After much success last year in NFBC’s Cutline competition (around top 30 overall out of 1,000 teams), I decided to give it another go. Mind you, they only pay top 20, and I came in approximately (I don’t remember) 30th, so I didn’t win money last year, but money can’t buy happiness. Happiness can only be derived from seeing a Japanese mascot petting a dog. Nothing else counts towards happiness. Luckily, this league doesn’t have a happiness category. You might remember (likely don’t) that I autodrafted the first four rounds last year for my “much success” team, so in some ways this year’s league is a test of Man vs. Machine because I drafted this whole kit and/or kaboodle. Everyone likely knows what a Best Ball league is, but, if you don’t, it’s when you draft a team and the computer manages it for you by choosing who are the best players, and you get those stats. It’s basically one fantasy league removed from the robots taking over and killing us all. Now that I think about it, it’s not Man vs. Machine this year for me; it’s Man vs. Machine vs. Machine. HOLY CRAP, WE’RE OUTNUMBERED! Anyway, here’s my NFBC Best Ball, Points League, 10 team draft recap:
C: Francisco Mejia
C: Danny Jansen
1B: Pete Alonso
2B: Ketel Marte
SS: Francisco Lindor
3B: Rafael Devers
CI: Yoan Moncada
MI: Bo Bichette
OF: Jorge Soler
OF: Ramon Laureano
OF: Kyle Schwarber
OF: Danny Santana
OF: Kyle Tucker
UT: Garrett Hampson
Bench: Renato Nunez, Sam Hilliard, Hanser Alberto, Domingo Santana, Kevin Pillar, Dylan Carlson, Nick Ahmed, Jacob Stallings, Isan Diaz, Kyle Lewis
P: Patrick Corbin
P: Brandon Woodruff
P: Roberto Osuna
P: Eduardo Rodriguez
P: Hyun-Jin Ryu
P: Jake Odorizzi
P: James Paxton
P: Brandon Workman
P: Mitch Keller
Bench: Freddy Peralta, Sean Doolittle, Pablo Lopez, Kyle Gibson, Mark Melancon, Mackenzie Gore, Zach Eflin, Nate Pearson, Zach Davies
WAIT A MINUTE, DID YOU SAY THIS IS A POINTS LEAGUE? WHAT, ARE YOU MALAMONEY NOW WITH THE POINTS LEAGUE POSTS? THIS IS A LATE 3RD ACT TWIST I DIDN’T SEE COMING.
Malmoney is still our Points Leagues guy. The scoring is similar to the RazzSlam. For your gander:
It was a 42 round draft, though I only participated in 40 rounds (I’ll get to that in a moment). These points do not compute like most Points Leagues. According to their scoring, last year in what was admittedly a wonderful year, Shane Bieber accrued 610 points. Michael Conforto walked away with 612 points while being, essentially Michael Conforto. Max Muncy is great, wonderful, adjective, but he scored the same number of points as Jacob deGrom. Yes, that Jacob deGrom. I wouldn’t even say this Points League is skewed for hitting; it’s basically hitters and then reach over your FUPA and grab a bunch of pitchers. Also, I found last year that closers are oddly valuable. Maybe it’s that whole 8 points for a save thing. If Osuna gets three clean saves in a week with one K per game, he gets 36 points. In a one start week from deGrom, where he throws a 10-K shutout with seven baserunners, he scores 36 points.
OKAY, I’M FADING, CAN YOU TELL ME IF YOU USED ANY SPECIFIC BEST-BALL STRATEGY? CAN YOU TELL ME LITERALLY ANYTHING OF USE HERE?
Whether correctly or not, I decided to go upside crazy in this league. As I figure it, winning this league doesn’t matter, because of the awful winner’s stake. It’s $150 to enter and, if you win your league, you get $250. I don’t care about winning $100 on a $150 bet. That’s viciously bad. However, the overall prizes are huge. 1st place gets $70,000 (think out of a thousand teams maybe), and I have to imagine the only people winning that prize are going to have a strong core but also a lot of shares of guys who well exceed their draft spot. So, I got some core guys and then a ton of upsidey guys. I got so many upsidey guys, I didn’t even draft two players who I drafted, because I autodrafted.
YOU TOLD US YOU ACTUALLY SHOWED UP FOR THIS DRAFT, SO YOU LIED?
Not necessarily a lie, but more of an omission of the truth. I was there for the beginning of the draft, but at one point in the middle I accidentally autodrafted two guys — Kyle Tucker and James Paxton. By the middle of this draft, I had six drafts going at once and I lost track. It’s either a first world problem that I paid to join a league that I forgot about or I drafted too many leagues this year. I’m gonna make like a teamster and lean on the latter. Thankfully, Kyle Tucker and Paxton both fit into my motto of only worrying about ceiling vs. floors. Due to the system only counting the good weeks, I only thought about what each guy’s best case scenario could be. No sonavabenches here. Same reason I drafted Nate Pearson, Zach Davies, Mitch Keller, Freddy Peralta, Gore (only share of him so far), Pablopez, Hampson, Hilliard, Domingo, Renato, Isan Bonita, Kyle Lewis, Bichette and Moncada. In theory, I won’t suffer any of their bad starts or games and only get the good ones. Of course, if they’re all bad, then the system will have to play some of them. Same with the batters. I’m going boom or bust, primarily. One quick word about Nate Pearson. He’s unhittable. I don’t know if he makes the team, but he should not only make it, but he should be the Jays’ best pitcher.
OKAY, REAL QUESTION, DID YOU, PETE ALONSO AND KETEL MARTE BUY A TIMESHARE TOGETHER?
No timeshare. I own every share of both of them in every league. I can’t remember a year like this where I am so high on two particular players vs. the draft rooms that I’ve drafted each of them everywhere. Honestly, out of eight leagues, I own one of them in seven of them, and one league was an AL-Only league, where I might’ve taken them both just in case they get traded midseason. They’ve actually come a bit like a packaged pair in a lot of leagues they are so complementary. “You’re handsome!” “No, you!” Wait, not compliments like that. They’re complementary because one is power and a lot average and one is a high average and okay power. Alonso brings 80+ homer power, but with a .260 average and Ketel Marte will hit .370+. Or so I’ve convinced myself. Maybe Alonso will hit 90 homers and Ketel will hit .400. Yeah, that’ll do!
