Last spring, I posted a series of articles called the BWB Primer
You can check that out for expanded commentary beyond the rules. Taking over an orphan team, some of the topics may not yet make sense, but take a look and it might be of some help.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Orphan School - Lesson One: The Game Itself
There are several brand new Benchwarmer owners taking over Orphan teams this season and you're putting yourself into a game where probably 13-15 of the 16 teams in your league are back for their 2nd BWB season...or maybe their 10th. So as we proceed to Opening Day, you've got to make some decisions and moves (or refrain from moves) against experienced foes.
So let's quickly start off with what you're trying to do - win games.
And let's look at a sample of that....go to http://www.benchwarmerbaseball.net/season/schedule.asp?lg=A1
This is the final week schedule of the 2009 season in the Hall of Fame League - our charter league in BWB (started back in 2000). Each week in BWB, you play 6 games. Each game is scored individually.
In the upper left corner of the schedule - right under the heading Game 145, you'll see that Michigan beat New Fairfield 3-2. Click the "Box" link just to the right of that and you'll find the game box score.
Let's not deal with the specifics of the scoring formula here, but just deal with what you see in the box score. Each week, you'll set a starting lineup of 9 hitters - and you put them in order 1-9 - and they must fill all the 8 standard fielding spots plus DH (we don't care about specific OF positions).
If you look at the very bottom of the box score page, you'll see that the performances for Major League game #150 were used for this game (yeah, it's Game 145 in BWB....that's another story...but the important thing here is that it's a single MLB game mapped to a single BWB game). Whatever your players did in that game goes into our scoring formula.
Notice in Michigan's lineup that after Carlos Ruiz there's a "(B5)" listed? In that game, Michigan's starting catcher did not appear in the corresponding MLB game. So, we grabbed a catcher from the bench. Each team has a 5-person bench, so you want to try to cover all the positions. What about the 3rd slot in Michigan's order - it says "Benchwarmer First Baseman"? Well, Michigan's starting 1B did not play that day and he didn't have an eligible guy on the bench for 1B who played either. So the Benchwarmer filled in - went 0-5, and even worse, had 2 errors.
As you look at the very bottom of the box score, you'll see the "Raw Scores for the game and this shows how the game score came about. Games in Benchwarmer are a combination of your hitting score and your opponent's pitching score. The team with the highest Total Raw Score wins the game - we just round them to integers to make them appear as runs.
At the moment, don't get too wound up in the scoring formula itself. What you're doing in Benchwarmer Baseball is essentially - build the best "baseball" team you can with the amount of money you have to spend and put them into a solid batting order and pitching rotation. And make sure you have bench players who can fill holes when they're needed (so if you can fill your bench with real-life starters, that's best).
As we continue this week and beyond, I'll make some suggestions on how to proceed with your roster as we enter free agency - whether you've got a lot of cash to spend or not. I would say generally don't make a lot of rash decisions this first week. 15 other guys in your league may be waiting to take advantage of you.
So let's quickly start off with what you're trying to do - win games.
And let's look at a sample of that....go to http://www.benchwarmerbaseball.net/season/schedule.asp?lg=A1
This is the final week schedule of the 2009 season in the Hall of Fame League - our charter league in BWB (started back in 2000). Each week in BWB, you play 6 games. Each game is scored individually.
In the upper left corner of the schedule - right under the heading Game 145, you'll see that Michigan beat New Fairfield 3-2. Click the "Box" link just to the right of that and you'll find the game box score.
Let's not deal with the specifics of the scoring formula here, but just deal with what you see in the box score. Each week, you'll set a starting lineup of 9 hitters - and you put them in order 1-9 - and they must fill all the 8 standard fielding spots plus DH (we don't care about specific OF positions).
If you look at the very bottom of the box score page, you'll see that the performances for Major League game #150 were used for this game (yeah, it's Game 145 in BWB....that's another story...but the important thing here is that it's a single MLB game mapped to a single BWB game). Whatever your players did in that game goes into our scoring formula.
Notice in Michigan's lineup that after Carlos Ruiz there's a "(B5)" listed? In that game, Michigan's starting catcher did not appear in the corresponding MLB game. So, we grabbed a catcher from the bench. Each team has a 5-person bench, so you want to try to cover all the positions. What about the 3rd slot in Michigan's order - it says "Benchwarmer First Baseman"? Well, Michigan's starting 1B did not play that day and he didn't have an eligible guy on the bench for 1B who played either. So the Benchwarmer filled in - went 0-5, and even worse, had 2 errors.
As you look at the very bottom of the box score, you'll see the "Raw Scores for the game and this shows how the game score came about. Games in Benchwarmer are a combination of your hitting score and your opponent's pitching score. The team with the highest Total Raw Score wins the game - we just round them to integers to make them appear as runs.
At the moment, don't get too wound up in the scoring formula itself. What you're doing in Benchwarmer Baseball is essentially - build the best "baseball" team you can with the amount of money you have to spend and put them into a solid batting order and pitching rotation. And make sure you have bench players who can fill holes when they're needed (so if you can fill your bench with real-life starters, that's best).
As we continue this week and beyond, I'll make some suggestions on how to proceed with your roster as we enter free agency - whether you've got a lot of cash to spend or not. I would say generally don't make a lot of rash decisions this first week. 15 other guys in your league may be waiting to take advantage of you.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Early Payment Discount - Deadline is tonight!
November 30th - midnight Pacific (12/1 at 3 AM EST) is the deadline for the early payment discount of $5.
For full-priced teams, this is almost 10% off (OK, it's 9%).
Payment isn't due until Opening Day...this is just a chance to take care of it now and get it out of the way. See your current status at http://www.benchwarmerbaseball.net/useradmin/payment_summary.asp
No discount for packages or Orphan teams.
For full-priced teams, this is almost 10% off (OK, it's 9%).
Payment isn't due until Opening Day...this is just a chance to take care of it now and get it out of the way. See your current status at http://www.benchwarmerbaseball.net/useradmin/payment_summary.asp
No discount for packages or Orphan teams.
Some Off-season Dates Pushed Back
BWB is year-round, but could use a little bit more space (for both you and me) in between some of the dates originally set. I have some website retooling to work on over the winter, and I want a little bit of extra time to find new experts to take over some orphans in the Experts League.
New Dates (all deadlines at midnight Pacific time):
New Dates (all deadlines at midnight Pacific time):
- Roster Carryover Choices - Saturday, Dec. 26th (was Dec. 11). This is probably the only non-Friday date for returning leagues until April.
- Redistribution Draft Picks - Friday, Jan. 15 (was Dec. 31). Current plan is to post results by Jan 23-24.
- Free Agency Opens - Friday, Jan. 29.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Returning Next Season?
It's time to indicate if you're coming back for another season of Benchwarmer Baseball. There is now a link on your team's roster page that will let you respond yes/no to keeping the team in 2010. Or you can just go ahead and click here.
At this point, you have to answer individually for each team - depending on which team you're currently logged in as on the web site. I will try to put up a page to allow you to answer for multiple leagues on a single page - no promises, but I'll try to have that up by the end of September.
Please answer Yes/No by October 31. If unanswered by that time, your team will automatically become an Orphan Team.
Experts - Please answer by October 4 (last day of the MLB regular season) so that I have time to search for new experts to take over teams before the off-season activity begins.
At this point, you have to answer individually for each team - depending on which team you're currently logged in as on the web site. I will try to put up a page to allow you to answer for multiple leagues on a single page - no promises, but I'll try to have that up by the end of September.
Please answer Yes/No by October 31. If unanswered by that time, your team will automatically become an Orphan Team.
Experts - Please answer by October 4 (last day of the MLB regular season) so that I have time to search for new experts to take over teams before the off-season activity begins.
Specials and Free Teams in 2010
As we move into 2010, we're going to make a similar effort at encouraging expansion of Benchwarmer Baseball as we did in the last 2 seasons. 2009 was a banner season when we added six new leagues to the fold. I was going to stop the free team explosion, but on second thought we'll try it at least for one more season...
So, here's the rundown of the normal reward structure:
The "bonus" teams are just that - and are meant to seed new leagues. They cannot be used to cover payment for existing teams.
New Owner Specials - For brand new people who have never played Benchwarmer before, we're currently running a special through the end of October. They can sign up and get their first team in new leagues for free (normal prices apply for teams beyond the first). This is being advertised currently in USA Today Sports Weekly. The goal is to pull in more people and get them hooked (and become paying customers!) for future seasons. It is possible that in November and December we may have some reduced rates for new owners. Tell your friends - this is a great opportunity for them to try out Benchwarmer for a year at no risk!
So, here's the rundown of the normal reward structure:
- All league champions get their team free in 2010. They also earn a free team that can be used in a new league or to pick up an orphan team.
- All winners of the other post-season tournaments - the Gore Cup and the Bottomfeeder Open - win a free extra team that can be used in a new league or to pick up an orphan team.
- The winner of the Benchwarmer Bash gets 2 free seasons for that team. The Bash runner up gets one free season (this is added on for future seasons if they were a league champ and already getting the team free in 2010).
The "bonus" teams are just that - and are meant to seed new leagues. They cannot be used to cover payment for existing teams.
New Owner Specials - For brand new people who have never played Benchwarmer before, we're currently running a special through the end of October. They can sign up and get their first team in new leagues for free (normal prices apply for teams beyond the first). This is being advertised currently in USA Today Sports Weekly. The goal is to pull in more people and get them hooked (and become paying customers!) for future seasons. It is possible that in November and December we may have some reduced rates for new owners. Tell your friends - this is a great opportunity for them to try out Benchwarmer for a year at no risk!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Benchwarmer Bash 2009 - New Format
As we add more leagues each season, we get closer to the framework that allows more structure to the Bash. For those of you who are new, the Benchwarmer Bash is a tournament that comes after the regular playoffs are done. It takes the league champions, plus some selected wild cards, into a monster tournament.
It allows fantasy baseball to truly become a year-round pursuit. While all teams will be figuring out who to keep for 2010 and starting that process, a few teams are still in the hunt for something. Again, like the league playoffs, we use random games from the last half of the season to play. Teams in the Bash set their rosters once and then they are locked (while their real - current - rosters will start changing for 2010). A big advancement came in 2008 when we actually posted the games in November. Previously, it had taken until Feb or March for me to get around to it.
This is another idea from the model game for Benchwarmer - Robot Baseball (where it was called the Robot Super Clash). The winner of the Benchwarmer Bash gets TWO free seasons for their team. The runner up gets one free season.
The Bash winner also gets an entry in the Experts League for the following season (and maybe the runner up too, if we have trouble filling out the field of experts).
So - the format change...last season with 11 leagues, we had the 11 champions and 10 wild cards - the remaining teams with the best BWB Power Index - played each other to add 5 more entrants to a 16-team bracket. Check out the 2008 Bash.
Now, with 17 leagues, we've been able to fill out our Federation lineup adequately. From this season on, the Benchwarmer Bash will start first with Federation tournaments and the winners there will advance to the final bracket for the Bash. What's that lineup? See the listing of all leagues and scroll down...there you'll see how the leagues are divided into federations and associations. Quick hint: as you move from league to league, you'll see a league ID code in your web addresses (A1, C5, H3, etc.) The letter code indicates your Federation.
Each Federation Championship is a 5-team tournament. The league champions automatically advance, plus 2 or 3 wild cards. Every federation has 2 leagues so far, except the Eckersley Federation (Longball, Golden Throat, and Experts). In the Eckersley, 2 wild card teams will fight it out for the last spot in a 4-team bracket, while the league champs get an opening bye. In the remaining leagues, 3 wild cards will make it - with the top wild card getting a bye into the bracket and the other two fighting it out for the last spot.
How do we pick wild cards? As in the past, we use the BWB Power Index ratings. But where we used to pull from the overall BWB rank, we'll now go by how you rank in the Federation - a ranking I added 2-3 weeks ago to the web page. You must be in the top 3 (or 2, for Eckersley) rankings for the non-championship teams in your Federation to advance. There is a pull down option on that page to view the entire Federation, but it's not operational yet - hopefully soon.
As we get closer to the event, we'll have a new page for the 2009 Bash - and will keep a running list of teams who have qualified and those "on the bubble."
It allows fantasy baseball to truly become a year-round pursuit. While all teams will be figuring out who to keep for 2010 and starting that process, a few teams are still in the hunt for something. Again, like the league playoffs, we use random games from the last half of the season to play. Teams in the Bash set their rosters once and then they are locked (while their real - current - rosters will start changing for 2010). A big advancement came in 2008 when we actually posted the games in November. Previously, it had taken until Feb or March for me to get around to it.
This is another idea from the model game for Benchwarmer - Robot Baseball (where it was called the Robot Super Clash). The winner of the Benchwarmer Bash gets TWO free seasons for their team. The runner up gets one free season.
The Bash winner also gets an entry in the Experts League for the following season (and maybe the runner up too, if we have trouble filling out the field of experts).
So - the format change...last season with 11 leagues, we had the 11 champions and 10 wild cards - the remaining teams with the best BWB Power Index - played each other to add 5 more entrants to a 16-team bracket. Check out the 2008 Bash.
Now, with 17 leagues, we've been able to fill out our Federation lineup adequately. From this season on, the Benchwarmer Bash will start first with Federation tournaments and the winners there will advance to the final bracket for the Bash. What's that lineup? See the listing of all leagues and scroll down...there you'll see how the leagues are divided into federations and associations. Quick hint: as you move from league to league, you'll see a league ID code in your web addresses (A1, C5, H3, etc.) The letter code indicates your Federation.
Each Federation Championship is a 5-team tournament. The league champions automatically advance, plus 2 or 3 wild cards. Every federation has 2 leagues so far, except the Eckersley Federation (Longball, Golden Throat, and Experts). In the Eckersley, 2 wild card teams will fight it out for the last spot in a 4-team bracket, while the league champs get an opening bye. In the remaining leagues, 3 wild cards will make it - with the top wild card getting a bye into the bracket and the other two fighting it out for the last spot.
How do we pick wild cards? As in the past, we use the BWB Power Index ratings. But where we used to pull from the overall BWB rank, we'll now go by how you rank in the Federation - a ranking I added 2-3 weeks ago to the web page. You must be in the top 3 (or 2, for Eckersley) rankings for the non-championship teams in your Federation to advance. There is a pull down option on that page to view the entire Federation, but it's not operational yet - hopefully soon.
As we get closer to the event, we'll have a new page for the 2009 Bash - and will keep a running list of teams who have qualified and those "on the bubble."
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