Elite Fantasy Baseball & MLB Betting 2009

[Quiet Bol]

Kerry Wood under 31.5 saves - $110 to win $100 WIN +$100 (20 saves)
Cole Hamels under 14.5 wins - $135 to win $100 WIN +$100 (10 wins)
Roy Halladay under 16.5 wins - $135 to win $100 LOSS -$135 (17 wins)
Joba Chamberlain under 13.5 wins - $125 to win $100 WIN +$100 (9 wins)
Justin Duscherer under 10.5 wins - $125 to win $100 NO ACTION (he got himself injured before the first game and missed the season)
Ervin Santana under 14.5 wins - $130 to win $100 WIN +$100 (huh? He started the season on the DL and missed April so this should have been no actioned but I'm not going to complain. He finished with 8 wins.)

Willy Tavares under 49.5 stolen bases - $125 to win $100 WIN +$100 (25 SBs)

Kevin Youkilis under 102.5 RBIs - $125 to win $100 WIN +$100 (95 RBIs)
Evan Longoria under 107.5 RBIs - $130 to win $100 LOSS -$130 (110 RBIs)
Justin Morneau under 119.5 RBIs - $65 to win $50 WIN +$50 (100 RBIs)

Garrett Atkins over 20.5 HRs - $115 to win $100 LOSS -$115 (only 9 HRs)

Javier Vazquez to win NL Cy Young - $10 to win $250 LOSS -$10 (15 wins, 2.87 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 238 Ks to only 44 walks in 219.1 IP! Astounding stuff but it looks like it's down to Lincecum and Carpenter in the voters' minds)
Jack Cust to hit the most HRs this season - $5 to win $500 LOSS -$5 (25 HRs and I think this was a bad bet even at 100-1)
(Field) to hit the most HRs this season - $10 to win $100 LOSS -$10 (Looks like Pujols is taking it down but Mark Reynolds made it interesting with 44 HRs)
Any SF Giant to hit over 19.5 HRs - Risked $100 to win $100 WIN +$100 (23 HRs)

Total: +$345

The losses were closer than the wins, so maybe this could have gone better, but in any case, the lines were more efficient this year and I wasn't able to make nearly as many quality bets. I hope next year is more worthwhile but I have no reason to think it will be. Edit - Whoops, you're right, Cyber. Good catch.

[Cyberwrath87]

On that third bet you said you bet $135 but ended up losing $175 on it! You should be $40 richer if the original bet posted was correct!

[wheatrich]

lol I need a Cleveland win tomorrow to win one of my future props. If they lose that's a loss to. damn indians could've won today you know and helped me out but noooo.

There's actually 2 really close props decided tomorrow. I'll likely be down for the prop season somewhere between 200-400 depending on the outcomes (there's 5 TBD props left so assuming I don't lose or win all 5 lol).

freaking BS if this football season turns out this bad I'll probably have to quit losing at props like this makes me feel like I don't know what I'm doing anymore.

[Ngamer]

There's still one game left in the MLB regular season (Twins/Tigers to decide the last playoff spot on Tuesday night), but Yahoo doesn't track extra games and so the '09 Fantasy season is over!  Here are your final standings for this year:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Rank		Team	Points	Pts Change	Waiver	Moves
1.		Boss	109	-1.5	12	74
2.		Daytona Sidewinders	99.5	1	6	59
3.		The Wheatfield	82.5	-1	9	114
4.		Ng's SuperCrew	80	-0.5	8	13
5.		Handguns	75.5	0.5	5	9
6.		packattack	73.5	0	11	64
7.		World Upper Halves	63	-0.5	4	80
8.		IsThereAGreatTeam	56.5	0	3	15
9.		very very fine team	52.5	1.5	10	21
10.		Come	36	0	7	8
11.		Shep's Ridic Team	31	0	2	4
12.		Kingers Kings	21	0.5	1	1

Overall Stats

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

		Batting						Pitching
Rank	Team	Total GP	R	HR	RBI	SB	OBP	IP	W	SV	K	ERA	WHIP
1.	Boss	2057	1151	280	1142	189	.362	1256.2	76	173	1230	3.39	1.20
2.	Daytona Sidewinders	1985	1145	305	1080	142	.355	1228.1	86	150	1220	3.51	1.23
3.	The Wheatfield	1992	1113	301	1044	198	.347	1288.0	84	83	1119	3.63	1.27
4.	Ng's SuperCrew	1947	1131	272	1132	142	.354	1219.0	76	82	1028	3.44	1.26
5.	Handguns	1939	1117	304	1060	157	.359	1200.1	74	53	1078	3.70	1.31
6.	packattack	2014	1089	312	1163	117	.350	1297.2	81	103	1101	4.19	1.31
7.	World Upper Halves	1995	1115	281	1102	178	.352	1163.2	64	153	991	4.23	1.39
8.	IsThereAGreatTeam	1934	1092	259	997	165	.351	1222.1	69	44	1034	3.90	1.27
9.	very very fine team	1956	946	252	1025	135	.342	1260.0	76	82	1120	3.91	1.32
10.	Come	1832	931	216	932	182	.348	1254.1	70	33	905	4.26	1.34
11.	Shep's Ridic Team	1617	799	206	821	105	.331	1154.2	63	50	1029	3.74	1.28
12.	Kingers Kings	1732	907	249	864	77	.352	755.0	49	22	608	4.57	1.39

Comments:
*  though competitive in the opening half, the first place rivalry turned decidedly one-sided after the all star break, with Boss easily extending his lead over QB in the final months to earn his third consecutive Fantasy Baseball crown (if you throw out the '08 season which he boycotted).  congrats on another dominating performance!
* luckily the league's most bitter rivalry resulted in more compelling viewing.  Ngamer and wheat jockeyed positions all season, eventually pulling away from the Third/pack/Youse middle tier and focusing in on third place.  the Bronze was still in play into the final week, but Ng's Crew couldn't manage enough Wins and Saves to get him over the hump and on to the podium.  well played, wheatster
* Shep and PDO once again drafted poorly, quickly realized they'd fielded poor teams, and gave up on their squads three weeks into the season.  now, I like both of these guys quite a bit as Fantasy Football owners, but honestly I see no reason not to trim the fat and go with an active, competitive 10 man league in 2010
* stranger still is that Come put together an almost-equally-bad team, which he threw in the towel on almost equally as soon.  that would have been even more of a shocker except that the exact same thing happened last season!  golly gee!

[Quiet Bol]

Well, I can see some categories I lost out of sheer apathy at the end. I gave up in the last month, in part because I figured I wouldn't catch up, and also because I had stopped betting baseball/football was starting up. If I bothered to hit the innings max (or exceed it as wheat and pack did), I would have won Ks going away and knocked Boss back one at the same time. Same thing in the Runs category where Boss started 72 more batters and only beat me by 6 runs. I'm surprised I got beat in games played by 4 people! I'd imagine it was partly Posada's fault and also my fault for not spending much time on team maintenance or following the baseball season at the end. Could I have found 7 more homers or a SB? Probably. I think even losing my huge ERA/WHIP lead was avoidable. Winning fantasy baseball just comes down to who wants it most, and that's always Boss. I look forward to dominating the first 2-3 months again next season and then gradually tapering off.

[wheatrich]

I'd trim more fat than just 10, thingy was releasing good players, wiff is always just a bottom feeder, shep/come just don't do anything after a few weeks, and PDO should just never be allowed in fantasy baseball. or football for that matter--he always misses the draft then doesn't do anything after that blaming missing the draft. I don't know why anyone keeps inviting him. Lol at QB Boss would've won anyway so who cares. My lineup was so pathetic at the end I was forced to pitcher raid just to hang on to third because losing to a guy who lost to alecboy (who made one move that whole season) would've bothered me.

I don't know if I'll do this anymore myself though it's really boring and the last few months are just wars of attrition.

[Ngamer]

Oh jeez, you can't keep throwing '07 in my face like that. He finished ahead of two other people as well, you know. Besides that, my knee hurt! The sun was in my eyes!

Well alright, I'll give you guys that Fantasy Baseball rewards consistent dedication over a 6 month stretch, but is that really such a bad thing? If we wanted a league where you could take 5 minutes a week to manage your team and still have it be a total crapshoot whether you win or lose, we'd play Fantasy Football. ...which we do, so I think the variety is a good thing.

[wishiwasfamous]

Why not play head to head?

[youseinthehouse]

Head to head is stupid. And hey, I always have fun playing fantasy baseball. In drafts, I always am pitcher-focused... so you can tell that I missed the (first half of the) draft this year.

It seemed like every single possible move I tried to make re: SPs, whether via draft, long-term adds, spot starts, or trades, blew up in my face. For some reason Boss picked up Happ for the final 3 months when I had been spot starting him every five days (for some reason holding on to Alex Rios was a bigger priority at the time). What an asshole. It seemed like no matter who I had staring for me made sure to check our league before their starts. If I was starting them, they made sure to pitch a terrible game. List includes but not limited to: Buchholz, Hochevar, Jimenez, De La Rosa, Blanton, Lowe, Gallardo, Zito. Some of these guys had really good if not GREAT stretches, usually either immediately before I added them, or immediately after I dropped them. Man that really pissed me off.

In closing, I'll leave you with my "Note to Self", found on the "My Team" page. I must have had this since late May or so:

Alfonso Soriano sucks balls.

[wheatrich]

my h2h win (though that was annoying having pena go down right before the playoffs started as I was going to have solid wins instead of very close playoff wins) got me into a $10k postseason streak competition on MLB! I have to pick the winner every day longest streak wins (here's hoping 90%+ of the qualifiers miss this!)

first pick
Chris Carpenter and St. Louis to defeat the LA Dodgers.

[rshepherd1000]

My problem was not that I drafted poorly but that I didnt draft at all. You may have forgotten my net was down on draft day. Obviously I consequently ended up with a rubbish team that I didn't have much motivation to maintain.

Anyway each year I've only been involved because we were short of participants. I realise I'm one of the Jimbos of the Fantasy MLB league so am more than happy to step aside if a replacement is found or the numbers are cut.