Dynasty: A Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Dynasty

[JetsIn06]

I've been thinking about doing this for months, and a question in my OOTP thread just really got me inspired to pull the trigger and do it.

I'm in a Fantasy Baseball league; a dynasty league, more specifically. While there's certainly more complex dynasty leagues out there with salary caps, a lower number of keepers, etc; this league is pretty straightforward.

Keep everyone, keep them forever.

I've played fantasy baseball for the last decade+, but it's always been re-draft leagues and I've never been as invested as I am now. I've got two friends in the league, a bunch of their friends round out the dozen teams. They're all very competitive, and knowledgeable from what I can tell. Trade talks are always a blast. It's a great time.

I co-run a team with a friend; the joke is that I'm the GM and he's the manager, but the real gist of it is this: I dive deep into the metrics, the stats, the under the hood shit, the trade talks; he is always the voice of reason, the guy who never forgets to check the lineups, the guy who checks the weather every morning to make sure we're not starting a guy who's getting rained out. The partnership works, and every decision is discussed and agreed upon.

Last year was the inaugural season. I'm going to go through some decisions we made that shaped the roster as it is now in the new few posts, but I'll give you a quick spoiler; we won! There were some boneheaded choices and some moves that really worked out. I'm excited to dive deeper into them, and I think I even have some of our conversations that I can paste in here, edited for clarity and privacy, of course.

So that's soon; I'll also share the settings and any other details that are relevant.

[JetsIn06]

Here are some important details to note before we get into the nitty gritty:

The league uses points scoring, loosely based on the Ottoneu scoring system (which is all derived from linear weights and true values of BB/1B/2B/3B/HR). We also add in negative points for strikeouts. On the pitching side, innings, strikeouts, and quality starts really drive the points totals, and we add some negatives for homers allowed. Here's the list:

BB: 3
HPB: 3
1B: 5
2B: 8
3B: 10
HR: 14
K: -2

SB: 3
CS: -2

R: 2
RBI: 2

There's some extra points for weird events like grand slams and cycles, but obviously we're not planning around that.

On the pitching side:

BB: -1
HPB: -1
H: -1
ER: -1
HR: -2
K: 3

IP: 6
W: 5
L: -1
QS: 10

SV: 20
HLD: 10

Again, some extra points for things like no hitters, shutouts, complete games, etc.

Last year, it was an 11-man offense roster, with one of each infield position, three OF, and three UTIL spots that could be used for anyone. This year, a MI and CI spot were added as well. On the pitching side, last year we had an eight-start limit. So while there's six SP spots, it's really just about picking the best eight starts you have. This year, we're moving to ten starts per week. There's two RP spots, as well.

Additionally, there's 12 bench spots that could be used for anyone, but obviously those guys aren't generating points. Most teams split them somewhat evenly among pitchers and hitters.

On top of that, there's 13 minor league spots.

Active roster: 33
Minors: 13

As I mentioned, there are twelve teams, and it's a daily lineup system. I think that about covers it. On to the recap of 2023.