Is my pitching rotation strong enough? Will my best batter be on the disabled list to start the season? Should I trade off that veteran aging catcher for a younger guy from the minors?
The aforementioned questions and many other similar thoughts are currently racing through the minds of fantasy baseball owners across the U.S.
Ever since the creation of the Strat-O-Matic baseball game that allowed players to use trading cards to track stats manually, baseball fans have embraced the concept of owning a ball club.
As technology has sped up the process of managing statistics and team management, fantasy sports have exploded in popularity among sports fans all over the country.
With thousands of public leagues open to free membership, it is no wonder the game has been called an “addiction” by some of its players.
Students at Auburn University are certainly no exception to the “addiction.”
Garrett Stinson, a sophomore in pre-civil engineering, said he first got involved with fantasy baseball after taking on a different fantasy sport.
“A lot of my buddies did fantasy football last year and we just decided to try out baseball,” Stinson said.
At the beginning of the season, fantasy owners draft players from the complete MLB official roster, which includes players from every position on the field.
The draft is the most important aspect of fantasy baseball because it is where the owner builds the foundation for his or her team, making crucial decisions on when to pick certain players.
For Stinson, the draft had both positive and negative outcomes, but he said it won’t affect his goal for the season.
“I think my team looks solid this year,” Stinson said. “My pitching is lacking a little, but I’m still gonna win.”
Other students were not as fortunate when going through the drafting process.
Brian McMillan, a junior in wireless engineering, said he missed out on a few of his favorite players in his draft.
“I knew it could be a rough draft when I was set to pick 14th out of 16 people,” McMillan said. “I ended up with a ridiculously good pitching staff and a very mediocre lineup of batters.
“Basically I am going to be marketing off at least one of my starting pitchers in hope that I can bring in at least one or two heavy RBI hitters.”
The trials and tribulations of fantasy baseball may come as a burden to those who haven’t played before, but to fantasy owners the issues that come with playing the game are what make it fun to begin with.
Matt Davidson, a sophomore in history, said he enjoys the aspect of having to trade and patch up holes in his fantasy baseball lineup.
“Fantasy baseball wouldn’t be half as entertaining if everyone had lineups full of star players,” Davidson said. “For me the best part of playing (fantasy sports) is going through all the unknown players and finding that ‘diamond in the rough’ guy to help you out.”
Even though opening day, the start of the 2008-2009 season, has passed, students who are interested in playing fantasy baseball can still get in on the action by signing up at any of the major public leagues on the Yahoo or ESPN Web sites.
