Y'All Better Buy My Rookie Card Now Because After This Year The Price Ain't Coming Down

Since I cheer for the Minnesota Twins from my apartment in Illinois, the amount of actual baseball I see over the summer is limited. It requires either a trip to the South Side or the rare occassion WGN chooses a Twins-White Sox game for me to see my hometown team. While I'd like to say I'm a fan of the sport itself, I don't love it quite as much without a rooting interest.

That's why this year I'm going whole hog into fantasy baseball. I have two teams, one points-based team I drafted at the beginning of spring training and one head-to-head team I drafted at the end of spring training. Since baseball is the longest sports season (basically the end of March until the beginning of October plus the playoffs) and there's very little competition for my attention, I don't believe this is going overboard. I'm just augmenting my enjoyment of the sport by giving myself a rooting interest in guys on teams other than the Twins.

Here are my teams. You can tell at first blanche which league I got the first pick in and which one I picked eleventh.



Morneau4MVP,eh? (Pre-Spring Training Team)

Miguel Cabrera (Det - 3B)
Ryan Braun (Mil - 3B)
Lance Berkman (Hou - 1B,OF)
Brian Roberts (Bal - 2B)
Chone Figgins (LAA - 2B,3B,OF)
Hunter Pence (Hou - OF)
Vernon Wells (Tor - OF)
Édgar Rentería (Det - SS)
Bengie Molina (SF -C)
Jeremy Hermida (Fla - OF)
Stephen Drew (Ari - SS)
Conor Jackson (Ari - 1B)
Aaron Harang (Cin - SP)
Javier Vázquez (CWS - SP)
Matt Cain (SF - SP)
Phil Hughes (NYY - SP)
Dontrelle Willis (Det - SP)
Matt Garza (TB - SP)
Mark Buehrle (CWS - SP)
Chad Cordero (Was - RP)
Heath Bell (SD - RP)



BatterThanYrBatter (Post-Spring Training Team)

Álex Rodríguez (NYY - 3B)
Brandon Phillips (Cin - 2B)
Derrek Lee (ChC - 1B)
Bobby Abreu (NYY - OF)
Brian McCann (Atl - C)
Rafael Furcal (LAD - SS)
Dan Uggla (Fla - 2B)
Jeff Francoeur (Atl - OF)
James Loney (LAD - 1B)
Kosuke Fukudome (ChC - OF)
Justin Upton (Ari - OF)
Coco Crisp (Bos - OF)
Jake Peavy (SD - SP)
Mark Buehrle (CWS - SP)
Pedro Martínez (NYM - SP)
Francisco Liriano (Min - SP)
Adam Wainwright (StL - SP)
Dontrelle Willis (Det - SP)
Billy Wagner (NYM - RP)
Kevin Gregg (Fla - RP)
Heath Bell (SD - RP)

I should point out that I'm heavily invested via my fantasy team in Mark Buehrle, Dontrelle Willis, Heath Bell and the Arizona Diamondbacks. I'm ready to reshuffle my roster as necessary and I won't have the sentimental attachment like I did to last year's Hunter-Mauer-Cuddyer-Neshek team the computer drafted for me. Still, I'm putting my eggs in those same baskets.

I'm also jittery about the seasons Phil Hughes and Francisco Liriano, my sole Twins player, will have. If Hughes (the player the Twins could've had in a Santana-to-the-Yankees deal) has a breakout season and Liriano goes into the tank, I will probably cry myself to sleep. Add on that I'm gambling on my hated rival's top pitcher in both leagues and this could the fantasy season that pushes me into literal insanity. If it does, please take me to the new ballpark when it opens.