The problem with, and solution to, fantasy baseball

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For just over two years I have been able to steer clear of it, and for just over two years my life has been more productive because of it. Less stress, more time for my family, all that jazz, however, with the Major League Baseball (MLB) season upon us once again, I have once again fallen into the grasp of it. And what is it, you may be asking? Fantasy baseball. The evil online sports game that makes you turn against your own team in times of need and will make you start cheering for players who play for teams that you rather not speak of. It is a terrible, terrible thing, and I now find myself back with the fat in the fire, thinking only of batting averages, on-base-percentages, win-loss records, and the like.

Fantasy baseball in general is quite simple. You, along with roughly a dozen other people sit a computer and pick a team from all the players in the MLB. A player can only be chosen once, so each team will be fundamentally different. Each team needs a first baseman, second baseman, catcher, pitcher, etc. and some secondary players. You pick the players based on a variety of statistics and once completed, your team will play against the other teams, with points being awarded to your players based on real life statistics, in real games, which is essentially where the real problems begin.

I am Toronto Blue Jays fan, always have been, and it hasn’t been easy. Other than in the early 1990s, when being a Blue Jays fan was vogue, being a Jays fan has set me up for ridicule and has made me the kicker of many jokes.

I am not a fan of the New York Yankees, I really don’t like them. Never had, never will. To me, cheering for the Yankees is like cheering for the tank in Tiananmen Square. You know who is going to win. On the surface then, if the Jays take on the Yankees, I go for Toronto. Cut and dry - or so it has been for the last two years. This is where fantasy baseball tears your world apart.

Now let’s say, my opponent in fantasy baseball has a Blue Jay pitcher, and heaven forbid, I have a Yankee batter on my team. They are playing each other. When that batter steps up to the plate to face the pitcher, I will be, gasp, cheering for a New York Yankee, which is just not right.

That right there is the problem with fantasy baseball. You find yourself cheering for teams, or players on teams, depending on the situation, that you otherwise never would cheer for. Sure, I could make my fantasy team up of players other than Yankees, however, you play to win, and if a Yankee is the best available player left, a Yankee I will take, not happily, but I will.

Years of therapy will not make that wrong, right.

My advice than is this: don’t play fantasy baseball, or fantasy sports in general. Don’t make the same mistakes that I have. Go out and have a catch instead, or better yet, go and watch the Grand Forks Secondary School’s Wolves baseball team play. Their season starts up on April 9, with a double header against L.V. Rogers of Nelson starting at 2:30 p.m. at James Donaldson Park. It is a much safer bet with fewer headaches and whole lot less sleepless nights. And at this time of year, with March Madness still underway, we all could use a little more sleep.

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