Is there a fantasy baseball auction that will happen on your league right now? I know your excited and you want to get players as soon as possible for your fantast baseball team. Don’t jump into excitement yet. Think first and read this tips for fantasy baseball auction draft.

1. Spend early, but not too much

No fantasy team ever wins the championship without having at least a couple of studs on it and you can’t be the person who sits there and doesn’t spend in the first half hour of the draft. You have to have someone along the lines of Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez, or Alex Rodriguez that you pretty much know you can count on to produce. But, I’m not saying you spend 75% of your budget on four players and sit back and wait for one dollar bargains for the rest of the night. Balance your money well for your team.

2. Be sure to hit all the categories

Most auctions are also rotisserie leagues, and while free agency is always an option, I always like to get my team off on the right foot and be sure that I get someone who is going to help me in certain categories. Don’t come out of the auction already looking like you are going to have to punt steals or saves, which are the two most popular categories to give up on. Usually you can get some good bargains late in the night in specialists in those categories and then you just have to be diligent throughout the year maintaining your team. You can have a category or two that you are strong in, but don’t come out of the night with gaping holes in your team.

3. Don’t get into a bidding war

There are always guys that we all like and want to target and are dying to have on our team. The problem is the price tag starts going higher and higher and soon it is higher than you expected. But damn it, you want the guy. Well, the next thing you know you spent ten to fifteen dollars more to get that player than you had thought you should and that could be a huge detriment to your team. Keep your head and don’t go chasing a player for way too much. Sometimes someone else is just upping the price tag because they know that you really like that player.

4. Never be the guy who has no money left after the first half hour

If you try to get to spend the majority of your money on say the first six guys on your roster and then try to piece things together the rest of the night you will fail. Not only do you need balance in baseball, but it is a very long season and there are always injuries. You will leave yourself no depth and likely be out of the running before the All-Star Break. There is a fine line between smart spending early and killing your chances before your auction is even over. Spend wisely!

5. Never be the guy who has tons of money left with not much time left to go...

On the opposite end of the spectrum there is the person who refuses to spend the money it takes for the top stars and thinks that they can win the league by being patient and put together a team of mostly lower level stars and mid range solid fantasy players. This seems like it could work, but every team needs those studs that carry your team in certain times of the year.

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The first big domino has fallen in this week's countdown to the MLB trade deadline. The Cardinals, White Sox and Blue Jays have reportedly completed a three-team deal, with OF Colby Rasmus, 3B Mark Teahen and relievers going to Toronto; SP Edwin Jackson, OF Corey Patterson and a collection of relievers heading to St. Louis; and pitchers Jason Frasor and Zach Stewart on their way to Chicago. Let's push aside the main real baseball ramiification - that the Cardinals gave up a very talented 24-year-old outfielder for, well, not much - and focus on the fantasy sports fallout.

Blue Jays: Rasmus will almost certainly start in center field, and I'm betting on a big "Eff You, Tony La Russa!" second half from him; AL-only owners should empty their FAAB budgets for Rasmus. Rajai Davis is the logical choice to lose playing time, and when Brett Lawrie gets promoted, Edwin Encarnacion is a near-lock to do the same. The final outcome should be a Rasmus-Eric Thames-Jose Bautista outfield, with Travis Snider DHing and Lawrie at third base. Snider and/or Thames could take small hits in playing time. Teahen appears to be a nice, versatile backup with no fantasy value.

The Jays also apparently acquired relievers Brian Tallet, Trever Miller and P.J. Walters in this deal. Zzz ....

Cardinals: Now that La Russa has won his staredown with Rasmus, the Cards have a Matt Holliday-Jon Jay-Lance Berkman outfield, with Patterson around to provide late-inning speed and defense. Jay's now-steadier playing time makes him mixed-league worthy. Jackson is likely to replace Kyle McClellan in the Cardinals' rotation, and he's been pitching well lately. Jackson's power, ground-ball arsenal and pitching coach/genius Dave Duncan are a match made in heaven, and I'll be looking to grab E-Jax in mixed leagues.

The Cardinals now have some new setup men in Octavio Dotel and Marc Rzepczynski, but they're only worth your while in deep NL-only leagues.

White Sox: With Jackson gone, Philip Humber can now rejoin the rotation after a temporary banishment to the bullpen. Brent Morel has a more solid hold on the starting job at third base in the wake of Teahen's departure. Frasor will join the setup corps, while Stewart might compete for a rotation slot in 2012. He's a back-of-the-rotation guy, though.

As more trades happen, we will be back with more of the fantasy fallout. We will give more tips and news about fantasy baseball as everybody loves to play it.

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One of the keys to success in fantasy baseball is being able to spot the trends and then acting upon them. Obviously, it makes a lot of sense to watch out for players who are starting to heat up so that they may possibly be added to your line up through either a trade or the waiver wire. This is even more important when dealing with players that have gotten off to extremely slow starts so far in 2011.

One thing which all the following players have in common is that they all got off to a slow start to the 2011 season but are just now starting to really heat up:

Carlos Pena (CHC) - After enduring an injured thumb earlier in the season which all but sapped his ability to hit for power, Pena has been on quite a tear lately. After hitting 0 HR in his first 25 games, Pena has come on strong hitting 8 HR in his last 28 GP. This hasn't halted recent trade rumours however. Regardless of where he plays, Pena should deliver on the power (although NOT on the batting average).

Mark Reynolds (BAL) - Talk about a resurgence! After whimpering his way through the beginning of the season, Reynolds has turned it up big time. In his last 5 games, he is 5-for-15 with 3 HR and 8 RBI. In addition, over the last week he has a hit.294 which is absolutely Ichiro-like by Reynolds' standards.

Raul Ibanez (PHI) - After a 0-for-35 dry spell, Ibanez has been clipping along at a.311 pace lately (41-for-132). He has been hitting particularly well at home recently with a.370 BA (27-for-last-73) at Citizen's Bank Park.

J.J. Hardy (BAL) - Since returning from the Disabled List (where he landed because of a left oblique strain), Hardy has been hitting very, very well. He has even moved into the leadoff spot recently. He won't steal many bases but the power is coming around to be sure. His last week at the plate: 6 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI,.400 AVG.

Gordon Beckham (CWS) - Left for dead in many fantasy baseball leagues, Beckham has had a nice little turnaround by going 11/37 (.297 BA) and hitting his first 2 HR of 2011.

Oh yeah, one more thing these players all have in common. They all are on my fantasy baseball team. Think about adding them to yours as well. You won't regret it. Then, let’s fight and see who will win the championship cup.

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Here are my top three fantasy baseball this 2011. Hope this will help you choose too.

Desmond Jennings, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

With Carl Crawford likely to take the fast train to a team that can pay him more money, it seems like the path will be open for Desmond Jennings to take a starting spot for the Rays. He doesn’t translate to a ton of power, but Jennings can run like the wind and should hit for a pretty good average in the majors as well. Jennings has stolen 35 bases in the last three seasons he was healthy in the minors and he could hit 15-20 homers in the majors. Think of Jennings as a poor man’s Crawford, and while he likely won’t realize that potential in 2011, he should do enough in all categories to be a fourth outfielder or a good utility spot if you don’t draft speed early.

Jordan Zimmermann, SP, Washington Nationals

Before there was Lord Strasburg of Washington, Jordan Zimmermann was the big time pitching prospect in the nation’s capitol. He has struggled somewhat so far in his limited major league career, but Zimmermann was nasty in the minors, compiling a 16-7 record with more than a strikeout per inning. He underwent Tommy John Surgery in 2010, but was able to return even if the results weren’t great. The Nationals are becoming a better team little by little, so pitching for them isn’t necessarily a recipe for not getting any wins. Zimmerman has massive talent and the kind of stuff to miss many bats, and could be a guy that you snag at the end of drafts but could perform much better.

Brett Wallace, 1B, Houston Astros

Once one of the most promising prospects for the Cardinals, Wallace has been traded more times than a fading stock. He now sits as the first baseman of the future in Houston with the trade of Lance Berkman. His talents might not have translated to the majors in 2010, but he was ranked as the 27th best prospect in all of baseball coming into last season by Baseball America. Wallace is a career .300 hitter in the minor leagues ,and has the talent to be a consistent 25 home run hitter in the majors. He certainly took his lumps in 2010, but he now finds himself on a team that is clearly rebuilding and should give him ample opportunity to find his way on the job. First base is a very deep fantasy position, but Wallace has a world of talent, and if a few things break right, he would be at worst an injury insurance guy on your bench, but perhaps a corner infielder or utility guy on deeper rosters.

Play fantasy sports today at FantasyFactor.

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Today, you can participate in a wide variety of fantasy sports contests around the globe. And until now, many people still wants to join a fantasy league. If you are new to fantasy sports, one of the first things you will want to understand is what type of fantasy sport league you are joining. Below is a list of the most common types of fantasy sport leagues.

Single-Season Fantasy League - Also referred to as a "single-year" league. These leagues follow a single-year format only and are the most common type league in fantasy sports today. None of the teams, rosters or information is carried over to the following season. New drafts are held every year prior to the upcoming season and totally new rosters are drafted at that time. This is the traditional league for most fantasy sports owners who like to start fresh every year with an entirely new group of players.

Dynasty Fantasy League - Also referred to as a "total-keeper" league. At the end of the season, each team's entire roster is carried over through the off-season. Teams are able to trade during the entire off-season to better their franchise. New players can be acquired during a series of off-season draft rounds, but the large majority of the team is kept in place from year to year. This type of league is for the serious owners only, as most of the owners in these leagues are fantasy sport fanatics. The league is geared for owners who enjoy managing their teams as much during the off-season as much as they do during the regular season.

Rollover Fantasy League - Also referred to as a "partial-keeper" league. Each team can "keep" a set number of players at the end of each season to be on their roster for next year. Anywhere from three to ten players are "rolled-over", depending on the sport. The remainder of the roster is then acquired via a new draft prior to the beginning of the following year. This league is perfect for the owners who enjoy the draft part of fantasy sports, but wants to keep a nucleus of players from year to year. Also, good league for an owner that has never played in a Dynasty league and wants to start out slowly to see if he/she enjoys keeping some of their players on a year to year.

One Day Fantasy League – this is a new type of fantasy sports league where in only a few fantasy sports site host this, like FantasyFactor. This is the type where you win prizes every day. No season long commitment, no bars. This is where starter can enjoy fantasy sports.

All of the fantasy leagues have their positives and negatives. If you are new to fantasy sports, I would recommend starting out in single-season league. As you learn more about fantasy sports and grow to enjoy the finer aspects of it, you may want to move on to a rollover or dynasty league. If you do decide to join a dynasty or rollover league, I cannot stress enough that you will need to be very prepared for your initial draft as these are players you are likely to have on your roster for several years.

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Here is the part two of our 50 Effective tips to win in fantasy baseball article. Hope you enjoy this part two and hope that our tips had help you well.

26. If your league allows unlimited pitching moves, use them. A starting pitcher is of no value to you on the major league lineup when he's not due to pitch for four more days.

27. Do the math on WHIP. I know its a pain, but it's a category that you need to score well in.

28. Go to as many sources as possible for draft information. It's the single most important thing you can do to be prepared.

29. Remember that statistics are relative to position played. All star statistics at catcher are often ordinary for outfielders or first basemen. The key is to get the best stats per position.

30. A trade has to work for both teams. Don't make a ridiculous offer and hope you can bamboozle the other manager. He'll be more open to making trades later in the season if you are bringing legitimate offers to him, even if he doesn't take the first offer.

31. Watch Baseball Tonight! Cut the wife in on your winnings and she won't nag you when you watch it every night...maybe.

32. Get the ESPN Extra Innings baseball package. Besides, if you live in the East, there's nothing like listening to Vin Scully on local Dodgers telecasts. He'll give you a lot of inside fantasy tips.

33. Check not only the stats, but lineup moves. Lineup moves can mean a lot to the stats your player will deliver, especially when it comes to RBI.

34. In a daily move league, check your lineup to see what pitcher your players are facing. Start lefties against right handed pitchers and vice versa. The righty-lefty analysis at the major league level is critical and is therefore critical in fantasy baseball success as well.

35. Keep up with injuries. An injured players does you no good in your lineup.

36. Be a contrarian during the draft. When everybody is making a run at relief pitchers, pick up a DH. There's likely more value there.

37. Play in a league where all managers have a history of staying involved. A league is no fun if you don't have active participating managers who have given up.

38. Play in a league with prize money for at least the top four finishers. This tends to keep players active.

39. In September, pick up prospects on teams that are out of it. This is going to be their chance to show what they've got for next season.

40. If your league uses playoffs, remember the adage: there's no tomorrow. If you don't maintain players for next season, drop a pitcher after he's made his last start. He's no longer of value to you otherwise.

41. In traditional Roto stats leagues, some statistics don't matter. For example, strikeouts be a hitter don't mean jack. An out is an out so don't worry about picking Adam Dunn.

42. Look for most sleeper picks beginning in the 16th round. A sleeper is not a sure thing.

43. Be especially diligent in knowing who is going to be a team's closer on teams where the job is up for grabs. You can obtain a significant amount of saves in later rounds this way by knowing who is going to be closing.

44. Starting pitchers are rarely first round material. Then, there's Johan Santana and Jake Peavy. Prefer to load up on hitters in the first five rounds, then load up the majority of your starting pitching staff.

45. Avoid young pitchers in the very earliest rounds. They are simply too risky and prone to arm trouble.

46. Look at three year trends on players. Going any further back is useless.

47. Play in a league with old friends. It's a great way to stay in touch.

48. If there's an attractive single girl in your league, get to know her better. She's almost definitely a keeper.

49. Support the advertisers on sites like Fantasy Baseball Dugout. Sites like this one that offer free fantasy baseball advice only survive because of revenue earned from its advertising.

50. When you go to a game, don't ever yell down to a player: "Hey Ryan, you're on my fantasy baseball team!" Do you really think he gives a hoot?

We know you want them, that’s why we are giving it to you. Here are some free tips for you to use to play fantasy sports, especially fantasy baseball. Our experts at Fantasy Factor formulated 50 effective tips to help your fantasy baseball team win the championship this year. Follow these tips closely to enhance your chances to win your league championship.

1. Be prepared for the draft. The league is often won or lost at the draft.

2. Stay focused. It's a long season and a lot of players will drop out. If you stay focused on the prize, you'll have a shot.

3. During the draft, track the positions your opponents have picked. Knowing this will give you a leg up on strategic picks in later rounds.

4. Go with established players over potential stars. Everybody likes to brag about picking up that rookie, but often the hype is bigger than the stats.

5. In the early rounds, pick the best available player, regardless of position.

6. Draft stolen bases. A player can be dominant in stolen bases and stolen bases are clearly over-weighted in fantasy baseball. Think Jose Reyes.

7. Draft closers. Make sure you have one more closer than your nearest competitor. Saves is an easy category to win and another over-weighted category in fantasy baseball.

8. If a player has been traded since last year, re-adjust his stats based on the park he'll be playing his home games in. Pitchers sent to Colorado, Cincinnatti, or Philadelphia, for example, are likely to not have as impressive stats. Power stats should go up, however, if a hitter is traded to these teams. Alternatively, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and Minnesota are pitchers' parks.

9. Some leagues have minimal statistics to qualify at a particular position, sometimes as little as a single game. If that is your league's rule, you have to look for opportunities like this and you may get the power numbers of an outfielder at a position that traditionally rewards defensive prowess.

10. Generally, it's not a good idea to pick a catcher in an early round. They sit out too often and usually don't put up huge stats anyway.

11. Do pick early in positions that are light or where some players are head and shoulders above the pack. Chase Utley at second base comes to mind.

12. Check out the league's transactions every day. This is the only way to stay in touch. Being on vacation is no excuse in not checking your team daily.

13. Sign up for text message alerts from Google or Yahoo to keep up with fantasy baseball transactions and injuries. This will give you the information quicker than your competition.

14. Set your internet browser to come up with your league information. So, when you sign on to your computer, you'll have the daily summary there and you won't forget to check on your team.

15. If you no longer are interested in keeping a player on your roster, shop him to other teams before cutting him. Don't assume other teams aren't interested. You may get some value for him that exceeds what you'd get in the free agent pool.

16. If you are shopping a player, however, remember that this is a negotiation. You can't let the other teams in the league know you are shopping this player. Try to cleverly put his name in package deals so that he maintains his value and your opponents won't know they can pick him up for a box of old baseballs and used chewing gum.

17. There are no favorite teams in fantasy baseball.

18. There are no favorite players in fantasy baseball. Take the human element out of it. A player is just a bundle of statistics.

19. Don't move a guy up in your analysis because he got hot in spring training.

20. Do watch the box scores the final two weeks of spring training. This is where jobs are won. You don't want to be drafting a player who starts the season in Pawtucket.

21. If a guy is unusually hot in spring training, try to trade him then. His value may never be higher.


22. Every player that is on the major league roster needs to be ranked, even the sorry guys.

23. Don't give away any categories. A championship fantasy baseball team needs to be competitive in every category, especially in 5 x 5 leagues. You cannot afford to give up a category and still win.

24. Just like regular baseball, starting pitchers can win it for you. Their stats count heavily in four of the five pitching categories.

25. Have a few extra starting pitchers in your minor league roster. If you play in a weekly league, bring up the guy who is getting two starts that week. Or, bring up the guy who is facing two week opponents that week.

With the rapid growth of fantasy football in the US in recent years (and slowly taking over the whole world too), many Americans now want to join the fun and be involved in fantasy football league. There are many websites that offers fantasy sports (some are free and some are not) that you can join. There are also websites that offers huge prizes for winners. Many fantasy players always begin in joining a small fantasy football league to get a taste of the fun and excitement while also practicing to get the big prizes later on.

You can join and organize a league taking anyone you like from friends, relatives to even co-workers. Getting your first fantasy football league ready doesn't mean you have to follow any fixed standards as the idea primarily is to have loads of fun. There are no rights or wrongs out there when fun and unlimited excitement is what is aimed at.

You need to get together a team for a league and they could comprise of 8 to 16. Depending on the resources in your locality you should get a team done. But you should also keep in mind that the intensity of the competition and the fun would get scaled down with too few teams. Owners in that case would find it hard to get top level players or get enough competition going. Your aim would be to keep the number of your teams as equal as possible.

Depending on the number of teams in your fantasy football league, the number of divisions would be determined. For many, a total of 3 divisions is great and works well according to their requirement. For the success of your league and excellence in the game, you need to be very choosy while picking a commissioner. The choice of a commissioner can stand between success and failure in fantasy football. It is also among the most important fantasy football tips offered to people before they join up.

Commissioners require to be trusted by all the other owners and under his or her watch rest the fantasy football drafts, games scoring and the league set up. It can be the most tedious of tasks and to help the commissioner along, an assistant is also roped in. It would require an extra position in fantasy football. For every season you should get together a plan of at least thirteen games that would exclude playoffs lasting for 3 weeks. Your nfl fantasy football season should not be lasting more than an actual NFL season in real terms. These are basically the rules followed in fantasy league football.

Fantasy football drafts would depend on the league you set up. There are many leagues that just hold one draft at the initial stages during the league set up and after that, it is for the rookies. For selecting fantasy football players you got to have a draft during the league set up stage.

You can go for an auction where very owner would be given a salary cap depending on a pre-determined amount. At least 15 players from each team will need to fill up the roster. One tight end, defense, quarterback and place kicker, 2 running backs and wide receivers are among the fantasy football picks.

Usually, people will think various strategies to apply while making a draft so that they can choose a best fantasy football team. It will end up as a big dispute, if you get suggestions from ten different professed specialists because you will most likely get 10 unique responds. There are some people running a fantasy football league from a couple of years but even they will not be able to tell you that they won the game each time when they play. However they can assure you that the team can consistently made playoff round and win league title as well, if you have drafted it suspiciously. Hence you should first know the strategy to build a competitive fantasy squad, let's see a strategic guidelines about fantasy football league.

Ranking of the participant

The first and most important thing is to think about player fantasy rankings. Internet is the key for each and every search, hence browsing through web can be the best and simple way to complete the task. There are various established and reputable sources like YAHOO, ESPN, and FTBL.com etc known for their strategic ranking, so you can go through any of them to rank the player. But, don't forget to consult from the other programs that might not be amongst the name you are familiar with because they sometime provide a new prospective that may be very helpful.

Drafting Techniques

Usually, the process of drafting takes place on two formats; live or auto. While live drafts are accomplished in real time, auto drafts make use of your own participant rankings to choose your participants automatically as your pick comes up in the continuation. Both the ways are good to take the player ranking you investigated and pick up a number of players for every position that you want to have as probable additions to your squad. Make a list and utilize it as your future drafting order. You should ensure not to take too many players for draft from the similar squad of teams that may have proceeded to the next round of a competition without fighting the present round on the same week. You might end up with a terrible scarcity of participants for a critical match.

Importance of the player

There are lots of different rules and methods for scoring points in fantasy football but one rule normally remains the same. Generally, running backs are those players on which you have to keep the most stress. This is the reason most of the overall ranking methods that are not done by position, generally include a great number of running backs as the top ranking participants. In general, you are supposed to give emphasis on positions in the order of scoring points that start from first to last. It will start from RBs, quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends, guards and at last place kickers.

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Every Wide receiver in the history of fantasy sports make or break the play. That’s why it is very important to choose the right WR for your fantasy sports team. The WR's job is to execute the route the play has define. The WR then runs the route trying to elude the DB that is assigned to stop the WR. But the main duty of the WR is to catch the ball and try to get into the end zone for a touchdown. Here are the fantasy rankings of the top WR you should get for your team.

1. Roddy White, Falcons - He's been a model of consistency, totaling at least 83 catches and 1,150 yards in each of the last 4 seasons. Just 29 years old, White is in his prime right now.

2. Andre Johnson, Texans - Coming off back-to-back 1,500-yard seasons, Johnson regressed to just 1,216 yards in 2010. When healthy, Johnson is still one of the best WRs in the game. He'll be a borderline 1st-round pick this summer.

3. Calvin Johnson, Lions - Megatron tied a career-high with 12 TDs in 2010. His 77 receptions and 1,120 receiving yards weren't too shabby either. And he did it with QBs Shaun Hill and Drew Stanton under center for most of the year. If QB Matt Stafford can stay healthy, Johnson's upside is through the roof.

4. Dwayne Bowe, Chiefs - Was there a tougher player to figure out in 2010. Still, when all was said and done, Bowe was fantasy football's #2 WR. He'll be drafted among the top-5 wideouts in 2011.

5. Greg Jennings, Packers - Jennings rebounded in a big way in 2010. He found the end zone or posted at least 80 yards in an incredible 13 of 16 games. As the #1 WR on one of the league's most explosive passing games, Jennings will be a rock-solid 2nd-round pick in 2011 fantasy football drafts.

6. Reggie Wayne, Colts - 111 catches and 1,355 receiving yards assured Wayne of another top-10 fantasy finish in 2010. But he scored only 6 TDs, and his 12.2 yards-per-catch average was a career-low. At 32 years old, it's fair to wonder if he's lost a step. He may be overvalued in fantasy drafts this summer.

7. Hakeem Nicks, Giants - When he's on the field, Nicks is unstoppable. He scored 11 times in just 13 games this past season, including 3 multi-TD outings. Durability will be a major issue heading into 2011 though. After missing 2 games in his rookie campaign, Nicks was held out of 3 more in 2010.

8. Miles Austin, Cowboys - No one missed Tony Romo more than Austin. He topped 140 yards in 3 of Romo's 5 full games, adding 2 TDs to boot. But with Jon Kitna and Stephen McGee at the helm, Austin posted just 2 more 100-yard games and only 5 more scores.

9. Brandon Lloyd, Broncos - Lloyd was the biggest surprise of the 2010 season -- no questions asked. His 77 catches, 1,448 yards, and 11 TDs were more than he'd posted in the 4 previous seasons... combined! Lloyd was a dominant force all season.

10. Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals - How good was Fitzgerald this past season? Despite a combination of Derek Anderson, Max Hall, and Johnson Skelton at QB -- there wasn't an uglier situation in the league -- Fitz still managed to haul in 90 balls for 1,137 yards and 6 scores.