Here are five weird ways to spice up your fantasy league this season
Spring Training has begun, and you know what that means: It's time to make sure that you're fully prepared for your fantasy draft. Luckily, the 2017 Fantasy Player Preview is here for you, no matter what kind of league you play in.
Maybe you're sick of coming in second-to-last every year because you only draft players with good beards, and you can't help it that home run machines like Gary Sánchez are contractually clean-shaven. Well, don't worry. All you need to do is start your own league, and make sure there are some unconventional rules.
Here are a few ideas:
Utility players and relievers only
Anyone can win a league if they're lucky enough to snap up Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw. It takes a very particular kind of skill and obsession to win a league where you're only allowed to draft utility players and relievers. If you decide to go this route, keep your eye on Kenley Jansen, Zach Britton, Justin Turner and Ben Zobrist.
You and your league can fight over whether Kris Bryant counts as a utility player.
Your home state only
If you play in a league where a lot of the owners are from different places, try only drafting players that are from your home state. Of course, Californians will have a definite advantage here -- in MLB history 2,183 players have come from the Golden State. That increases the likelihood that your CA competitors will able to choose exciting active players. Right now, they can count Nolan Arenado and Trevor Bauer among others.
Of course, if you and all your fellow owners are all from the same state, try …
A cute dog league
You're going to need Instagram access for this one. Owners may only draft players with cute dogs. Define cute amongst yourselves, but expect Josh Donaldson and Joc Pederson to go very early in this draft.
Young'uns and Vets only
For the purpose of this league, a "young'un" is any player 23 years of age or younger and a "veteran" is any player 35 years of age or older.
Owners is this league may only draft players that fit into one of the preceding categories. That means no Anthony Rizzo, no Madison Bumgarner, and not even Mike Trout or Bryce Harper - they're 25 and 24, respectively. You'll want to keep an eye on Corey Seager, who is going into his age-23 season as reigning National League Rookie of the year.
And make sure you're the one who picks up Adrián Beltré, who will turn 38 on April 7. He batted .300 last season, hit 32 home runs and danced his way into our hearts.
So, you know, if you switch to a "most fun" league halfway through the season, you'll still be well-positioned to win.
The Scrabble league
This one is multi-dimensional. Not only does it matter how well your players perform on the field, it also matters how much their names are worth in Scrabble tiles.
At the end of season, you'll get a bonus that amounts to all of your players' name scores. Want to get extra complicated? Assign position players double or triple letter word scores based on the number of actual doubles and triples they manage to hit.
Long names and names full of unusual consonants are a good bet here. See a "Z" or an "X"? Draft 'em. Just go ahead and put Xander Bogaerts on the top of your list.
Do you play in an unusual fantasy league? Tweet your weird rules @Cut4 and tell us all about it. And don't forget to use the Fantasy Player Preview to get ready for your draft this year, no matter how strange it may be.