The Silly (Playoff) Season

For the dwindling number of people who care about their fantasy baseball teams, it's playoff time... and it's also the time when rosters are expanded, veterans get rested, and regulars for also-rans start getting re-evaluated since, well, the season's more or less over.

In other words, fantasy baseball playoffs suck. (And yes, it's not helping that I'm losing.)

How bad is it? I once won a playoff round in a highly competitive league by playing Rent A Catcher with the immortal Rod Barajas, who had a hot week while enjoying the home cooking at The Launching Pad in Arlington. This was with a sixth-place team that had Todd Helton and Jimmy Rollins drafted way too high.

Assuming you can get to the final round, you're eventually going to win or lose not with the guys you've had for months, but some one-day wonder of a call-up. Last year, I had a team that steamrolled the league (my draft was the best of my life -- Jim Thome and Justin Morneau late, Jon Papelbon with the last pick) like a dog with a bone, but wound up winning only because of a relief win from Guillermo Mota. Yes, Guillermo Freaking Mota.

The simple solution to this kind of twerpish behavior is:

1) Weekly rosters
2) Keeper league, or
3) Both

But the sad reality is that weekly rosters only protect the lazy / have lives owners, who the energetic / no life owners, of course, have no real use for, other than an easy payday. Having been the latter... I am now, utterly and completely, the former. Reaping the whirlwind. I feel like Ali in the Trevor Berbick fight. (OTOH, at least I'm not the guy that lost to Mota or Barajas.)

Next year, I'm looking for a local league, keepers, weekly rosters, with a live draft, especially if someone else wants to run it. So if you're in the Philly-New York area and want in, ping me -- in six to eight weeks. Until then, If I'm "lucky", I'm going to be too busy add/dropping pathetic starting pitchers, swapping in hitters during off days, and rubbing my Barajas bobblehead for luck (it's not a doll, it's Barajas himself -- he needed the work).