If you play fantasy baseball, you know the feeling.
It's draft day, and you're giddy.
Yes, it's spring, so you're automatically happier. It's likely the morning, so the coffee helps.
Still, there is something special about that day. That day, the Kansas City Royals (the owner who always makes the wrong decisions) and Cleveland Indians (the owner who's too cheap to spend a buck on attractive waiver-wire candidates, even though he's atop the priority list) have as much chance as the New York Yankees (the owner who doesn't need the money, but revels in taking it anyway).
On that day, there is promise. You've done your homework, you have a pretty good idea how the first round is going to play out, and you're going to pounce.
It's your year.
Then something crazy happens. The draft is ruined.
No one is happy, and someone has to take the fall.
At that point, you play the role of Jerry Jones, tell the Wade Phillips who is masquerading as the league commissioner he has to go, and start over.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying it's important to have the right guy or gal running your league. If not, the league might be as fun as a rain delay or a Royals-Indians game.
If you're in charge of your fantasy baseball league's fortunes, we're here to help. Here are seven tips to running your league in the most effective ways possible:
1. Keep it fun
Post updates on your league's website. Most formats allow you to add messages from the commissioner in a prominent place on the homepage. This a great way to keep everyone in the loop about playoff races, trade deadlines, entry fees, in-season prizes and anything else you might deem important.
It's also an excellent chance to poke fun at yourself or another owner for trades that worked out terribly, waiver-wire follies and poorly worded messages (note to all: It's always best to avoid posting a message at 2 a.m. Even in fantasy baseball, not much good happens at 2 in the morning.).
2. Research the websites
ESPN and Yahoo are the most popular free sites, but there are plenty of others.
Some sites charge a fee for their services, which can be worthwhile depending on your league's needs. CBS SportsLine, for instance, allows you to do anything you need, but it's not cheap, which can be a drawback if you're in a league in which the entry fee is low and there isn't a lot of money in the pot.
Before you choose a league, check it out. See if you can get a tour of the site, and ask your friends if they have been in a fantasy league on that site. If someone has a horror story for a particular site, look elsewhere.
3. Get the other owners' feedback
This is crucial. Here are five quick tips:
- No one wants to be involved in a dictatorship, so take a vote on important league matters.
- Don't make changes -- even subtle ones -- without everyone's feedback.
- The playoff format (six teams, eight teams, four teams), schedule (21 weeks, 22 weeks, etc.), season tiebreakers (head-to-head, total points, categories won) and weekly tiebreakers are huge. You don't want to make these choices by yourself and have half the league turn on you.
- Do the owners want to switch to a keeper league? If so, what will the rules be? It can be more enjoyable to start over each year, but that's not for you alone to decide.
- What is the league's entry fee? Will transactions be free or cost a buck or two? Will the top three teams get money at the end of the year? Four or more? Are there in-season bonuses? Again, seek answers.
4. Don't let your team have any advantages
This is more obvious than a Tim McCarver in-game sermon, but it happens. I was in a football league in which the commissioner had access to the owners' waiver-wire bids before they were processed, which can be a huge advantage if the commissioner is ahead of a rival in the order and wants to block another owner from getting some needed help.
If your league allows you see the waiver-wire picks of the competition, don't look or ask the host site if there is a way that can be eliminated from the equation.
5. Know the basics
- The waiver-wire process is important. Do you want transactions to be first-come, first-served throughout the week, which makes much more sense in the play-every-day world of fantasy baseball? If a player is dropped, does he go on waivers, thus necessitating the use of a priority order, or can he be acquired immediately? Again, ask.
- Ask your fellow owners if they want a say in every trade. Every league has its share of terrible deals. How you deal with it is up to you. You can veto the move, or you can let every move stand and get rid of the offending owner after the season.
- If you're in a points league, ask everyone about such seemingly minor matters as whether strikeouts and/or errors should be minus-1. If you're in a category league, ask the owners if the standard categories are OK or if they want to get creative and include such stats as OPS or strikeouts per nine innings.
6. Remember: The draft is huge
If your league is drafting online, research your site's live drafts (ESPN's and Yahoo's are excellent).
If the owners prefer to draft in person, that can be more fun, but much more time-consuming, since the draft takes longer and the rosters have to be uploaded manually following the draft (hey, it could be worse. Remember the days of calculating your old scores?).
7. Collect the money before the draft
As someone who has been through the hassle of sending e-mail after e-mail to owners who haven't paid, trust me. This can be the worst part about being commissioner.
Even worse than five-hour online drafts.
More fantasy baseball tips:
- ANALYSIS: How to assign value in rotisserie formats, How to manage your fantasy team in the playoffs
- DRAFTING: Five things you can learn from a mock draft, How to prepare for a draft in one hour, Draft horror stories
- KEEPER LEAGUES: How to choose the best keepers
- TRADING: How to make effective trades
- WAIVER WIRE: Five tips on how to manage the waiver wire