CBS SportsLine Fantasy Baseball '98

Bleacher Features - 'Real Life Imitates Fantasy'
CBS SportsLine Fantasy Baseball
'Brave New World' June 10, 1998

Dale Lolley is the commissioner and three-time champion of the Observer-Reporter Baseball League, a league now in its fifth season and ran at the Observer-Reporter newspaper in Washington, Pa. The league is head-to-head and uses 10 categories to score (5 pitching, 5 hitting).

The Yankees, while very good, have about eight or nine good Fantasy players -- Tino Martinez, Chuck Knoblauch, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, Andy Pettite, David Cone, David Wells and Mariano Rivera (the book is still out on El Duque). There would be more but they platoon at catcher, outfield and designated hitter.

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Braves

According to Dale Lolley, the Braves may have more Fantasy strength than the Yankees because they have fewer platoon players. (Allsport)

Nine fantasy players, and 10 if Orlando Hernandez is the real deal, is very good for any team. But when you compare that to the Braves, who have Javier Lopez, Chipper Jones, Andres Galarraga, Andruw Jones, Walt Weiss (at least this year), Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Denny Neagle, Mark Wohlers, Kevin Millwood and John Smoltz (when healthy) it shows that the Yankees are not quite as dominant in Fantasy life as they are in the real world. And it's not just the Braves that give the Yanks a run for their money in Fantasy players.

Look at some lesser teams like the Angels, who have players like Jim Edmonds, Darrin Erstad, Chuck Finley, Troy Percival, Tim Salmon, Dave Hollins, Cecil Fielder and Ken Hill. Those players certainly are comparable to the players a Fantasy owner could get from the Yankees. Truth be told, every team has a few Fantasy stars from, which an astute Fantasy owner can draw talent from. Even the low-salaried Pirates and Expos can put players like Kevin Young, Jason Kendall, Francisco Cordova, Jason Schmidt, Vladamir Guerrerro, Ugeth Urbina, Rondell White and Carlos Perez in leagues.

While it is always good to have players from a good team, or in the Yankees case, a great one, is an owner better off having Darryl Strawberry, who plays two out of every three games for the Yankees, or Jose Guillen, an everyday starter for the Pirates? I'll take Guillen and his extra at bats any day.

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