What's the best fantasy baseball prize site?

[grsanderson]

I'm a little tentative about buying into a league where I don't know anybody. I know lots of sites -- CBS, Yahoo. ESPN, others -- allow you to enter prize leagues, and take a cut.

Which one has the best payouts?
Most variety of league types?
Best overall system?

[Riverdome]

I played in CDM for the first time last year, was a good experience.

[higgsboson]

I think the quality of the commissioner and the owners is more important than the site. Finding a solid competitive league that stays together is not easy. Once you find that group it's not uncommon for the league to switch sites if there is agreement that it would improve the league.

[higgsboson]

I will say, though, that in terms of custom, non-standard leagues onroto is extremely flexibile. Odds are that if there is some custom option you want for your league and it isn't available on the site they will add it for you. The only drawback is that the live auction is fairly new and a big buggy, but I'm sure that will improve. In terms of customer service and quick response to problems they can't be beat.

[higgsboson]

Ah! Sorry. I guess I don't worry about that. I used league safe for the first year of the new league I started, but after a month everyone agreed to not use it in the future. It's a reasonable option if you are worried about joining a prize league for the first time, but if you ask to get feedback from the other owners it will pretty clear if there is a risk. At this point in the off-season you wouldn't have to pay for a while, and if the commissioner insists that you pay immediately, then that is a red flag. If the other owners give good feedback directly to you, there is really no risk. Someone might ask, but what if the other owners are in collusion with this scam? Well that wouldn't make much sense. Unless the pot is huge, it just wouldn't be worth the time and effort to split a $50 or $100 check between multiple owners minus the fee that had to be payed to start the league. As a commissioner the amount of time I spend managing the league isn't even worth the entire pot, and anyone who would ever do this would not have a history of being in long term keeper leagues with others to back them up. So I guess my major point is that if you are joining a league in which you do not know anyone ask for references from the other owners and other leagues the commission has been in. I would give the same advice to a commissioner who is adding a new owner they and the rest of the league don't know.

[dmojr]

I won some money playing in FanTrax 12-team leagues this year. Worked well enough.

[Hawk]

I tried a Fan Trax league this year, too. It worked well enough, but the downside is no trading.

For the past several years I've tried a few different sites for leagues of this nature. After the draft there is little, perhaps no interaction with other owners and the fact that you can't trade in Fan Trax may have increased that problem. By the end of May nobody posted on the league site except to congratulate me for winning at the end of the season.

Fan Trax paid my winnings quickly and there were no problems that I can recall.

[dmojr]

^^ wow - that is brutal

[coloradotim]

yeah i was in a phenoms league in the past and it was well run, but wasn't in one of their leagues this year thank goodness. I'd find a private league that uses league safe, league approval for prize distribution, with all money going towards prizes minus any stat fees. I run a couple of leagues like that and there are others out there - I'm avoiding the big national contest leagues except for NFBC.

[dmojr]

yeah i was in a phenoms league in the past and it was well run, but wasn't in one of their leagues this year thank goodness. I'd find a private league that uses league safe, league approval for prize distribution, with all money going towards prizes minus any stat fees. I run a couple of leagues like that and there are others out there - I'm avoiding the big national contest leagues except for NFBC.

+1

Classified ads on forums with LeagueSafe is the next best thing.

[jonnygomez]

I thought the original poster was inquiring about different contests such as CDM, NFBC, RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Championship. etc etc... personally I wouldnt mind hearing more from people who have had any experience with these types of leagues/contests either. thanks!

[beckryac]

For my money the Ottoneu game over at Fangraphs is the best thing going. They have a few different prize tiers and a couple different varieties of points and rotisserie leagues. Its a keeper/dynasty game with 40 man rosters, $400 budget, and the ability to keep players forever with annual salary increases. It has been a blast playing. Check it out.