Fantasy: Week 1 Head-to-Head Results

With week 1 of the 2007 season in the books it's time to recap how my head-to-head teams fared this week. The summary is: not well.

Orix Blue Wave
(Head-to-Head, 12-teams, MLB.com hosted league)
Result: loss. (0-1-0)
Point tally: 108.5 to 140.5

The MLB.com version of fantasy baseball is vastly simplified by using entire team pitching staffs for a roster spot as opposed to managing individual pitchers. Managing pitchers is part of the fun of fantasy baseball. But limiting managers to team staffs does bring back a team element that is missing in other fantasy formats. But ultimately, I'm not fond of this approach.

You also lock in your roster before each week starts - eliminating day-to-day management. And in my case, eliminating a lot of third-base stats from Adrian Beltre due to all the Seattle-Cleveland postponed games. Not that he could have overcome a 38 point deficit.

Two things beat the Orix Blue Wave. (1) A bad week for pitching from the Philadelphia Phillies. This was not a good week to pick their staff. Freddy Garcia is injured and the relief pitching was just awful (I'm looking at you and your blown saves, Tom Gordon). Jamie Moyer brought in the only victory of the week. (2) Hanley Ramirez. Last season's NL Rookie of the Year put up numbers for my opponent that nearly single-handedly did me in. He went 8/25, 8 runs scored, 1 home run, 2RBI and 3 stolen bases last week. That's just amazing.

Leather, Runs & Repeat
(Head-to-Head, 10-teams, ESPN.com hosted league)
Result: tie. (0-0-1)
Point tally: 4-4-2. On a 5x5 stat sheet we were deadlocked. I led in runs scored, batting average, strikeouts and wins. I trailed in home runs, saves, ERA and WHIP. I tied for RBIs and stolen bases.

The team of "geriatrics and invalids" held their own this week. Though my pitching continued to be terrible across the board for all fantasy teams.

ESPN had technical problems and glitches all over the place this week. But I give them credit for being open and active about their issues and communicating their efforts to fix things. And I do enjoy the many mis-spellings on their fantasy page today (or should I say fatnasy?).

Gyro Ballerz
(Head-to-Head, 8-teams, FoxSports.com hosted league)
Result: loss. (0-1-0)
Point tally: 215.3 to 156.7

Fox has a nice interface for fantasy baseball. Though I wish there was a better way to differentiate between daily and cumulative point tallies for individual players.

Despite a strong week from Carlos Beltran, I was beat across the board in this one. My opponent had the highest point total in the league for the week and would have beat anyone.