“Christmas in March”: This is how my fantasy-obsessed friends and I refer to fantasy baseball draft day. It truly is one of my favorite days of the year. In fact, the night before the draft I go to bed dreaming of what tomorrow will bring. Will I take Arod with the first pick? Will Albert Pujols slide over to me at pick 7? Am I going to get all the sleepers I want? Yes my friends…”Christmas in March” has arrived.

Draft day can have different meanings to different owners. For returning league champions, it’s about trying to repeat as league champions. For the guys who ended up at the winery last year, it’s all about new beginnings. But for you perennial contenders/future perennial contenders, it’s all about preparing to recruit a stacked team that will undoubtedly help you make a title run. And this year’s fantasy baseball draft bible will help you do just that.

The fantasy baseball draft bible is a general strategy on how to approach your league’s draft or auction and is applicable to almost all league formats including; H2H, 5×5, Draft or Auction. It will comprise a series of articles covering everything you need to know about mastering your draft and building the best fantasy baseball team possible. The draft of the bible covers the following topics:

DraftPrep

-League Rules

– sleepers

– Busts

– Familiarize yourself with personal changes.

– Investigation of injuries.

– Exact targets

– Cheat sheet

-Level

day project

– To feel comfortable

– Make an inventary

– Draft board

– Strategy of the first rounds

– Strategy of intermediate rounds

– Strategy for subsequent rounds

– Post-draft evaluation

– Picking up free agents

So without further ado, let’s get started. Today I’ll cover the first topic in the draft preparation category, League Rules. It’s not sexy, it’s not flashy, but it deserves your attention because it will influence the way you select your team.

league rules

Every time you play a game or enter a contest, there will be a set of rules that everyone must follow and fantasy baseball is no exception. All of these rules are equally important and will dictate how you and your opponents approach the game. While not every rule will need your full attention, there are several rules to keep in mind, which will help your writing strategy. One of these rules is the requirement of how many active pitchers you will have.

One of the first rules to look at is the active lineup requirement with respect to pitchers. Usually there are 2 formats to pitch depending on what league you are in. You will start with a total of 7 launchers or with a total of 9 launchers. The first thing you’ll want to determine is how many of the 7 or 9 active pitchers should be starting pitchers and how many should be closers. Well, in a 5×5 or 4×4 league that requires 7 pitchers in your lineup, you should have 5 starting pitchers and 2 closers. In a 5×5 or 4×4 league that requires 9 pitchers in your lineup, you should have 6 starting pitchers and 3 closers. This will give you the optimal opportunity early on to compete in each category (I cannot stress enough the importance of pacing yourself in each category). Now that you know how many starting and closing pitchers you’ll have in your active lineup, you’ll be more prepared for your draft. But it doesn’t end there. In addition to looking at how many starting and closing pitchers you’ll have in your active lineup, you’ll need to see if there are any rules regarding minimum or maximum innings pitched.

While most of the rules are meant to be some sort of restriction, sometimes there can be rules that actually give you an advantage. The innings pitched rule with possible highs and lows will dictate this. Minimum innings pitched generally won’t be a concern with the strategy we discussed earlier (using a 5 starters/2 closers or 6 starters/3 closers mix). However, if there is no maximum innings pitched, you can use this greatly to your advantage.

When there isn’t an innings pitch max, I like to stream at least one pitcher every week. What is transmission? Broadcasting is when you pick a free agent to play in your active lineup based on how good of a matchup they have that week and whether or not they’ll make two starts. For example, I’d rather take Micah Owings who will have a two-start week against a horrible Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants offense than John Garland vs. the Yankees in a start. The reasoning is this. Garland will most likely not get the win and will likely end up with stats like 5 IP, 4 ER, 2 K and 0 W. Whereas Owings in his two starts in the same week could easily finish with 12 IP, 5 ER, 10 K and 1 W. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, that’s because it is.

Now, if you’re going to stream, you’ll need to adjust the preliminary strategy we talked about earlier. Instead of making sure you have 5 starters and 2 closers or 6 starters and 3 closers for your active lineup, you only need 4 starters or 5 starters because you’ll be using the last slot for the broadcast. Streaming will certainly give you more wins and Ks and shouldn’t hurt your ERA and WHIP. So make sure you don’t waste a pick on a sixth starter in the middle rounds on draft day by taking a John Garland when you could snag one of his hot dreams.