I’ve been playing fantasy baseball for around a decade at this point. I, like I’d imagine a number of us, started playing our friends, family, and people we know. However it quickly became clear to me that my knowledge and passion for fantasy baseball far surpassed that of those I was playing in those leagues. When I started playing in harder leagues I realized this wasn’t because I was soooo smart, just I actually cared, and in fantasy baseball investing and putting in the time and work is a lot of the battle.

Pre-season 2013 yahoo mock drafts had just opened (yes I used to play on Yahoo – but Fantrax is bluntly the only fantasy baseball platform I use other than NFBC, and for dynasty it is unrivaled) and so I hoped in one and happened to catch the eye of a pair of owners who ran a dynasty league that had an opening. And because of that I was suddenly introduced to the glorious world of dynasty baseball. Since then I’ve joined existing leagues, been in start ups, and started up a few of my own dynasty leagues. Here is how I’ve done in these leagues in the past:

In LOE I took over a team that was an absolute train-wreck and slowly – in retrospect way too slowly – nursed it back to health.

In HOJ I took over a meh team, took a low seed on a hot run through H2H playoffs to win the championship before the mediocre core took over again, some bad playoff appearances, and then this year in a COVID-19 induced roto format ended 2nd to a nicely rejuvenated roster.

In FSAAd I drafted it from the start lost in the semi’s the first two years, had a ton of injuries, lost in the first round of playoffs and then won the league this year with what is a solid, if not all that inspiring, roster.

FNA I drafted from the start, lost in the H2H finals, won the H2H finals, and then won in a 2020 roto format.

Both D1S and Corona I drafted super young teams to build from nothing, so ending in last in both of those is just going according to plans.

Additionally, I now run a 30 team “industry” dynasty and play in leagues like TGFBI and Razzslam.

But how did I get here? How do you grow as a dynasty and fantasy baseball player? There are two main things: 1) study 2) play good players. So to the first study – where? who? Start with reading good analysts and listening to good podcasts, and twitter has made it remarkably easy to do both.

Some people and websites you should read and podcasts you should listen to- and there are way more – Baseball Prospectus, Fangraphs, Eric Cross and Fantrax, Dynasty Guru and their entire team, TINO, Flags Fly Forever, and a number of other places to read and listen. So go! Explore! Find people you enjoy reading and and podcasting you enjoy hearing and make that part of your routine.

Also – find rankings you like. In terms of rankings I highly recommend Dynasty Guru, Eric Cross’, and Baseball Prospectus’ Dynasty Prospect Rankings and Dynasty Rankings – all of these are invaluable. There are so many other analysts and writers I respect but I don’t want to give you a laundry list – those should provide a good launch pad. Of note – rankings are not contextual – so don’t just make or not make a trade based on rankings, look at age, format, contention window, etc – they are guidelines, not gospel.

Playing with good players is also pivotal. Now this can be a little harder, but with Twitter it has become easier to find groups of smart managers to play against and challenge yourself. My hope is also that this site would provide that service as I can help get you to play against managers in leagues that challenge you – leagues that push you to know more about prospects and other players. The deeper the league the more you have to learn and figure out. You’ll also learn in this what sort of leagues you like. For example – I prefer daily lineup leagues – you may prefer weekly with your preferences or schedules.

I grew over the years with the use of these resources, along with other baseball statistical tools that help you learn the game, and through playing with smart managers who made me learn more about trading, more about valuing players, and managers who make you pay if you make a mistake.

This is just a brief look at this journey – but at its core its about just getting into the trench, doing your homework, and playing and talking with smart owners who will help you learn and grow.

Want to learn and grow more? Reach out – come with friends or let me help find you a league!