Fantasy owners have spent all month studying depth charts and debating which players to take in their drafts. The regular season has officially begun, but that doesn’t mean the hard work is over.
Drafting a quality team is critical for fantasy owners, but roster maintenance throughout the next five months is just as important in setting themselves up for a chance to win a championship.
Here are a few tips to remember throughout the season that will help give you the edge against your competition:
1. Fantasy baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.
The biggest challenge in fantasy baseball is to exercise patience and not overreact. This is what separates fantasy baseball from fantasy football. After one week, owners are ready to dump half their team in fantasy football, but the Monday-morning quarterbacking is more acceptable because the season is so short. However, fantasy baseball is long, and it’s a grind. This is not to scare you off, it’s just the reality, and you need to know what you are getting yourself into during the next few months.
The good news is that the hard work is usually rewarded. By staying focused on your team’s needs and surviving the summer blues, along with the start of fantasy football season, more often than not, you will come out ahead in your league.
I know from personal experience that you can make ground in August and September if you are down in the standings. Stick with it.
2. Stay active on the waiver wire.
There is nothing worse than a league member drafting a team and then never tweaking their roster. Don’t be that person. Not only will it not work, but it’s not fair to the rest of the league. I mentioned being patient and not overreacting early during the season, but that doesn’t mean missing out on quality players who are available on the waiver wire.
I am not a big trade guy, but I am active on the waiver wire. There are always players who can help you, and guys with expanding roles bring opportunity, which leads to more fantasy value. Staying ahead of the curve will give you the edge against your competition and will help you stay competitive throughout the year.
My weekly waiver-wire column will help as well, as I will highlight players who are in a position to give your team a boost. The most common theme is usually closers, as that job is volatile. Sometimes players may only be fantasy relevant for a week, but that week could go a long way in moving fantasy owners up in the standings.
3. Pay attention to two-start pitchers in weekly leagues.
If you have to set your lineup for the week on Sunday night or Monday morning, you need to pay attention to which pitchers on your roster have two starts for the upcoming week. It’s good to have two-start pitchers because you get the chance to rack up stats for your team, especially if you are playing in a head-to-head format. However, if you know their two starts are against quality hitting teams, it isn’t the worst idea to bench them for the week so they don’t hurt your team. The strategy in fantasy baseball is what makes this game so fun.
4. Sign up for lineup alerts.
I can’t stress just how important this is for the long-term success of a fantasy season. Setting your lineup in the morning only to find out your player was out of the lineup that night is frustrating and just puts you behind the curve.
Twitter is a great tool to find out if your players are in the lineup that day, and many of the fantasy baseball sites, like ESPN, Yahoo! Sports and CBS, have apps that will alert you when a player is out.
This is crucial, especially when summer rolls around and on weekends when life takes over. Again, fantasy baseball is all about consistency, and these little moves add up during the course of a season and will benefit in the long run.
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