Welcome to the first in-season update of 2022. A total of 114 managers are involved in Fantasy Baseball UK this year. There has been a mini rebrand of the standard game to the ‘FBUK League’ and the limited trade game to ‘FBUK LTD’. Besides those two leagues run through Yahoo Fantasy, a third league has been added via the Fantrax platform, which enables us to re-introduce the salary cap format that was originally used by FBUK until 2019. In homage, the salary cap league goes by the name ‘FBUK Classic’.
Scroll down for a round-up after the first month of fantasy baseball and don’t forget that all the divisional and overall standings from the Yahoo leagues can be viewed in the Standings section of the website.
GP and IP limits
An early reminder to fantasy managers to be aware that there are season position limits on your roster: each line-up position (batters) has a maximum of 162 games (GP) for which it is eligible to score points over the course of the season; your team’s pitching staff is limited to a total of 1400 innings pitched (IP) across all starters and relievers over the season. If a position reaches its limit before the season ends, it will no longer score points for your team going forward.
In Yahoo at the bottom of the roster page it indicates how much of each limit has been used so far; in Fantrax that is indicated on the ‘Min/Max’ tab of your Team Roster area.
The How to Play page of the FBUK website has been updated for 2022 with full details of the rules and other information for all three league formats.
New partnership between Major League Baseball and London announced including more regular season games
On 9 May, the Mayor of London and the MLB Commissioner of Baseball announced a long-term strategic partnership that will see the return of the London Series in 2023, 2024 and 2026. Besides those flagship events – which will see regular season MLB games played in the capital – MLB Europe will continue to conduct London-based fan engagement events, baseball participation programs and expanded UK-focused content to help continue the growth of baseball’s popularity.
An upcoming example of this is Home Run Derby X, described by MLB as “an electrifying new baseball format” that will take place in London’s Crystal Palace Park on 9 July, 2022.
Read the full press release about the London partnership on the BaseballSoftballUK website
Find out more about Home Run Derby X
FBUK All-Star Team of the Month: April
Based on fantasy points accumulated during the month, here are the top performers at each position:
| Ps. | Player | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | Sean Murphy | OAK | 82 |
| 1B | Anthony Rizzo | NYY | 158 |
| 2B | Ty France | SEA | 135 |
| 3B | José Ramírez | CLE | 172 |
| SS | Wander Franco | TB | 125 |
| OF | Taylor Ward | LAA | 115 |
| OF | George Springer | TOR | 114 |
| OF | Tommy Edman | STL | 114 |
| UT | Manny Machado | SD | 150 |
| SP | Shane McClanahan | TB | 105 |
| RP | Josh Hader | MIL | 93 |
Prior to the start of the season, José Ramírez of the Cleveland Guardians was number one in Yahoo’s pre-draft rankings and the most expensive player by Fantrax’s salary valuation in the salary cap league. For those fantasy managers who committed a first round draft pick or a chunk of their team budget to Ramírez, he was the highest-scoring player in April with 172 points — batting .342 with 7 home runs and 28 RBI.
Pitching in his second season in the Majors, a 3.00 ERA and 42 strikeouts over five games propelled Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay Rays) to 105 points and first among starting pitchers during the month. Meanwhile, closer Josh Hader (Milwaukee Brewers) went 10-for-10 in save opportunities and gave up zero earned runs.
Notes: Monthly points and position eligibility is based on Fantrax, where the salary cap league is run. Although the Fantrax and Yahoo leagues use the same scoring system, position eligibility might vary slightly for some MLB players. The Utility spot is the highest-scoring hitter who didn’t top a position category.
Manager of the Month: April
Back in 2017, Brian Matthews did the double when he won both the main FBUK game and $5m Game (a format that limited the team salary budget to just $5m), later winning the $5m Game again in 2019. After a couple of years away, Brian is back and has made a mark early on with the most points accumulated in April among managers in the FBUK League standard game.
| Ps. | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hedley Verityesque (Brian Matthews) | 1639 |
| 2 | Airdrie Pinstripes (Steven Dunne) | 1631 |
| 3 | Hakuna Moncada (Ed Jefferies) | 1575 |
| 4 | Pain in Yoenis (Daniel Perrin) | 1561 |
| 5 | All Betts Are Off (Stephen Murray) | 1532 |
Fantasy League Standings (top): 10 May
In all three formats, fantasy teams are grouped into roughly regional divisions but they are also combined to give overall standings. Here is a snapshot of the overall Top 10 in each league at the time of writing.
In the standard FBUK League there are 108 teams split across nine divisions. Brian Matthews‘ Manager of the Month performance in April took his team Hedley Verityesque to the top of the standings heading into May.
Despite what his team name might suggest, Daniel Perrin is currently sitting well in second in the FBUK League while his other team, YabbaDabBaddoo, leads all of the 29 teams in FBUK LTD (the limited trade game where there is a limit on the number of player transactions per team).
In FBUK Classic – the salary cap league – Wayne Mason‘s Bleacher Creatures have opened up a 140-point lead in first place at this early stage. There are 31 teams participating in FBUK Classic, each managing a $12m team salary budget.
FBUK League
| Ps. | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hedley Verityesque | 2182 |
| 2 | Pain in Yoenis | 2179 |
| 3 | Hakuna Moncada | 2120 |
| 4 | Lydney Pirates | 2094 |
| 5 | All Betts Are Off | 2090 |
| 6 | Airdrie Pinstripes | 2077 |
| 7 | Cobra K | 2051 |
| 8 | It’s Shohei Time | 2039 |
| 9 | Disposable Heroes | 2017 |
| 10 | Wake Field Padres | 2004 |
FBUK LTD
| Ps. | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | YabbaDabBaddoo | 1658 |
| 2 | Hits and Giggles | 1638 |
| 3 | Yankee Rhinos | 1630 |
| 4 | Atlantic Crossing | 1623 |
| 5 | No Trade Clause | 1572 |
| 6 | Masters of Merriment | 1523 |
| 7 | Budget Blue Sox | 1509 |
| 8 | Henry’s Bears | 1503 |
| 9 | Bud ‘n’ Burger | 1495 |
| 10 | Cheadle Smelly Sox | 1494 |
FBUK Classic
| Ps. | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bleacher Creatures | 2125 |
| 2 | Secret Agents | 1983 |
| 3 | RBI or Rump? | 1974 |
| 4 | Highway 191 | 1888 |
| 5 | MK Bombs | 1882 |
| 6 | Year of the Cub | 1811 |
| 7 | Schmuccos | 1787 |
| 8 | Disposable Heroes | 1783 |
| 9 | Hold Me Close Ohtani Dancer | 1741 |
| 10 | Boys of Summer | 1735 |
Touch base with FBUK
The forums on the FBUK website are where you can contribute to the conversation on how the game is run or ask technical questions.
You can also follow Fantasy Baseball UK on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Thanks for playing, and good luck for the season!
Fantasy Baseball UK