Evening all !
Spring is almost here, so baseball can’t be far away… time for our regular bestball baseball contest?
Previous league winners
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2021 - @Rick_Spangle
2022 - Me !
2023 - @JordanA24
2024 - Me again !
2025 - @Rick_Spangle again !
Draft will be on the evening of Monday 23rd March. Guessing it will be at about 7 pm UK time but we can flex that, within reason, if that causes a problem.
Entry fee is £30, payable to allhailzippy@gmail.com - we normally have enough players to have three prizes, but I’ll confirm that once we know numbers
League link: Fantrax - The Home of Fantasy Sports
2026 SIGN UP LIST
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- Jon Cartwright - Montgomery Biscuits
- Sam Devereux - Savannah Bananas
- Andy Duenner - Spokane Indians
- Javier Aparicio - Portland Mavericks
- Malcy - Great Lakes Loons
- Andy ‘Rick Spangle’ Smith - Albuquerque Isotopes
- Iain ‘Mozza’ Morris - El Paso Chihuahuas
- Juan Gainzarain Zapateria - Reno Aces
- Jordan Allaway - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Gary Johnson - Louisville Bats
Right then, 10 players signed up for 2026 - the prizes are:
1st - £180
2nd - £90
3rd - £30
Draft order is:
- Louisville - Gaz
- Portland - Javier
- Spokane- Andy D
- Reno - Juan Gainza
- Great Lakes - Malcy
- Sugar Land - Jordan
- Albuquerque - Andy S
- Montgomery - me
- El Paso - Mozza
- Savannah - Sam
Best of luck everyone, see you in the draft room on Monday
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Hope you all enjoyed the draft ! Just a few hours till the season opener, so here are a few quick draft stats:
- The Shape of the Squads
In-field
Nobody went crazy and picked only 1 player at a position (it HAS happened in previous years!). Typically we all got 2 or 3 of each position - Spokane’s 4 Short Stops was the only exception - and I suspect Andy had dropped out of the draft room by the end so there may have been an autodraft in there
Outfield
Mostly 7 each, nobody went outside 6-to-8
Pitchers
8,9,10 was a standard pitching line-up. Gaz and Andy S went heavy with 12 - but Malcy blew that out of the water with 14 pitchers (he went short on all other positions to make up for that!
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- The Value of the Squads
Rather than just ‘how many players did we pick’ at each position - how much draft capital did we spend?
I have assigned 300 points to the 1.01 draft pick, then 299, 298… all the way down to 1 point for the last pick. This is how our draft now looks:
The two that leap straight out are:
Malcy spending a ton on pitchers - not only did he pick the most, but he also used 5 of his first 9 picks, meaning he was way clear of me and Sam, and even further clear of the rest
Gaz grabbing Short Stops with picks 3 and 4 and 5 ! So his spend of 801 points at the position was comfortably the most anyone spent on a single infield position (nobody else put even 600 into one position)
…the counterpoint to that was that he didn’t look at catchers until round 27, so he also got the lowest spend at a single position!
- Popular teams
Fifteen players selected from the big hitting and big spending Yankees. No huge surprise. Likewise reigning champs the LA Dodgers with 14.
Also on 14, the Kansas City Royals. A belief that last year’s upwards trend will continue? Or more likely, Sam being a massive homer and picking 6 of them for his squad!!
At the wrong end, it was very hard to give away any Nationals players - only 5 taken in total, and even three of those were late (only James Wood and CJ Abrams in the first 15 rounds of the draft)
Well that’s week 1 of the season in the books, and the early leader is… ME! It won’t last but I’ll enjoy it while it does.
A pair of Andy’s on the podium behind me, while Sam’s Bananas are stranded at the bottom
Happy Easter, folks !
Another week done - Malcy scored the only 300-point week, with the Chihuahuas and Mavericks close behind
The big week almost saw Malcy and his Loons take the overall lead, but I managed to just about hang on for another week at least - my long term rivals the 'Topes are lurking close by in third place
Cracking week 3 for Gaz, with a whopping 320 points. A pair of massive outings by Jose Soriano led the way, butbhe scored well right across the board.
Mozza also topped 300 - while there were a cluster of teams fighting for third place on the week.
The big week also saw Gaz take top spot overall. Malcy very close behind, with Mozza in third. Early pace setter - Me! - drops to mid table after a poor week
The week of the Chihuahua!
El Paso get the highest weekly score of the season with a huge 353… Rick Spangle’s ‘Topes a decent second, with Portland and Spokane tied for third
That big weekly score also sends El Paso top overall, ahead of Albuquerque - while last week’s leaders Louisville drop back to mid table
Big week for the Spokane Indians - Swiss Andy’s team wins the week, with the only 300+ score. Me and Mozza on the podium in the minor places.
Mozza’s Chihuahuas stay top of the table, I’m back up to second, and Malcy’s Loons are now in third. Sam’s Bananas are propping up the table, but we’re not even 20% of the way through the season yet…
Hello - and happy bank holiday Monday !
Yet another good week for the increasingly dominant Mozza… over the last few weeks, his Chihuahuas have finished 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 3rd and now 1st again, in the weekly standings
This means there is clear daylight at the top now. El Paso leads by over 100 points from a group made up of me, Javier, Gaz, Malcy and both Andys.Then there is another 100 gap, down to the basement battle between Juan, Jordan and Sam 
Another good week for @duenni and his Indians - 1st this week, to follow 2nd and 1st the previous two weeks. Reno has a surprisingly good week too, putting @juangainza second
The Chihuahuas stay top overall, and reach the 2000 mark for the season . I drop back into third behind Spokane - and former champ Jordan drops into last place
Gaz and Malcy both break the 300 point barrier this week, with Gaz and his Bats narrowly sneaking the win. I roll in as best-of-the-rest
The good week keeps all three of us flying high in the overall standings - but still nobody can touch Mozza who still has a big lead in first place
Morning all !
A weekly win for @juangainza - his first of the season I think? Beating Sam’s Bananas and the high flying Chihuahuas into 2nd and 3rd place
The Chihuahuas stay top overall, but now Gaz and his bats are up to second. I’m 3rd but with no active catchers in my squad I think I might start struggling now…
No active catchers for me either for a long while
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Best ball format can be a nightmare sometimes!
I thought I’d draft a couple more pitchers this year, and economise by selecting only 2 shortstops and 2 second base - what are the chances of both being injured at the same time? Result - no SS and no 2B for weeks as all 4 are on the DL. Back to three for each position next year!
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A shock in the baseball this week as long-time basement dweller @seaprincess pulls a weekly win out of nowhere!
@gazj885 and @roookie also top 300 in what was a high scoring week.
No change at the top as @mozza_19 still has a handy lead (still not half way through the season though!)
Just a heads up - I am off on holiday shortly, so there won’t be updates for 2 or 3 weeks. I assume the players will keep on scoring in my absence, who knows..?
Anyway - the week just gone was another good one for @Mozza_19 who was 30 points ahead of @s.devereux and his Bananas. I was third, but a long way back - my points score was nearer to last place than first!
All of which means the Chihuahuas are even further clear at the top! Over 150 point lead - while there is fewer than 50 points covering the next four teams
