Okay dudes, here's the deal. The days of free, fantasy points based head-to-head baseball leagues seem to be over. Here are our options this year: FanStar Pros: It worked great last year. We can use the scoring system and game limit requirements we have come to know and love. Cons: $84 to re-register the league. Since Behad handled the registration last year, he is eligible for the renewal discount. I don't know how much of a discount that is. Finn had some very serious trouble with his Fanstar basketball league. They would not update the stats and provided a very crappy overall product. Will they be reliable for baseball this year? Do we want to risk going back? Yahoo Pros: Totally free. Reliable. Cons: Their head-to-head format is totally different from what we are used to. Instead of being fantasy-points based, it relies on roto categories. If you win more roto categories than your opponent for that week, then you get the win. Yahoo Plus Pros: Customizable. A head-to-head format using fantasy points is totally feasible using YahooPlus. Reliable. Cons: $124.95 for a complete invite league. Although customizable, there is no option for using SP and RP games as limits. We would be forced to have innings limits. (ie: 3000 total innings max for all pitchers instead of the 162 SP and 140 RP game limits we are used to). CBS Sportsline Fantasy Baseball Commissioner Pros: Extremely customizable. We can use our traditional FP based head-to-head format. We can also specify inning limits for SP and RP, so that would be no problem either. Cons: $119.95 if the league is formed by March 9. $139.95 if formed after March 9. Having never played at CBS, it remains something of an unknown quantity in terms of reliability. However, it is a well-established service and I set up a free 14 day trial league to test things out, and it looks really great in my opinion. Sandbox Plus Full Count Baseball Pros: My research indicates that Sandbox has gone back to their traditional format (162SP & 140RP game limits). They are a complete pay service now with no peak usage crap. Also, their head-to-head scoring system is the same as ours. Cons: Pricing is complicated -- approximately $95 for a complete invite league. Also, one person needs to be a subscribing Sandbox member ($4.95/month) for the entire season. Total cost: approx. $135. Sounds like a headache. I would like to hear from all league members regarding where to play this year. If we decide to go to one of the pay services, I think that CBS Sportsline looks like the best package. However, there is no way I could handle the total cost of a pay league on my own. I would certainly be willing to handle the set up and all the administrative stuff, but I would have to ask for donations from league members to handle the cost ($10 each or something). Please respond and answer all of the following questions: - Where would you like to play fantasy baseball this season? - Would you be willing to chip in to handle the cost of a pay service if we decide to move to one? - Are there any other options you know of that we could examine? - Do you have any other thoughts, issues or ideas relating to our situation?
I'm all about Yahoo free this year, with all the probs with our BBall league this year reliable is now my no. 1 priority and yahoo for all it's faults is reliable.
- Where would you like to play fantasy baseball this season? Yahoo free even if that means just a str8 up rotissere league - Would you be willing to chip in to handle the cost of a pay service if we decide to move to one? absolutely as long as it was reasonable - Are there any other options you know of that we could examine? nope - Do you have any other thoughts, issues or ideas relating to our situation? I'm all about Yahoo free this year, with all the probs with our BBall league this year reliable is now my no. 1 priority and yahoo for all it's faults is reliable.
- I'll play in any league. Don't really care. The only thing I really care about is head to head. I love that format. But I'm not big on roto. I'd like to keep it the same. - I'll chip in. Looks like about $10 and that's no big deal. - You may want to examine the multiple position options. I could care less, but some people freak over it.
Despite my problems with basketball, I still think we will have no problems with baseball and football at fanstar. I ran a football and baseball league and had no problems. I will be using them again for both. I am in a football league at CBS and can honestly say it is the best of any fantasy site I have ever played on. Of course it is the most expensive as well, but well worth it. Renewel at fanstar is $49, I believe. Whatever everyone else decides is fine by me.
Like the other's I don't mind what we choose as much as having the ability to keep the same rules as year's past. I'd really like going back to Sandbox, if it weren't a hassle... but from the research you've done it sounds as though it might not be feasible. I also would want to steer clear of Yahoo!...they are reliable, but usually their leagues have limited flexibility. I have no problem throwing in my share for whatever option is chosen.
im not in the leagues or anything...but have yall looked at tqstats.com? my NL-only league runs thru that and it seems very flexible.
I don't really care one way or the other, but if you are going to pay, CBS is the way to go. I have been using CBS for my pay baseball leagues for the last few years and it is very good.
Fade, it's only $49 to register at Fanstar for returning commisioners. I'll do it if you want. But I'm all for chipping $10 apiece for cbs or sandbox.
Thanks, everyone, for your input. I emailed FanStar expressing my concerns about reliability for baseball this year. The guy responded rather quickly saying the the problems with Finn's basketball league stemmed from the fact that the 2 games per week system was not originally set up on their basketball game and was introduced as a custom job specifically for the Finn league, but they haven't worked all the bugs out of his customization. Anyway, my inclination is to go back to FanStar. We were fine with them last year, and I think we'll be okay this year too. We'll be using the infrastructure already in place from last season (unlike with basketball) so I don't think there will be any technical problems. I admit that the CBS Sportsnet product looks tempting, but it's a heck of a lot more expensive (even with the contributions I would still have to deal with a $160 Can. charge on my credit card bill). Would you all be okay with this decision? Does anyone have any more thoughts on the subject?
Fanstar is fine by me. When you start playing at the high priced fantasy sites (CBS) it's only fair to have $$$ prizes to the winners (1st and 2nd place finish) It's not fun to spend all that money just for bragging rights.
The funny thing is, he told me he didn't even realize they had it for basketball, that it was a mistake. I told him no problem we will go with 1 game a week then, but he said "no, we will honor it and have it up a running by the start of the season" This was 4 weeks before the start of the season. A week before the season opener I emailed him asking if everything was ready to go he said "What was your site address again, I lost your original email" Same story about the FG% and FT%. Basically he wasn't telling me the truth.
Put me down for CBS Sportsline then, I'm not big on using fanstar anymore, Yahoo doesn't offer what we want, and the monthly membership fee at Sandbox is a load of crap. So where do i send my ten bucks?
Fanstar is fine with me. fade, I can email Fanstar and turn my commish rights over to you so that you get the $49 return cost instead of $89
There's no way I could afford to pay out prize money to league winners. If we go to sportsline, it would have to be because we really want to use their service, not because we want to win cash. They do have an option with a $150 league prize, but teams cost $30 each.
Since SSG still feels strongly against using FanStar and most of you seem like you could go either way, I'm going to put it to a hard vote to determine where we play this year. Here is the ballot. There are two questions: Where would you like to play baseball this year? 1. I would like to play fantasy baseball at CBS Sportsline this year and will contribute $10 to do so. 2. I would be happy staying at Fanstar and will chip in $5 to help with the league cost. What happens if the result is not what you voted for? 1. I will still be a part of the league and abide by the majority's decision, and pay the appropriate amount. 2. No way, man. If we don't play where I voted for, then I'm out. Keep in mind that if we move to CBS Sportsline, I would really, really need everyone to help out with the cost immediately. I already bought a badminton racquet and several books with my credit card this month, so this will be a huge bill for me, and I would need the funds ASAP. So please don't vote for CBS unless you are absolutely positively sure you are willing to help out. I'll still need help even if we stay at Fanstar, but as the overall cost is lower the immediate need for $$ is a bit less.
Question #1 - Abstain (It doesn't matter to me, so I don't want my vote to swing the scales away from someone else to whom the choice matters.) Question #2 - 1. I will still be a part of the league and abide by the majority's decision, and pay the appropriate amount. I still can't get a grip on this whole "badminton as a competitive sport" thing. Is there a fantasy league for it?
Grr.... I just discovered that the CBS head-to-head system does not allow for a maximum number of games per position. For example, last year we had a maximum of 162 SP and 140 RP games. Once you used up all these games, then you could no longer accumulate points at that position. However, CBS head-to-head has no way of setting these limits. It's very strange. You can set limits for FP or roto leagues, but you can't for head-to-head. I don't know about you all, but this definitely affects my opinion of using CBS. I wish I had found this out before calling things to a vote. I think Fanstar is definitely the way to go now.
