Sport: MLB
Recently, I wrote an article on why head-to-head fantasy baseball sucks. Today, I’m tackling another controversial league feature: slow drafts. Now I understand it’s a preference thing, and some people can’t sit at a computer or be on their phones constantly during traditional drafts. However, slow drafts in fantasy baseball are the worst.
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Why I Hate Slow Drafts in Fantasy Baseball
Drafts for fantasy baseball already take longer than those for football or basketball because more positions need to be filled. In baseball, you need to fill a minimum of eight offensive positions, several starting pitchers, and ideally at least two closers. Managers also need backups for the offensive positions, but it depends on your league’s settings. Football and basketball drafts typically require fewer players than baseball’s, which forces baseball drafts to last longer.
Slow drafts can vary with how long each pick has to make a selection. Some managers like this option because they don’t feel rushed to make a selection and can conduct thorough research. However, when multiple managers wait their entire selection time to make each pick, a simple draft could take a few days or more than a week to complete. I’ve only done two slow drafts, but that was enough to know that they aren’t for me.
One league I participated in had a 12-hour time limit per pick with 12 managers. Nearly every manager took the full 12 hours to make their pick. It was a miserable experience that I didn’t return to the following year. If you’re doing slow drafts, managers should use their wish list queue. When you have a pick or two before yours, adding a few players to the queue would help speed up the draft. Multiple managers could conduct research during a single 12-hour window, but that wasn’t the case in my league.
Drafts are a majority of the fun in fantasy leagues, so heed my words: Fantasy baseball slow drafts are the worst. If you must participate in this type of draft, then be courteous of everyone’s time and try to speed up your picks as much as possible. The baseball season is already long and tedious enough; don’t bring that tediousness to your drafts as well. To ensure you’re prepared for your fantasy baseball drafts, be sure to checkout Fantrax’s fantasy baseball draft kit.
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