The Dodgers had the second highest expected winning percentage in the NL West and had no chance at the playoffs. What happened?
Following up on my prior post about the Postseason Odds Report, I wanted to take a closer look at at where the Dodgers could have made a big difference. I think it comes […]

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Some thanks to those who helped us out this first year. We are hoping to expand next year also, so read on.
We had a very surprising first year this year (at least in my mind), and thanks goes to all of our readers. We had over 15,000 visits, and even got linked in the […]

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Here is the link to my latest column.
Defense-First Strategies.

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Some interesting notes from the Baseball Prospectus Postseason Odds Report.
With one week to go in the baseball season there isn’t much left to do for the fantasy owner other than to sit back and let the chips fall where they may. I will be posting on some post-mortems for my teams and thinking about […]

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Some thoughts on his rookie year, and whether owners should be concerned.
Is there anyone in the fantasy world who wasn’t high on Alex Gordon coming into this year? Last year in my high stakes league I auctioned him for $5, and was able to trade him for Justin Morneau in the midseason as his […]

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My response to a question posed on a recent podcast–who would you rather have in 2008, Braun or Cabrera?
In a recent podcast, someone posed a theoretical question. Assuming you had to pick either Braun or Miguel Cabrera for 2008, who do you choose?
This is about the easiest question to answer, surprisingly, and about the […]

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Analysis of my final trade in the high stakes league.
My penultimate trade for Rafael Furcal worked out like a charm. For my opponents that is. As the league stood now, I was at approximately 150 points in the AL and about 130 in the NL. I still had a 30 point lead at the […]

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Here are links for my latest Hardball Times Columns.
Unorthodox Strategies
Head to Head Strategies

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Jeter is about to finish up arguably his worst season. What happened?
A superficial look at Derek Jeter’s overall stats makes it appear that this season is on the low side of his career norms, but not terrible. After all, how bad can a guy be if he bats .314/.385/.431?
By more advanced metrics though this […]

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Jeremy Looks at the 1871 season
1971
American League - #1 Baltimore vs. #4 Kansas City; #2 Oakland vs. #3 Detroit
Orioles – For the third straight year, the Orioles won over 100 games and were the class of the American League. This was possibly the best overall team of all three and they eventually lost to […]

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What if the Wild card Existed in 1970?
1970
American League - #1 Baltimore vs. #4 Oakland ; #2 Minnesota vs. #3 New YorkOrioles – Earl Weaver’s club returned with 108 wins and the division crown, en route to the championship. What did they have going for them? Eight guys with double digits in […]

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Looking at some unorthodox strategies.
In preparing for next year, you may be thinking about various strategies. This is a good time to address some of the more unorthodox ones.
The use of unorthodox strategies is a key component to conflict and warfare. As early as Sun-Tzu the power of the unorthodox, especially mixed with the […]

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Jeremy gets in to the spirit of speculation about what would have happened in some select prior seasons if the Wild Card existed?? First up: 1969.
Having just finished watching the Bronx is Burning miniseries - totally worth it guys, get the DVD - it got me to thinking about those great Yankee, Red Sox […]

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The Rays get the most out of some “free” talent.
The Devil Rays are poised to make some big leaps forward in the next three years. They look a lot like the Brewers did, and though they are in a tough division, they may still be able to make some big strides. Some of their […]

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The final post on the trade pipelines and shenanigans in my high stakes league.
Carl von Clausewitz, in his amazing book On War, discussed one of the key theses in understanding war. He wrote that with the potential unlimited application of force, one side is compelled to respond in kind. Without limits, what occurs is […]

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I have been remiss in posting my Hardball Times Columns. So here they are for the past three weeks.
August 21
August 29
September 4

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On a recent podcast I heard a fantasy ethics question that was worth discussing.
Last week, in the run up to Labor Day, I was listening to the MLB.com Fantasy 411 podcast, one of the podcasts that I listen to daily, along with ESPN.com’s entertaining Fantasy Focus podcast. Someone emailed in with a question about […]

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Since most head to head leagues are in the playoffs, this is a good time for a post mortem to address draft strategies and how the can be executed or flubbed. Here is a comparison of Matt’s draft strategy versus mine.
As Matt addressed in his post, he and I had somewhat different strategies, but ended […]

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Matt discusses how his draft strategy landed him the best record and regular season points scored title. In my head to head AL/NL 12 team fantasy league, I have been fortunate enough to win the points title, barely edging out Pat after he stuck his nose in front on the penultimate day of the season. […]

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Analyzing the Indians pen and pitcher usage by Eric Wedge.
The Indians are surging. They have gone 9-1 in their last ten games, pulled into a 7 game lead in the AL Central and have all but locked up the division. Fantasy players in deeper leagues are familiar with how good their relievers have been, […]

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Two of the most valuable tools for the Fantasy General. Here are the basics.
I have received a few inquiries on out use of hit rate and strand rate and why we use them in every player analysis, so I wanted to address these two stats.
It all started with Voros McCracken. In one of the […]

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