First Pitch: Day Nineteen

20 Dec 2021

There are many ways to be a fan of Major League Baseball.

Over the last few years, I’ve come to understand my fanhood.

I grew up a “fan” of the Baltimore Orioles. They were my mom’s hometown team, while the Pittsburgh Pirates were my dad’s hometown team. The 1979 World Series, before I was born, must have been fun for them.

I liked the Orioles, but more specifically, I liked Cal Ripken Jr.

After the MLB strike of 1994, my interest in the game faded, with just a loose interest in Ripken and his streak. Literally, I was not a fan of any MLB team or baseball itself during this time. Just Cal Ripken Jr.

When Ripken retired, I started moving away from following the Orioles. I turned to other small market teams, taking an interest in the Moneyball A’s, the late-aughts Rays, and putting more focus on the Pirates.

I’ve always liked following the A’s and Rays, and their continued ability to overcome MLB’s system that is stacked against small market teams. I liked following the Pirates, seeing if they could do the same thing. That’s part of why this site is around today.

Through all of that, there was only one team I really liked: My fantasy baseball team. That team included some of the best players in the game over the years. It’s always fun watching the best players in the game, but when you can add another level of interest, it makes the game more enjoyable.

About three years ago, I ran into a time crunch. My jobs on this site were expanding, and I wanted more time away from baseball for personal life. So, I cut fantasy baseball.

That subtraction has made an impact on how I follow the game today. I still run a Pirates-centric site, so most of my focus here is going to be on the players in Pittsburgh — not really a focus lately that overlaps with the fantasy realm. But my awareness of what was going on everywhere else, and my perspective for the Pirates was starting to get in danger.

My goal heading into 2022 will be to get back into fantasy baseball. Ideally, that would be a dynasty league, as that’s my favorite way to play. Regardless of the league, I’ll need to get back into the swing of things by establishing new rankings. I’ll be doing that in January, and you can expect a few posts from me as I go through that ranking process.

Question for the comment section: What is your favorite place to play fantasy baseball?