I rarely write about fantasy baseball on this blog, following the time-honored truism that “no one cares about your fantasy team”. I'm breaking the rule for a bit here, because I am embarking on a new-to-me experience: my first season of Scoresheet Baseball. This game is highly-regarded by people I trust, but it also more pricey than standard fantasy games, so I’ve avoided it until now. A bargain-priced introductory offer convinced me to try it out.
The biggest difference between Scoresheet and standard fantasy games is that Scoresheet takes the players’ efforts of the previous week and, instead of just adding up all the numbers, plays out games. You have to set rotations and lineups, and make decisions on bullpen usage, pinch-hitters, and defensive substitutions (yes, defense counts), and the like. I don’t fully understand it all, but the differences from what I’ve been playing for 25 years are intriguing, so I’m giving it a try.
One other difference with Scoresheet is that drafting is done over a period of about five weeks, rather than two hours. There are roughly 2 1/2 hours between each pick. Obviously, you don’t have to sit around your computer for five weeks; you compose an ordered list, which can be changed at any time, and the draft works off of everyone’s list. I have the 7th pick in the opening round of a 10-team, AL-only league. The first six picks were Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Gonzalez, Justin Verlander, Jose Bautista, and CC Sabathia. I’ve gone back and forth over my first pick, but I’ve finally decided, and so, in about 45 minutes from the time I write this, I will make Felix Hernandez my first-ever Scoresheet pick. (For comparison purposes, the first player I ever picked in a fantasy baseball draft was Joe Carter in 1987.)
Now I’ll go back to shutting up about my team that no one cares about.
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