World Series matchup which will last for 2 weeks.
SCORING SYSTEM
We learned a lot about fantasy baseball scoring last season and we've made the following adjustments to our scoring system for this year:
HITTING:
Hit For The Cycle: 4pts
Grand Slam: 1pt
PITCHING:
Shutout: 1pt
Complete Game: 1pt
No Hitter: 4 pts
Perfect Game: 6pts
Win: Changed from 7pts to 5pts
You can CLICK HERE to view the entire scoring system for our league.
Whether or not you've played fantasy baseball before, I always recommend taking a close look at the complete scoring system. While it probably isn't very unique, it's a good idea to understand exactly what you'll receive points for - it will clear up any confusion about why your top draft pick finishes the season with a PRK of 187.
ALL-STAR LINEUP CHALLENGE
In addition to preparing for the draft, you'll also want to assemble your team for this year's All-Star Lineup Challenge. Remember, your lineup can only consist of players from either the AL or the NL, not both, and you can only choose one player from each team.
Your All-Star Lineup needs to be submitted no later than Friday, March 29th.
That's all I have for now. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to someone who cares. Or, if you must, you can contact me and I'll reluctantly help you.
Best,
-- Commish
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