2019 NFBC Main Event Champion Profile - Abdul Madani

[Tom Kessenich]

Winning the NFBC Main Event is no easy task. That’s clearly evident by the fact that in our 16-year history, 15 different people have claimed the title.

An NFBC Main Event championship is most certainly earned. To do it in dominant fashion, though? Now that is some rarified air.

Welcome to the club Abdul Madani.

Not only did Madani snatch the 2019 Main Event title, he did it while crushing the field. Madani’s title came after he compiled nearly 94 percent of the available points. That marked the second-highest percentage in Main Event history.

Impressive indeed, especially considering Madani’s 2018 season which ended with him just missing out on the title and finishing seventh overall.

“It felt like a big relief (to win the Main Event),” the 34-year-old physician said. “When you have a lead, no matter how big it is, you just want the season to end fast.

“It also came with such pleasure given the frustration I had during last year’s Main Event. I thought I had a very good chance of winning it then if not for some extreme bad luck with the Wins category.”

There was no such bad luck in 2019 for Madani. Of the 570 teams in the contest he was the only league champion who drafted from the eighth spot. There he began his championship-winning team by taking Ronald Acuna, followed by Gerrit Cole, Cody Bellinger and Stephen Strasburg.

“I definitely nailed my early picks,” Madani said.

It wasn’t just the top of his draft which paved the way for success, however. Madani also hit on some key mid to later round picks as well, including Rafael Devers in the ninth round and Eduardo Escobar in the 15th.

“That proves you do not need to ace your whole draft,” he said. “All you need is to ace most of your top picks and draft a few breakout players in the mid rounds. This allows you to whiff on a few picks and work the Waiver Wire to fix certain areas of need.

“My (draft strategy) was simple – keep it balanced. I did not want to put too much emphasis on a certain category. Focusing on nailing my top picks was my top priority, followed by taking chances on some mid-round picks with big potential.”

That strategy enabled Madani to construct a powerful team that moved near the top of the overall standings early in the season. His big move came after the All-Star Break when he climbed from 13th to third.

“I knew then that if I could focus on improving one to two categories I would have a decent shot at the grand (prize),” he said.

That decent shop began to take clearer shape after Week 17 when Madani grabbed hold of the top spot in the Main Event standings. He then began increasing his lead to the point where his title appeared to be a foregone conclusion.

That didn’t make the final weeks of the season any less stressful, however.

“Even though I had one of the biggest leads from the top spot, it still felt like the lead could be erased at any point,” Madani said. “My players continued to perform during the final weeks and never let me down.”

When the final out was made Madani’s team had maintained that commanding lead and had carried him to the Main Event title, earning the $150,000 grand prize. The distinction of being a Main Event champion was not lost on Madani, whose career with the NFBC began in 2012.
The magnitude of the moment was clear immediately. What has been less certain is how Madani plans to spend the $150,000.

“I actually haven’t decided how to spend it yet,” he said. “All I know is that a certain amount of it will go into more competitions in the coming years.”

That means a defense of his title in the 2020 season. Having achieved elite fantasy baseball status with his Main Event championship, Madani has even an even bigger goal in mind for the upcoming campaign:

Fantasy baseball immortality.

“I am looking forward to making history and winning it again this year,” he said. “I would also like to advise the newcomers to have patience and learn from their mistakes every year.

“I used to write down all the things I needed to improve on during the following season and in 2015-2016, I set a goal of winning the grand prize in the following five seasons. I knew I was getting closer each year and I knew it would take time to reach that goal. I got extremely close in 2018 and I finally reached my goal in 2019.”

[cmfessler]

Congrats - That was one hell of a team you put together!