Grey

RazzSlam Recap: Seiya? I’m Going To Swing From The Chandelier

March 2, 2022 | Our Leagues | 84 Comments

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I’m a big fan of the everyman. I consider myself the everyman. I’m every man’s everyman. A pioneer of normcore. Track pants and a blinking light on my car’s dashboard that either means my seatbelt isn’t on or I need oil. That is me. What better way to elevate the Everyman Culture, then to take part in a tourney where no one is smarter than anyone else. Enter the RazzSlam, a Best Ball tourney. Every everyman 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 your best players, and you get those stats. It’s basically one fantasy league removed from the robots taking over and killing us all. Well, the last laugh is on you robots, cholesterol is beating you to the punch! Kinda love that Razzball is putting on a tourney (hosted by NFBC — thank you!) that no one really has any clue how to strategize. A true everyman experience. Oh, I’m sure there’s a few people who think they know the correct strategy for Best Ball, and a few of them might be right, but there’s an under 1% chance they know why they’re right, and it isn’t just luck. In some ways, Best Ball leagues are a lot like Best Ball strategies. Throw a ton of them out there and a few good ones will rise to the top through sheer force of players’ performances and nothing you’re actually doing. That’s the fun. Anyway, here’s my RazzSlam, a 42-round, Best Ball 12 team draft recap:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 8/4
ARI | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | ATH | CHW | OAK | SEA | WSH
Coolwhip

Argh He’s Been On My Mind, Tsutsugo!

March 1, 2022 | Deep Thoughts, Fantasy Baseball Sleepers | 1 Comment

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Though it hasn’t been on my mind all the time, Yoshi Tsutsugo has entered it recently (shout out to Tindor). And I think he’s growing on me for the upcoming season. Now I can’t say that many Pirates get me motivated enough to write about; I can say, that there’s prime opportunity to pull some value when one of them does anything of note. The reason being no one cares about the Pirates. I mean, come on look at them. Well, in this upcoming season, the Bucs stop here. At least the middle of their lineup does.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
MattTruss

RCL Pitching Strategy 2022

March 1, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball, Our Leagues, Razzball Commenter Leagues | 25 Comments

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Razzball Commenter League drafts are off and running!  It’s officially DRAFT SZN.  Don’t let the chance to play with your favorite writers and commenters in free leagues for an overall top prize pass you by!  Our first draft of the year went off yesterday and we have spots left to fill in one tonight and every night this week.  If these don’t fill, I’ll have to move them later in the draft season, so tell your friends!  I know some people are probably holding out for good CBA news and I hope the draft season doesn’t get extended too much here.  Next week I’ll have the RCL ADP spreadsheet ready to go and we’ll really dive into the data and over-analyze to our heart’s content.  As for now though, go sign up for a league drafting in the next couple of weeks and contribute to our data pool.  It’s so easy to sign-up, it’s really just one click!  Use it as a mock draft that is actually useful!  Today, we’ll be going over how to approach your pitching in the RCL format, hopefully, to get you prepped for the first draft of the year.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Walker Buehler, 2022 Fantasy Schmohawk

March 1, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 82 Comments

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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”951684″ player=”13959″ title=”Rzbl2022%20Busts” duration=”200″ description=”undefined” uploaddate=”2022-02-06″ thumbnailurl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/thumb/951684_t_1644171255.png” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/951684.mp4″]

So, if you’re keeping a mental note of all the pitchers I don’t like, you might realize from the Anime Grey videos, Julio Urias is one of them. Now, I’m throwing in Walker Buehler. Trevor Bauer’s a big ol’ piece of garbage, and the only person ranking Max Muncy lower than me is Madison Bumgarner. Chris Taylor’s never done nothing for me no matter his position eligibility! I’m going to become the biggest hate spewer in SoCal! I’m going to put on my Vin Scully jersey and tell everyone it’s for Scully from The X Files. Just to insult them! I’m going to go to Dodgers games — fifteen minutes early — just to show them up! I’m going to tell everyone that will listen that Nathan’s hot dogs are better than Dodger dogs! I’m going to tell everyone that Dodgers’ superfan Mary Hart’s legs weren’t that spectacular! I’m going to tell everyone that Dodgers’ superfan Larry King is still alive…on Epstein’s island! I’m gonna tell them Clayton Kershaw isn’t a Hall of Famer and that I once saw Sandy Koufax eat pork! I’m the biggest hater in Los Angeles! But, now, about Walker Buehler. Sigh. I’m not going to run through why I would never draft a top starter. I wouldn’t, but this post isn’t about that. Wrote about that across 15,000 words in the top 20 starters for 2022 fantasy baseball. I won’t be drafting a top starter or Walker Buehler, but I can dislike Walker Buehler on his own. Brave! So, what can we expect from Walker Buehler for 2022 fantasy baseball and what makes him overrated?

Please, blog, may I have some more?
everywhereblair

Fantasy Speedrunning: Interdisciplinary Gaming

February 28, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball | 20 Comments

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The current world record to beat the original Nintendo Entertainment System classic video game Super Mario Bros –from a fresh start to evading Bowser to save the princess — is 4 minutes, 54 seconds, and 881 milliseconds. The second-fastest time is 4 minutes, 54 seconds, and 914 milliseconds. A human thumb can’t twitch fast enough to accurately clock the difference between first place and second place (although I bet you’re trying to prove me wrong right now). That one-thousandth of a percent faster time by the elite speed-runner Niftski has placed him at the top of the Super Mario Bros speed-running pantheon. Many speed-running fans believe we have reached the human limit of optimizing the Super Mario Bros speed run, meaning that everything about the game has been studied, examined, optimized, and played out. In other words, if you decided to go pick up Super Mario Bros and try to speed run it today, you would have the work of hundreds of thousands — nay, millions — of other runs that have shown you the optimal path to complete the game in the best possible time. To arrive at the top of the speed-running leaderboards at this point, one would need a confluence of skill and luck: they would need to be skilled enough to pull off the necessary moves AND successful at lining up each and every one of the low-chance maneuvers in order to succeed.

Of course, this whole speed-running spiel is a metaphor for fantasy sports: we fantasy sports-ers have draft optimizers, lineup optimizers, draft analyzers, projections, and people competing to be the best in the world. Only, the difference is, is that people can make a lot of money or social capital in fantasy sports. Speed-running Super Mario Bros isn’t something that Niftski can do to make a million dollars in one night or even one year. But for a fantasy sports fan, you could win any number of contests through multiple providers — whether they be season-long or daily fantasy sports — and walk away much richer or much more respected. OK, maybe not either of those, at least for most of us. But when providers like NFC, DraftKings, FanDuel, and so on are paying out millions of dollars to players every year, there’s a natural human urge to, at the very least, wonder how to climb that metaphorical fantasy mountain and stand atop it for a short while. The same sentiment applies to even the most mundane fantasy player who wants to win their friends and family league just to show up Uncle Ken, the guy who both introduced you to the un-edited cuts of Star Wars and the flavor of tequila on your 16th birthday.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
malamoney

Points Leagues: Bargain Shopping

February 28, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 2 Comments

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Finding draft day bargains is the best way to break out of the starting gates. Well, I guess the best way is to have a solid core of keepers, but in a redraft league, everything starts with the draft. Or does it start with the draft prep? So like Jesus Jones sang, does it start right here, right now? I think it might. Maybe not with this exact post, but somewhere here on Razzball. With every draft day bargain, you gain on your league mates. If you need a refresher on what a draft day bargain is, I will tell you. A draft day bargain is when you draft a player later than his actual value. For simplicity’s sake, drafting Juan Soto in the second round would be a prime example. Soto is an easy top five pick, so drafting him with the 12th pick means you’ve gotten Soto with a draft pick in which he shouldn’t have been available.

Determining a player’s actual value in points league can be tricky as player rankings will vary based on the league’s scoring system. You all know how much I’ve stressed the importance of knowing a league’s scoring system when trying to compare players. The other confusing data point is average draft position (ADP). ADP can be misleading because it most certainly does not represent a player’s true value, just his current market value as it represents where a player is being drafted by the masses. The problem is that ADP is contagious. What this means is that when someone is trying to determine who to draft with their next pick, they often refer to the remaining players’ ADP to see who they should be picking before someone else selects the player. So if Aaron Judge has an ADP of 23, he’s not going to be available when you pick at 40. This is true even if Judge’s actual value is the 45th best player in your league. Unfortunately, there is always going to be at least one person in your league that will draft based on ADP.

Let’s look at some players that have an ADP greater than their actual value.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Grey

Nolan Arenado, 2022 Fantasy Schmohawk

February 28, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 28 Comments

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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”951684″ player=”13959″ title=”Rzbl2022%20Busts” duration=”200″ description=”undefined” uploaddate=”2022-02-06″ thumbnailurl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/thumb/951684_t_1644171255.png” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/951684.mp4″]

I went back to my room at the Radisson. (This is not a sponsored post.) I laid my head down. Lied my head down? Ya know, because I was lying to the doorman when he asked if I had friends. It was none of his business. Plus, what was he doing in my room? Did each room at the Radisson have a doorman? I asked him that, then asked that he show himself out. After tucking me in. The tucking, the doorman did. It was so tight it was suffocating. I could barely breathe. So, I jostled around in the bed like a caterpillar shedding its skin, would I become a butterfly? Likely, yes. I was able to get one hand out of the tucked-in sheet and grab the mechanical claw I had on the nightstand that I used to feed myself grapes, so I could imagine I was a Russian prince. After the grape dropped into my mouth, I reached, with the mechanical claw, to grab a twenty dollar bill to light on fire to start myself a cigar. Earlier that day, I withdrew my life savings in twenties, and placed them precariously on the window sill. Hmm, I thought, if I lit a cigar in this non-smoking room, I might want to open the window first–

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Torendao!!!

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Jakkers

Top Dynasty Keepers: Players 100-76

February 27, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Keepers, Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Keeper Leagues |

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Welcome back to the Top Dynasty Keepers. This week we will look at my Tier 4 group – players 100 to 76. While the 30 Major League Baseball owners are trying to be sticks in the mud as they have taken the ball and gone home, we are not locking anyone out. We are knee deep in depth charts and player lists as we prepare for our drafts.

However, before we get to the fun stuff, let’s quickly review what I believe is the best way to build a team.

When it comes to putting together your dynasty team, you have to try to stick to your formula as much as possible. Yes, there is always room to be a little flexible, but figure out what your approach is going to be heading into a draft and then stick with it. Last week I spelled out my three rules when building a dynasty team. If you don’t remember this great advice, these are my rules:

Young over old.
Draft the hitter over the pitcher.
Draft the starting pitcher ahead of the closer

Practice what you preach

So you may be wondering just how well do I follow my own rules. In my Tier 5 rankings last week, 23 of the 26 players I listed were under the age of 30. Of those 23  players, 12 of them were 25 or younger. If you are building a dynasty league team, then you have to think young. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
The Itch

Top 25 Relief Pitcher Prospects For Dynasty Fantasy Baseball in 2022

February 27, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 21 Comments

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The great thing about studying relievers is you only have to focus a half-inning at a time, if you’re watching the games as you go. The bad thing about studying relievers is you can only do so half-inning at a time, if you’re watching the games as you go. 

This year’s relief article involved more legwork than any before for a number of reasons, one being the void where pro baseball used to be. But it’s more than just the lockout, of course. My processes in general have evolved over time, and now I’m fast enough moving in and out of the game logs, finding the right inning to jump toward on the time scroll. I’m better at eyeballing what inning looks like it might be the sixth, just given the size of that time-scroll along the bottom. I feel like Dr. Who. Time and space are limitations of the past. I watched three weeks of Indigo Diaz’s career the other day, just in between and alongside doing other stuff: making bacon for my daughter, jotting down the bones of a lesson plan, writing a relief pitcher article in a separate window, doom-scrolling the socials on my phone, flipping the eggs, clicking back in as Diaz encounters some early wildness, digging for the next game, three days later in a different city, finding where he entered the game, and zooming to that moment in my tardis (laptop). 

Yes, dear reader, it’s a brave new world out there. Some of these MILB.tv feeds are terrible, mind you. Blimp view. My 2D video game brain is okay with it, like playing an RBI Baseball match-up on Nintendo: Clemens v. Tudor, but that’s so much more than I could’ve seen 25 years ago when I was 13 and burrowing deep into the baseball universe for the first time. Really seeing it from the ground up for the first time. My dad took us to see the Clinton Lumberkings when we were very young. Got some cards signed. And I guess the dig actually began in 1989, when my brother and I traded the Upper Deck Rookie Cards of Ken Griffey Jr. and a Gary Sheffield for the Upper Deck Rookie Card of . . . drumroll . . . Jerome Walton. I was six. I would, obviously, remember it forever. 33 years later, here we are. Sorry for the old-guy anecdote. It’s just, I couldn’t believe the breadth of my powers this week, compared to my powers then. I am defeated by time in so many other, very real ways, and yet, here I am, farting in its general direction as I prepare what has become my favorite article to create every year. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Jeremy Brewer

Hitter Profiles: The Mezzanine Seats (200 Level ADP)

February 26, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball | 4 Comments

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You know when you go to a baseball game and you get to look down at the seats you wish you could sit in but we both know you cannot afford.  At the same time you look up at the cheap seats and laugh.  Who is paying five dollars for a ticket when you can shell out ten dollars for the Mezzanine level?  In this week’s article, our hitter profiles focus on that 200 level in the outfield and what guys are landing at 200 above ADP.  These guys can be of value for you later in the draft in what is shaping up to be a deep field of veteran hitters.  So let us go deep and gone for this week’s dive in our hitter profiles.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
keelinbillue

Ambulance Chasers: Shortstop Till You Drop

February 26, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Injury Report | 21 Comments

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Greetings, Razzputins, we are going to talk about the injuries that could threaten shortstops in your fantasy baseball draft.

First, we need to talk about Max Scherzer’s Porsche.

What is going on with Max Scherzer’s Porsche?

Max Scherzer, member of the MLBPA Player Representative, hopped into his 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S and said “Hey Siri, play ‘More Than A Feeling’ by Boston,” to his Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max while putting on his $500 sunglasses. He chugged 12 ounces of Almas caviar out of a 24 karat solid gold Yeti coffee mug. As he pulled up to another day of CBA negotiations between the MLB and MLBPA, he rolled down his window and yeeted his 24 karat solid gold Yeti coffee mug into the parking lot.

Paparazzi snapped photos as Scherzer pulled in a parking spot and emerged to show his true form: a symbol of decadence and gluttony that is unbecoming of the MLB. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?