THE OLDEST ROTISSERIE LEAGUE HOLDS ITS 35TH DRAFT TODAY.
Our draft this year occurs Later today—after Opening Day, with the statistics being effective back to Opening Day. Our draft has been held after Opening Day more often than not.
I was pleased to see this column by Tristan H. Cockcroft ESPN Senior Writer in which he writes: “…Old-school Rotisserie leagues traditionally drafted the weekend after Opening Day” and that: “…our game’s roots stipulated that you would not have drafted by now.”
Starting late adds the wrinkle that you can pick up stats from games that have already been played. The example usually given for this is Tuffy Rhodes, who hit 13 home runs in his major league career, but hit three of them on Opening Day in 1994. If you had drafted Rhodes in 1994 in a draft that took place after Opening Day, you would have gotten credit for the three home runs, but would have gotten only five more home runs from Tuffy for the rest of the year.
Whoever picks rookie shortstop Trevor Story this afternoon will acquire the six home runs he has already hit this week. There is some risk because Story had never played a game in the majors before this week.