Once again, you spoke and we listened. Razzball really is the fantasy baseball site of the people, for the people. Thanks to commenter “howtathor” who said he would much rather join a league called “Tehol is a Sexual Panther” than one titled, “RCL #27”, or something along those lines. We’ve now added a “Play With” column to the Razzball Commenter Leagues sign-up sheet. Now, when perusing for an RCL to join, you can scan for your favorite writer (Dreamy Lance perhaps?) or your favorite easy target (Tehol perhaps?) or maybe your favorite angry commenter (Cram It). Either way, hopefully it drives you to sign up for another league or two. Go ahead and skip to the end of this post to check it out, pitching strategy will be here when you get back.
Back so soon? Isn’t the sign-up process easy? Now that you’re signed up let’s talk about how to approach pitching in the RCL format so you can beat up on our writers and claim RCL glory for your own. This subject has been covered many times before, quite Brucely, much more succinctly than I could cover it. Oaktown Steve started the streaming phenomenon way back in the year 2010. From that, Rudy felt he could improve the process and thus birthed the Stream-O-Nator! The world hasn’t been the same since. Finally, Rudy covered the importance of maximizing IP and how to value our streamers here. That should be enough clickbait and reading to get you off to sleep tonight where visions of ERA, WHIP and K/9 will dance in your head. If you’re feeling lazy though, I’ll give you the cliffsnotes version with a couple of my own notes.
First off, let’s go over the draft. I wouldn’t leave an RCL draft with any more than 5 starting pitchers and 3-4 is preferred. Given the new moves limit, I might lean more towards 4 and will likely steer clear of leaving a draft with only 2 starters as I had been known to do in the ESPN days. I am and will continue to be a stream-aholic, moves limit be darned! Where you take those pitchers is almost equally important as how many you draft. I’m not here to suggest that if you draft a pitcher in the first round, you’ll lose the league, but you’re not doing yourself any favors. I typically target rounds 4-6 for my first and sometimes second SP.
The change from a Games Started limit to an IP limit has the greatest impact on strategy this year. Those high-K/9 starters will be even more valuable as a base to build around. I am fully aware of my streaming (in)abilities and I know that streaming will have an effect on my ratios, nailing down two SPs that will help those ratios is a must. Doing so without leaving your offense inept is the real challenge. The latest I would wait to grab my first starter would be round 8 or 9. After that and you’re playing with fire and even then you’re going to have to hit on the starters you do roster and have them turn in solid seasons.
If you’re not into grabbing two starters in the 4-6 round range, then the 6th-7th is a prime spot for an elite relief pitcher to help those ratios and strikeout rate. This is where Felipe Rivero and Edwin Diaz are falling this year and I’m all over that.
The back end of the draft is all about relief pitchers and speculative saves. This is especially true with early drafts, happening now, while jobs are in flux (TEX, LAA, KC [eww]). If you can steal a closer before the season even starts, that’s gravy, and everyone loves gravy.
Essentially, if you can come out of the draft with some rough semblance of the 66/20/14 split (Hitters/Starters/Relievers) that Rudy recommends, you’ll be doing well. My drafts tend to be a little more towards 70/15/15 or even 66/14/20. As long as you recognize what you’ve got and have a plan, you’re much better off than most.
Once the season has started, your ability to maximize your roster spots becomes directly tied to your success. With only 3 bench spots, it is imperative to use them to their fullest. Those three bench spots are your “swing” spots and can be used however is needed, depending on the day. Don’t think of your team as having only 3 bench spots, think of the waiver wire as your rolling bench.
I almost always try to have a full hitting roster out there. By default this means my three bench spots are almost always hitters, however if there’s a day when all my hitters are playing, I use those bench spots to swap in some relief pitchers. In an ideal world you’ll have 8 RPs and a starter going almost everyday. With relief pitchers I’m almost always looking for good ratios and K/9 studs. That extra boost in K/9 will be huge in deciding the strikeout category in leagues.
Finally, when the time comes, you need to know your loopholes. There was always a heated discussion over the 188 GS with ESPN and I’ll be curious to see how this carries over with FanTrax. With FanTrax we’re moving to an IP limit, but the loophole remains that ANY pitching stats accumulated on the day you go over 1400 IP will count. This is the same way Yahoo!’s IP limit works, for those familiar. Ideally you’d have a day where you finish with 1399.6 IP and then stack your lineup for the day you go over, trying to eek out every extra strikeout and/or win you can. Of course, pulling the trigger on this massive stat grab can have negative effects as well, so if you’re in a tight battle for ERA and/or WHIP, it may not be the best choice.
There will be some interesting strategy with the IP limit when it comes to chasing wins vs. saves. With the old GS limit you could still chase saves after your starters were done accumulating stats, but that is no more. Your final pitching numbers are your final numbers, so it will be important to keep tabs on your leaguemates and who might be one category or another down the stretch. Paying attention to these things can mean the difference in catching a team or two in a category and winning or losing a league.
All of the decisions ultimately come down to where the most points can be gained. It’s up to you to recognize your team needs and how they relate to the rest of the league. If you’re running away with the pitching categories, cut back on your RPs and stream the heck out of SAGNOF delights and/or some all or nothing power plays. If the opposite is true, keep those empty pitching slots filled with the nastiest middle relievers you can get your paws on.
Want to be my Twitter pal? That’s kinda creepy, but you can follow me here: @MattTruss
