Last year, I played in my first 15-team NFBC league – a 50-round ‘slow’ draft format where you cannot add any players via free agency or trades. You can only promote players to (and demote players from) your starting roster of 2C/1B/2B/SS/3B/5 OF/CI/MI/UTIL/9 P on Mondays with an additional Friday switch for hitters only.
After playing this format for a year, I think it is the perfect yang for the hyper-frenetic yin that is the Razzball Commenter League format (see here for RCL sign-ups). I love streaming but there is also something satisfying about winning purely because you out-drafting everyone. I like the format enough that we are considering sponsoring NFBC league(s) if there is enough demand from Razzball commenters.
So if you are interested, please enter your e-mail address below. (Note: It’s $150 with ) I will definitely play in one of the leagues – can’t speak for any of the other writers just yet.
NOTE: THIS IS SEPARATE FROM THE RAZZBALL COMMENTER LEAGUE. THAT FORMAT/RULES (12 Team MLB) WILL STAY THE SAME AS LAST YEAR. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP AS A COMMISSIONER OR TO FIND A LEAGUE WITH OPENINGS.)
Recap of My 2013 NFBC League
Below are the standings of my 2013 NFBC league. Congrats to Matthew Anderson who managed the #1 team.
| Rank | Team | Batting Pts | Pitching Pts | Overall Pts |
| 1 | The Northsiders | 66.0 | 51.0 | 117.0 |
| 2 | Professor Harris | 50.0 | 65.0 | 115.0 |
| 3 | Just Enough Wins | 65.0 | 45.0 | 110.0 |
| 4 | Wesleys Hammers 2 | 48.0 | 50.0 | 98.0 |
| 5 | Bandbox TNT | 41.0 | 48.5 | 89.5 |
| 6 | Rudy Gamble | 51.0 | 34.0 | 85.0 |
| 7 | Team Slechta | 53.0 | 27.0 | 80.0 |
| 8 | Baymen | 44.0 | 31.0 | 75.0 |
| 9 | October Fury | 15.0 | 59.0 | 74.0 |
| 10 | A-town Express | 44.0 | 29.0 | 73.0 |
| 11 | Dirty Birds | 49.0 | 23.5 | 72.5 |
| 12 | SEXY WAY-D TOO | 22.0 | 48.0 | 70.0 |
| 13 | Bastardo Arrogante | 17.0 | 41.0 | 58.0 |
| 14 | Elvis Lives 58 | 19.0 | 29.5 | 48.5 |
| 15 | Chin Music | 16.0 | 18.5 | 34.5 |
Here is a link to my NFBC draft strategy and results post from the 2013 preseason. The basics of my strategy were to draft power in early rounds and draft a lot of SPs in hopes of playing matchups and overcoming injuries.
While I think this strategy was sound, I had a horrible pitching draft aside from Cliff Lee, my two closers (Greg Holland and Huston Street), and fantastic bargains in Derek Holland (pick #280) and Justin Masterson (pick #380!). I made a value play on CC Sabathia with pick #80 that turned out awful and, after holding out until the 13th round before selecting another SP, had disastrous luck with 3rd/4th SPs Ryan Vogelsong and Josh Beckett. The hole in the middle of my staff led to giving too many starts to matchup guys like Edinson Volquez, Joe Saunders, and Jake Westbrook. It also didn’t help that gambles on Scott Baker and Chad Billingsley netted to zippo and that I picked all the wrong padres (missed Stults but got Clayton Richard and Anthony Bass). My team ended up last in ERA, 10th in Wins, and 12th in WHIP. Blech.
My luck was about even on the hitting front. I did fantastic in R/HR/RBI with a respective 2nd/1st/2nd but my team did poorly in SBs (9th) thanks to a disappointing year from Desmond Jennings and nothing out of late round SAGNOF Darin Mastroianni. My AVG, though, finished dead last. In retrospect, I under-drafted on AVG with Trumbo and Chris Carter but I could have been middle of the pack if of my hitters didn’t have worst case AVG seasons – Anthony Rizzo’s .233, Stanton’s .249, Doumit’s .247, Yunel’s .243, etc.
Desmond Jennings (5th) and Ryan Doumit (9th) proved to be my only two truly bad hitter picks. I got some solid late round values in Starling Marte (15th/220), Daniel Murphy (17th/250), Jason Castro (23rd/340), Nate Schierholtz (30th/441), Luke Scott (36th/531), and Nick Franklin (38th/561). I certainly would’ve fared better with a higher draft pick – e.g., if I picked in the top 3, I would’ve had Mike Trout and still gotten my (and Grey’s) pre-season fave Paul Goldschmidt as my 3rd round pick (which still wouldn’t have solved my pitching nightmare…).
