So college football is now over and your NFL team didn’t make the playoffs. You’re already bored from the monotony of the NHL and NBA mid-winter schedules, which leaves you, understandably, itching for pitchers and catchers to arrive at their respective spring training facilities.

Fantasy Baseball is right around the corner and you can smell it.

Now before you go diving into your fantasy draft magazines (do people even use those anymore?) or your *cough, cough* “Fantasy Alarm 2018 MLB Living Draft Guide”, take a second and really think over whether or not you are prepared for this season…

To answer that question, you first have to identify your fantasy reality (an oxymoron yes, but an appropriate use of the just-made-up term). Are you getting the band back together for the 11th-straight season on your worn-in website, no matter how outdated the interface may be, or are you starting up/joining a new league? If the latter fits, then it is imperative to follow up your own question with another -- “Do I fully understand the rules and bylaws of this new league?”

For someone who has committed at least $20 here to prepare for their fantasy season, you probably feel a bit insulted by the elementary nature of this article so far. Of course you know the rules of fantasy baseball; you’ve been playing it for years and just proved your love by spending money on a virtual draft guide for crying out loud! You feel comfortable in your skills, so you mainly just purchased it for the player rankings, sleepers, busts, and bold predictions.

While that may be true, and while you may be a veteran in the fantasy baseball community, do yourself a favor and humor me here; you won’t regret it.

Before sinking your teeth into all of the fun stuff that this draft guide is packed with, go over these guidelines that are sure to best prepare you for the upcoming fantasy baseball season…

1) What’s my scoring system?

This is always the first place you have to start. I know that we’ve already established that you are no idiot, but you would be surprised to know just how many people finish their drafts in a roto style league and then instantly ask who they are playing in the first matchup. It may sound obvious, but the way your league keeps score can drastically change the outcome in potential matchups and/or weekly league rankings.

The most obvious example you will see is in statistical value. If you are in a standard rotisserie league then your team will score individual categories across the board, ranking each team in descending order from top to bottom. This will champion the teams that are comprised in the most well rounded of fashions; teams that can check off boxes in all different types of statistical categories. The same will go for head-to-head leagues that also value categories.

Contrarily things can look much different if your league gives each statistical category a point value rather than just counting each column against the rest of the league or your individual opponent. For example, for this upcoming season Billy Hamilton of the Cincinnati Reds is being largely valued as a late-third/early fourth-round pick, according to his ADP in category leagues. You would find it hard to get anyone in the know to argue vehemently against this, as his standing as the league’s best base-stealer for the better part of the last five years gives him incredible value in category leagues. However, if your league values points over categories, it can be argued that Hamilton is undraftable. “Why is this?” you may ask… In point-driven leagues, all that matters are the points. If each stat can give you a point value, then why waste your time on a guy who can only get points in one way? Hamilton is abysmal in nearly every other facet of statistical baseball, rendering him a one trick pony.

In a points-driven league getting a guy who can get points in several different ways will not only give him more chances to earn higher point totals, but he also will be a more consistent and reliable scoring source. Take Orioles outfielder Adam Jones for example. Jones is going, on average, 101 spots later than Hamilton in fantasy drafts, despite the fact that his career numbers blow Hamilton’s out of the water. In an average 162-game season, Jones hits 20 more home runs than Hamilton, drives in 46 more runs, hits 30 points higher in average, and boasts an on-base percentage of nearly 20 points higher. The one category in Hamilton’s favor is that he steals about 60 more bases than Jones per season. But in a points driven league, that wouldn’t mean squat considering all of the other ways that Jones could out-score him. This is just one of many examples on how a critical understanding of your league’s scoring system is. The ultimate takeaway here is that preseason rankings can be drastically different based upon how your league values stats. Stay sharp on that when thumbing through player statistical models and your archaic draft magazines.

2) How many owners are in this league?

This one is far less complicated, but still important… Are you in a deep league or a shallow one? If you operate out of an eight-man power league, then each team is likely to be loaded with talent across the board. For those of you who play in the aforementioned category leagues, this type of league makes it nearly impossible to punt any particular category. If your league is spread incredibly thin however, one with more than 12 owners, then understanding how to navigate the waiver wire becomes much more important, but we’ll get to that later. Ultimately, just understand that playing in a shallow league makes the draft that much more important because a premium is put on having the best of the best. Playing in a deep league means that you will have to be active each day trying to improve your roster with the league’s hottest pickups.

3) How are the rosters comprised?

This is the most important thing to know when entering your draft…

ESPN standard leagues set up their rosters as follows:

C/1B/2B/SS/3B/5 OF/CI/MI/UTIL/9 P

Yahoo! standard leagues set up their rosters as follows:

C/1B/2B/3B/SS/OF/OF/OF/Util/Util/2 SP/2 RP/4 P)

What does that mean to you? Well, that means, depending on where you are playing your league, your draft can go in a variety of different ways. In ESPN leagues there may be a lower premium on closers because you aren’t forced to roster relief pitchers – this is of course dependent on if you are playing in a points or category league and whether or not you are playing in a large or small league in so that you can have the option to punt on saves or not. In both formats, players with positional versatility will certainly have top value, however there is no doubt that owners in ESPN leagues will value position versatile players more due to the wider range of positions that they need to satisfy.

These are just examples of the differences between the two giants of the fantasy baseball industry. Keep in mind that there are thousands of different sites to play on and they all set up their rosters differently, thusly making the drafting experience unique each time… something to keep in mind for sure.

4) How often do the rosters lock?

Some leagues lock on Monday morning until Sunday night and some leagues promote daily lineup changes. For those playing in weekly leagues, analyzing how many games each player will get for the week can change your lineup decisions drastically. If a player has two off days as opposed to his bench counterpart who is scheduled to play in all seven days of the week, you may want to flip-flop them for that matchup. The same goes for a pitcher who is scheduled to make two starts in a week as opposed to the player ahead of him who is only scheduled to make one. Which team the pitcher is going to face becomes more important in this type of format as well.

Daily lineup leagues are more labor-intensive, yet simpler. The best way to maximize your roster is to take 10 minutes out of your day before the regular season starts and just make sure that every person who has a scheduled game is in your starting lineup for each day. I usually go a month at a time, making sure that anyone whose team has an off day is replaced by his bench counterpart for that day. This easy 10-minute task should be repeated on the first of the month for the rest of the season. Keep in mind that while this prepares you in theory to have a lineup set for each week, those in daily leagues have to check often to make sure their bench players aren’t hotter than their starting players and that their starting players aren’t injured, even for day-to-day injuries. Being on top of your roster management game is the best way to win in daily lineup formats.

5) What does the waiver format look like?

In recent years, waiver formats have changed across all fantasy sports. Historically each league’s waiver period operated within a resetting two-day window. After a player is claimed the rest of the league has two days to make the same claim. The player is awarded to the team with the highest priority, typically based off of record. The team awarded then moves to the back of the waiver line, and the cycle continues.

Leagues still, by and large, operate in this system, with menial differences based off whether your league is weekly or daily, however with the addition of the FAAB (waiver budget) system over the last decade or so, adding free agents became a little more complicated.

What’s most important when using a FAAB-based waiver system is to understand how your fellow owners are using it. It’s always a tough game of chicken to see who is going to set the market for free agents at the beginning of the year, but once a price is established, you can comfortably navigate for most of the rest of the season. Really though, just use your heads people… If there is a can’t miss prospect coming up then it may be acceptable to use a quarter of your yearly budget, especially in keeper leagues. On the other hand, trying to sneak a $0 claim in there for a spot starter on your daily lineup leagues may also be acceptable if the risk reward for not having the player on your roster at all weighs out correctly.

6) How much money am I winning this season?

This one is just for fun, because if you follow these steps prior to beginning your yearly fantasy baseball quest, you are likely to come out on top.

In order: check your league’s scoring system, assess your fellow owners, bone up on the roster composition, and check how often they lock. If you do all of that and master the ins and outs of your waiver wire, then you have done all that you can do to properly prepare for this fantasy baseball season.

Now you can feel free to dive head first into those player rankings, sleepers, busts, and bold predictions that you so have been dreaming about all winter long. Good luck!