Sports Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
Millions of people now play fantasy baseball and other fantasy sports, and it all started with a group of guys who invented "Rotisserie Baseball." ESPN recently covered the invention of this game back in 1980 with its documentary "Silly Little Game" as part of its excellent 30 for 30 documentary series. Back in the day, doing research was an art form and a real cometitive advanatage. Now with the Internet every player in a league as access to stats sorted in every possible way at his or her fingertips. That said, fantasy baseball still requires much more time than fantasy football.Our latest sports content can be found in the Sports category in our new magazine format. Archived sports content can be found in the Sports category in our blog.
News sites
Rotoworld.com
Probably the best source for free fantasy info, Rotoworld.com features regular player updates along with general analysis, plus they provide preseason rankings by position and some decent columnists. Best of all, the in-season info is free though apparently the draft guide will cost you a bit of change.
SportingNews.com
The player profiles featured on TSN.com are informative but it seems like they're moving more toward a pay format, which means the free content is slowly starting to disappear. Still, a group of solid columnists offer even more insight and the regular updates are helpful.
FantasyBaseballHeadquarters.com
We just stumbled onto this free site recently. Find preseason reports, auction values, columns, message boards, position eligibility, guidelines for setting up your own league and more. Unfortunately, the player updates are kind of thin in terms of analysis.
ESPN.com
We definitely suggest visiting ESPN's baseball index on a regular basis. Besides up-to-the-second stat updates and stories hot off the wire, you can also find some of the best baseball columnists around, including Peter Gammons, Jayson Stark and Rob Neyer.
MLB.com
The official site of Major League Baseball not only includes a link to each team's individual Web site, you can also get player bios and stats. It is also one of the few sites that gives you fairly up-to-date spring training statistics, a must-have for any fantasy geek preparing for his draft.
FanBall.com
Offering loads of both free and premium content, FanBall.com should be a daily visit for any fantasy owner. The "Newsbreakers" are thorough and informative, the position previews are solid, and other free features like team and player stats, depth charts, boxscores and pitching probables are all fantastic resources. And don't forget about the various feature articles and the FanBall.com draft kit ($9.99).
BigLeaguers.com
This site is affiliated with Yahoo! Sports and therefore has player links which point to Yahoo's highly developed system. You can get more stats on a player than you'd ever imagined, including his day vs. night or grass vs. turf production. There are also timely articles and small snippets of player and team information which can help you shape your roster.
RotoWire.com
If you feel like forking over the cash, RotoWire.com is a great source of information, but the subscription rates are a little too high for our tastes.
HotSheet.USAToday.com
Most of this site is for paying subscribers only, but even if you choose to not cough up the fee you still have access to the many fantasy columnists. Team trackers, newsletters, prospect reports and more are available for members.
DiamondScience.com
Yet another subscription site, DiamondScience.com offers plenty of fantasy info, including minor league reports, depth charts, useful links and more.
FantasySportsCentral.com
Get player projections, rankings and dollar values along with probable starters and depth charts...all for free!
CBSSportsline.com
Well organized and thorough, this site gives all of the basic tools you'll need to help you succeed, from player profiles and injury reports to breaking news and some great columnists.
SportsTerminal.com
Sportsterminal is loaded with up-to-date information and links that will give you the edge that you need.
League sites
ESPN.com
Simply stated, if you want to join a fantasy baseball league but you don't want to deal with all the hassles of actually running one, then ESPN is where you should start. Users have to pay for their teams but the leagues are run very efficiently and since ESPN acts as your commissioner, owners are able to focus solely on their rosters instead of worrying about league business. With some entertaining columnists, player updates, a FREE DRAFT KIT and a new keeper-league format, this is simply the best fantasy site on the 'Net.
CBSSportsline.com
Not nearly as efficient as ESPN.com's fantasy set-up (in our humble opinion, anyway), CBSSportsline nonetheless offers an entertaining package of its own, complete with a host of columnists and loads of player information.
SportingNews.com
TSN.com's fantasy section features players updates, columnists and several different fantasy games, including a salary-cap challenge and their "Ultimate Fantasy Baseball." Plus, for paid subscribers, they offer player analyzers and e-mail updates.
Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball
The biggest draw here are the free leagues that Yahoo! offers, giving you the chance to try out fantasy baseball without ever opening up your wallet. Of course, you won't get the same kind of experience that ESPN.com gives you but when you're playing for free, you can't complain. Plus, Yahoo! allows you to set up your leagues with your own parameters, offering much more flexibility than most of its competitors. Finally, if you're just dying to cough up some cash, Yahoo! also hosts a pay game, though we've never tried it so we can't tell you if it's actually worth your money.
Sandbox.com
Along with Yahoo!, Sandbox used to provide one of the best free fantasy games around. Unfortunately, they've started charging for their leagues recently, offering memberships in their Full Count, SBX and Heavy Hitters games at one cost. Again, we've never participated in these new Sandbox.com leagues so we don't have any first-hand experience to hand down, but we will say that improvements had to be made on the free game to justify this new pay-to-play format.
"10 tips to a successful draft" archive - 2003
10 tips to a successful draft: #9 and #10
(03/27/2003 - By Jamey Codding)
Jamey wraps up this series by uncovering the dangers of being a homer on draft day while also suggesting that you fill your bench with players who give your roster as much flexibility as possible, like Oakland's Mark Ellis.
10 tips to a successful draft: #7 and #8
(03/20/2003 - By Jamey Codding)
In the fourth installment, the focus is on spotting a run and whether to choose between remaining loyal to your pre-draft strategy or making a sacrifice for the possible benefit of your team. Also, Jamey discusses the high-risk tactic of punting and outlines the pros and cons of giving up on a category on draft day.
10 tips to a successful draft: #5 and #6
(03/13/2003 - By Jamey Codding)
In part three of this series, Jamey cautions you against banking on start of the season hype when selecting unproven rookies who look promising, or loading up on breakout and comeback candidates that might also put your team in a deep hole early on.
10 tips to a successful draft: #3 and #4
(03/06/2003 - By Jamey Codding)
In the second part of this series, Jamey uncovers one of the most undervalued fantasy baseball commodities, middle relievers, while also promoting the all-round production of guys like Carlos Beltran and Torii Hunter.
10 tips to a successful draft: #1 and #2
(02/25/2003 - By Jamey Codding)
With Opening Day a month away, Jamey outlines some helpful pre-draft tips for your upcoming fantasy baseball season while also suggesting to pinpoint certain players you'll want to avoid on draft day.
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