I feel like doing fantasy baseball for the 1st time.

I am going to do an auto-pick draft. I am doing it for two reasons. (1) I don't know the players enough to do all that good in the draft and (2) I don't know if I will keep up with it and the ones that take the time to draft are most likely willing to keep up with it.

I hope to use this to help me follow MLB better, so I hope I don't just give up on it. But I want to know what are the best settings to play with?

Bold the best option

Format: ESPN Custom or League Manager
Scoring: Roto or H2H Each Category or H2H Points or H2H Most Categories or Total Season Points
League Size: 6 or 8 or 10 or 12 or 14

I think you can choose more than 1 in these last 2

Rosters: DH - Multiple DL - SP/RP
Scoring: Extra Base Hits - No Hitters/Perfect Game

very difficult to answer these questions...

the easiest answer is for league size... anything less than 10 teams better be AL or NL only... But 12 teams is optimal... some people like to do more than 12 owners because they like going deep into rosters, allows them to follow baseball further than just the usual suspect players...

Roto vs H2H categories or H2H points is all preference... Total season points, i would recommend not to do...

What does Roto and H2H mean?

Roto= you take a number of categories from offense and pitching, and each category is ranked from best to worst... Owner with the most points at the end of season wins...

example. 5X5 with HR,BA,Runs, RBIs, and SBs/ for pitching- ERA,WHIP,Ks,Saves,Wins.

12 teams
If i am ranked first in Hrs i get 12 points for Hrs
If i am ranked last in SBs i get 1 point
If i am ranked 6th in HRs i get 7 points
etc...

and then all those points are added to get one Total score

H2H means Head to head, and each week you compete against another owner. H2H usually has a playoffs, and that is usually during the last couple of weeks of the regular season

if you are doing H2H categories, then whoever wins more categories wins that week. In some leagues you get the accumulate your weekly record.. For example if 10 categories, and i go 7-3 one week and then 3-7 the next week then i went 10-10 for those 2 weeks...
in other leagues if you win the week you just get a win, and if you lose you get a loss... and then at the end the wins and losses are accumulated just like in real life sports...

H2H points, different aspects of the game are worth a certain amount of points, those points get accumulated every week to find the winner of the week... your record accumulates until the end of the fantasy regular season...

If you're worried about losing interest, weekly H2H points is the way to go.

Roto (rotisserrie) is the "old way" fantasy baseball and takes an avid fan to stay on it all year. It involves categories (runs, HR, etc.) constructed to win as many as you can against the whole league over the year.

Roto H2H (or category h2h) is a mix of the two. You play an opponent each week and try to beat them in categories. Keeps you in it longer, but the same strategy, just against one at a time.

H2H points gives you a chance every week. Instead of categories, your players get points. So the need for player-type strategy is gone.

Thanks for that explanation. It made me a lot more intrigued with Roto.

I like H2H Points and keep it similar to fantasy football, but if I have a bad team, Roto might keep me interested longer.

Wrong. If you have a bad roto team, catching up is nearly impossible. That can derail one's interest. Especially if you're in a public league where you don't know anyone.

Okay. H2H points sounds best for me, since I wouldn't be able to keep up with all the categories all that well.

Does having DH, Multiple DL, and/or SP/RP make it more difficult?

No. I'd keep them. I think ESPN's DH can be any hitter, so it doesn't limit anything.

And you want DL slots.

but i do recommend to attempt to do your draft... drafting is many peoples favorite part of fantasy... you will also get to learn the players and values sooner which will help you manage your team...

Roto H2H with at least 12 teams & 3 DL spots is how I like. But I don't do baseball leagues anymore. For me it's too time consuming. Sure you could technically set it & forget it for the week, but I am too anal for that.

I am creating a new league.

Here's what they have as default as rosters.

Current Roster Size: 25
Total Starters: 22
Total On Bench: 3 (1 DL)
Position Starters - Limit
Catcher (C) 1 - No Limit
First Base (1B) 1 - No Limit
Second Base (2B) 1 - No Limit
Third Base (3B) 1 - No Limit
Shortstop (SS) 1 - No Limit
Middle Infielder (2B/SS) 1 - N/A
Corner Infielder (1B/3B) 1 - N/A
Left Field (LF) 0 - No Limit
Center Field (CF) 0 - No Limit
Right Field (RF) 0 - No Limit
Outfield (OF) 5 - N/A
Designated Hitter (DH) 0 - No Limit
Utility (UTIL) 1 - N/A
Pitcher (P) 9 - N/A
Starting Pitcher (SP) 0 - No Limit
Relief Pitcher (RP) 0 - No Limit
Bench (BE) 3 - N/A
Disabled List (DL) 1 - N/A

Games Played Limits (Maximums)

Batters - No Limit
Pitchers - 12 game starters

I am thinking of doing 10 teams and just AL or NL.

How many DHs is too many in your opinion? How many DL is too many?

I thought about doing 1 starter for each fielding position and 2 pitchers. Is that too few?

MilkSpiller22 said:

very difficult to answer these questions...

the easiest answer is for league size... anything less than 10 teams better be AL or NL only... But 12 teams is optimal... some people like to do more than 12 owners because they like going deep into rosters, allows them to follow baseball further than just the usual suspect players...

Roto vs H2H categories or H2H points is all preference... Total season points, i would recommend not to do...

Click to expand...

The first few years we did it was under that format and by the end of May the league was done. Someone would have too big of a lead.

I am with Milk on this one, I would recommend no on total season points.

Definitely do a mixed league! NOT AL or NL.

You want at least seven pitchers. Five starters and two closers. Lots of leagues have a CI and MI (corner and middle infielder) added with the regular positions, but starting out it would probably be a good idea to leave them out.

C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
OF
OF
DH/UT (depending on settings, these can be the same slot. I don't think you want to have real DH's on your first go)
SP x 5
RP x 2

5 bench
2 or 3 DL

I think if it's your first time playing and you want to use fantasy as a way to help you follow baseball you're probably best off without a DH spot, in a mixed league (not AL or NL only) and 10-12 teams. And, as Milk recommended, I think you should participate in the draft just as a way to become a little more familiar with players and their values. ESPN has the players pre-ordered so you can have a draft just as good as autodraft just by clicking on the top players.

I would recommend Roto H2H (or H2H categories) but as long as you do H2H it should hold your interest longer.