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2014 Oakland Gameday HQ

adding pitchers who pitch for strong teams and are likely to earn wins. Winning at Rotisserie baseball often comes down to which team is able to manage their statistics best and earn as many points as possible in each category. AUGUST: Filling in Gaps This month may be known as the “Dog Days of Summer,” but it’s also the last month of the season before the fantasy playoffs. This is when roster weaknesses need to be addressed. If your team isn’t stealing enough bases or hitting enough home runs, now might be a good time to gamble on a player who earns those stats but puts up a poor batting average. Find the areas where your team is weak, and look for available free agents to fill those gaps. August is also when the trade deadline takes place for a lot of fantasy teams. If you have a wealth of pitching but need a good outfielder, don’t be shy about trading from a position of strength to address a position of weakness. It’s also important to have a healthy roster as you don’t want your opponent to have an advantage in games played. If you’re still holding on to a player who’s been injured most of the season, it’s time to let him go unless you know he’s going to return on a specific date. Even if an injured player is normally among the fantasy elite, he’s not going to help your team as long as he’s on the disabled list. Stash as many players in DL spots as you can, but drop the rest and gear up for the playoffs. SEPTEMBER: Staying the Course The fantasy playoffs have arrived for head-to-head leagues. Everything is at stake, and that means a lot of fantasy players micro-manage their teams to the extreme. The temptation is there to take a close look at every player and every matchup and try to make the perfect call on whether to put a player in the lineup or leave him on the bench. My advice is simple: if you earned one of the best records in the league by making the playoffs, then you’re doing something right. It doesn’t make any sense to drastically change what you’re doing in the playoffs. For the most part, the best strategy is simply to play as many of your players as you can and let things play out as they normally would. There is too much randomness in fantasy baseball to get much of an edge by picking apart every detail of every matchup. Remember, the odds are always against you winning your league. The most important thing to have in fantasy baseball is patience. There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball, and each of them play 162 games per year, making for a lot of at-bats and innings-pitched. There is plenty of time for things to work out for struggling players. Give them a fair chance to produce for your team, and most of the time they will. A lot of fantasy team owners have the mentality of a day trader, frantically buying and selling stocks in an attempt to make money fast. Winning in fantasy baseball requires thinking more like a long-term investor. If you build your team with a blend of proven performers, rising stars, and top prospects, staying patient while taking advantage of others’ mistakes, you’ll maximize your chances of winning your league. Ryan Zimmerman might be a notoriously slow starter so it’s best to be patient if you have him and exploit other owners’ lack of patience and trade for him if he’s not on your roster. G FIUME/GETTY IMAGES SPORT


2014 Oakland Gameday HQ
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