Welcome Razzball Commenter Leagues friends to the preseason edition of the RCL update. I can’t wait to get leagues kicked off in 2018. Football just doesn’t satiate me the way fantasy baseball does and we have lots of excitement around the RCLs this year, as you’ll see in a moment. I’m not sure if this makes me sound like a total old fart or not, but in 2017 I discovered there’s a lot of great content on YouTube. Pre 2017 I would only jump on YouTube to figure out how to do something on my vehicle, my lawnmower, my generator or some other small motor around my house that needed fixing. One of my favorite finds of 2017 was/is the VlogBrothers YouTube channel, specifically the videos posted by John Green. I’m a big fan of his books and discovered the channel while searching out a pre-order of his latest work. A recent post of his was about a concept presented to him by his therapist. The idea was to write a letter to yourself at the New Year stating what you will be leaving behind in the previous year and what you will be bringing to the coming year. That inspired me to do something similar with this first RCL post. There are some big changes coming to the RCLs this year and Razzball is looking for your input. So, click below and see what we’re leaving in 2017 and what we’re bringing to 2018. Make sure to cast a vote as we’ll be catering the RCLs to your wants and needs. How cool is that? Very!
Leaving it in 2017
- ESPN – Razzball is breaking free of the ties that bind us to ESPN and their format. No more will we have to look at their rankings on our league homepages or support the four letter network in any way with our site traffic.
- Robots – 2017 was the year of the RCL bots. There was controversy, there was celebration and there was Grey’s robot voice impression. With the move to a new site I don’t expect the bots to go away completely, but I do think the reprogramming needed might set them back a tick. There is also the potential for RCL rule changes that will no longer give the bots a huge advantage (a moves limit for example).
- The Status Quo – Let’s face it, the RCL format has gotten a little stale. It’s been nine great seasons but the only change has been the number of DL slots. While this does make comparisons across different seasons easier, it will be a new era in RCL record keeping starting in 2018.
Bringing it in 2018
- Fantrax – Razzball has partnered with Fantrax to host the RCLs and I’m giddy about it. Grey made this point a little while ago when talking about Ohtani. Yahoo, ESPN and CBS are not making their money from fantasy sports. These are mega corporations that happen to have a tiny subdivision for fantasy sports. Fantrax, meanwhile, is a fantasy sports site first and foremost, it’s what they do and they are great at it. They are responsive to feedback and they are always looking to improve their product. No more emailing ESPN support for some reason or another only to hear back 4 weeks later, the gang at Fantrax are on the ball. Fantrax will also allow us some flexibility with setting up our leagues just the way our readers want them, so make sure you make your voice heard in the form down below. Oh, and getting back to Ohtani, Grey’s point was these mega corporations weren’t going to spring for the computer programming needed to update their site to accommodate a two-way talent like Ohtani. Well, Fantrax can and did. On Fantrax Ohtani will be one player that can be moved freely from pitching to hitting based on the day. Cool huh? Going back to YouTube, be sure to check out and subscribe to the Fantrax YouTube channel. Go ahead and watch all of Andy and Ralph’s great shows and be sure to give them a thumbs up while you’re there. Those guys kill it on The Baseball Show, if you’re not subscribed, you’re doing YouTube wrong, Cust kayin.
- Limits – I’ve written about it plenty, the RCLs are a war of attrition and he who has the most free time can out hustle their opponents and do pretty well for themselves. With the move to Fantrax we have the option of doing away with the Games Started limit and moving to an Innings Pitched limit instead. We also have the option of a moves limit. Some love it, some hate it, but at least now we have options.
- Cash Money – If you beat out 800 other teams it might be neat to take home a decent chunk of change. Fantrax leagues can be set up to easily collect a buy-in that will go to a pool for the top RCL Master Standing finishers. It wouldn’t be much of a buy-in, but it might be enough to prevent so many dead teams by week 2. There’s even an option to make all leagues have a buy-in so individua league winners would receive some kickback as well. No rake will be taken from any of this if it does go through, so you can be assured 100% of the money will stay within the RCL community.
Again, none of these changes are set in stone yet, but you have the power to do so. Check out the form below and vote for how you want to see this year’s iteration of the RCLs play out. Sick of Grey and me making 1000+ moves? Vote for a limit. Sick of streaming middle relievers to fill innings? Vote for an IP limit. Want to ball out and swim in your winnings ala Scrooge McDuck when you whoop everyone and take down the Master Standings? Vote for a buy-in. Voting is simple, just click your choice for each of the questions and hit submit. There will be a post in a few weeks with the results and a breakdown of the new RCL format. I’m psyched for the 2018 edition of the RCLs! Bring it!
