Fantasy Baseball

My fantasy baseball team is mired in third place in a ten team league. Not that I am complaining too much. Last year I had a hard time getting and staying above 7th. I must've learned a little bit. My goal for this year was to not finish last. So far so good. I try not to look at my team's performance too often. Things have a way of evening out as the season progresses.

Why do I enjoy fantasy baseball so much? Not sure. I've tried other fantasy sports and just don't enjoy them as much. Maybe it's because of the natural statistical order of baseball. Once the sample sizes are large enough, the stats become meaningful and performance can be predicted with some degree of accuracy. Other sports aren't like that. In baseball if a career .250 hitter suddenly starts mashing at .450 for a few weeks I know not to get too excited because there is a cold period coming up where that player will regress back to their mean. Similarly if a career .300 hitter starts scuffling at .175 I know to just let it ride and he'll come back. It might also be the individual nature of the battle between the hitter and the pitcher. Other sports depend far more on team effort for individual success. In baseball, no one is going to help Miguel Cabrera hit home runs other than Miguel himself. In hockey the most skilled player in the world will not shine without a good supporting cast around them.

I guess in the end I enjoy crunching the numbers of all of those baseball players and seeing if I can dig up a sleeper that will launch my team to the top.

Spring Training Impressions

My impressions of the Tigers so far: Wow, they are going to mash this year. They have a lineup where Gary Sheffield is just an ordinary, average guy. It's going to be fun watching these guys.

The big concern is the bullpen. With Zumaya hurt, Rodney hurt and Todd Jones still looking for the strike zone, holding a lead could be interesting. It won't be a big deal for this lineup to score early and often. What could prove to be the Tiger's glaring weakness is the 7th-9th innings. If I'm the opposition I'm thinking all I need to do is stay within a few runs of the Tigers until we can get into the Tigers bullpen. I'm no Todd Jones hater. Most of the time he does a great job. I just hope Mr. Jones finds whatever he needs to fix real soon.

Nice Start

My favorite Detroit Tigers got off to a nice start with a 4-2 win over the New York Mets. It's absolutely meaningless, but it was nice anyway. Jeremy Bonderman gave up a couple of runs early. I suspect that had more to do with holding a little back to test his elbow rather than a continuation of last year's first inning woes. He said later the team didn't allow him to throw any sliders.

Today I'll be listening to my second favorite Twins take on the Reds. I love the Twins broadcast crew. I loved watching Dan Gladden play and I really like his analysis now.

Play Ball!

Today the Grapefruit league begins for Major League Baseball. I couldn't be happier for two reasons: 1) I like baseball; and 2) It's a sure sign spring is just around the corner in the frozen north.

Today the Tigers take on the Mets. The game won't really tell us very much about how good either team is. It will still be fun though. I'll be listening on MLB's Gameday Audio service. It'll be great just to hear a baseball game being called after a long winter break.

My intention is not to make this a baseball blog. I will be making comments about the Tigers as the season progresses. Hopefully the comments will be constrained to things like "I can't believe they lost to the Royals" or similar.