Fantasy Baseball and Soccer

Diehard baseball and soccer fans can get deeper into the action by playing free fantasy sports online.  An avid fan should learn about free fantasy baseball and soccer to gain a deeper appreciation of the sporting world. 

Setting Up Fantasy Baseball And Soccer Teams

The process of picking a fantasy baseball or fantasy soccer team starts with a player draft.  Most fantasy leagues employ online drafts that allow office workers, parents, and students to pick their players without leaving their desks.  The typical draft gives a maximum time per pick that speeds up the process, though most leagues have automated selection tools for participants unable to make the live draft.  After the draft is complete, players assess their rosters and pick up players who were left undrafted to fill in backup positions.

Fantasy baseball leagues vary their roster sizes based on scoring styles.  A rotisserie league usually sets the roster maximum at 16 to keep owners from hoarding quality players at the beginning of the season.  Head-to-head leagues extend the roster limit to 23 in recognition of the day-to-day injuries and roster changes that can harm fantasy baseball owners.  These rosters cover all nine positions on the field, though head-to-head rosters allow owners to distinguish between starting and relief pitchers for scoring purposes.

The typical fantasy soccer league allows an owner to select up to 15 players consisting of midfielders, defensemen, forwards, and goalkeepers.  Owners can start 11 players in multiple formations, as long as one of those players is a goalkeeper.  Since soccer leagues play their games once a week, fantasy league owners need to set their rosters ahead of the weekend to compete with their colleagues.

Fantasy baseball and soccer owners have to worry about trade (or transfer) limits and salary caps when managing their teams.  Fantasy baseball owners have to get their trades completed by the MLB’s® trade deadline of July 31st, while soccer owners have to worry about transfer limits when replacing injured players.  The most realistic fantasy leagues assign a value to each player and require owners to stay under salary caps to continue playing. 

Scoring In Fantasy Baseball

Fantasy baseball leagues by Yahoo!©, ESPN©, and The Sporting News© follow closely the statistics used by traditionalists to measure success in the MLB.  The offensive statistics used in a free fantasy baseball league may vary a bit, but the major points-earners are home runs, stolen bases, and runs batted in (RBI).  Baseball fantasy owners also get points for wins, saves, and team earned run average (ERA), as long as they keep their pitching rotation updated. 
Most leagues offer fantasy baseball owners two options when scoring each day’s games.  A rotisserie scoring system takes the aforementioned statistics and calculates them throughout the season to determine the order of finish.  For example, a team with a low ERA and plenty of home runs is placed higher than a team without a lot of firepower.  This scoring method recognizes the substantial length of the baseball season and rewards patience rather than day-to-day trades among participants. 

Rotisserie baseball leagues have given way to head-to-head fantasy leagues that appease baseball fans who want immediate results.  These leagues are similar to fantasy football leagues by offering one point for singles, two points for doubles, and escalating points for other statistics.  A head-to-head fantasy baseball league allows owners to accumulate victories against their friends and coworkers rather than waiting until the end of the season to see who wins. 

Soccer fans can look beyond goals and assists when managing their free fantasy soccer teams.  Most leagues provide a point for every player who makes a start in a game, recognizing the difficulty of playing every game.  Fantasy soccer leagues offer points for saves by goalkeepers including extra points for penalty shot saves and saves in bonus time.  A soccer fan that has picked up a hotheaded midfielder or forward is balancing the promise of goals and assists with points lost for yellow and red cards.  Fantasy soccer owners may also be rewarded with a handful of points if someone on their team is named player of the match. 

Online Resources For Free Fantasy Baseball

Baseball fans have access to free fantasy baseball leagues through a variety of websites.  The Sporting News© (http://www.sportingnews.com/) offers several free options for fantasy baseball fans including Draft and Trade Baseball and Salary Cap Baseball Challenge.  CBS Sports© (http://baseball.cbssports.com/splash/baseball/spln/single/free) has a free Fantasy Baseball league available each spring that is easy to use for novice players.  Yahoo! Sports© (http://sports.yahoo.com/) also offers free fantasy baseball with live scoring and advanced management tools available for premium rates to appease experienced fantasy players.


Free Fantasy Soccer On the Internet

English Premier League© fans can access free fantasy soccer leagues from multiple sources on the Internet.  Fantasy Premier League (http://fantasy.premierleague.com/) is sponsored by Barclays Premier League© and offers free access to fantasy games for soccer fans around the world.  This fantasy league goes deep into the game with detailed scoring, transfer, and management options that simulate the club management experience.  Another option for fantasy soccer lovers is the free league run by CrazySoccer© (http://www.crazysoccer.com/).  This league involves every player from the English Premier League© and allows diehard soccer fans to compete with each other online.

Considerations For Playing Free Fantasy Games

Baseball fans are aware of the marathon season that their favorite clubs go through to get to The World Series™.  The 162-game regular season is compounded by a month of spring training and another month of playoff games in the fall.  While free fantasy baseball may sound like fun in April, professionals and students with busy schedules may find this hobby to become a chore by mid-summer.  Fantasy baseball players should budget their times wisely to keep their teams updated without disrupting day-to-day life. 

The main challenge for fans of Premier League© soccer in North America and Asia is the vast time difference.  A New York resident participating in the Fantasy Premier League is five hours behind the start times for English soccer games each weekend.  The time differences affect transfer times as well as live scoring, forcing Americans to adjust their schedules to take care of their free fantasy soccer team.