The 1992 Summer Olympics were the first to feature NBA players, and the squad from that year was known as the ?Dream Team?. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird are just three of the legends that played on that historic and unbeatable team. Although Fantasy Baseball, Football, or even Basketball did not begin in 1992, these thrilling and interactive pastimes do carry on the tradition of that squad. By trying to assemble the best line-up of players from the game in any given year, and seeing how they would match up, fans can rearrange the leagues as they see fit and pretend to be owner, coach, and player all at once. Now, this may sound like a recipe for insanity, but it's actually a lot of fun - and it gives you some control over the game, even if only in your head. Fantasy Baseball is one of the more popular games for people to play, and there are even draft kits to help players navigate through the draft and auction process.
A draft kit? Is assembly required?
Ouch! Now, back in the olden days, before the Internet became the venue of choice for fantasy baseball enthusiasts, you had to keep track of your teams and players with a newspaper. Plus, you had to keep in contact with the other members of your league to keep tabs on who was winning the pool. Now, the Web keeps players from around the world connected, and brings a level of intensity to Fantasy Baseball and other such leagues that was not there before. To navigate through the maze of statistics and player data, the serious fantasy fanatic needs a Fantasy Baseball starter kit to best position himself for the upcoming season.
So..I get a Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit to use on the Internet? Do I actually get anything?
This is the Information Age, my friend, and that is precisely what you are getting with your Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit. Every kit is filled with ?electronic candy? to fuel your dreams and propel your team to success. Analysts who live the dream of getting paid to study, breathe, and live baseball devote hours of hard work and energy to bring you:
- strategy to use during the draft and auction - a list of potential ?sleepers? who are just waiting to take their game to a new level in the next season - predictions about who is going to falter and fade in the coming year - the best rookies to bring to your team - cheat sheets filled with the must-know facts to be successful on draft day.
Some Fantasy Baseball draft kit options include a mock draft for ?newbies? to the game, and a host of other useful tips, to position you to bring home a championship - and hopefully some of that ?play money? that everyone poured into a pool at the beginning of the season!
Hey look, if you like baseball, you are going to love Fantasy Baseball. Players and coaches change teams more often than lovers on some silly soap opera, so it is hard to be loyal to ?traditional? teams. But, with Fantasy Baseball, you can build your own ?Dream Team?, and bring an exciting new element to a classic game. If you are new to the process, or just want an edge for the next season, a Fantasy Baseball draft kit is just what you need.
One of the most heated deliberations among the sharpest of the sharks is how to weigh a pitcher's ERA relative to his WHIP.
I realize most baseball fans know what an ERA is, but many are not as versed on WHIP. It's walks+hits/innings pitched. As much as I savor involving myself in debate with other masters of the trade, inevitably I am the one screaming the remedy is both.
I tell them it's the equivalent of asking a doctor whether one should diet or exercise. Sure conquering one or the other is better than neither, but any reputable physician advises they are not mutually exclusive.
A true handicapping scientist knows that careful interpretation of both ERA and WHIP neutralizes the inherent flaws of both while reinforcing the stronghold of each numerator.
Here is a pro-WHIP argument I often hear and articulated on rec.gambling. sports newsgroup by one of the participants:
The ERA can be affected by good fortunate (luck) far more than WHIP. The walks and hits a pitcher gives up show his skills facing a batter and will rise as he continues to allow hits and walks as it should.
But the same poor pitching, which allowed the walks and hits onboard, isn't necessarily reflected in his ERA stat. He may escape lucky. His ERA can be affected either direction by the help he gets from his mates and/or the wind and/or the size of the ballpark.
This is particularly important in the first handful of starts of the early season, where averages can be easily skewed by a few innings.
A pitcher allowing a 400? shot to center for example when a breeze is blowing in or the fielder makes a circus catch over the wall escapes with no runs scored, saving his ERA.
But in a different park the same 400? shot to center is a homerun, or the wind blows it in the gap for a double to score a couple and his ERA goes up!
So one fortunate guy gets a low ERA and the less fortunate guy, who allowed the SAME number of hits and walks, maybe even LESS, his ERA goes UP!
Meanwhile, the WHIP stat is not affected unfairly in that way, and as such I feel it more indicative of the pitcher's skill.
I agree with many of the points raised but the dissertation was a bit one-sided review of the pros and cons.
WHIP can be very imperfect as well. It does not measure a pitcher's ability to pitch out of tough situations or whether or not he gives up a disproportionate number of singles and walks relative to the pitcher who has a propensity to give up the long ball.
Pitchers who can get the ground ball double play when they need it or have the ability to bear down with runners in scoring position will generally do better in the ERA category than WHIP.
Plus in a discussion with some of the top baseball predictors on the planet, one of the elite of the elite reminded us that the team that scores more runs wins 100 percent of the time. The team that gets the most walks plus hits often loses. As devil's advocate, I added the team that gets the most runs is not always the team that allowed the fewer earned runs.
Hence, I must be adamant as an inescapable stipulation that because baseball's definition of "earned run" is not without glitch, especially from a handicapping standpoint, an old hand also must pay heed to unearned runs. After all, there are no such things as an "unearned" hit or walk in the WHIP stat.
However seeing some of the top handicapping geniuses get in heated dispute of the pros and cons of each statistic only reinforced what I believed all along the few wizards out there never, ever ignore one math unit at the expense of the other.
As a sports doctor the only baseball picks that I give my patients will be from the knowledge that a steady diet of winners involves exercising both ERA and WHIP.
Both Albert Medinas & Joe Duffy are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Albert Medinas has sinced written about articles on various topics from Car Rental, Dog Care and Music. Albert Medinas has developed and maintains the website , which answers the most common questions players have about Fantasy Baseball. Albert Medinas's top article generates over 5400 views. to your Favourites.
Joe Duffy has sinced written about articles on various topics from Recreation and Sports, Used Car and Adsense. The author Joe Duffy is CEO of ,a network that includes. Joe Duffy's top article generates over 5400 views. to your Favourites.