Power of pen is not a bunch of bull

AS THE game of baseball continues to evolve, so too does the game of fantasy baseball, and those owners who understand and re a ct best to changes and developing trends are the ones who win year in and year out. It’s called Fantasy Darwinism. If you don’t learn to adapt and change your strategy accordingly, you’re destined to remain, at best, a middleof-the-pack finisher.

Take bullpens, for example. When most fantasy baseball owners hear the word, they immediately think of closers and saves. That is fine for success in one category, but you’re doing yourself a great disservice by not studying the impact from how real-life managers are building and using their bullpens in games.

We now are inundated with talk of pitch counts and innings limits. Over time, managers have built their bullpens with the expectation of several starters not throwing past the fifth or sixth inning, and the rise of multi-inning relievers.

Owning a young starter already means fewer innings and potentially fewer strikeouts, but owning one on a team with a bad bullpen now also means fewer wins.

Improved knowledge of bullpens also lends itself to success in daily fantasy formats. A common strategy for selecting hitters is to stack against struggling starters. Though that is all well and good for the early innings, if a starter is removed after just four innings and his team has a strong bullpen, how much success will your hitters see the rest of the way? Stacking against Jhoulys Chacin sounds great, but watch your hitters face the Brewers’ bullpen for five innings and see how many points you score.

Study your bullpens for more than just saves. Learn the impact a strong bullpen can have on the rest of your players, and you’re one step closer to your league championship and big DFS winnings. Be Joe Maddon, not Bryan Price.