TheAthletic Subscribers Free NFBC Contest

[kldub4life]

If you are an Athletic subscriber this free NFBC format might be fun!

https://theathletic.com/1620545/2020/02/20/introducing-the-athletics-first-annual-fantasy-baseball-championship/

[Ken]

If you are an Athletic subscriber this free NFBC format might be fun!

https://theathletic.com/1620545/2020...-championship/

What's the prize structure? (you have to be a subscriber to see the details in this article, oddly enough)

[Pauly]

No prizes - just swag and subscriptions to the top 5 overall. I just joined for a month because I wanted to check out the writing anyway.

[Ken]

If they had a real prize structure, and had reasonably sized leagues (10 mixed is wayyy too small) it might have finally motivated me to subscribe.

[Pauly]

If they had a real prize structure, and had reasonably sized leagues (10 mixed is wayyy too small) it might have finally motivated me to subscribe.

That's the stupid NFBC cutline (aka luck-fest) format...blame them

[joncarlos]

Well I already subscribe so I might as well give it a shot

[Big Tymer]

Giving it a shot as well and figured might as well do a $150 Draft Champions while I'm at it

[heyelander]

No prizes - just swag and subscriptions to the top 5 overall. I just joined for a month because I wanted to check out the writing anyway.

The 100 Best MLB players ever series had been great

[cavebird]

Have they found a way for those in the hinterlands (i.e. the list of banned states) to participate? When I looked, they said they would get back to people about that.

[mjl]

Draft started. I hadn't noticed it's a points league with very different points than what I'm used to:

HR: 6
SB: 5
H: 4
R: 2
RBI: 2
AB: -1

W: 6
SV: 8
IP: 3
K: 1
HA: -1
BB: -1
ER: -2

I had the 7th pick. Draft started Acuna, Yelich, Trout, Bellinger, Betts, Arenado. I took Soto. I think (not having given it much thought yet) that with the best-ball format I might as well just take a ton of SPs and hope someone has a good week rather than using high picks on pitchers.

[harmon]

Yeah, points leagues are hard enough without an unusual points system. I think I will follow your strategy. I have 8th pick, our first six were Acuna, Cole, Trout, Yelich, Bellinger, Betts. If Soto, isn't picked next, I'm going to take him at 8.

Who are you hoping for with pick 14?

[Pauly]

I have second pick in mine. First guy is gonna let the full clock run it seems. To me the 5-point steals make Acuna/Yelich the no brainer 1-2.

[harmon]

Cole went #2 in mine. I guess he really wanted an elite starter before it got back to him at 19, but seems like a reach.

[joncarlos]

I got 3rd pick. Pick 1 was Trout. Pick 2 was Bellinger. I'll take Acuna, thank you very much. I have no idea what I'm doing, and given the entry fee (zero) and prize (not a ton) I'm not going to do much research. I might try the closer strategy like the RJ Mock though.

[Ken]

Draft started. I hadn't noticed it's a points league with very different points than what I'm used to:

HR: 6
SB: 5
H: 4
R: 2
RBI: 2
AB: -1

W: 6
SV: 8
IP: 3
K: 1
HA: -1
BB: -1
ER: -2

I had the 7th pick. Draft started Acuna, Yelich, Trout, Bellinger, Betts, Arenado. I took Soto. I think (not having given it much thought yet) that with the best-ball format I might as well just take a ton of SPs and hope someone has a good week rather than using high picks on pitchers.

Devers worth considering next, he was the 4th highest hitting scorer in that format last year.

The pitcher curve was pretty steep - Cole and Verlander in the 900s followed by Bieber/DeGrom/Stras in the upper 700s.

Closers aren't worth much - Josh Hader, the top reliever was equivalent to the 26th starter, Marco Gonzales. And it falls off pretty fast, Osuna and Chapman were worth around the same as Mikolas.


Christian Yelich 963
Ronald Acuna Jr. 961
Cody Bellinger 951
Rafael Devers 877
Anthony Rendon 866
Nolan Arenado 853
Alex Bregman 841
Freddie Freeman 833
Mike Trout 831
Trevor Story 821
Xander Bogaerts 818
Ketel Marte 799
Pete Alonso 792
Mookie Betts 791
DJ LeMahieu 789
Juan Soto 774
Jonathan Villar 774
Marcus Semien 769
Jorge Soler 762
J.D. Martinez 757
Charlie Blackmon 746
Eugenio Suarez 738
Francisco Lindor 734
Nelson Cruz 734
Bryce Harper 732
George Springer 729
Trey Mancini 719
Starling Marte 718
Ozzie Albies 711
Jose Abreu 710
Eduardo Escobar 707
Carlos Santana 701
Josh Bell 699
Yuli Gurriel 697
Whit Merrifield 697
Trea Turner 694
Austin Meadows 688
Gleyber Torres 687
Eddie Rosario 665
Danny Santana 659
Yoan Moncada 657
Kris Bryant 645
Michael Brantley 644
Javier Baez 642
Josh Donaldson 641
Anthony Rizzo 641
Jose Altuve 638
Tim Anderson 637
Jorge Polanco 637
Paul Goldschmidt 630


Justin Verlander 925
Gerrit Cole 916
Shane Bieber 795
Jacob deGrom 779
Stephen Strasburg 776
Zack Greinke 755
Lance Lynn 737
Charlie Morton 731
Patrick Corbin 712
Jack Flaherty 710
Eduardo Rodriguez 689
Max Scherzer 680
Hyun-Jin Ryu 677
Walker Buehler 676
Mike Minor 674
Luis Castillo 665
Jose Berrios 664
Trevor Bauer 664
Clayton Kershaw 658
Madison Bumgarner 657
Aaron Nola 653
Lucas Giolito 651
Zack Wheeler 624
Noah Syndergaard 617
Sonny Gray 616
Marco Gonzales 616
Josh Hader 615
Matthew Boyd 609
Mike Soroka 599
Yu Darvish 587
Kirby Yates 582
Marcus Stroman 581
Kyle Hendricks 579
Robbie Ray 577
Max Fried 577
Mike Leake 575
Jake Odorizzi 568
Jeff Samardzija 558
Mike Fiers 557
German Marquez 550
Merrill Kelly 548
Dakota Hudson 548
Liam Hendriks 548
Miles Mikolas 548
Roberto Osuna 546
James Paxton 545
Masahiro Tanaka 541
Will Smith 538
Jon Lester 536
Anthony DeSclafani 528