Okay, here’s my blog post about figuring out how fantasy baseball points work, written in a casual, personal style:
So, I decided to finally get into fantasy baseball this year. I’ve always been a huge baseball fan, but the whole “fantasy” thing seemed a little intimidating. Numbers, stats, points…it all felt like a bit much. But hey, I’m always up for a challenge, so I dove in.
My First Steps: Choosing a League
First, I had to actually join a league. I’m in a few other fantasy sports leagues with my buddies, so I got my commish to create a baseball league for me to join. I figured that’d be the easiest way to get my feet wet. I think there are some pretty default settings. I signed up and started poking around.
Understanding the Scoring
This is where things got real. I clicked on the “League Settings” tab and saw a whole bunch of categories: Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, Stolen Bases, Batting Average…and on the pitching side, things like Strikeouts, Wins, ERA, WHIP. Each of these categories earns your team points. At first, it will be a little confusing, but my commish did say that he chose the default setting.
I found a scoring example on the internet, here is a small example that they used for the various default settings. It is a good way to get a baseline understanding of points!
- Batting:
- Single (1 Pt)
- Double (2 Pts)
- Triple (3 Pts)
- Home Run (4 Pts)
- Run Batted In (1 Pt)
- Run Scored (1 Pt)
- Base on Balls (1 Pt)
- Stolen Base (1 Pt)
- Pitching:
- Inning Pitched (1 Pts)
- Strikeout (1 Pts)
- Win (4 Pts)
- Earned Run (-1 Pts)
- Save (4 Pts)
After a little research, it’s pretty simple. Hitters get points for getting on base and driving in runs. Pitchers get points for striking guys out and, you know, not letting the other team score. Makes sense, right? I get the gist of it.
Building My Team
Next up was the draft. This was actually pretty fun. I did some quick research, I tried to find a good mix of power hitters, speedy guys, and reliable pitchers. I won’t lie, I definitely leaned on my overall baseball knowledge. I went with some guys I just felt good about, and some guys I just liked to watch in real life.
Putting It All Together
Once the season started, I started to see how it all worked. I’d check the scores each day and see how many points my guys racked up. Some days were great! Other days, not so much (looking at you, my starting pitcher who gave up three home runs in the first inning…).
But that’s the fun of it, I guess. It’s a long season, and you’ve got to ride the ups and downs. I’m still learning the ropes, but I’m definitely starting to get the hang of this whole fantasy baseball points thing. It adds a whole new level of excitement to watching the games, and it’s a good way to stay connected to the sport even when my favorite real-life team is, uh, not doing so great.
So yeah, this what I did, I hope this was helpful!
