Tribecards wRappers - the Lost Season

I haven't posted about the Tribecards wRappers, my fantasy baseball team on Yahoo, in a long while. In fact, I am not even sure I posted about them at all this season. In reality, I forgot all about them. It shows. My team is in 5th place. Oh sure, that might sound good until you learn we have 6 teams in the league this season.

I have no excuse, as their manager, for neglecting my team. I just forgot I was even in fantasy baseball this year.  Of course, leaving them alone for most of the season has resulted in pretty much the same standings as when I actively participate, so that says a lot right there!

I probably won't be invited back next season, but if I am, I pledge to be a better manager. "Pledge" is a strong word. Let's go with "will consider trying" instead. I don't want to raise their hopes up too high.

Oh, the local news station asked what I would buy first if I won $320M in the PowerBall.  Though I would pay bills first, my first actual purchase: Indians Baseball Fantasy Camp next year. No contest.

Tribecards wRappers in 1st Place!

I thought I had better post this now before the season slips away from my fantasy league team:

I don't think I have EVER been in first place before in any fantasy league! Wahoo!!  Don't get me wrong: I have no illusions of this lasting too long. In the meantime, though, I am enjoying the fire out of it!!  WAHOO!!  Way to go boys!

Off the Reservation?

Well, it appears the fantasy baseball league I had signed up for ("Off The Reservation") has either gone AWOL or Yahoo has dropped it into the etherworld.  I dropped by there today to play around with my draft picks (again!) and all Yahoo says is that there is a problem with the server.  So, if you're out there and you're one of the "Reservation" teams, let me know what you know.

In the meantime, if you're a card collector hosting a fantasy baseball league this year (on Yahoo or anywhere else), and you're looking for another team to join your game, feel free to drop me a line.

Gearing up for Fantasy Baseball!

If each of the leagues in which I participated last season fire up again this season, and if Tribecards is asked to join again, the Tribecards sports conglomerate will have expanded to three baseball teams and two football teams.  There was once a hockey team, but that faded quickly.  Heck, there was once a golf venture.  But, baseball is the cornerstone.  It is what started this blog, what fueled my passion as a collector, and what continues to feed habit of hoarding little bits of cardboard. 

I am the first one to admit that my record in fantasy sports is not good.  Okay, I completely stink at it.  But, like the teams that can't muster up a winning season in the MLB, I continue to play because I love doing it.  Like the real-life players and managers the fantasy games are based, I continue to hold out the hope that with the right combination of players and a little good luck and uncanny timing, I will cull together a winning season.  And, beyond that, there is the hope of winning the whole shebang.

Granted, in the fantasy games I play, there are no monetary gains and no trophies.  Instead, one wins the satisfaction of beating the other players to reach the top.  It is a mostly intrinsic victory.  And, over the years, I found those to be some of the most satisfying. 

Good luck to all the folks in each of the leagues where we share our love for the game.

wRappers Finish 8th

In the "Card Collector's" league, the consolation games are over, and the Bums and wRappers ended up tied, splitting the score 5/5.  Favor goes to the Bums, however, so they took 7th place and the Tribecards wRappers end the season in 8th place.  While this might sadden, frustrate or even anger other managers, I am happy just not to be in last place this year (as I have been in the past).

If invited next season, I hope the wRappers will continue to show improvement.  The major difference this season was NOT picking only/mainly Indians players for the fantasy team.  While it may seem against the general idea of who I like to root for, the simple fact is that variety is the key.  Well, that and picking the right players to begin with.  I'll work on that for next year.

In the meantime, congrats to the Aniballers for winning the whole shebang!

(This is a repost of the article appearing on Popped in my Head)

I joined two fantasy baseball leagues this season: The Card Blog League and the Card Collectors.  This is the first year that I actually tried to pay attention to my players and teams. In the past, I snagged up as many Indians as I could and just let the chips fall.  For a change of pace, I actually added and dropped players, move folks around during the week, etc.  In the end, it didn't make much difference.

The Card Blog League has 12 managers and is already two weeks into the playoffs.  Somewhere in my zeal to watch my roster, I missed the fact that I was no longer active in the league.  Yeah, that shows just how much I pay attention.  The Tribecards Tyrants finished 10th out of 12 places.  The team went 76-116-18, finishing 36.5 games behind the leader.  The next closest team was only 19 games behind, so there was no way to catch him.  Even if my tied games had been wins, I would have still fallen short.  I don't remember what my standing was last year, but I would suppose it was pretty close to the same position as this year.  The Tyrants tried, but just like the Indians in real-life, we'll take the off-season to regroup (provided I'm invited back).

The Card Collectors league also had 12 managers and the Tribecards wRappers finished in 10th place as well.  There seems to be some pattern there.  The difference, though, comes in the win-loss-tie columns.  The wRappers went 94-113-13 and were only 3.5 games behind the next team.  As for the number of games behind the leader: 26.5 out.  Still quite a bit behind.  Like the other league, I did a better job of picking a variety of players and rotating them out during the season.  I just have an amazing knack to STINK at fantasy sports.

My number one issue?  I hang on to DL'ed players way too long and I hang on to "favorite" players instead of letting them go for better players.  Even though this is fantasy baseball, I treat the teams a lot like I would a real team.  I tend to have faith the my guys are going to pull through, going to pull out of a slump, going to get better.  Sure, it means I lose a lot of games, but I still have fun playing.

Next year, I'm going for bragging rights.  Or maybe an all-Tribe team. You just never know with me.

Up next in fantasy world: The Tribecards Turfdiggers prepare for football season!

What is fantasy, anyway?

Are there "bad" fantasies?  usually, one thinks of good things when it comes to having fantasies, right?  We dream of winning the lottery, seeing our children graduate, having a mansion on a hilltop, etc.  In sports, we have "fantasy leagues."  These are the places we go to escape reality and create our own teams with players we'd like to have (or that we have to settle for having because we hosed our draft) and live out the dreams of a big time manager.  We hope to win all our games, shuffle players around, make trades and dump non-performers.

And then there is me.  I am in TWO fantasy leagues this season because last season, one humiliation just wasn't enough.  I enjoy putting myself through the heartache and heartbreak of managing (or mismanaging) the players I have.

I am once again in the "Card Blog" League.  Currently, I am 9th out of 10.  Not the worst.  I hadn't really done anything with the team since the draft, so today, on my birthday, I decided to make some moves.  It started with a couple trades, and we'll see where things go from there.

The other league I'm in is the "Card Collectors" league.  I am dead last there.  Again, today, I decided to roll up my sleeves and make some cuts.  Like the two guys I had on my roster that were DL.  I had such high hopes.

Of course, Kinsler is on one of my rosters (cant recall which just now) and he is not only DL, but he is uncuttable.  No dropsies for that guy. Dang it.

Of course, the big question is whether or not the changes will have any effect, and whether or not I will remember to actually use players that are PLAYING.  Like the Tribe in real life, I am off to a slow start.  Maybe I can get something going.

Hey, at least this year, I am not putting ONLY Indians players on my team.  Though, I do have several.  And yes, Choo is on one of my teams, thank goodness!

It's all in the name...

Perhaps if I had chosen "Tribecards Tyrants" or "Tribecards Terrifics" or even "Tribecards Toppers," perhaps the Indians would not be where they are now. Perhaps I should have put clothes on them.

See, I chose "Tribecards Trundles" for PunkRockPaint's Yahoo! fantasy baseball league as a joke. I suck at fantasy sports but like to play anyway. So, when the invite came to join up, I decided I would keep my fantasy team as close to an all-tribe team as possible. Yeah, it's a risk putting all of one's fantasy eggs in one basket, but I was pretty sure I would do okay going that route. Much like the boys in blue, I was wrong.

The Trundles are currently 11th out of 12, barely hovering above Heartbreaking Cards. Oh, sure, I could start dropping players. In fact, I did drop a couple that are basically DL for much of the season. I suppose I could pick up some free agents from other teams and hope that turns my Trundles around. But, in the end, I decided that, like the Indians, these are my guys and I'll back them as much as I can.

In retrospect, however, I probably should have given more wide-reaching thoughts to the name I gave them. Call it self-fulfilling prophecy. Call it living down to expectations. Whatever you call it, it's fantasy imitating reality and/or vice versa. And it's not pretty.

It's Tribe Time Now... unfortunately, the clock seems to be a wee bit broken...