It’s officially March now and the baseball season for 2009 is quickly approaching. Now is the time to get all your fantasy baseball teams and leagues in order. This year we have a little extra going on with the second running of the World Baseball Classic about to begin this weekend. Which to me is a great way to start the baseball season with a few friendly games of baseball competition between sixteen countries from around the world.
Watching the sixteen teams compete over the next few weeks in March is actually a great way to do a little extra research for picking players for your fantasy baseball team in 2009. The World Baseball Classic for those of us that watch is a great way to see some players from other teams that we may not normally get to see all that much of during a regular spring training. There are a lot of major league baseball players representing other countries out there so don’t dismiss the WBC.
I also like the WBC because you will get to see major league baseball players playing for their courntry and not for money. It’s also interesting to watch how quickly a group of players can come together to form a winning team. Which is not as simple as loading up your team with a bunch of big name players. For example the last WBC three years ago saw an early exit of Team USA even though they were stacked with what were considered to be the top all star players in the Major Leagues. Proving that having a team full of all stars does not mean you will have an all star team.
That’s the beauty behind the WBC, these teams that are being put together are more about the team part of the sport and not the superstars. That’s why the Japanese team walked away from the WBC in 2006 with the title and why the 2009 team is the favorite to win it all again. I hope that the WBC will see a rise in popularity this year. Here is a quick run down for those baseball fans that don’t know how the WBC tournament works. We start with 16 teams split up into 4 brackets and the first two teams to loose two games in their bracket are eliminated. The second round takes that down to eight teams for another double elimination round. Then two more rounds after that but now we are down to one game elimination.
If nothing else the WBC makes a good bookend to the regular baseball season and the World Series at the end of the season. So get it together all you fantasy baseball fans the time to start researching your players and get your draft picks in order is now. For those of you that have never played fantasy baseball a good place to start is the free fantasy baseball league over at Yahoo. It’s a great place learn about the basics of fantasy baseball and there are a few features that once you feel comfortable with your free fantasy baseball team you can upgrade to a full on premium package to bring you to the next level of fantasy baseball. Now I know that there are a lot of sites out there that are offering free fantasy baseball at an entry level. I am simply recommending the fantasy baseball league as a starting point for you, so enjoy 
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Spring is here!! Gotta love spring training…and perfect timing. I started getting into fantasy baseball recently and I can totally see why people dig it, haha.
I don’t know if you know yet, but Schlotzsky’s is actually running a baseball themed sweepstakes until May 31, 2009…you could win everything from a free fantasy baseball team from Sim Dynasty (www.simdynasty.com) to a trip to St. Louis on July 14, 2009 to see all the stars. Hit up http://www.bigleagueclubz.com (but be warned – the game on there is slightly addicting).
Thanks for all the tips!
As a far-away (Europe) Mariners fan, I am always looking for new sites with information about Ichiro and the rest of the Mariners.
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Time For Your Free Fantasy Baseball Team…
It is a great time to be a baseball fan. With spring training the World Baseball Classic and fantasy baseball leagues starting to come together….
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