The 2017 Major League Baseball regular season is complete and with it the fantasy baseball season. As the champions celebrate and the runners-up mourn, many of us turn our eyes towards the Postseason and the 2018 season. Before we leave this season behind, let’s take one final look back on the players and trends that defined the 2017 fantasy baseball season.
10 Day Disabled List
Early in the 2017 season, we all realized that we were playing a very different version of fantasy baseball. With the implementation of the 10 Day DL in the offseason, MLB managers and general managers alike began to utilize this shorter Disabled List to change and adjust their roster flexibility. It seemed that throughout the season the Dodgers had at least one starter rotating on and off the DL in order to maintain a Five-Man Rotation. Fantasy managers realized in April that the standard two or three DL slots that most of our leagues utilized were not nearly enough to ________ the increased use of the DL in MLB. Many leagues will be looking to add DL slots in the offseason while some have already done so in the middle of the season. The increase in DL slots and DL usage in MLB extends every league’s replacement level threshold and will make many fantasy managers consider whether or not they’re willing to take risks on injury prone players.
Juiced Ball
This season there was a lot of coverage and research devoted to analyzing the changes, or lack thereof, to the ball used in the major leagues. While MLB officials continually claim that no substantial and purposeful changes have been made to the baseball, research by Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer argues otherwise. In his article, (https://www.theringer.com/2017/6/14/16044264/2017-mlb-home-run-spike-juiced-ball-testing-reveal-155cd21108bc) Lindbergh claims that changes to the seam height, circumference, and COR – a measure that essentially equates to bounciness – are resulting in an added 7.1 feet of distance to batted balls. This may not seem like much, but it has shown in the performance of many would-be 10-12 home run hitters, such as Whit Merrifield, Andrelton Simmons, and Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez. Across baseball home, run rates have risen to a historic level. The major league record for most home runs hit in a single season was set in 2017, with the league totaling 6,104 home runs to obliterate the previous record of 5,693 set in 2000. This begs the question, will the ball remain “juiced,” and can we expect the same power output in 2018? If so, ought we to focus more on stolen bases in our 2018 drafts? Hopefully, a more concrete answer becomes clear at some point throughout the offseason.
2017 Fantasy MVPs & LVPs
As with any season, there were many players who stood out as bargains and busts. Using FantasyPros ADP and ESPN’s standard 5×5 Player Rater, let’s take a look at the best and worst performances in 2017.
MVP Hitters:
LVP Hitters:
MVP Pitchers:
LVP Pitchers:
