Draft season cometh
Since 2004—a year that cemented by baseball fandom in more ways than the Minnesota Twins—I’ve been playing fantasy baseball. While obviously not reaching the social status of its football brethren, fantasy baseball remains the O.G. of made-up sports.
Because it is difficult to find a large group willing to check a roster every day—as opposed to once-a-week—the baseball leagues I’ve been a part of have never exceeded a handful of die-hards. So, everyone gets a smorgasbord of talent to play around with.
Set Number: X76473 TK1 R1 F0
While seemingly an exercise in daily monotony, fantasy baseball has allowed me to keep up with MLB goings-on outside of 1 Twins Way. Without it, I wouldn’t be as attuned to Ohtani’s two-way greatness, Skenes’ dominance, or Soto’s bat wizardry. Once, in a 30+ category rotisserie league, two teams finished deadlocked for the top spot—perhaps the most statistically improbable event I’ve ever witnessed.
There’s a saying that “the most interesting topic is your fantasy team—and the least interesting is someone else’s”, but this exercise can also function as a “remember some guys” from 2004+. So, here are some of my fantasy favorites through the years…
C: Joe Mauer
- At times, league-mates would purposely select Mauer in front of me knowing one hot week would precipitate a lopsided trade.
Photo by SPX/Diamond Images via Getty Images
CI: Paul Goldschmidt & Adrian Beltre
- Hats off to Beltre!
MI: Freddie Freeman & Troy Tulowitzki
- Do you remember just how good Tulo was from 2009-2014?!
OF: Josh Hamilton, Mike Trout, & Carl Crawford
- Mike Trout is the Greek God of my fantasy experience. No matter how injured he is, I will take him every season until he gives up the ghost or the Angels do (no word on which may come first).
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
UTIL: Shohei Ohtani
- I somehow get Ohtani-the-batter every year because my league-mates subscribe to the Ron Gardenhire theory of “don’t clog your DH spot with a DH-only guy”.
SP: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Felix Hernandez, & Every Prospect to Come Through The Tampa Bay Rays Organization (David Price, Blake Snell, Scott Kazmir, Chris Archer, Alex Cobb, Shane McClanahan, & Tyler Glasnow)
- That last part is not a joke. I have employed every TB starting pitching prospect/phenom and often followed them to other squads when the Rays inevitably cost-cut. Yes, I even had Archer-the-Twin for a bit. A very little bit.
Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
RP: Joe Nathan & Fernando Rodney
- I am a loyalist to my closers.
Do you have any stalwart fantasy baseball stars or stories? Drop ‘em in the comments!