Fantasy Baseball Articles - Setting Up A Fantasy Baseball League

Sports Articles

Setting Up A Fantasy Baseball League

(By MDI of Sport Fanatics Fantasy Sports on 12-15-2006)

1. Get a group of 10 to 14 people together to form a league. Get a group of friends or acquaintances together who will be willing and able to spend time on their team throughout the season. If you can not get a group together on your own, but want to form a league, look for a fantasy baseball site on the web that will let you be a commissioner of a fantasy baseball league. Be sure to pick a site that best fits your style of play, and in some cases your budget.

2. Decide who will be the Commissioner or Co-Commissioners of the league. In a private league, you must choose a Commissioner for the league. The Commissioner(s) have much to do with the success, or failure, of the league and must tend to the day to day operations of the league. A good Commissioner(s) will be honest, responsible and consistent.

3. Determine the following when setting up the league:

Roster Makeup - Will it be AL only, NL only or a mix of AL and NL? How many players on a team? How many starters and bench players?

League Type - Will it be single season, keeper or dynasty league? If a keeper league, than how many players do owners get to keep from year to year?

Scoring System - Will this be a points based league, head-to-head rotisserie league or a points based rotisserie league?

Statistics - Who will provide the statistical service for the league? Will it be the commissioner, another league member, or a commercial stat service that will handle your leagues statistics?

Transaction Procedures - What are your leagues procedures for free agents, waiver requests and trades?

Player Eligibility - What determines player eligibility? The standard is 20 games at a position played last year and 10 games at a position played the current year. What will you do with rookies and players who played less than 20 games at a position last year?

Awards - Are the owners playing for pride, bragging rights, a trophy or cash? Be sure to spell out what is at stake for league prizes/awards.

4. Be extremely thorough with your league rules - This can not be stressed enough. Your league rules need to be very thorough and complete. Make sure to also explain how rule changes in mid-season can take place and what would take place for the rules to be changed.

5. The Draft - Is this an auction or straight draft? What is the draft order and is it set every round or is it a serpentine style draft? Make sure to set a time and date when everyone will be able to attend the draft.

6. Keeper Lists and Roster Freezes - Determine when and how many players can be kept in a keeper league. Also be sure to explain when roster freezes take place and when the freeze will be lifted.

7. Important Dates - When is the draft date and time? When is the last day for trades? When is the last day for free agent requests? When are keeper lists due? All of these dates and others that you deem important for your league must be explained to the league members.

8. Finally, have fun and do not make your league to complicated for yourself and the other team owners.

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