When Baseball and Fantasy Collide

So the lay person has an idea what I’m talking about:

As a stat junky, I love fantasy sports, an online game where you join a league with 10 or more “owners” and pick players from any team to fill your roster. In football only one team can own Tom Brady, Eli Manning, etc., in baseball only one team can own Jeter, etc. The only thing that matters is the statistics, and whoever compiles the best numbers wins. A little more complicated than that, but not much.

I’ve been playing fantasy baseball since like 1997. I love it. From 2006-09 I won 6 of my 12 leagues. I know what I’m doing. The season is really long and baseball, unlike football, is an everyday thing so lineups should be checked almost every day, along with the necessary research. It’s tough. When my kiddo was born last year I decided not to play, but for this year I sneaked myself into one league.

I don’t normally write about fantasy baseball. But this season for my team has been ludicrous. It’s crazy enough to write about.

- On draft day I was in that nebulous spot right after Robinson Cano got selected. I was stuck with either Jacoby Ellsbury or Joey Votto. I picked the Red Sox player, and I’ve been cursed ever since. Jacoby got hurt in April and is not close to returning. My team also had Brett Gardner and Lance Berkman, and those 3 players, my entire outfield, went on the DL within like 3 days of each other. Nick Swisher, my 4th outfielder got hurt sometime later and missed a week of games. (Meanwhile, Votto has been a Top 10 player.)

- For third base I went with a guy who has hit 141 homers the last 4 seasons and is in the prime of his career. This is Mark Reynolds, who in 2012 can’t hit his way out of a paper bag. Third base has been a black hole for my team and a revolving door.

- For my closers I snagged the Rays’ Kyle Farnsworth (got hurt minutes before the season started), Mets’ Frank Francisco (had an ERA over 8 in mid-May), and I picked up Red Sox’ Alfredo Aceves (dreadful) and David Robertson (has been hurt for over a month).

- I mentioned Berkman and Swisher, who also qualify at first base; my other first baseman drafted was Ike Davis. Statistically, he is among the three worst hitters in all of baseball. Ouch.

- My three sleeper pitchers were Matt Moore, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ted Lilly. Lilly is currently on the DL for the second time and the other two are still sleeping. I did smartly pick up Felipe Paulino for a couple great starts, and then he got injured.

Shouldn’t be a surprise that I sit in dead last, 12th place. I’ve had three or four injured players on my roster continuously for two months. The guys who are healthy are underperforming. Half of my starting lineup was picked off the waiver wire, and that’s a bad sign.

Is it football season yet?