FBM Monthly Post

Review of July 2024

“Stay on target…stay on target.”

The All-Star Game is over and the trade deadline has passed. Rejuevanted by the break or ready to cry “uncle”. As some of your opponents draw their attention to football, now is no time to be standing still. Don’t lose the opportunity to take advantange of other managers’ mistakes in slowing down, and don’t let that August late season swoon get you.

TWEET/POST OF THE MONTH:

QUOTE OF THE MONTH:

“High risk high reward strategies become more rationale as you become more confident in your disadvantage.”

- Derek Thompson

MUSINGS OF THE MONTH:

Change the Story

With about a third of the season to go, your fantasy baseball team has written a story up to this point. Maybe it’s a story of bad luck injuries and/or under-performing top round picks. Maybe it’s a story of outstanding pitching but an absence of home runs. Whatever it is, there is some critique of your team. You can believe this story up to this point. That it is set in stone. Or, you can decide to change it. Now, to actually change the story of your team for 2024, we need to ask a couple of questions.

Is the possibility of changing your team’s trajectory in line with reality? Do you have a draft n’ hold team that has close to 50% of the roster on the IL or demoted? Did you lose the first 5 picks in your FAAB draft to injury? It’s true that some things like this are almost impossible to change and fix. However, you really want to be honest with yourself. Are you just making stuff up here that is convenient to make you feel better on why your team isn’t doing better? Is that the story you’ll be telling yourself at the end of the season?

Is the possibility of changing your team’s trajectory in line with your purpose? We’re all hyped at the beginning of the season, and then the long season just grinds that excitement down to a fine powder. Are you playing to make money, have a fun distraction, or connect with people? No wrong answers, but to say that whatever the answer, it might drive your motivation on whether to change the end of season story of your team. So, what’s your purpose on playing this year?

I think every year we all need to ask these questions of ourselves at the beginning and during the season. The reason to continually ask these questions is that our environment is always changing. Though I think you learn something about yourself playing this game, fantasy baseball is not life and death. Real life stuff should be a priority unless you play fantasy baseball to put food on the table.

Stop creating excuses just because it’s hard. Stop playing in leagues just because other people play in them. Find your own answers to the questions above. That will be the mental guide to start changing the story of your team.

For the practical guide on player analysis, FAAB, roster construction, etc., my goodness there is a plethora out there. No “right” one. Find the one that you connect with best as we head down the last months of the season. Good luck out there.

MONTHLY AFFIRMATION:

As we embark on a long journey towards a goal, there are certain truths that reveal themselves. We realize that what we set-out to accomplish is usually more difficult than we thought. That’s not a bad thing, but more often than not we believe that we’ll just figure it out at the time of hardship. We will dig deep into a fictional superhuman ability to overcome it. The truth is that we will not rise to the occasion, but fall to the level of our training or our preparedness. The realization of that truth is what I believe separates the ones who eventually succeed over the long term (maybe it takes years) and the weekend warriors who are finished over a few weeks. In most things we try, we are not ready. We need to begin again and again and again. Then, our level of preparedness will rise higher. So, keep trying.

Simple, but not easy.

Thanks for reading.

Take care.