The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that Roto baseball is an absolute waste of time. And I’m becoming very interested in why some seasoned baseball minds choose to play it.
Of course, there are the guys who get paid to play Roto – I’ll give all of them a pass. Then, there are people who are just getting into fantasy baseball and end up getting sucked into playing in the format that their friends do. Lastly, I’ll reluctantly give a pass to everyone who doesn’t have time to do more than look at say MLB.com’s fantasy preview – which by the way is an embarrassment to the game of baseball – and wind up defaulting to Roto.
So what are the rest of you thinking?
Do you honestly believe Alfonso Soriano is one of the top 10 players in baseball because he went 40/40 last season? Earth to Meekus, Soriano wasn’t even among the top 30 regulars in OPS last season. You feel comfortable believing that because he can steal 41 bases at a 70.7% success rate suddenly he’s one of the elite players in the game?
Then how about the flawless logic of weighing saves and wins evenly? Or home runs and stolen bases? Or thinking that a perfect game is 27 strikeouts rather than 27 pitches?
Even more notable, how about the quality of the statistics present in most fantasy leagues? Many of our ancestors were scarred with the belief that batting average was the best way to evaluate a hitter’s talent. You’re inhaling the toxicity of the RBI without questioning its true significance.
I’ve witnessed the self-crowning of a fantasy message board moderator who thought he had what it takes to be a GM because he was a “Roto expert.” And not long ago, I actually thought that Chone Figgins was an above-average baseball player.
Hey, in the end I’m glad that you get excited to partake in an exercise about baseball. I hope I run into you in a bar and we get to talk baseball – pray we’ve both had enough drinks to stand hearing about each other’s fantasy teams.
And before you try to call me on it, I’ll admit that points-based games aren’t typically much better – if at all – than Roto. Even Sim leagues tend to use mysterious metrics and crude defensive rankings.
Looking convention in the eye and telling yourself that it’s bogus is a lot easier said than done. Heck, I decided to partake in a Roto league this season. (It’s with some college buddies.) But 5x5 Roto should not be the most popular fantasy baseball game on the planet.
It just doesn’t make sense…a waste of brain power.
A cricket mind was paid by to market the game of baseball with statistics over 100 years ago. He came up with some very crude categories. And for some reason you and your buddies still subscribe to his rotten logic.
Adam Foster is anxiously awaiting your justification for playing Roto baseball. You can email him at adamwfoster@gmail.com.