gos·pel noun - something regarded as true and implicitly believed:
to take his
report for gospel. a doctrine regarded as of
prime importance:
political
gospel.
1) Before you even research a player or even draft a
player, you must know your scoring system of the league
you are playing in. Many managers might ignore its
details, learn it on the job, or just peak at it. It is
vital that you understand the scoring system and know it
like you know your own team. We all study the players we
will draft, so why not know your scoring system you are
drafting them for. Right?
2) Memorize it. Every scoring system is different and
depending on the type of league you are in it could be
dramatically different.
3) There are three primary scoring league types,
rotisserie, head-to-head, and points system. rotisserie
Leagues can be 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, or other variations. The
numbers represent the number of hitting and pitching
categories that will be scored. For example, lets
examine a 5x5 rotisserie League with 10 players. If a
team wins homeruns at the end of the season by hittig
the most homeruns overall, he gets 10 points, and if he
finishes last in doubles he gets 1 point. It’s a pretty
simple concept, but the game is played different then a
straight points or head-to-head league.
4) In a head-to-head league you will matchup with
another team for a set period of time. Normally it’s a
week, but depending on the league could be shorter or
longer. The way you win that game is throughout the time
period each scoring category is a matchup. So, homeruns
is a matchup and if you hit 7 in the week, and your
opponent hits 3 you are now 1-0. Normally there are
several categories and can be up to 20 or more. So at
the end of the week your record could be 15-5 or 10-10
depending on how well your team played. Head-to-head
leagues can be combined with points, but that is rare.
5) The final type of league is the points league. It is
the simplest, yet most common of all the league types.
This is where points are assigned to several scoring
categories, and its normally 18 or more. As each MLB
player performs points are accumulated and added to your
total score. At the end of the season, the team with the
most total points wins.
6) Allot of people may think, does it really matter if
I'm in a Rotisserie 5x5 or head-to-head league? NO, no
matter what type of league you are in understanding your
rules and scoring system is a key to winning and a must
strategy for any true fantasy baseball manager. Here are
some key tips on figuring out the best draft strategy
based on your leagues system. I won't go into detail for
all the type of leagues that are played as the
variations are similar at this point, nor is that what
I'm trying to explain in this gospel. It’s about the
fundamentals of understanding a scoring system and
making it work for you. We will however examine
rotisserie, H2H, and points leagues. Understanding these
types of league scoring systems should allow you to
excel at any fantasy baseball game. Follow the
instructions below while examining your league scoring
system.
2. Which Categories are Being Scored?
7) You have to know and memorize which stat categories
are being scored. This is especially important for
rotisserie and head-to-head leagues. Some commissioners
are sneaky and may put in 10 pitching and 8 hitting
categories for a head-to-head league. That makes
pitchers far more important since they can score more.
For rotisserie leagues, saves, walks, or stolen bases
may be left out for other stat categories, again you
need to know that.
3. Study Thou Points per category
8) Study how points are scored in a points league or
head-to-head points league. Are they given for singles,
doubles, errors, or RBI? Do you get points for stolen
bases and more importantly does caught stealing count?
Knowing what you get points for and what gets taken away
is basic to anyone having a chance to win. Note if
points are given or deducted for At bats (AB).
4. Separate the Points into Groups
9) After figuring out what you get points for, now
separate them into three groups; Offense, Pitching, and
Everything Else. "Everything Else" isn't really used in
most leagues. That would be points for fielding errors
and fielding percentage etc... In most leagues it’s not
necessary or used, but you never know. We won't examine
those scoring stats any further, but I wanted to let you
know they could be there.
10) Offense Group - Offense can be broken down into 3
types of hitters. You will have your run producers,
table setters, and finally the most deadly offense
player the combination of both. We will call them ARODs.
11) In order to figure out how good these players will
perform we will use a simple points system for our
examples in this gospel.
13) Pitching - Wins – 15, Losses (-5), Innings – 3, SO –
1, BB – (-1), HBP (-1), ER (-2), Saves – 15, Save
Opportunity (-5), Hold - 8, CG 10, and SHO – 5.
5. Figuring Out Points Per At Bat (PPA) and Points Per
Inning (PPI) Averages
14) Run Producers - Examine the scoring system for these
types of players. The categories they tend to excel in
are HR, 2B, RBI, RUNS, Slugging Percentage, SO, and even
walks (BB). Figure out what these categories will
produce in points, or if they are the primary categories
for your rotisserie or head-to-head leagues. Next, find
three of the top run producing players like Ryan Howard,
Prince Fielder, and David Ortiz. Now, take their
previous years stats and total their points in all
categories your league scores including ones that would
minus points from their score. Then perform the
following simple equation to figure out the Points Per
At Bat (PPA):
15) Points Per At-bat (PPA) = (Total Points/At-Bats)
16) I know we are trying to focus on the run producing
players, so you may be asking why we are including all
scoring categories like singles and stolen bases. That's
easy, we focus on their primary scoring categories only
to identify to type of player they are. After that, add
in the remaining categories to truly know how the player
will perform. In order to get their exact averages for
figuring out which type of player is best for your
league scoring system you must know their PPA. For
example, let’s say that David Ortiz put up 712 points
according to the league scoring system you are
evaluating. Last season he batted 549 times. Now, input
this into your equation:
17) Points Per At-bat (PPA) = (712/549), which is a PPA
= 1.30
18) To get a better average include 1-2 more run
producing players as mentioned above and average their
results. Now you have the PPA average for the top
sluggers in the league according to your scoring system.
Now figure out the table setters.
19) Table Setters - We all know these guys. They hit
well for average, have great OBP (On Base Percentage),
and tend to steal bases. These are typically the 1-3
batters in lineups, but not always, and they tend to
have speed, but again not always. Good examples are
Ichiro Suzuki, Carl Crawford, and Hanley Ramirez. Let’s
examine Hanley Ramirez for the example. According to his
numbers last season he would have received an estimated
738 points in 639 At-bats.
20) Points Per At-bat (PPA) = (738/639), which is a PPA
= 1.15
21) Now that the grade level mathematics is complete,
you know have an idea how each type of player benefits
from a league scoring system.
22) Pitchers – Pitchers carry equal if not more weight
on a fantasy team and the scoring system tends to
reflect their power. First you must note all the rules
that apply to pitching including start limits, innings
limits, and position limits. We will cover positions
much closer in the next gospel, but you must note how
many SP, RP, and P slots you have in order to truly
understand how important pitching will be to your team.
23) When examining your scoring system break the
categories up into only two areas; starting pitching and
relief pitching. Starting pitchers tend to excel at
innings, wins, ERA (earned run average), strikeouts, and
WHIP (walks/hits per inning). They also tend to do
poorly in losses, walks, ER (earned runs), HBP
(hit-by-pitch), hits, and in some leagues homeruns.
While relief pitchers excel at holds, saves, ERA, WHIP,
and even strikeouts. However, Relief pitchers do not do
well with innings or wins, and overall can do poorly in
strikeouts and ERA depending on the pitcher. They also
excel in categories like walks and ERs allowed by not
giving many of either.
24) Now, find three of the top starting pitchers from
the previous year and total their stats against your
scoring system. For example we can look at Josh Beckett,
John Lackey, and C.C. Sabathia We will figure the
average for Josh Beckett based on last season’s numbers.
Beckett scored 885 points in 200.2 innings. With those
numbers we can figure out his points per inning or PPI
average. Note, we did not include hits given by pitcher
in our numbers for this example.
25) Points Per Inning (PPI) = Total Points / Total
innings
26) PPI = 885 / 200.2, which is a PPI = 4.42
27) If you look closely at the numbers you will have to
assume that the standard average a pitcher should get
per inning is 3.0 points. We come up with that cause
according to our scoring system if a pitcher just goes
out there and gets three outs, he gets 3 points. That is
a good median to use when deciding on how good starting
pitchers are in your scoring system. This is important
to remember and consider. When a pitcher completes an
inning the only guaranteed points are the points awarded
for getting 3 outs. Everything else is extra, so
determining whether your pitcher exceeds that
pre-determined threshold is very important. Again,
repeat the equation above for 2 more pitchers and then
average all the PPI averages. Now, let’s figure out
relief pitchers.
28) Relief pitchers tend to dominate leagues, especially
the closers. They are critical in most leagues and to
this day are still over looked by many managers in the
draft and in some rare cases even in free agency. This
occurs because they simply do not pitch allot and may
not pitch for several days at a time, but when they do
its explosive. They also command their own scoring
categories saves, save opportunities or holds. No other
type of player can boast that. We will see how these
guys match up in total points and PPI. We will use Jose
Valverde as our example relief pitcher. He scored a
total of 636.3 points last season on 64.1 innings.
29) PPI = 636.3 / 64.1, which is a PPI = 9.93.
30) Now you see the difference. Though the closer scored
less total points, his PPI was much higher. That is very
important to consider when choosing the players on your
team. Your fantasy bullpen could and most likely will be
the difference in whether or not you win your league
championship.
6. PPA / PPI Vs. Total Points
31) The PPA/PPI and Total points are critical to
understanding and mastering the scoring. Some leagues
limit starts, innings, and at bats, so the PPA/PPI is
far more valuable, others don't so total points reign
supreme. That's why knowing your league rules and
scoring system will allow you to draft allot better than
just getting the best available player.
32) If you play in a head-to-head points league or just
a standard points league determine whether or not they
limit at Bats or innings. Check if they even limit the
number of times you can start a player in a position
(162) or a pitcher. If they do have these common
limitations, consider the PPA/PPI average for
determining how your league scoring system will impact
your team. If they don't have said limitations consider
total points as the starting point to developing your
fantasy team.
33) If the run producing player you averaged comes to
725 points, while the table setters only average 690
then you can clearly see that your league favors run
producers. Knowing that information gives you an edge
going into the draft. Pitchers are far different. Its
clear that relief pitchers score at a higher clip per
inning, but they don’t pitch everyday and with pitchers
you will always be locked down to certain positions like
4 SP’s, 3 RPs, and 1P. In this case knowing the scoring
system will help you decide how much of your draft you
will invest into relief pitchers as opposed to starting
pitching.
34) Of course, if your league contains limitations as
mentioned, look at the PPA/PPI. If the PPA for table
setters is 1.25 according to your numbers powered by
your league scoring system and for run producers is
1.10, then you must consider loading up on table setters
when the draft comes around. Again pitchers are
different, and they will be explained more deeply in the
next gospel on team positions.
35) Now if you are in a rotisserie style league, the
categories play a much different role, and no math is
necessary. Separate the categories into three groups for
Rotisserie leagues; run producers, table settlers, and
common scoring. Everyone gets singles and doubles, so
those would be common scoring. Triples, batting average,
and stolen bases go to the table setters, and of course
HR, RBI, and slugging percentage go to the power
hitters. For example the Commissioner can give you the
following for a 5x5 rotisserie league; HR, RBI, Runs,
Average, and slugging percentage. Though this wouldn’t
be the standard way a rotisserie league is setup you can
clearly see it’s advantageous to the run producing
hitters.
36) It’s the same for pitching. Separate the rotisserie
league pitching categories into starting, relief, and
common scoring. Starting pitchers tend to dominate wins,
loses, walks, innings, and strikeouts. Relief pitchers
tend to dominate saves, holds, and save opportunities.
Maybe the commissioner will leave out saves making
closers nearly useless, or holds making middle relief
nearly obsolete. Commissioners will try to make things
even, but simply breaking up the scoring categories for
a rotisserie league into these groups will point out
which type of player will benefit you the most.
37) After separating them categories into groups you
should be able to define which group looks like it
carries to most weight, but there are some tricks to
look out for. Many commissioners use negative categories
like strikeouts, caught stealing, loses, walks, and save
opportunities, and those categories must be examined
closely when deciding on players in the future. Later in
the bible we will cover more rotisserie strategies on
winning, but this gospel is to cover knowing your rules
and scoring system.
7. Finally, The AROD Factor
38) Earlier I mentioned the third type of player and I
referred to him as AROD, which is of course after Alex
Rodriguez. On offense there are a few select titanic
players that are must haves for all teams and that can
score at will in the full spectrum of offensive
categories. Impact players like Carlos Beltran, Jimmy
Rollins, and David Wright. Future AROD powerhouses could
very well be Chris Young and Curtis Granderson to name a
few. These players possess the ability to help you win
in any type of league and any type of scoring system.
39) Understand how players will impact your scoring
system is the first key to winning. If you have any
questions about your scoring system or league rules
email us at
thetrueguru@fantasybaseballsearch.com.
