In the early 1980's a group of guys got together in an east side New York restaurant called "La Rotisserie Francaise" (now defunct) to discuss and put together the rules for what we know as rotisserie baseball. Since then, this game has caught on and is played by millions of people very year. The concept of rotisserie baseball has even spread out so that there are now rotisserie basketball, hockey, and football leagues as well.
This game has gotten so unbelievably popular because it satisfies several sports fans' fantasies. Every one of us would probably secretly love to own a big league ball club, or at the very least to manage a major league baseball team. Maybe that's why rotisserie baseball is sometimes called Fantasy baseball. Plus, we all think we know more about baseball than everyone else, and having our own team gives us the opportunity to prove it. And if we lose, there's always next year.
No, even though there are owners that spend a great deal of time on their team, most owners run their team by just reading the box scores everyday. You will probably want to do some preliminary preparation for the draft at the beginning of the season. You should go to the draft with some prepared rankings of players by position so that you can make some informed draft selections. If you don't want to prepare rankings by yourself, the fantasy baseball magazines that appear over the winter are teeming with player evaluations, rankings, and hot tips for the rotisserie team owners.
Calculating the stats for a rotisserie league is not only time consuming but very tricky and error prone for the average person. For that reason, you should not try to do them yourself. Choose a quality and reliable stat service to do your stats. And, in picking a stat service, we urge you strongly to choose one not only for it's price and for how the reports look, but for how long they have been in business and the number of satisfied customers they have.
We are a full-time stat service, and have been doing stats since 1984. We have generally been acclaimed as "one of the best stat services around". In 1993 USA Today's Baseball Weekly did a surprise, unannounced and impartial review of all the stat services, assigning them the following ratings...
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Since then, we have improved our package by adding new reports, (including Major League transactions) and have even reduced our prices. We feel we are now THE NUMBER 1 choice among stat services. Not only are the reports beautiful and error free, but they are now much more affordable as well.
No, your league decides how much, if any, each owner puts into your own prize pool. The Express Stats fee is a low, one-time fee at the beginning of the season, and there are no additional, extra or hidden fees of any kind. We do not charge for transactions, so your league may make as many as they want. You may either fax in the transactions to us or email them to us.
(1) Get a bunch of guys together (5 - 14), and these will be your league's team owners. Next you'll have to decide who will be the league's Commissioner and who will be the league's Secretary. The Commissioner is usually the one who organizes the league, and usually has broad powers to settle any disputes that may arise among the owners. Once the season starts, the Secretary is the one that handles all the league's transactions and is responsible for reporting them to Express Stats. Oftentimes, the Commissioner and Secretarial duties are handled by the same person. If your league will be having a prize pool, you might want to appoint a Treasurer as well.
(2) Give everyone a copy of the rules. You must decide if your league will use American League players only, National League players only, or both (mixed leagues). You will also decide if your league will have an auction (with players' salaries) or just a straight draft. Another decision is what categories your league will use for scoring. New leagues usually start out with the "basic 8", that is Home runs, RBIs, Stolen bases, Batting average, ERA, Ratio, Wins, Saves, but you're free to use whatever categories you want. Then pick a day for your draft. The draft is usually held either a week before, or a week after the start of the major league season.
Start early, for the draft can take anywhere from 4 - 6 hours. Choose a league name and then names for each of the individual teams. You should also exchange phone numbers and collect money.
There are two kinds of draft that you can have. You can have an auction or a straight draft.
In a straight draft, everyone sits around the table taking turns at picking players for their own teams. You can determine the drafting order by picking out of a hat. Go around the table clockwise for the first round, counter-clockwise for the second round, etc.
In an auction, your league uses a $260 salary cap. The players are selected by bidding for them. The first owner introduces a player by bidding $1 for him, then the other owners are all free to try to outbid each other. The highest bid gets the player, and that amount then becomes the player's salary. You will naturally bid higher for the better players, but keep in mind that your total team payroll cannot go above the salary cap of $260. Then the next owner around the table introduces the next player, and so on.
Auctions are more interesting, and require a few more hours than a straight draft. You might need some Rolaids, too.
Regardless of whether you use a draft or an auction, players should be selected based on a pre-arranged list of positions.
Most leagues use the standard 23 player active roster comprised of 14 hitters and 9 pitchers.
The 14 hitters are...
In order to qualify for a position, a player must have played that position at least 20 games last year. Once the season starts, a player qualifies for a position as long as he plays at least one game at a position. The Express Stats reports actually list the positions that all the hitters qualify for. For your draft we will send you the complete major league breakdown of all the players from last year with the actual number of games played at each position.
The 9 pitchers can be any combination of starters or relievers.
For the purposes of your rotisserie league, hitters generate only hitting statistics, and pitchers generate only pitching statistics. So, if one of your hitters is brought in to pitch in a hopelessly lost game, his pitching stats do not count. Similarly, if one of your pitchers hits a grand slam, it doesn't count. Fielding statistics are not used in rotisserie baseball.
Once the season starts, the team owners will call their transactions to your league's secretary, and he will get in touch with Express Stats once a week to report that week's transactions. You can fax us the transactions to our 24-hour fax line (704)542-8582 or you can email them to us at RotiRich@aol.com. We'll take care of the rest.
Have fun with your league. Many leagues have regular weekly meetings (maybe a lunch) to discuss trades or just to "trash talk". Call the other owners to discuss possible trades. Many leagues have an All-Star Game party, an end-of-season awards banquet, and even winter meetings to discuss trades.
During the season, read USA Today, Baseball Weekly, Fantasy Baseball, The Sporting News, or your local newspaper for the latest major league player developments. The more you know, the more likely you'll be able to capitalize on some late-breaking news.
During the season, owners can make roster moves when, in real life, one of their players gets injured, or is traded to the other league or is sent to the minors (or if he retires or signs a contract with a Japanese team). Once one of these things happen, you can replace that player with someone that is not currently owned by one of the other teams in your league (Free Agent Pool). Express Stats provides a Free Agent Pool report customized for your league, so that you'll always know who's available.
You are also able to make trades with the other owners in your league. Many people believe that this is the most fun part of rotisserie baseball...being able to "horse trade" with your buddies. By the way, since you're able to keep a certain number of players from year to year, trading is not restricted to just the baseball season. Many trades occur during the winter, as some teams try to fortify themselves at previously weak positions. The fun doesn't stop when the baseball season ends!
The standings each week are calculated based on each team's yearly performance in the categories that you chose. In a ten team league, for example, the team in first place in any category gets 10 points for that category, the next team gets 9 points, down to 1 point for the last place team. The final winner is determined by whoever is in first place in overall points when the final stats are done in October.
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