Some Machine's Doin' That For You.....

[DOUGHBOYS]

Stepping up the podium....

There has been a disturbing trend in fantasy baseball. I started playing fantasy baseball when we used to glean our numbers from the box scores in the daily papers. I loved the day to day moves up the ladder and down the ladder of standings.
When using pencil and paper, these moves are so much more recognizable and meaningful than on a computer screen.
The local leagues were great. Let's face it, talking shit about one another's team face to face beats a keyboard all to hell.

But then, computers came. The game changed.
Pencil and paper were tossed.
Local leagues are few.
Most fantasy leaguers never get the opportunity to see their largest rival face to face.
This is ok with folks. They've gotten used to a more impersonal world. Their cell phone carries all the information they need.
A recent study said that over the last 50 years, the thing most held in a human hand has gone from our spouses hand 50 years ago, to a television remote control, to a cell phone.
Makes one stop to think.

The computer has changed fantasy baseball in other ways. We can't wait for box scores in a daily paper. Heck, we can't even wait for a daily paper. We need that information five minutes ago, not tomorrow morning.
Computers at first, had an overnight run. We didn't need to go out, get the paper and figure up who did what. The computer did that for us.
Then, the computer started getting better and better and fantasy grew larger and larger. Soon, not only were there fantasy leagues, but choices of what kind of fantasy leagues. 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 teams. Roto, points, head to head, keepers, futures.
All at our disposal.
Live scoring made it so that we don't even have to wait till the next day.

Then after having teams in dozens of free, pay, local teams on various sites and such, I saw an ad for the NFBC.
Since that time, I have played in few other leagues. I've found the best players in the world. I've found a guy who runs a site with almost the same fervor as I manage a team.
Since that time, rule changes have been carefully enacted, all with the players in mind.
Right now, I have a suggestion for a one pitcher change on Friday. I don't think it'll pass, because it is a year or two ahead of its time, and that is ok. We play this game with the best players in the world. All with the same rules. In the long run, it doesn't matter if that rule gets passed or not.
The game will remain the same..

It's the next trend that bothers me. Folks want to eliminate fantasy thoughts and in season management. It started with draft and hold drafts. The fun was in the drafting anyway, most folks surmised. No FAAB meant more time. More teams.
The less time spent on in season management, the better.
All they had to do was set their lineups from the 50 choices each week.
There have even been suggestions that this should be pared down to spending even less time on it, by having a computer decide what the best stats are from the top 23 players, thus avoiding lineups each week.
Football and its weaker, more simpler scoring format allows this. Thankfully, roto style baseball does not.

And now, there is a suggestion that we don't put in lineups at all. That we put the lineups in after the week is over.
Fantasy baseball seems to be going the way of the human hand.
We don't have enough time to give to this hobby. Let the computer do it.
I know I'm old school and somewhat on an island. I like the angst that fantasy baseball provides.
Last night, I had Jason Vargas on my bench as he threw a complete game shutout over the A's. I've cussed myself over and over about it. Especially since those same A's lit him up just a week ago.
Setting a lineup after the fact is like giving a ribbon to the slowest kid in a race.
Everybody wins. And nobody loses. BAH!
I WANT that angst. I want it to be MY fault! I benched Vargas. My bad.
I don't want to be saved by some stupid retroactive line up.
Where's the fun in that!?!

I want to play a simple game of fantasy baseball against the best players in the world.
We have that.
And I can see having that for the next few years to come.
As long as nothun comes to screw it up.
Makes one think of a line out of the song, '2525'
'Some machine's doin' that for you.....'

Stepping down from the podium....
Thanks for the listen.

[NorCalAtlFan]

ugggh, i agree with you Dan.
:p

i HATE the idea of having a computer pick your best lineup in a DC format. it's all relative. who's to say the "insert innocuous rp" 2 relief wins is or isn't more important than the "insert random 2 start sp" that gets 2 no decisions but has 15 k's for the week. or a guy with 3 steals for the week is more or less important than a guy with 4 hr's. hell, might as well just wait until the end of the season and have big blue crunch all the numbers and spit out the "best" team.
for football, it's easy. it's purely points based, so the guys with the best stats play, i get that. baseball has more "strategery" to quote a past president.

now, on to more important things. it is thursday somewhere on the planet, correct?

[DOUGHBOYS]

ugggh, i agree with you Dan.
:p

i HATE the idea of having a computer pick your best lineup in a DC format. it's all relative. who's to say the "insert innocuous rp" 2 relief wins is or isn't more important than the "insert random 2 start sp" that gets 2 no decisions but has 15 k's for the week. or a guy with 3 steals for the week is more or less important than a guy with 4 hr's. hell, might as well just wait until the end of the season and have big blue crunch all the numbers and spit out the "best" team.
for football, it's easy. it's purely points based, so the guys with the best stats play, i get that. baseball has more "strategery" to quote a past president.

now, on to more important things. it is thursday somewhere on the planet, correct?

I don't know what I'm laughing harder at, you having to agree with me or the Thursday line.....