No Longer a Marathon

It’s no longer a marathon, it’s a sprint. With roughly six weeks left of the fantasy baseball season a lot of teams still have a lot of ground to make up. Whether it’s a push for a better playoff bracket in head to head competition, or trying to make up points either for a league title or just for respectability there is still time to make a run at the team or teams in front of you. Let’s talk late season strategy.

1) Push your limits! Don’t leave an inning unpitched or a game unplayed – use your limits to your advantage. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule if you are already so far ahead no one can catch you or if your league uses a lot of negative stats. One caution, be careful not to pitch horrible guys in an attempt to merely fill out your IP limits. Bad pitching kills you quicker than anything in the fantasy game.

2) Know how many games every team plays this week - especially in weekly leagues, get those 7-8 game players in and the 5-6 game players out. Every at bat could make a difference.

3) Figure out on a daily basis where you can gain or lose points. It seems obvious but play for the points that are in your grasp, leave the pie in the sky alone.

4) Punt a category if it will help you gain enough points elsewhere to offset the loss you might take by walking away from a category.

5) Watch the match-ups - especially with September call ups. Young rookie pitchers give you a chance to fatten up some offensive categories as well as increase the odds that your pitchers can win some extra games.

6) Gamble a little on hot rookies or prospects. If you have some guys who are essentially placeholders on your team and don’t offer you much in terms of production, gamble with what you can afford to lose. The more ground you need to make up, the more you need to gamble.

7) Don’t be stupid, especially in leagues with cash prizes. Don’t throw away a chance to finish in second or third because you were so ambitious that you can only see first place. Be smart.

8) Don’t get too caught up in a name - especially at this point. Yes player X might get you an extra 2 home runs or RBIs compared to player Y, but if he plays 9 less games the rest of the way you could lose out on much better overall stats.

9) Pay attention to players on teams that are locked into playoff spots. Teams like the White Sox and Cardinals will be resting players, giving key guys more of chance to recuperate from injuries. Other teams will do the same once they feel locked into the playoffs.

10) Don’t collude but remember to offer advice freely to everyone - especially to players who could take points away from the players ahead of you in the standings.

Good Luck!