FANTASY BASEBALL 2025

 Today, no Trump, no science, no nostalgia....only Major League Baseball.  So if you hate this subject, please return tomorrow. 

Fantasy baseball, quoting ESPN, is a silly little game, but once you play, you'll be hooked for life. Allegiance shifts from your traditional favorite team to those players you draft for your fantasy teams.  I'll probably again sign up for three teams.  I'm not into the NBA nor NHL, and there are no college games of any kind in the summer.  The sport to watch then is only Major League Baseball.  Each game you see becomes more meaningful when your players are on the screen, and every pitch or plate appearance by your player is consequential to you.  You cheer players not on your team to strike out or pitch a home run ball or get injured, accepting the morality that this is all fake and not real.

I'll also watch the Los Angeles Dodgers on TV, for they play just about all their games televised into Hawaii.  One's day is better if your favorite TV team wins a lot, they clearly have the best team in the MLB, and should win the next World Series, as they did last year.  Odds for 2025 championship:

• Los Angeles Dodgers  +230-+265, or around a 31% chance
• New York Yankees  +700 to +800, or 12%
• Atlanta Braves  +850 to +1000, or 10%
• Colorado Rockies  +30,000 to +50,000, or 0.25% chance.

Among the pre-season highlights:

• Dodgers added so many superior players to make it almost unfair.  However, also look forward to the coming prominence of catcher Dalton Rushing and pitcher Justin Wrobleski, for they show considerable talent.
• They have a dream rotation, although Ohtani will not pitch until maybe May.

• 
  Yankees lost  Juan Soto to the New York Mets.  He got $765 million over 15 years.  Yankees did add P Max Fried, 1B Paul Goldschmidt, OF Cody Bellinger.

• 2024: Juan Soto, Mets -- 15 years, $765 million. ... 
• 2023: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers -- 10 years, $700 million. ... 
• 2022: Aaron Judge, Yankees -- 9 years, $360 million. ... 
• 2019: Bryce Harper, Phillies -- 13 years, $330 million.

• 
  Oakland Athletics moved to Sacramento, awaiting their new stadium in Las Vegas, while the Tampa Bay Rays lost their home because of Hurricane Milton, and will this season play their games in the Yankee's spring field.

• 
  Potential rookies of the year:  OF Dylan Crews of the Nationals, OF Jasson Dominguez of the Yankees, pitcher Jackson Jobe of the Tigers and pitcher Roki Sasaki of the Dodgers.
• The traditional Opening Day normally occurs at the end of March.  But not this year, for the Dodgers play the Cubs in Tokyo on March 18 and 19.  Otherwise most MLB teams open on Thursday March 27, but the Rockies-Rays first game will be on March 28.
• Here are how well the off season went for the teams.

I do this every year at around this time to encourage you to enhance your life by owning fantasy baseball teams.  Here is one way to get fantasy teams for free (in money, that is, for you will waste a lot time adjusting your team every night and watching games on television).  I have stuck to ESPN for it is safe and convenient....and FREE.

• 
  Read the ESPN fantasy baseball 2025 Draft Kit page.  
• If you're worried about spending a lot time calculating how your team is doing relatively to others, don't.  The ESPN computer does all that work, and you can just go to your team page to see how things are changing in real time.
• If you have a lot of time, read all 8 innings.   However, just reading the first inning will be sufficient to get you ready to draft a team.  The other innings are for details. 
• About the 9th inning, which is to master the 2025 player pool, you will want to adjust the player rankings to your interests.  But mastering?  Not possible.  
• If you don't have time to do all that, go immediately to Create or join a league.  Just draft a team and consider adding another.  You have nothing to lose, for if you screw up, just abandon the team.  The other 9 team managers in the league will not be happy, but no  one one will know it is you.
• The 1st inning tells you:
• How to draft a team.
• As a second option, that you can form your own league of family and/or friends so you can all enjoy the benefits of fantasy baseball.  Some neutral person associated with your league should act as the commissioner.  While ESPN indicates that the person to do this also have a team, and should be fair, maybe this is not the best to remain friends.
• How many teams are ideal?  
• I think 8, but the current ESPN leagues all have 10 teams.
• There was a time when I was in graduate school that we had teams of classmates and professors, and that was a lot of fun.  So I've now been doing this for 55 years.
• However, today, I keep my life simple, I play anonymously, and let ESPN run the show.
• There are two traditional types of fantasy baseball, rotisserie (or roto) and head-to-head.  This first inning explains the difference. I tend to enjoy roto more because H-T-H takes more time to adjust your roster.  There are other options, like more specific H-T-H competitions and Season Points.
• The info then goes into the thrill of the draft.  And it is exciting.  One of my favorite experiences each year.  I'm sure my blood pressure goes up, and maybe even pulse rate.
• Everything is controlled by ESPN, and when the league forms, you are alerted, and you click on to that draft page, as the other players will from wherever they live.  The odds are very high that you won't ever know who they are, except by team name.
• There are three draft types:  snake, salary-cap and autodraft.  I like the snake draft best, for it is the easiest follow.
• When your team is fully drafted, there are moves you can daily make to improve your team.  But there are managers that only do this weekly, and they just won't do well.
• Trades among teams are allowed, and there is an approval process.
• For the ESPN standard league of 10 teams, there are league settings that rule the game.
• Lists how many players one can have.
• Provides limits, and the only one in this ESPN competition is that your pitchers can only start a total of 200 games.
• Indicates how you accumulate points.
• Shows player acquisition, trade and waiver rules.
• The 2nd Inning just provides more details of the above, and the discussion is more about fantasy rules.  Since I only use the ESPN standard league, all this detail is unnecessary.
• Draft a team by clicking on create or join a league.
• If you have a group ready to play as your own league, click on Create a League.  If you are doing this independently, click on Join a Public League.
• When you get to that page, click on the Beginner box.  Unless you're not.
• Then click on the type of scoring.  I this year will only use Roto.
• I then click on Snake draft type, for salary cap is more difficult to follow.
• Then select when you want to draft.
• Finally click on Join a League.
• If you chose Roto and Snake draft, the computer will tell you when the league is formed and for you to join the draft.  Takes around 30 minutes for the draft.
• Good luck.

The Major League Baseball season begins on March 18 in the Tokyo Dome, Japan.

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