The only good thing about the baseball season ending is a new season is coming!

I moped for a short period of time, and wore a black arm band, for all of my fantasy baseball teams had died. This had to be my most frustrating of 25 years of play. My results were dreadful, and for the first time in 25 years, I did not have one team win a league. And I only had two that were close. As I try to analyze what happened, I realized my expectations for Travis Hafner were a big part of it, and he was on too many of my teams.

While it’s good to learn from your mistakes, I realize I’m really a big fantasy baseball junkie. I’d rather just forget about this year, and I’m ready to get going on next year! The season isn’t really over yet, the World Series hasn’t even started. But I’m already enthralled about next year.

I was invited to play in a CBS Sportsline Fantasy Baseball League Of Champions, and we started the draft last week. Here we are in the middle of fantasy football, and I’m spending more time in a baseball draft than it takes to manage my football teams. And with the draft comes the decisions. The selections are real, so the talk of “I like this guy and that guy” ends real quick. When you make the pick, it’s not talk anymore. You’re putting your money where your mouth is!

So with the #4 pick in the draft (the first three were Reyes, A-Rod & Hanley), my first pick was none other than Albert Pujols. The guy last year ESPN tried to scare everybody from taking, who should be the NL MVP. I wasn’t going to get caught up in the Matt Berry hype again.

Plus it’s a bit of a homer pick, I would rather be rooting for him than against him. We’re seven rounds into the draft, and I haven’t taken a pitcher yet…so it’s about time. 22 have been taken, so I realize a “stud” will not be available. Then came some outside help.

It is said, “timing is everything”. In my email comes an offer for a sneak preview of Bill James’ 2009 hitter and pitcher projections. I filled the request out as quick as I could, and like magic, one of the foremost fantasy baseball gurus’ projections were there for me to study. I forwarded a copy to a couple colleagues, and the debate on which pitcher to take started. The old adage, “two minds are better than one”, proved to be true, as Seth Trachtman, who is busily writing player capsules for our fantasy baseball magazines, pointed out the remarkable Brad Lidge. For those of us watching the playoffs, we all know he’s had a perfect year. 41 saves in 41 chances during the season, and perfect in the playoffs so far. But the stat Seth points out that’s impressive is the 92 strikeouts in 69 innings. Mr. James projects him for 96 in 70 innings in ‘09, which qualifies him for fantasy stud status. That’s more strikeouts than a lot of starters will get…and a valuable lesson you should be thinking of when you’re drafting next year!

So I wait as the next few picks go by, hoping no one will take him, and they don’t. I take Lidge, and now hope he does not have the same meltdown in the World Series as he did a few years ago when Albert crushed him and the Astros out of the playoffs. I already feel as though next year’s baseball season has started, and I’m off to a better start than I had last year. Maybe the tide has turned and my player picking skills have returned. And I now find myself with someone to root for in the World Series. Go you Phillies, and may Brad Lidge get four saves in four chances!

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