Since I know that the only thing most of you like more than rankings and projections are contests, I’ve decided to host a points leagues related fantasy baseball contest this season. Did someone say contest? And for all of you non-points league players, don’t hang up the phone quite yet. The contest is so simple that even a caveman could play it. In all seriousness I urge you to consider participating.
*Just wanted to update everyone in that this contest for Week 1 will lock on Sunday at noon (12:00 EDT) since this week starts on Sunday. All other weeks it will be Monday as stated in the post above.*
Here are the rules…
Each week you pick three (3) batters. That’s it. Okay, well it’s a bit more involved than that, but not much. A week runs from Monday through Sunday. You must have your picks submitted by 11:00 AM EDT on Monday mornings. You submit your picks by leaving a comment in the comments section of that’s week’s contest post. There will be a post covering the contest every Friday. That will give you most of Friday, all of Saturday and Sunday and small portion of Monday to select your batters. If you can’t get your act together in 72 hours, then I cannot help you.
Here’s the catch. Once you pick a player, you cannot pick that player again in any subsequent week. A card laid is a card played. With each week’s contest post I will publish a list (or spreadsheet) of all the players each of you have already used. This will make it easier for everyone, not having to keep track themselves. If you pick a player that you have already used, you will get zero points for said player. No exceptions.
There’s another catch. I know, I said this was simple. It is, I promise. There will also be a list of players than cannot be selected. ESPN has their “Undroppables” list, we have an “Unpickables” (thank you Grey for coining the term) list. The players included in this list are detailed at the end of this post. I you pick an Unpickable, you will get zero points for said player. No exceptions.
Okay, now those are all the rules. At least the rules that dictate which players you can and cannot select. Each week you will get points from your players. The contestant with the most points each week wins that week. Those points will also count towards the season long standings. Each week is a new contest, but each contest counts towards the season long standings. Does that make sense?
The season will run fifteen weeks. At the end of the season there will be a five week playoff competition. In order to qualify for the playoffs you need to either win a weekly contest or finish in the top three overall season standings. That’s it. If you win more than one week and/or finish in the top three, you still only get one entry into the playoffs. However the person that finishes the regular season with the most points (first place), will be allowed to pick players from the Unpickables list during the playoffs (one per week). The winner of the playoffs will receive a brand new Razzball tee shirt.
Once you’ve selected your players, you cannot change them. So proceed with caution. A card laid is a card played. I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before.
The scoring system that will be used for this contest is as follows:
1B(+1), 2B(+2), 3B(+3), HR(+4), RBI(+1), R(+1), SO(-1), BB(+1), SB(+1), CS(-1)
The Unpickables
Mike Trout
Mookie Betts
Jose Altuve
Nolan Arenado
Paul Goldschmidt
Anthony Rizzo
Bryce Harper
Charlie Blackmon
Kris Bryant
Josh Donaldson
Manny Machado
Joey Votto
Miguel Cabrera
This is the first official post of the contest. If you would like to participate in Week 1, please be sure to leave a comment including your three batters. This contest does not care about pitchers. It’s a batters only event. If more than one person picks the same three players and that combo wins, the person who picked them first wins the tiebreaker. This will be determined based on the timestamps of the comments.
And remember. You can pick your nose. You can pick your friends. But you can’t pick the unpickables.
