Baseball DIY

Around this time last year, I used this space to declare that I would not play fantasy baseball anymore. “It values the wrong stats,” I said. “It’s just a bunch of numbers thrown together, it’s not a real representation of how runs are scored. And what about defense? Fantasy baseball completely ignores fielding!”

All of which are true statements. And I proceeded to play fantasy baseball anyway, just as I will this year. In fact, you can see my team here.

You see, fantasy baseball does have its drawbacks. Traditional rotisserie scoring includes batting average and stolen bases, while I wish it took on-base plus slugging (OPS) and some form of fielding metric into account. But, you know, so what. It’s just a game, and holding its limitations against it is kind of like saying you won’t play Operation because the patient isn’t anatomically correct.

Here’s what fantasy baseball does for you: It gives you an excuse to read the box scores everyday. Do you know who Grady Sizemore is? How about Joe Blanton? Any idea how many home runs Jason Bay hit last year? I’ve become more familiar with all of these guys in the last month just preparing for my draft. It was a lot of fun ranking players at every position, discovering guys who, though they might not be on a great team, have the skills to become great players.

And if you start your own fantasy league, you can customize the stats any way you want. Many sites even give you the ability to weight the stats you use; if you, like me, think that runs are more valuable than RBIs, you can score accordingly.

Don’t get me wrong: The Cardinals are still my team of choice. But the players that comprise Appetite for Destruction (you know it’s the best name you’ve ever heard, admit it) will also be on my radar for the entire season, as will any other player in the majors who could maybe pump up my steals or whittle down my WHIP.

Simply put, fantasy baseball can make your dreams of total baseball immersion a reality.