With the Razzball Commenter Leagues sign ups in full swing, we look at what last year’s RCLs showed us, i.e., this is the stats you need to win your fantasy baseball leagues. Across 48 12 team leagues, you would think you’d have some wide variations, but it’s amazingly close what you need in each category to do average vs. win. Some quick points upfront. There were 5 outfielders and one utility, so if you play in a Yahoo league with three outfielders and two utility, I’d expect more offense across the board. Not much, but some. There was a 180 games started max for pitchers. 6.5 is average in a 12 team league, not 6 because the last place team has 1 point, not zero. Finally, the RCLs are made up of guys that are probably more competitive than your casual fantasy baseball leaguemates, so if you can hit these benchmarks, you should be in good shape. Anyway, here’s what it takes to win a 12 team fantasy baseball league:

Average Team 1st Place Team Avg 3rd Place Team Avg Category Team Player Team Player Team Player Runs 973 75 1,108 85 1059 81 HR 237 18 294 23 273 21 RBI 936 72 1,071 82 1022 79 SB 162 12 214 16 195 15 AVG .267 dur .281 dur .276 dur W 82 9 99 11 93 10 SV 91 10 146 16 126 14 ERA 3.59 dur 3.17 dur 3.32 dur WHIP 1.23 dur 1.15 dur 1.18 dur K’s 1168 130 1384 154 1305 145

LEGEND:

Me.

MAKING SENSE OF THE ABOVE CHART:

The average team last year scored 973 runs, that would get them 6.5 points in the standings in runs. That’s with each hitter contributing 75 runs. To win your league, it took 1,108 runs with the average hitter contributing 85 runs. To come in third, you need 1059 runs with 81 runs coming per player. That should explain all of the numbers.

If I divided a hitter’s average to find an average, my calculator spit out “dur.” I’m guessing what it means is each hitter needs to average the, uh, average, uh, average and each pitcher needs to average those ratios.

WHAT’S NOT IN THE CHART:

How many points you need to move from one point to the next. Here goes…

Runs: 24.6

HR: 10.4

RBI: 24.6

SB: 9.4

Average: .0024

ERA: -.076

WHIP: -.015

Wins: 3.03

Ks: 39.3

Saves: 9.95

Random Commenter, “So the ideal pitcher gives 3 wins, 39 Ks and 9 saves? Hmm… I’m gonna draft 15 Joe Nathan’s!” No, silly, those numbers are how much it takes to go from say 7 points to 8 points in each category. If you take the 3rd place homers of 273 and add two standing points (10.4 twice), you get the winning homer total of 294 and you just won a brand new Hyundai! (Offer expired.)

THIS IS TOTALLY CLEAR, BUT COULD YOU JUST TELL US WHAT THE EFF IN THE EFF HOLE WE’RE SUPPOSED TO BE AIMING FOR? MY HEAD HURTS AND I’M HAVING A WART BURNED OFF MY ANUS TOMORROW, I REALLY DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS:

I’d aim for a 3rd place finish in each league. If you follow my other advice from other posts, you’ll have more saves, strikeouts, homers and RBIs than the 3rd place finishing team, but that’s good, now go drive your brand new Hyundai (if you bought one on your own, we’re no longer giving them out, sorry!)