2024-25 College Basketball Power Rankings (March 3)
Mike Randle
Meaningful baseball games now are only two weeks away, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs playing a two-game series March 18-19 in Tokyo. While the MLB regular season does not begin for the other 28 teams until March 27, “real” baseball is assuredly getting closer. This article explores three transitions that fantasy managers must navigate in order to maximize success in upcoming NFBC drafts.
Fantasy Baseball: The Transition
Transition No. 1 – Transitioning from Draft Champions Leagues to FAAB Leagues
DC leagues, which are 50-round, draft-and-hold contests without FAAB, start earlier and earlier each season. This past offseason, DC drafts began in earnest in October. Heck, 14 other die-hards and I started a DC draft for the 2025 season last August. (I see that my selections of Corbin Burnes and Jazz Chisholm Jr. in that draft still represent those players’ min and max picks, respectively.) Many fantasy managers have been drafting DC teams for months and now are – or soon will be – transitioning to FAAB leagues.
There are numerous differences between draft-and-hold and FAAB leagues, and ADP from DC leagues should not be used for drafting teams with FAAB. For one thing, drafting prospects and injured players is more treacherous in FAAB leagues. Whether it is a Main Event, OC or standalone league, there are only seven bench spots on rosters in FAAB contests, as opposed to 27 bench spots in DC leagues. Thus, it is easier to “stash” a promising prospect or an injured player in a DC league than a league with FAAB. For instance, Ha-Seong Kim has a DC contest ADP of 309 (21st round). Kim is injured and expected to be back sometime in May. In a DC league, Kim may represent a solid pick who hopefully will provide four or more months of production. Having Kim occupy one of a DC team’s 27 bench spots is not particularly challenging, and managers will have multiple middle infielders to choose from in completing their starting lineups without him. In a FAAB league, however, each of the seven allotted bench spots are precious – particularly in the beginning of the season when roles are changing and players are emerging – and, therefore, only elite players (e.g., Ronald Acuña Jr., Spencer Strider) should be drafted as longer-term stashes. Thus, I would be surprised if Kim is drafted on more than a few Main Event teams later this month.
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