Gentlemen, the draft is on the horizon, less than a week away as of my typing this. I'm sitting here watching the USA duke it out vs Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, and it got me thinking I should give yall a quick lil newsletter to keep the energy high. As you're doing your research for draft night (which is Sunday, at 7PM EST, if I haven't made that clear), I'm sure some questions are swimming around your heads.

How Does This All Work?

Well, my sweet spring rolls, the concept is simple. You want players that are good at baseball. You can see a full breakdown of the scoring on the Rules page, but at a high level it's this: batters get a point per base, so a single/walk/HBP is worth 1, a double is worth 2, triple is worth 3, and so. Batters also get a point for scoring a run, and a point for batting in a run. So a solo home run is worth 4 (bases) + 1 (batting a run in) + 1 (scoring a run) = 6 points. Batters will also get 2 points for stealing a base, because stealing bases is dope. Batters will lose points, however, for getting caught stealing, striking out, or committing a fielding error. So if that same batter that hit a solo home run strikes out in each of his other 3 ABs, he'll finish the night with 3 points.

Starting Pitchers are awarded for pitching well (3 points per inning, 1 point per strikeout) but punished for giving stuff up. For every batter they put on (via hit, walk, or HBP), they lose a point, and they lose 2 for every earned run they allow. If a pitcher gets a Quality Start (which is defined as 6 IP and 3 or fewer ER), they get a bonus point. So as an example, one of the best starts in 2022 was Spencer Strider's start where he went 8 innings (24 points), 2 hits (-2 points), 0 earned runs (-0 points), and 16 Ks (16 points and my everlasting love), plus the quality start bonus (1 point) for 39 points. However, SPs typically only start 1, maybe 2 times per week, so you can't just rely on them to carry you every day.

Relief pitchers work the same way, but they get 4 points if they get a Hold or a Save, to make up for their lower volume. If they blow the lead, however, they lose 2 points along with the points they lose for giving up runs/hits like normal. In 2022, Pitchers accounted for about 40% of the total scoring.

Got It, Thanks Jake! How Do Our Rosters Work?

This works similar to football, though with some timing differences. You'll have a full batting lineup, including a DH, plus two additional infielders to start every day. You'll have a rotation of 4 SPs, 2 RPs, and then 2 more pitching spots that can be either. 5-man bench plus 2 IR spots for the inevitable injuries that will come to your superstar draft picks. Before someone's game starts, you can swap them in or out for whoever you want. But, like in football, once a player's game starts that day, they can't be moved.

However, unlike football, there isn't a waiver period after players' games, or they'd just forever be on waivers. A player only goes on waivers after they've been dropped by another team. They'll be on waivers for a day, then they'll become a free agent for you to grab up with your greedly little fingers. If they're never picked up, they'll just forever be a free agent.

Ok, So I Should Just Swap People Out Constantly?

NO. You are limited to 5 transactions per week (in standard weeks, more in long weeks). Why? So there's not a serious advantage in spamming the waivers every day. Your success will come from building a strong, solid team. But, if you need to beef up your lineup on a slow day, you have the option.

"Pfft, whatever, I'll just pick up SPs every day and stream pitchers since they score more!"

Wrong again idiot. There's a limit of 8 games started per week for your SPs. So if all 4 of your SP slots start on Monday, then you swap them all out and start 4 more on Tuesday, you will score no more points for the week on starting pitchers. I've done a lot of reading about this, and this tends to be how people abuse/game the system the most in fantasy baseball. We all have jobs and are new to this, so get the starts from your strong guys, then maybe pick up a couple "streamers" throughout the week to get your volume.

Wow You Thought Of Everything. Any Advice For Us, Your Biggest Fans?

Well first and foremost, have fun of course. But also there will be days you forget, it gets away from you, whatever. Its like 180 days of baseball, we're all going to miss a few. Oh well. We're here to enjoy America's Pastime since the Braves made it really, really hard to do so last year.

Let's have a great season boys. I'll set up a video call for the draft if anyone is interested, and in just a few short days I will, officially, hate you all <3

PS

I've updated the league logo to represent us. The pennants, an homage to the World Series trophy, are flown for each of our undergraduate alma maters. The baseball has 10 stitches, one for each of us that hold this league together, and the two bats are clashing in a head-to-head battle that we'll each participate in every week. So I hope you look at that logo with pride, you are a part of it.