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ARE YOU READY TO DRAFT YOUR FANTASY BASEBALL TEAM?

 On Sunday I featured a home that hit the market that day, and was highlighted as the Home of the Week in the Star Advertiser.  


For those reading this posting from somewhere away from Hawaii interested in acquiring a Honolulu property, here are two links you can access to view all the details you need.

Click on:

Or, for a more adventurous look, click on:
so you can further scroll to see internal details of each room in any direction, zooming in or out.  Place the cursor on the white circle to move 360 degrees and walk through the home.  Explore the various icons and hints.

Not too late to tender an offer.  Contact Kay Mukaigawa or Dale Fukushima.

ENGEL & VÖLKERS Honolulu

Mobile: +1 808 479 9090 or

             +1 808 330 7784

Office: +1 808 550 0818

Fax: +1 808 550 0819

Email:   kay.mukaigawa@evrealestate.com

            dale.fukushima@evrealestate.com

Now on to my topic of the day, Major League Baseball:

  • Just the fact that the season starts on Thursday, April 7, is a big deal, for most expected a protracted lockout that could have lasted for months.
  • Some changes this year:
🪐 Universal designated hitter 🏟 Extra-inning rules return to normal 9️⃣Doubleheaders are back to 9 innings ⚾️ Playoffs expanded from 10 to 12 teams

  • There is one name change.
    • When I was in college my school was known as the Stanford Indians.  In 1981, the name was changed to Stanford Cardinal, the color.
    • The Cleveland major league team became the Cleveland Indians in 1914.  As of 19 November 2021, they are now the Cleveland Guardians.
  • Noteworthy info. 
    • Tom Seaver was the opening day pitcher 16 times.  Most of those games were for the New York Mets.  This year, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer are injured.  As of this writing, the starting pitcher could well be something called the dreaded bullpen game, or a series of relief pitchers.
  • CBS Sports is a good site for the latest information.
  • Here is how you can bet on Major League Baseball.  However, you need to live in the following states:  Nevada, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, West Virginia, and Delaware, although this latter state is in transition.  Further details.
  • Be careful about offshore sites.  They are also illegal in most states.

For most states, then, the only other legal option is fantasy baseball.  Four years ago I posted:  ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FANTASY BASEBALL?   I said:

Probably not, for fewer than 20% of Americans participate in fantasy sports.  Two thirds are male and the average age is 37.

Interesting how gamblers and fantasy players are one and the same:

  • Bettors are 80% male, fantasy types are 81% male.  This means that the numbers are 20%/19% or females.
  • 50% of both are between 18-34.
  • 67% of both are fully employed...which must mean that 33% are not.
  • 46% of both make more than $75,000/year.
  • Around three-fourths do both.
  • 78% of fantasy participants play fantasy football, with baseball next at 39%.  Golf, 13%.
  • 89% of bettors visited a fine dining restaurant last year, with 87% of fantasy players and 68% grom the general population.
  • In those three categories, visited sports bar:  90%, 89% and 52%.
  • Had food delivered:  80%. 78% and 46%.
  • Bought Nike apparel:  45%, 43% and 17%.
  • 73% of fantasy players do not play for cash prizes.
  • Fantasy players like to do so with friends, as 84% have a draft party, with a median expenditure of $653.
  • There around around 60 million into fantasy sports in the U.S. and Canada.
Why play fantasy sports?
  • Beneficial to your mental health, although might distract you from a spouse.
  • Promotes camaraderie.
  • While competitive, is nonviolent and fulfilling.
  • Requires critical thinking and decision making.
  • There is a gratifying feeling of thinking that you're a general manager of a sports team.
  • You can win money, or gain bragging rights.
  • Rewards skill.
  • Okay to check your teams daily, which is usually required, but you need to be careful about family dinners, work meetings and the like.
If you plan to watch major league baseball beginning April 7, the one compelling reason for having one or more fantasy teams, is that everything that happens in each game is important.  If your hitter is up, you want him to do well.  Same if your player is pitching.  I'm of course exaggerating, but you would almost look forward to anyone not on your team doing as poorly as possible, and even getting injured.  Ah, not really, but if that happens, that gives your team an advantage.

Some hints.
  • I try to find a flaw in the game settings to help me do better.  
  • My secret is to form your team around relief pitchers, for in the initial draft, you can select better hitters over starting pitchers, and get good relievers relatively late in the draft.  
  • There is flexibility in finding substitutes, so I use quality relievers to start ahead of starting pitchers not pitching that day.
  • In the daily filling of the starting roster, almost surely outstanding pitchers will just suddenly appear, many times even halfway into the season.  So you need be quick at getting them.  
  • Other team managers generally want to keep almost all of their players, so on certain days of the week, have open spots on Mondays, Tuesday and Thursdays.  I always get free agents to fill my roster.  
  • Typically in a league, I shuttle players from the free agent list and make hundreds of changes/season.  Some managers only do this tens of times/year.
  • How am I doing after all these years of wasting huge amounts of time on the computer?  I do better than average, but that is enough satisfaction.

I have a posting every year at this time to assist you in getting started with the initial draft.  Here is one from four years ago.  Today I do this again, but only for the free ESPN leagues, for I just got four teams and am ready for the start of Major League Baseball on April 7.  At one time there were leagues for 8,10, and 12 teams.  I always joined 8-team leagues so the free agent availability was higher.  No more, for ESPN now only has leagues of 10 teams.

Getting started:

  • Go to this ESPN site.
  • You will see four colored oval-shape links.
    • Ignore the blue Create a League box.  
    • Click on the blue Join a Public League box.
      • There are five kinds of leagues depending how you want to compete.  
        • Click on Beginner.
        • I have two H2H (head to head) Points teams and two Roto teams, but you can click on any of the five options.
        • Here are the details on how to play the head to head and roto games.
        • There are two way of drafting.
          • Snake, where the computer places you in one of then slots, and the draft proceeds starting at position 1, then 2, and so on, until it reverses back to 1 and back up to 10, etc.
          • Salary Cap, where you have total amount of dollars to draft your team.  This is more difficult for a beginner.
        • Next go to Draft Date & Time and pick when you want to draft.
          • Then click on Join a League.
          • Start by placing DRAFT NOW.
          • Then click on Join a League.
          • You will be tossed into a league of ten to begin the draft.
          • Depending on time of day and those categories, you might draft in a minute or wait a long time.
          • The computer will make your selection of the best available player if you somehow screw up.
          • You will in half an hour or so complete the draft.
          • If you do screw up and end up with a terrible team, you have two choices.
            • Abandon that team, for which the other nine players will hate you.  But you don't know them, so no big deal.
            • Try to improve that team over time.  I've done this a couple of times, and by the end of the year (remember that the season goes on to the end of October) usually have recovered.
          • After you have one or more teams, it is time to go back to that original ESPN site to get your free team which can win you $25,000.
            • For this team, start by clicking on one of those gold boxes:  Join ESPN+ Fantasy League.
            • Go through the same process, for by now you should be experienced at this.
  • After you've gotten some experience with drafting a team or two, go back to that initial ESPN site.
    • Click on the gold Join ESPN+ Fantasy League.
      • By doing so, for nothing, you can win $25,000.
      • But you can have only one team in this competition.
      • Essentially it will not be how well you do, for the winner gets this award by lottery.
  • Next year go to the 2023 ESPN site, and click on Create a League.  Get nine of your friends to form one league.  This will be a lot more fun.

You can scan the internet for dozens of these, but here is a draft kit from The Athletic.

- 

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