Fantasy baseball is a fickle mistress. You spend hours researching players to draft a quality team. There are a select few elite players that you want to grab with your first round pick to form a solid base for your roster. Your pick comes, you get your guy, and BAM! he hits the disabled list with a pulled oblique flexor tendon or some other bizarre injury.

Your season is officially over, right? Wrong! Good news — having your first round pick get hurt is actually a blessing in disguise. Crazy talk, you say? Consider this: Two seasons ago, the Love Boat Captains lost her first-round pick for the year just  two weeks into the season. Needless to say, she made the adjustment and won the league. Last year, the LBCs lost 4 of her first 5 picks for significant time due to injury, and we all know how that worked out for her. One more example: Two seasons ago, Dan competed his ass off after the “curse of Grady Sizemore” almost sunk his season.

The reality is that every pick is important. But it’s more important to stay up on the players in the league and make the changes necessary to make your team competitive. Losing your first pick doesn’t need to be the season-killer we all make it out to be. And anyway, is there anything more enjoyable than scouting an obscure player and having him turn into this year’s Jose Bautista?

So keep your chin up, Allan. Longoria going out may have booked you a ticket to The Foul Line playoffs.

Power rankings

1. Rays Those Cowbells – An unstoppable force that has absolutely no chance of being defeated this year
2. Yankeehaters — Soon to be 3-1
3. RedRays – Showed resolve last week and pulled out a tough win
4. chefdicks11 – Tough schedule to start the year. He’ll bounce back with this team
5. bostobadboys – The little engine that could keeps plugging away
6. Love Boat Captains — Always scary
7. ToPpIn Da ChArTz – First of many wins this week. Nice job Allan!
8. UNsportsmanMike
9. WILLIS Be The Year
10. Sam’s Baseball Train

Sorry 8,9, and 10. My dad always told me that if didn’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Thanks everyone for playing. This is a league of smart players that really know baseball. It’s fun to be a part of. Let’s keep it enjoyable.

Good luck to all this week.

Week two of our season is in the books, and the competition is as fierce as ever. I have never started a fantasy season 1-0, so to be one of only 3 teams to be 2-0 after two weeks is blowing my mind.

So far this season there have been a few interesting trades. I really liked WILLIS Be The Year going against conventional wisdom and trading Hanley for stud pitcher and chronic mound-sprinter Cliff Lee. I think this trade is a good deal for both teams, unlike the shellacking I gave Allan in the Gallardo/VMart deal. Keep throwing those 90-mph fastballs Yovani!

I’m going to keep this post short. The Boston Bad Boy is in town for a couple of days and we’re heading to the Trop to see Edwin Jackson outduel David Price. So without further adieu… here are your Week 2 power rankings.

1. Yankeehaters
2. Rays Those Cowbells
3. bostobadboys
4. chefdicks11
5. Love Boat Captains
6. RedRays
7. WILLIS Be The Year
8. Sam’s Baseball Train
9. UNsportsmanMike
10. ToPpIn Da ChArTz

Go Sox!

Holy cow, that was a long first week of fantasy baseball! I think we can all agree that a seven-day game week is preferable to the 11-day marathon. Congrats to the teams that won. Good luck this week!

Quick Hits

• Trades in fantasy baseball are a crazy thing. Sometimes there are obvious winners and losers. Other times times one team gets absolutely crushed. An example of this would be yours truly trading Alex Rodriguez and C.J. Wilson for Cole Hamels and Justin Upton. I drafted A-Rod in the 4th round of our draft, and I was happy with the pick. I think he’s going to have a monster season. But every time I saw him up to bat, I was wishing that he would take a fastball in his earhole. I think it’s important to have a fantasy team made up of players that are not only good but also fun to watch. I think Hamels and J. Upton  are two of those guys. A-Rod never will be.
• The Yankeehaters were getting crushed this week. I traded A-Rod and my team’s performance turned around the next day. Karma? Perhaps. Either way — good riddance.
• The 8th inning experiment with star closer Rafael Soriano is not going well. Some guys are just meant to pitch in the 9th inning. Oh well, it’s only $35 million.
• B.J. Upton’s real name is Melvin.
• There’s an appendicitis epidemic sweeping through baseball. I’m going to have mine prematurely removed so it doesn’t potentially affect my playoff run in fantasy baseball.
• Manny Ramirez is a total scumbag. Joe Maddon and the Rays players supported him 100%. Manny repays this support by lying to them and then getting busted using steroids for the second time. Good riddance.
• Sam Fuld makes a great defensive play every game.
• The LBCs have been snakebit in the first week of our season. Don’t write her off quite yet. She’ll still make the playoffs.
• Thanks Chefdick for dropping Edwin Jackson. He’s looking great so far.
• The once-proud Cleveland Indians fan base was totally absent in the series against the Red Sox.  There was an average attendance of about 5000 fans per game. Didn’t they used to own the consecutive sellout streak?
• Scoring the second most points in the league and losing is one of the frustrations of playing in a head-to-head league. Sorry, Chefdick.
• Jered Weaver: 3 games, 3 wins, 9 hits allowed, 85.5 points. Wow!

The Foul Line Fantasy Baseball Power Rankings

1. Yankeehaters: 541 points! I think that might be a world record
2. chefdicks11: Some tough injuries down the stretch hurt. Playing the Yankeehaters hurt even more.
3. RedRays: Put up a ton of points and crushed the two-time defending champ.
4. bostobadboys: If Josh Beckett continues his great pitching, the BBB will be tough all year long.
5. Rays Those Cowbells: Dan made some great trades this week. I anticipate RTC climbing up the rankings this week.
6. Sam’s Baseball Train: Solid from top to bottom. Sam is going to win more than he loses this year.
7. Love Boat Captains: This week was a fluke. Her team is better than their week-1 performance.
8. WILLIS Be The Year: Pitching is pretty awful. If he addresses that, he could bounce back. He’s still 1-0.
9. ToPpIn Da ChArTz: Losing Longoria was a big reason he lost this week. I look forward to A-Rod getting injured on your team this year.
10. UNsportsmanMike: 295.5 points in an 11-day week? Really?

Go Sox!

First comes love, then comes pain…
Let the games begin.
Questions rise and answers fall…
Insurmountable.

“Love Boat Captain”

 
It’s been a really long wait. Year four of The Foul Line fantasy baseball league is finally here, and I know that everyone is excited to get things going. I’m excited to have the gang back together, along with first-timer Allan. I really appreciate everyone coming back for another year of smack talk and friendly competition.

But first things first.

Season 3 ended with a bit of a whimper, with the Love Boat Captains beating our butts for the second year in a row. In our highly competitive league, to win once is incredible — to win twice is just crazy.

I feel I did a poor job in recognizing this amazing accomplishment. There was no prize package of useless baseball trinkets or parade in her honor. Just a few congrats and we all went into the off season with our tails between our legs and our pride hurt again. So this post is titled in honor of two-time champion Ginger and her Love Boat Captains.

It’s not a trophy, but at least you get a post named after you.

This year’s winner gets a trophy.

2011 THE FOUL LINE FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFT

What a great turnout for the draft. All ten owners showed up prepared and eager to pick the team to take them all the way. I love the draft. No matter how much you prepare, you just never know who the owner in front of you is going to take. It’s exciting and infuriating at the same time. Here’s my take on our draft, round by round. Enjoy.

Shocker! Albert Pujols went first.

I know Dan mulled over this decision for days. Should he take the greatest player on the planet, playing for a new contract, or should he grab one of the two elite shortstops? This was a no-brainer. Write him in for 40 home runs and 120 RBIs.

And the first pitcher taken is Roy… Wait, what?

After a predictable next three picks of Tulowitzki, Hanley, and Cabrera, Sam’s Baseball Train grabs Cliff Lee, and the other 9 owners’ jaws hit the floor. Isn’t there another Phillies pitcher that might be a little better?

And the Yankeehaters are on the clock…

I really debated this decision. I hate the #6 pick. I prayed that Tulowitzki would fall to me… Strike 1. Then I hoped I’d get Miggy Cabrera… Strike 2!

In my mind there are four elite outfielders in baseball (Braun, CarGo, Crawford, and Holliday). I figured I’d grab the one that has the best track record. The pick is Braun, and I’m ok with it.

UNsportsmanMike grabs Adrian Gonzalez at 7. I’m a little leery of taking a guy coming off shoulder surgery. Gonzo is eventually going to tear it up at Fenway, but I thought this was a little early.

With a fresh McDonalds sundae in hand, Allan takes Dan’s man-crush Evan Longoria at 8, and the already shallow 3B position takes a hit.

LBC took NL MVP Joey Votto in the 5th round last year, and she steals him again this year at 9. It’s not the sexiest pick, but a great one nonetheless.

How come when I get autodrafted, I get stuck with Dice K and Julio Lugo?

RedRays’s computer freezes up, and he gets Halladay and King Felix. Good things happen to good people.

A catcher in the second round?

I always prefer a good hitter to a good pitcher, and it looks like most of the league felt the same way. I believe that there are 3 stud catchers, and then the rest are pretty comparable. Allan opened the flood gates, and V-Mart, Mauer, and Posey were gone. I guess I’ll wait until round 10 to take a catcher…

Don’t look now, but the first basemen are going fast.

Hmmm… Who do I take? The douchebag Yankee or the 300-pound vegetarian in his contract year?

Round 3 might be the best round for all of us. Quality picks all around:

> Dan gives me an eff-you and grabs Pedroia
> Chefdick takes fireballer Josh Johnson
> Willis takes the #4 rated hitter, Teixeira
> BBB takes the guy with the best name in baseball, Buster Posey
> I loved Sam’s pick, Dan Uggla. He’s gonna do damage in that lineup
> Yankeehaters takes 2011 MVP and perennial jerk A-Rod
> Mike goes with Crawford
> Allan steals the 2011 AL Cy Young award winner
> Ginger takes the last of the good shortstops
> RedRays is back in action and takes big bad Ryan Howard

Who’s the idiot that took two third basemen?

Round 4. The best hitter still available is a great guy for my utility spot. Trade bait? Perhaps.

Added bonus: Sam makes a panic move and takes Adrian Beltre with the next pick.

I did 40 mock drafts in preparation for this draft, and round 5 always was my nemesis.

Dan jumps on Heyward with the first pick of round 5. Here’s a fun fact that’s sure to drive Dan crazy:

Player A: .276 (464 at-bats), 85 runs, 23 home runs, 66 RBIs, 12 steals
Player B: .277 (520 at-bats), 83 runs, 18 home runs, 72 RBIs, 11 steals

Player B is Jason Heyward.
Player A is Colby Rasmus, taken in round 19 by yours truly.

I took Jacoby Ellsbury. It’s probably a bit of a reach, but he’s been tearing up the spring, and when he’s healthy he’s a top 5 fantasy outfielder. Please stay healthy Jacoby!

Holy crap, there’s a lot of great pitchers left!

Haren, Hanson, Liriano, Weaver, Buchholz, Grienke, Latos, Gallardo, Billingsley, Scherzer, Oswalt, Cahill, Beckett, Danks…

I sure am glad I waited on pitching. I scooped up Weaver, Gallardo, and Scherzer. I was psyched to get Scherzer. He was one guy that I was targeting. I think he has huge breakout potential this year.

Then he went out and gave up 12 runs in 2 1/3 innings the very next day. Swell.

There’s still a few hidden gems left, right?

RedRays and Allan take the Upton brothers in round 10. I love the Justin pick. B.J., not so much.

I finally take a catcher, really happy with Soto. Now that he’s Piniella-free I think we’ll see his resurgence.

For some odd reason, Sam takes Corey Hart. He’s on the DL! I think I’d rather have Corey Feldman.

Dan goes fat and skinny in rounds 10 and 11 with Ichiro and Kung Fu Panda. Ichiro slips every year for some odd reason. Solid pick. I’m still not sold on Sandoval, but Dan needs a third baseman and he was the fattest available. I think I would have gone with Aramis Ramirez, but good luck with that.

Some really interesting picks in round 12:

• LBC takes Wandy Rodriguez, which could be a good value
• I take the steal of the draft with Mike Stanton. He may strike out 200 times this year, but I’m counting on 40 home runs. It’s worth a little risk for a potential huge upside
• BadBoys takes his his man crush with Aubrey Huff
• I love Willis and Dan’s Billy Butler and Brandon Morrow picks
• Francisco Cordero in this round was a horrible choice by Sam’s Baseball Train. There were much better options

It’s time to take the best of the mediocre pitchers!

Take a look at round 13. Every one of us picked a turd, with the exception of Allan and the Love Boat Captains. Jonathan O. Sanchez and Daniel Hudson are solid picks.

Dan and I picked Garza and Lackey. I usually like it when an AL pitcher goes to the inferior NL, but Garza is a head case that I think is going to wilt under the pressure of playing at Wrigley. I’m still not sure why I took Lackey. He was pretty awful last year.

Next, I take Alexei Ramirez, followed by Dan cursing me out via the chat, which only makes me like the pick that much more. The BadBoys grab Elvis Andrus. Dan responds by taking Marco Scutaro, and laughter is heard throughout thefoulline.com headquarters.

I was really happy getting C.J. Wilson in round 15. He’s the #1 pitcher on the American League Champions. He could be a steal.

I really liked round 16:

• Matt Thornton and Chris Perez are two low-cost, high-quality closers picked by the LBCs and the Yankeehaters
• Allan grabs this year’s Jason Heyward in Freddie Freeman
• Willis takes a potential 30/30 guy in Drew Stubbs
• And Dan takes Gordon Beckham, which gives him two second baseman. I don’t have the heart to tell him that he only needs one.

Is this draft ever going to end?

At this point, we’re at the two-hour mark and we’re all getting a little punch-drunk. Some interesting choices the rest of the way:

• Rays Those Cowbells:  Joe Nathan, Manny Ramirez , Jordan Zimmermann, Jorge De La Rosa. I think this is a strong finish for young Dan.
• chefdicks11:  Adam Jones, Edwin Jackson, Jake Peavy. I think this is the year Adam Jones lives up to the hype. The other two guys, you can keep.
• WILLIS Be The Year: Wade Davis and Vladimir Guerrero are solid late-round choices.
• bostobadboys: Adam Lind and Brian Matusz. Lind is a good hitter and will rebound this year, and Matusz is a future All Star.  Nice choices.
• Sam’s Baseball Train: Hiroki Kuroda is a pretty good pick. His other picks at the end of this draft, pretty bad.
• Yankeehaters: Kelly Johnson, Jhoulys Chacin, Colby Rasmus, Eric Bedard. Score, score, score, score. Once again, the Yankeehaters are playing chess, while everyone else is playing checkers.
• UNsportsmanMike:  Aaron Hill, Jaime Garcia, Scott Baker. Nice finish. These three guys will help this team.
• ToPpIn Da ChArTz: Grady Sizemore (insert punchline here), Carlos Quentin, AJ Burnett, Johnny Cueto, Rafael Furcal. I think Allan had a really good draft from top to bottom. He may be a  force this year.
• Love Boat Captains:  Madison Bumgarner, Ricky Nolasco, Brett Cecil. These are the type of pitchers that the LBCs likes to gobble up only to have them pitch their asses off.
• RedRays: Jeff Niemann, Aramis Ramirez, Fausto Carmona, Javier Vasquez, Travis Wood. I’m not sure why some of these guys were still available. RedRays has a solid history of drafting low-risk, high-reward guys.

I had a great time preparing for the draft. I’m happy with my results, and I can’t wait to get the season started. I know it’s early, but based on the draft here’s my predictions for the four playoff teams:

• Love Boat Captains
• ToPpIn Da ChArTz
• Yankeehaters
• WILLIS Be The Year

I was playing some disc golf with my buddy Kyle the other day, and we stumbled upon a collegiate baseball tournament that was being played on the adjacent fields. I came to find out that there are 25 baseball teams playing in a month-long tournament in Port Charlotte (Snowbird Baseball Classic on Florida’s Suncoast). After dominating Kyle in golf, we caught a few innings of Montclair State University vs. Carthage College. If you put a gun to my head I couldn’t tell you where these school are located, but I can tell you it was really enjoyable to watch. This just further proves what I always say… Any baseball is good baseball.

Enjoy thefoulline.com’s Quick Hits:

• Manny Ramirez has 3 sons, all named Manny.
• How is it possible that the frickin’ New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys conglomeration of suckiness is having a concert at Fenway Park this summer and Pearl Jam is not?
• If I had the chance to spend a day talking baseball with any two people in the world, Don Zimmerman and Yogi Berra would definitely top the list.
• If I had the chance to spend a day talking fantasy baseball with any two people in the world, Ginger and the Bostonbadboy would definitely top the list.
• Big, bad, burly Dan Johnson’s walk up music is Men Without Hats, “The Safety Dance.” Odd choice.
• I’m really looking forward to a season of ESPN baseball broadcasts without Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Joe Morgan is a pompous ass.
• I just read that Chipper Jones is having a great spring and is swinging the bat better than he did in 2008. I expect to be reading in two weeks that Chipper Jones is on the DL with a hang nail.
• I think the Baltimore Orioles have a chance to go 81-81. Their pitching isn’t quite there, but the lineup with Vlad, Markakis, Mark Reynolds, Luke Scott, Brian Roberts, and Matt Wieters should be fun to watch.
• Quick! Not counting Fausto Carmona, Grady Sizemore, and Carlos Santana, name three players on the Cleveland Indians. (Shin-Soo Choo and Travis Hafner were all I could come up with.) I think the Royals may have some competition for worst team in baseball.
• I’m not sold that Josh Beckett is going to have the great resurgence that a lot of fantasy experts are projecting.
• I’m predicting that Jonathan Papelbon will be the Baltimore Orioles closer in 2011.
• Dear Seattle Mariner ownership: Please do not trade King Felix to the Yankees regardless of who they offer you. He’s your franchise guy. Build around him!
• Has anyone seen Unsportsman Mike? I don’t want to hear any more lame excuses about an auto-drafted team this year. He had a three-week notice.
• I’m hoping for the 4th-6th pick in this years draft. Not a fan of the bookend position.

12 days.

Basketball is boring, the NHL has too many foreign players whose names I can’t pronounce, and the NFL may not be around for a 2011 season. And that is why Major League Baseball is the best of the professional sports. 30 teams, all with a chance to win the World Series. 162 games that matter. Fresh-cut grass. Cold beer. Keeping score… and oh yeah, fantasy baseball.

Quick Hits:

• I can’t believe that I made a “don’t draft” list and didn’t include Grady Sizemore. I hate that bastard, and his one good knee.
• It’s nice to see the Chicago Cubs in mid-season form. It’s the first week of games and they’re already fighting each other in the dugout.
• Carl Crawford’s batting average has soared to .167  after collecting two hits today. The flood gates are officially open.
• Speaking of mid-season form, Dice K gave up 7 runs in today’s game. That’s $100 million well spent.
• I want to see a race between Jacoby Ellsbury & Carl Crawford. The loser has to bat lead-off.
• I just scored two tickets for the Rays-Red Sox game this week, 5th row behind home plate. This spring is shaping up nicely.
• After watching the aging Yankees last night, Robinson Cano is their only player that scares me. That guy is stupid good. He’s the best second baseman in the league… By a lot!
• Just when you think a player is a total scumbag, he runs into your daughter’s first grade teacher and her son at Publix, poses for pictures, and gives the kid an autographed bat… I guess that’s just Manny being Manny. Classy move.
• I’m really happy to see that our league has 10 teams signed up, although I’m not sure what a “bostobadboy” is.
• Dont sleep on the Atlanta Braves this year. If one of their Billy Wagner replacements pitches well, watch out.
• I actually traded Hanley Ramirez and David Price for Ryan Howard and a scrub pitcher last year. How’d I make the playoffs?
• If you want a good laugh, YouTube Dustin Pedroia and watch any interview he does. The guy is a character.
• Is Buster Posey the first catcher taken in the draft?
• Can’t wait for Opening Day. Although I’m dreading that I have to listen to Dewayne Staats call Rays games.
• Fact:  3 weeks until draft time, and two-time defending fantasy baseball champion Love Boat Captains has yet to research the first player or do a mock draft. Why am I still scared?

10 baseball players I will not draft ever again:

1. Ian Kinsler
   The guy rakes, but he guarantees to get significantly injured every season.
2. Daisuke Matsuzaka
   I don’t care that he won 18 games. I need to see that damn gyro ball before I draft him.
3. A.J. Burnett
   Needs to change his first name to BJ, because he sucks!
4. Mark Teixeira
   I can’t have a guy on my team that I want to punch in the face every time I see his stupid mug.
5. Josh Hamilton
   See Kinsler, Ian
6. Pablo Sandoval
   I would have been ecstatic if Kung Fu Panda hit his weight in batting average (.375). Unfortunately I don’t see him ever hitting over .230
7. Chipper Jones
   Dude, grown men aren’t called Chipper. Your name is Larry.
8. Nelson Cruz
   He once pulled 3 hamstrings in one game. Guaranteed to get hurt every year.
9. James Shields
   Total doucher. Enough said.
10. Albert Pujols
    Complete waste of talent. This guy will never amount to anything. I highly recommend that no one picks this guy. You’ll be sorry if you do!

By the way, The Foul Line is now on Facebook, THE place for fantasy smack talk.

Over the past two weeks I have received dozens of phone calls, text messages, emails, and blog comments from family, friends, state senators, and fantasy competitors, and they are all asking me the same thing: “Dave, how the hell do you come up with your weekly power rankings?”

Well foulliners, I have good news. Unlike Colonel Sanders, I am going to share with you my secret recipe of herbs and spices that allows me to compile the most accurate fantasy baseball power ranking.

Here you go.

1. Total Points
The team with the most total points in the league gets 10, second most 9, and so on and so forth all the way down to 1 point for the bottom of the barrel.

2. Streak
A team on a winning streak gets one point for every game in the streak. A team on a losing streak gets -1 for every game in the streak.

3. Fear Factor
This is simply how much fear that opponent would strike in me if I had to face them in that particular week.
There is a range from -5 for a team that doesn’t scare me at all to +5 for a team that scares the crap out of me.

4. Expectations
This part of the score adjusts for whether a team is over-performing or under-performing. Subtract up to 5 points if the team is playing better than they should, and add up to 5 points for a team that’s slumping.

And that’s it! Now you’ve seen what goes into the weekly rankings. SO PLEASE STOP CALLING!!

Hello Foulliners! What another exciting week of fantasy baseball. All the games went down to the wire Sunday and were a lot of fun to watch. After two weeks, some teams are starting to show their dominance while others are making it clear they need to pick their game up.

I took a look at Week 3′s schedule, and we have another round of great matchups. This week, in addition to the power rankings, I’m going to try and predict the winners of all the games.

Let’s start with an easy one:

the Haitian Hammer (2-0) vs. Yankeehaters (0-2)

This is the no-brainer of the week. This week the Haitian is the Hammer and the Yankeehaters are the nail.
WINNER: THE HAITIAN HAMMER

Rays Those Cowbells (1-1) vs. unsportsmanMike (0-2)

Mike got some good points from his outfield this past week and has an above-average rotation, but looking at his team, I’m not surprised to see him 0-2. What makes it worse is that he’s facing RTC fresh off the big win against the defending champions. Confidence is high in the RTC camp. Should be a cake walk.
WINNER: RAYS THOSE COWBELLS

chefdick (0-2) vs. Boston Badboys (2-0)

I don’t know much, but I do know that chefdick’s team is a lot better than his record. Chefdick has made a couple of brilliant moves that have improved his squad. When Cliff Lee returns in a few weeks, his already strong team will be even stronger. On the other hand, I still do not like the Boston Badboys team. They are the most overrated undefeated team in fantasy baseball. I guarantee that chefdick wins big this week.
WINNER: CHEFDICK in a blowout

Less than Zero (1-1) vs. Team One (2-0)

I think that this is going to be the game of the week. Both teams are solid top to bottom with great starting pitching. With equal pitching starts, this one is a coin flip. After scouring their lineups, I predict…
WINNER: TEAM ONE in a nail-biter

Love Boat Captains (1-1) vs. RedRays (1-1)

Fresh off a humiliating loss to Rays Those Cowbells, the LBCs will be highly motivated to take down the resurgent RedRays. The LBCs were hampered by cold hitters and mediocre pitching; this past week was an anomaly that won’t happen often this year. Meanwhile the RedRays’ Matt “Weird Beard” Garza and Adam Wainwright combined for 700 points this past week and promise to be fantasy studs all year long. Unfortunately for the RedRays, the rest of his starting lineup is average. Scott Kazmir, Colby Lewis, and Kevin Slowey are two-starts this week, and I’m not entirely sure that it’s a good thing. All three have the potential to put up huge negatives in points. I think this one will be close.
WINNER: LOVE BOAT CAPTAINS

You know what they say, if you can’t play fantasy baseball well, you can always write about fantasy baseball.

WEEK 2 POWER RANKINGS

1. Team One
2. Boston Badboys
3. Rays Those Cowbells
4. Less Than Zero
5. Love Boat Captains
6. the Haitian Hammer
7. RedRays
8. chefdick
9. unsportsmanMike
10. Yankeehaters

Good luck to all this week. Have fun!

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Our third season of fantasy baseball is under way, and I’m already noticing a common theme from previous years. It’s become a tradition for Team Yankeehater to get destroyed by Less than Zero in week one. It happens every year. Ugh!

Secondly, the damn Love Boat Captains always assemble a solid team and proceed to mow down the entire league. She’s on her way again.

Thirdly, Team Boston Badboys will score a million points one week, followed by a week where he barely cracks double digits.

And finally, Rays those Cowbells drafts a good team, only to have his players start dropping like flies to the injury bug.

One thing that promises to change this year: Team Yankeehater doesn’t plan on losing in the finals. Consider yourselves warned.

It’s early, but here are your thefoulline.com power rankings:

1. Love Boat Captains
   She’s not ranked #1 just because she’s the defending league champion. She’s #1 because she’s assembled a tough team from top to bottom. Not to mention, she may be the toughest trade negotiator in the league. Rays those Cowbells is going to have bad dreams about his LBC matchup next week… again.
2. Less Than Zero
   Halladay, Lester, Youk, Teixiera, McCann, Cano… a murderer’s row of fantasy excellence. LTZ drafts his ass off every year. Let’s see if he makes improvements during the season to go deep into the playoffs.
3. Boston Badboys
   The BBBs put up a ton of points this week and are worthy of a 3rd place ranking… for now. But I guarantee Vernon Wells will not hit 36 points again this season, and that shaky starting pitching will catch up to him. I predict that the Badboys will be watching the playoffs again this year.
4. Team One
   This autodrafted team loaded up on starting pitching and it’s paying off for him in a big way. I’m not sure he’ll rank this high all year — he has a few glaring holes in his lineup. But as I think we all know, pitching wins ball games, even in the fantasy world.
5. chefdick
   Any team that has Albert Pujols on it has to be in the top five. Add Evan Longoria, Matt Kemp, and Kendry Morales, and you have a team that will be tough every week. The chef may have cooked up a stinker this week, but I don’t think anyone will be looking forward to playing him this year.
6. the Haitian Hammer
   At the time I’m writing this, Team HH is in a dogfight with his brother-in-law. This is another team that’s loaded with starting pitching. I’m just not sure I would count on a lineup that features an infield consisting of Dan Uggla, Orlando Cabrera, and Chipper Jones. He definitely has the trade chips if he’s looking to improve.
7. RedRays
   This team every year is like the little engine that could. He puts together a team of good, not great, players and competes his butt off every year. Team RedRays has a knack for finding the diamond in the rough. I’m sure he’ll kick my butt in week two.
8. Rays Those Cowbells
   I could have put RTC anywhere from 5-8 in the rankings. I decided on 8 due to the fact that he has the defending champion LBCs in week two and could be staring at a 0-2 hole to start the year. But with good pitching, above-average hitters, and a willingness to deal to make his team better, Dan won’t be in the 8-hole much longer.
9. unsportsmanMike
   Another victim of the dreaded autodraft. Team UM includes some above-average pitching led by King Felix, but his closer situation is god-awful. Mike took a big step forward today by picking up Trevor Hoffman from the Badboys. This team just doesn’t strike a lot of fear in me. But unsportsmanlikeMike is new to the league and a serious wildcard, so we’ll see how he responds to his week-one shellacking.
10. Yankeehaters
    The no-brainer of the week. My team sucks. I have a million pitchers, and they all stunk it up this week. Is it possible for them ever to get their stuff together?? Who knows? Maybe I should make another trade??

23 weeks and counting until the playoffs. Good luck everyone!