Baseball 2016

Scott Hardie | April 5, 2016
Is anyone interested in a fantasy league for the summer? If we get at least three people besides me, I'll start one.

It's opening day! As a native Chicagoan, I look forward to seeing how this year plays out. :-)

What are your predictions or hopes for the season?

Steve West | April 5, 2016
I am so in for this. Nationals, baby!

Scott Hardie | April 5, 2016
Warning, I'll be out tomorrow night and on vacation Thu 4/7 through Mon 4/11. I can set up the league on 4/6 or next week, unless someone else wants to run the league, which would be awesome of them. :-)

Erik Bates | April 5, 2016
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | April 6, 2016
You know what's awesome on the day before vacation? Throwing out your back. :-( I'm restricting myself to bedrest today except for a doctor appointment. I'm wary of prescription pain meds because I've seen friends get hooked and I want no part of that. But I have also put a lot of time and money into this trip and I want to do as much of it as possible. This has nothing to do with baseball; I'm just venting because I'm frustrated.

Chris Lemler | April 6, 2016
Well Scott hope you get back on your feet real soon and hope you get better

Scott Hardie | April 6, 2016
Thanks! I'm really glad I saw my doctor, because 1) I had no idea that bed rest is the worst thing for a back 2) I feel better about walking around for the next few days because it's the best thing I can do to heal 3) pain meds.

Not signing up for baseball, Chris? I figured you'd be the first person to register. I know how much you enjoy the sport.

Scott Hardie | April 7, 2016
Chris is in. Anyone else?

LaVonne Lemler | April 9, 2016
Scott, I will try fantasy baseball --- have some "retirement" time on my hands; been a life-long Cardinal fan and, of course, always pull for them. However, the Cubs and Pirates are gonna be tough! Interesting year ahead!

Hope you're enjoying the vacation time and not feeling any pain.

Scott Hardie | April 15, 2016
Thanks! We had a great time. It's good to be home and catching up.

Chris, LaVonne, Steve, can you draft this weekend, say Saturday at 3pm eastern / 2pm central? I can be free any time this weekend or upcoming weeknight.

Chris Lemler | April 15, 2016
I'm off Sunday and that might be best for me if that's not any trouble? Scott I didn't get anything in my e-mail about signing up.

Steve West | April 15, 2016
Saturday at 3:00 or Sunday same time works for me.

Scott Hardie | April 16, 2016
Sunday at 3pm it is. If anybody else wants in, that's the deadline to say so. I'll set up the league now.

Scott Hardie | April 16, 2016
I made a big mistake with basketball and hockey: I allowed daily edits instead of weekly. Every single day, you could simply man your team with the athletes whose real teams were playing that day, benching the players whose real teams had the day off. There was little risk or thought involved. I'm correcting that mistake in baseball and any future leagues: You now have to assign your players for whole weeks at a time, which requires more foresight and risk-taking, and hopefully less maintenance button-clicking as well.

Because we have so few teams, I'm also lifting the "undroppable" rule around certain star athletes. If one of them gets injured and is useless for weeks (as happened to me with Rick Nash), you shouldn't be stuck with them. The "undroppables" concept is designed to prevent collusion in trading (one player drops out and gives all of his best athletes to another team), but let's just agree not to do that.

Scott Hardie | April 16, 2016
Here's the league. As with previous leagues, it's publicly viewable, so don't say anything expecting privacy.

Email invitations have been sent to Chris, LaVonne, and Steve at the addresses that you have on file with Funeratic. Check your spam folders if you don't see them in your inboxes.

Scott Hardie | April 17, 2016
...And I missed the very draft that I set up. Oh well, it seems like ESPN autodrafted a halfway decent team for me, given that I "won" last week and I'm poised to "win" again this week.

Editing of the team should be available on Mondays.

Chris Lemler | April 17, 2016
I had a great time

Steve West | April 18, 2016
I thought I drafted especially well but am poised to lose in week two already. Still good, though.

Scott Hardie | April 19, 2016
if no one objects, I'll lift the waiver system so that all unclaimed players are free and available. It seems appropriate for our tiny league.

Chris Lemler | April 19, 2016
Thats fine Scott. May i make a suggestion if you can do it? Since there are players on the bench is there a way you can switch players out every day? If not that's okay?

Scott Hardie | April 19, 2016
I was hoping to avoid that in the baseball season. When you're stuck with the same players in the same positions for a week, you have to apply a bit more strategy and risk-taking to each decision. When you can change them out every day, it becomes (imho) too easy to play, as you just bench the players who have that day off and field the players who have a game that day. If more people want to be able to change their roster daily than I expected, I can alter the rules.

LaVonne Lemler | May 3, 2016
Scott, what an outstanding day you had yesterday to finish the week! Your total score for the day was awesome! Here's a "newbie" question for you....do daily scores get much higher than yours? With so many player options, it would seem difficult for that to happen. I'm enjoying the game, especially watching the scoreboard daily; still groping my way through the site and learning as I go. Don't believe I could've gotten started without Chris --- he provided lots of answers to lots of questions!

Thanks for hosting the league....look forward to taking a win from you one of these days!! :-) Your 4-0 record is starting to be intimidating!! Have a great season!!!

Scott Hardie | May 4, 2016
Thanks, LaVonne! I have been on quite a lucky streak so far. I have a feeling it won't hold up all summer. :-) I look forward to seeing what directions this season takes. Good luck.

Chris Lemler | May 5, 2016
Looks like I may not get any wins.....lol But its still fun. Enjoying the season Good Luck everyone

Scott Hardie | May 5, 2016
You will, I'm sure. Keep on managing. It's a long summer. :-)

Chris Lemler | May 9, 2016
Congrats LaVonne!!!!!! Nice victory :)

LaVonne Lemler | May 9, 2016
Pessimist! :-)

Chris Lemler | May 9, 2016
Lol....I usual think negative I get a positive response.

LaVonne Lemler | May 9, 2016
Hope that works!

Steve West | May 23, 2016
Team Soulflight off the schneid!!!

Chris Lemler | May 23, 2016
Steve I was hoping to go all the way on a undefeated streak in losing.....haha I thought you had me darn it I had to beat you. Why does my losing streak have to happen to a nicer guy.....lol....Scott sorry about your undefeated streak was rooting for you......lol

LaVonne Lemler | May 29, 2016
Steve, today should have an interesting finish (a "nail-biter" for me---AAUGH!), after seeing your pitching line-up! Lots of luck! :-)

Steve West | May 29, 2016
Looks like I'll need it but I'm counting on five starters today.

LaVonne Lemler | May 30, 2016
Whoa! That was a close round.....I watched the live updates until scores were in. Good luck to all for the current week! :-)

Chris Lemler | May 30, 2016
I'm like the Chicago Cubs before they picked up these good players. Scott Is like the Chicago Cubs this year. :) Keep it going Scott!

Scott Hardie | June 1, 2016
I have been exceedingly lucky so far. I'm enjoying it and I'm glad that you all seem to be enjoying it too.

LaVonne Lemler | June 20, 2016
Steve, great week for you and your team --- awesome score!

Scott Hardie | August 9, 2016
I keep being too busy on Monday mornings to edit my team before they lock. Enjoy the spoils of my distraction, league-mates. :-)

Steve West | August 9, 2016
WooHoo!

Scott Hardie | September 12, 2016
Congrats, LaVonne and Steve! On to the finals!

Chris Lemler | September 12, 2016
Scott don't we have one more round before the finals?

Scott Hardie | September 12, 2016
I don't think so. This week was the playoffs, and you & I were eliminated. Next week (starting tomorrow) should be the final, LaVonne vs Steve. Am I looking at it wrong?

Steve West | September 13, 2016
I believe the current playoff round lasts two weeks so you guys are still in.

Scott Hardie | September 13, 2016
Aha. Well, I'm NOT still in, since I didn't bother to edit my team this morning. :-P

Scott Hardie | September 13, 2016
And nobody can edit their teams, so yeah, we're all still playing. But I have no expectation of doing better this week than last.

Steve West | September 14, 2016
Looks like somebody's making a comeback. And I was so looking forward to second place!

Scott Hardie | September 19, 2016
You were ahead of me yesterday, Steve, but it's been so close this whole time that it could have gone either way. Now, as my reward for a narrow victory over you, I get to be soundly defeated by LaVonne. Let's finish this season! :-)

Chris Lemler | September 22, 2016
I think I can do this. I'm sure this is gonna be a close one between me and Steve....lol :)

Scott Hardie | September 25, 2016
You should sell t-shirts. "Team Soulflight: It's Still Technically Possible That We Could Win"

I know the protest play. You reach a point where you can't win and you give up. I've been there on games on this website for sure. :-)

Scott Hardie | October 3, 2016
Congrats on winning the season, LaVonne! The outcome was never in doubt, not to me anyway. You won the most matchups this season, and it would have been a huge upset for any of the three of us to beat you in this final week. Well played. :-)

Steve, congrats too on your consolation victory.

I almost think Chris deserves some kind of award for losing so effectively on purpose. At least you got to end the season with some amusement, Chris. I hope it's part of a happy birthday today. :-)

LaVonne Lemler | October 4, 2016
Thanks, Scott --- beginner's luck for me! I thoroughly enjoyed the season and watching scores day to day. Hard to predict the outcome, especially after seeing some of the high daily scores achieved by players throughout the season...a fun game of chance! Thanks again for hosting it! Chris certainly did a good job of keeping me amused! :-)

Chris Lemler | October 4, 2016
I was like toilet paper coming up the rear as usual.....haha :)

Steve West | October 4, 2016
Baseball has a really long season! I enjoyed it immensely until I could no longer make roster moves - not that this made me lose (maybe a little) but that was a big part of the fun. Looking for an edge here or there in a player or two. Oh well. Congrats to LaVonne however who was consistently a winner throughout the season.

LaVonne Lemler | October 4, 2016
Thanks, Steve! A lot of the matches were close and could've gone either way. Player movement was always interesting to watch. A few times I dropped players because they weren't performing well and, magically, they went on hot streaks as free agents! Eventually I learned to stick with players, unless they were DTD or DL listed!

Good to see your Nationals in the playoffs this season (after all, you picked them in April!) They will do well....a World Series in DC sounds pretty good, huh? :-) I've been following Trea Turner this past month; what a talented, young player he is --- sort of reminds me of Diaz in St. Louis. Love watching these "young kids" do so well! Go Nationals!! :-)

And, yes, Chris is still keeping me amused!! Hahahahaha