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:
Psyche! Before we get to the RazzSlam recap, the season’s first Buy/Sell is available on our Patreon, click that and sign up. It won’t be live on this site until next Friday. Anyway II, the RazzSlam recap:
C: Alejandro Kirk (7)
C: Nick Fortes (24)
1B: Matt Olson (3)
2B: Jazz Chisholm Jr. (4)
SS: Oneil Cruz (6)
3B: Rafael Devers (2)
MI: Josh Rojas (17)
CI: Josh Jung (20)
OF: Julio Rodriguez (1, 4)
OF: Jake McCarthy (8)
OF: Alex Verdugo (12)
OF: Riley Greene (14)
OF: Bryan De La Cruz (19)
Util: Oswaldo Cabrera (25)
Bench: Max Kepler (26), Edward Olivares (29), Spencer Steer (30), Rodolfo Castro (31), Garrett Cooper (32), Bubba Thompson (34), Blake Sabol (35), LaMonte Wade Jr. (36), Yan Gomes (37), Brett Baty (38), Kerry Carpenter (39), Casey Schmitt (40), Kyle Isbel (41), Orlando Arcia (42)
P: Brandon Woodruff (5)
P: Max Fried (9)
P: George Kirby (10)
P: Logan Gilbert (11)
P: Lance Lynn (13)
P: Pablo Lopez (15)
P: Brady Singer (16)
P: Hunter Brown (18)
P: Martin Perez (21)
Bench: Sean Manaea (22), Sonny Gray (23), Braxton Garrett (27), Jared Shuster (28), Tylor Megill (33)
ALL RIGHT, YOU GIANT BOZO, GIVE US YOUR WAR ROOM TOTALS
Mr. Al Capps, the name calling has to stop.
OKAY, YOU CLOWN, WHATEVER YOU SAY!
What’s wrong with you?
I STUBBED MY TOE AND I’M ICING IT. SORRY, JUST NOT A GREAT START TO THE DAY FOR YOURS TRULY.
Oh, okay, feel better. So, there is a War Room for the Best Ball drafts like the RazzSlam, but, I’ll be honest with you, I winged this.
FIRST OFF, IT’S WUNG, NOT WINGED, AND SECOND OF ALL, GOOD FOR YOU. FINALLY THINKING FOR YOURSELF.
I appreciate that, especially since you’re just my internal monologue.
WAIT…WHAT?
Yeah, you’re just me screaming.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Sorry, bro. Here’s the scoring so we can at least try to make heads or tails of the league:
Here’s some points accumulated by players last year:
Aaron Judge 1118
Paul Goldschmidt 838
Freddie Freeman 809
Trea Turner 787
Jose Ramirez 777
Pete Alonso 768
See a pattern?
I’M STILL REELING. I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M YOU.
The pattern is high-contact guys have way more value than 5×5 category performers. The biggest difference there between that list from last year’s Points leaders and our Player Rater is Pete Alonso, because he strikes out a decent amount. The first pitcher, Sandy Alcantara had 635.6 points, which was 22nd best on their scoring, Verlander was best on our at 15th overall and Sandy was down at 25. This is not a normal Points league. Pitchers are not more valuable than the top bats.
SO, MOVING PAST THE MOST EARTH-SHATTERING NEWS OF MY LIFE, AND BACK TO THE DRAFT RECAP. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE DOING BUT YOU’RE SURE YOU’RE DOING IT CORRECTLY? THIS SOUNDS LIKE EVERY OTHER DRAFT RECAP FROM YOU.
Unlike roto leagues, I think Points Leagues are more about exploiting the format than about what players you draft. Well, the players you draft are important, but it’s about how they play into the format. There’s more “format play” than “get the good players” play.
For unstints, in this format, it seems to be mostly about top of the order guys who get a lot of hits and maybe steal a base or two. Steven Kwan had 522 points last year. More than Shane McClanahan and Edwin Diaz to give you two names that are supposed to surprise you. Kwan also had more points than Ronald Acuña Jr. I’m no expert (yes, I am), but last year I was in the top 10 out all teams battling for the RazzSlam crown, i.e., pay attention to me, you giant dong dong!
YOU SEEM LIKE YOU TOOK WAY MORE BENCH HITTERS THAN PITCHERS, ANY SPECIFIC REASON.
Thanks for pointing that out! That is a new thing for me. I usually just alternate bench hitters with bench pitchers in these deep draft and hold-type leagues (the RazzSlam does have two waiver wire periods). Towards the back end, like around pick 400 overall, I just didn’t see any starters I loved. There were a few others drafted like Daniel Lynch, Gavin Stone, Dylan Dodd, Anthony DeSclafani, and Tyler Wells that I like, but others took them before I had a chance. When you take away RPs being very boring in this format (as mentioned above with Kwan being more valuable than Edwin Diaz), I just didn’t care about many pitchers, and felt I’d back up some bats. The first waiver wire period is a few weeks into the season, so maybe I’ll grab some starters then off waivers. Maybe I should’ve taken another couple terrible SPs, but I don’t do terrible. I do exciting. It’s my middle name.
DOES THAT MEAN IT’S MY MIDDLE NAME TOO?
Yes.
