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RotoBaller is Obsessed with Baseball and Fantasy Baseball

By Irwin, La Broad, & Pudlin. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Click here to read why RotoBaller is obsessed with fantasy baseball. We are fantasy baseball fanatics and experts, and we will help you win your league.

The passionate writers at RotoBaller have been hard at work all preseason churning out 5-6 articles a day, giving you the relevant MLB news and the best fantasy baseball analysis and advice for your 2015 drafts. And they will continue churning milk into sweet cream for the rest of the MLB preseason.

But on this Monday morning, we stare at the beginning of March and right around the corner from spring training games and the MLB season. I very exciting time for us baseball fans. So I'd like to take a step back, relax, and simply take a few moments to enjoy the wonderful games of baseball and fantasy baseball.

I want to share with everyone my love for baseball and fantasy baseball, and explain why RotoBallers from all around flock over here daily to read the thoughts and analysis of this site's passionate MLB writers. Because as you can imagine, there is one underlying reason that really brings us all together - it's for the love of the game. Hopefully you feel the same way.

 

RotoBaller is Obsessed, And Here's Why

We'll say it again. RotoBaller is obsessed with baseball and fantasy baseball. That's just the easiest way to describe it. Our obsession with fantasy baseball stems from our love of the sport. Some people say baseball is too boring, but we say it's perfect. There's nothing like kicking back after a long day, popping open a frosty adult beverage, and watching your favorite baseball team for two to three hours.

At some point, either during the game or during your multi-decade love affair with this game, you feel like baseball starts flowing through your veins. And everything that we love about baseball becomes magnified through the lens of fantasy baseball. It's a vehicle and engine to dig deeper into the sport, and digging deeper is what makes baseball so intriguing and fun to follow.

Fantasy baseball fuels my passion for baseball and forces me to stay on top of the daily news and statistics. It makes me love baseball more, which in turn increases my passion for fantasy baseball. It's a lovely self-sustaining cycle.

By Irwin, La Broad, & Pudlin. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Fantasy baseball is great because it allows each person to get that much closer to feeling like a professional athlete, and to become his or her own personal general manager of a sports franchise - a common dream among many sports fans. It allows us to compete against friends or family or just some guy from Peoria.

There's a lot at stake, sometimes money, always pride and bragging rights at the least. Every day, week, and month, I get to step up to the plate against my league opponents and implement my strategies to show them that my team is the best. Every day, I get to change my lineup, start/bench my pitchers, and make all the savvy adds and drops to prove to myself that I am the best fantasy GM in my league. I get to play the role of scout, manager and GM all at the same time. I get to make high-stakes moves and decisions and see the results validated (or invalidated) on a nightly basis. It can be extraordinarily fun and rewarding, or extremely frustrating, but it's guaranteed to be interesting and engaging.

At the end of the day, who doesn't love to go home with a championship, a trophy, and a bundle of cash? But aside from winning championships, talking trash to your buddies, and taking home some cake, fantasy baseball allows you to get a little bit more analytical than some of the other fantasy sports. Between the hitters and the pitchers, there are so many different statistics and categories that are watched today by baseball folks. Add to that the sabermetrics movement with advanced analytics, and there is an endless world of baseball statistics and analysis that provides some insight into why certain players perform in certain ways.

There is no other sport around in which there is as distinct a mapping between statistics and player performance as there is in baseball. If a player doesn't strike out much and works out walks while hitting for a decent average, you know that he's going to produce. So with that knowledge in mind, I can understand that if this player was recently traded and now has an opportunity to play every day, I can use that analysis to predict solid production in the near future.

As fantasy baseball managers, we each get an opportunity to become the scouts and general managers of our own baseball teams. We get to perform our own analysis and come up with our own determinations on how this player will perform, or why he performed a certain way in the past, and how other players with similar profiles will perform going forward. For a baseball lover, this is practically a dream come true.

I encourage every baseball fan and lover of the sport out there to participate in at least one fantasy baseball league in his or her lifetime. Anyone who is passionate about the game should experience the thrill of the fantasy baseball draft, being able to select your own hand-picked self-scouted players. You should experience the thrill of rooting for the Seattle Mariners playing on a Thursday afternoon in Kansas City - just because you own Felix Hernandez. You should experience the thrill of starting Yu Darvish against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, and seeing him throw a two-hit gem with 10 strikeouts, which makes you feel like a professional scout and fantasy baseball guru.

So why do we love fantasy baseball? We have an endless passion for baseball, and fantasy baseball is our portal into this world. We get to learn the game and its intricacies a little bit better every day, which continually expands our love for the game. It never hurts to bring home a stack of cash either. Hold it over your leaguemates all winter long is a definite plus. And oh, that trophy? It will sit on my mantle for a very, very long time.

 




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REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Junior Caminero

Day-to-Day With Back Tightness
Will Smith

Won't Return When First Eligible
Tyler Soderstrom

Returns to A's Lineup
Tyler Warren

Sidelined on Wednesday with Toe Injury
Jaylen Waddle

Questionable for Week 3 Against Buffalo
Joe Burrow

Bengals Not Closing the Door on Joe Burrow Returning This Year
CFB

LaNorris Sellers to Play Against Missouri?
Kyle Tucker

Progress has "Plateaued"
Isaac Paredes

has "Outside Chance" to Return This Weekend
CFB

Kaidon Salter Expected To Start for Colorado on Saturday
Willson Contreras

Goes on 10-Day Injured List, Done for Season
Justin Fields

Ruled Out for Week 3 Due to Concussion
Jayden Reed

Out Indefinitely After Foot and Shoulder Surgery
Washington Commanders

Preston Smith Signs With Commanders
Trey Jemison III

Joins Knicks on Two-Way Contract
Kevin McCullar Jr.

Signs New Two-Way Deal With Knicks
Matt Ryan

Returns to Knicks on Exhibit 10 Contract
New York Knicks

Alex Len Signs Exhibit 9 Deal With Knicks
Nickeil Alexander-Walker

Expected to Take on Larger Offensive Role With Hawks
Thomas Sorber

Undergoes Surgery
Dominic Canzone

Has Five-Hit, Three-Homer Game Tuesday
Cal Raleigh

Sets Single-Season Home Run Record for a Switch-Hitter
Jayden Reed

Undergoes Clavicle and Foot Surgeries, Out for Foreseeable Future
Bo Bichette

to Miss Rest of Regular Season
Zach Neto

Placed on 10-Day Injured List With Hand Injury
Yordan Alvarez

Out on Tuesday, Dealing With "Significant" Ankle Sprain
Aaron Jones Sr.

Vikings Place Aaron Jones Sr. on Injured Reserve With Hamstring Injury
CFB

Diego Pavia Refutes Report of Seeking Seventh Collegiate Season
Christian Kirk

Expected to Return in Week 3
CFB

Diego Pavia Seeking Another Year of Eligibility
Tarik Skubal

on Track to Start Thursday
CFB

Kevorian Barnes Questionable Against SMU
Bo Bichette

has Short-Term Knee Injury, Could Return for Postseason
Tosan Evbuomwan

Joins Knicks
NBA

Kai Jones Links Up With EuroLeague Team
Bismack Biyombo

Returns to Spurs
Bones Hyland

Rejoins Timberwolves
Kobe Bufkin

Moves to Brooklyn
Trey Yesavage

Sets Franchise Strikeout Record On Monday
Yordan Alvarez

To Receive MRI For Sprained Left Ankle On Tuesday
Willson Contreras

Exits Early Monday With Right-Biceps Tightness
Yordan Alvarez

Exits With Ankle Sprain
Brock Bowers

Officially Active on Monday Night
Jauan Jennings

Day-to-Day With Ankle Injury
Logan O'Hoppe

Activated Off Seven-Day Injured List
CBJ

Denton Mateychuk Dealing With Groin Issue
Bo Horvat

Fine for Training Camp
Kirby Dach

on Track to Be Ready for Opening Night
Jose Altuve

Returns Against Rangers
J.J. McCarthy

Expected to Miss 2-4 Weeks With High-Ankle Sprain
J.J. McCarthy

Likely Out for Week 3 With High-Ankle Sprain
Jean Silva

Gets Finished For The First Time In His Career
Aaron Jones Sr.

Unlikely to Play in Week 3 Due to Hamstring Injury
Diego Lopes

Returns To The Win Column
Jayden Daniels

' Week 3 Status in Doubt
Rob Font

Outclassed In The Noche UFC 3 Co-Main Event
David Martinez

Wins His Second UFC Fight
Jared Gordon

Suffers Brutal TKO Loss At Noche UFC 3
Rafa Garcia

Wins Back-To-Back Fights
Brian Thomas Jr.

Dealing with Wrist Injury
Dustin Stoltzfus

Drops A Decision At Noche UFC 3
Kelvin Gastelum

Gets Back In The Win Column
Diego Ferreira

Suffers Second-Round TKO
Alexander Hernandez

Extends His Win Streak With A Brutal TKO
Quang Le

Suffers First-Round Knockout
Santiago Luna

Shines In His UFC Debut
Christopher Bell

Earns his First Bristol Cup Series Victory
Alex Bowman

Falls Short of Advancing Through Cup Series Playoffs
Chase Briscoe

Collects his Third Top-10 Finish at Bristol
Ryan Blaney

Strong Top-Five Bristol Performance Advances him to the Playoffs
Corey Heim

Earns his First Career Cup Series Top-10 Finish at Bristol
Giannis Antetokounmpo

Leads Greece to Bronze Medal
Alperen Sengün

Alperen Sengun Drops 28 Points in EuroBasket Finals
CFB

Indiana's Lee Beebe Jr. Out for Season with Knee Injury
Dennis Schröder

Dennis Schroder Named EuroBasket MVP
Bryce Eldridge

Giants to Promote Bryce Eldridge
Jaren Jackson Jr.

Progressing in Recovery
Jonathan Kuminga

Receives New Offer From Warriors
Kenneth Walker III

Bounces Back with Big Week 2 Performance
Bijan Robinson

Rushes for 143 Yards in Week 2
Justin Fields

Currently in Concussion Protocol
Cincinnati Bengals

Bengals Calling Around to Available Free-Agent Quarterbacks
Joe Burrow

to Undergo Surgery, Out at Least Three Months
Emil Heineman

Aiming to Take the "Next Step" This Season
Braeden Cootes

Good to Go for Camp
Ivan Fedotov

Blue Jackets Acquire Ivan Fedotov From Flyers
Garrett Crochet

Punches Out 12 in Win
Quentin Grimes

Still Not Close to a New Contract Agreement
Joel Embiid

"Looking Slender, Spry and in Positive Spirits"
Ty Gibbs

Has Arguably his Best Career Drive, but Only Finishes 10th
Chase Elliott

Despite Crashing Out at Bristol, Chase Elliott Advances to Round of 12
Austin Dillon

Misses Round of 12 After Extremely Mediocre Bristol Run
Shane Van Gisbergen

Shane van Gisbergen Fails to Advance to Round of 12
Josh Berry

Finishes Last in All Three Round of 16 Races to Fail to Advance
CFB

Ryan Williams Explodes In Return To Field
CFB

Drew Allar Plays Mediocre Game In Blowout Win
CFB

LaNorris Sellers Exits Game In Blowout Loss
CFB

DJ Lagway Tosses Five Interceptions In Loss
CFB

Garrett Nussmeier Plays Game Manager in Saturday's Win
CFB

CJ Carr Remains Poised In Narrow Loss
CFB

John Mateer Leads Oklahoma In Rout
CFB

Arch Manning Struggles Against UTEP
CFB

Jeremiah Smith Impresses In Win
CFB

Sam Leavitt Shines As Arizona State Rebounds From Week 2 Loss
Ivan Demidov

Turning Heads in Rookie Camp
NHL

Calvin de Haan Signs With Swedish Team
Samuel Girard

Skates With Non-Contact Jersey
Mackenzie Blackwood

Dealing With Injury Ahead of Training Camp
Spencer Knight

Signs Three-Year Extension With Blackhawks
Chris Buescher

May have Another Solid Run at Bristol
Corey Perry

Out 6-8 Weeks Following Surgery
Kyle Busch

Should DFS Managers Roster Kyle Busch at Bristol?
Ricky Stenhouse Jr

Is Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Too Risky to Consider Rostering at Bristol?
Michael McDowell

Could be A Solid Value Option For Bristol DFS Lineups
Chase Elliott

Probably Won't Factor in for Bristol Win
NASCAR

Bubba Wallace Not as Strong at Bristol as Other Short Tracks
Alex Bowman

Needs to Win to Make Round of 12
Ross Chastain

has Never Led at Bristol but Has Been Pretty Consistent
Austin Dillon

Richmond Speed Unlikely to Carry Over to Bristol
Josh Berry

Might Run Well at Bristol, but Almost Certainly Won't Win to Advance
Justin Haley

Bristol One of Justin Haley's Few Recent Bright Spots
CFB

Austin Simmons Listed As Game-Time Decision Against Arkansas
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Nico Iamaleava Struggles In Fourth Straight Loss
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Dealing With a "Tweak"
BUF

Alexandar Georgiev Joins Sabres on One-Year Deal
Corey Perry

Injured During Pre-Camp Skate
CFB

Antonio Williams Out Against Georgia Tech
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CJ Bailey Flashes Again in Win Over Wake Forest
CFB

Jaxson Moi a Game-Time Decision for Tennessee on Saturday
Jean Silva

A Favorite At Noche UFC 3
Diego Lopes

Set For Noche UFC 3 Main Event
Rob Font

Looks For His Third Consecutive Win
David Martinez

Set For Noche UFC 3 Co-Main Event
Rafa Garcia

An Underdog At Noche UFC 3
Jared Gordon

Looks To Win Back-To-Back Fights
Dustin Stoltzfus

Looks To Return To The Win Column
Kelvin Gastelum

In Dire Need Of Victory
Diego Ferreira

Looks To Get Back In The Win Column
Malcolm Brogdon

Heading to Knicks on One-Year Deal
Landry Shamet

Staying with the Knicks

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