Fantasy Sports

By Zack Meisel / MLB.com

Giants right-hander Matt Cain probably didn't walk under a ladder before one-hitting the Pirates. The Rays needed more than a black cat to spoil Boston's 12-run, 16-hit attack.

There were plenty of quirky sequences around the league, however, that fittingly fell on Friday the 13th, a day affiliated with luck, superstition and unconventionality... read more

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- Derek Jeter joked that the Yankees' pitchers are "doing backflips" in the clubhouse about the prospect of having to face Albert Pujols on a regular basis this season.

As the recently signed Angels slugger makes his first visit to the new Yankee Stadium, the Bombers feel that Pujols' transition to the American League is good for baseball in general, but it won't help them win any games against a tough Halos club... read more

By Matt Snyder | Senior Baseball Blogger

The bats have been awakened. After some offensive lulls the first few days of the season, Saturday's slate gave us 23 home runs in the seven day games alone. Before the clock hit 7 p.m. ET, five players had two-homer games. Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder aren't exactly surprising there, so let's give some love to the other three. Full Saturday scoreboard3 UPLucas Duda, Mets. Hello, new Citi Field dimensions. Duda took the Braves deep twice en route to a 2-run Mets' win. Don't look now, but those far-too-maligned Mets are 2-0... read more

by John Sickels

**Looking for a sleeper prospect? Check out Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Tyler Cloyd, who threw six shutout, no-hit innings last night for Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He didn't give up any walks, either, while fanning eight. Cloyd is a 6-3, 190 pound right-hander, 24 years old, drafted in the 18th round in 2008 from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He posted a 2.78 ERA with a 99/15 K/BB in 106 innings last year for Double-A Reading, so this success is not out of context with his career. His fastball isn't especially fast for a right-hander at 87-90, topping out at 92, but he changes speeds well, throws strikes, and will certainly get a major league look at some point if he keeps pitching like this... read more

By Matthew Leach / MLB.com

Opening Day means renewal, second chances and all that good stuff. A six-month grind starts with everybody's stats set at zero. That's unfortunate for players coming off great years, but for some guys there's no better news than resetting the numbers... read more

BY DERRICK GOOLD • dgoold@post-dispatch.com

If all goes well ...

Adam Wainwright picks up where he left off and rejoins Clayton Kershaw and Tim Lincecum as one of the National League young guns and Cy Young Award favorites... read more

By Bucky Brooks | NFL.com

With the first wave of free agency over, and as we enter the secondary market of players, it's a natural time to step back and re-evaluate the first round of the draft. Several teams filled glaring needs in free agency, thus taking them out of the market for those positions in April. Similarly, some teams' inactivity thus far could serve as an indication they will wait to address their issues in the draft.

1. PICK NO... read more

By Corey Brock / MLB.com

MESA, Ariz. -- While it's far too easy to feel overwhelmed by the lexicon of sabermetrics -- xFIP, BABIP, SIERA, just to name a few -- Angels first-year general manager Jerry Dipoto won't allow his head to be cluttered by statistical metrics that would make even Ptolemy blush... read more

by DanUpBaby

Matt Holliday had the highest OPS+ of his career last season, in the second year of his $120 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals—153—and it came in an appropriate way: He kept having his usual season while the offensive context tumbled around him... read more

By C70 At The Bat

There's no doubt that the spring is time for optimism.  Rookies are heralded as the next great player.  Pitchers are said to have a new pitch that will dominate for them.  And, of course, everyone's in the best shape of their life.  When you are talking about the return of baseball, in those heady days where you are warm after a cold winter and the games don't count, how can you not be optimistic?

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

And now there are 10.

Major League Baseball expanded its playoffs for the third time, this time with the addition of two more Wild Card teams and a single elimination game in each league... read more

From MLB.com

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Nearly three months after being forced to undergo a back surgery he had long attempted to avoid, Braves pitcher Tim Hudson has reported to Spring Training feeling a sense of relief that had not been present for much of the past decade... read more

By Rhett Bollinger / MLB.com

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Twins catcher Joe Mauer proved he's much further along than he was at this point last year, as he participated in a full day's worth of workouts at the Lee County Sports Complex on Sunday... read more

By Chris Haft / MLB.com

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Already burdened with multiple injury-related concerns, the Giants were saddled with another one when right-hander Ryan Vogelsong revealed Sunday that he will miss at least the first 10 days of Spring Training with a strained back... read more

By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com

JUPITER, Fla. -- The latest step back for Adam Wainwright took place on Sunday just behind Field 1 at the Cardinals' Jupiter, Fla., complex, where four pitching rubbers provided the appropriate setting... read more

By Jon Heyman

As with every year, there were the deals. And then there were the steals. With camps opening it is time to assess the best and worst of the winter's free-agent signings. With just a few dozen players remaining, here are my lists of the best signings for the team and the best ones for the player ...Best signings (for team)1. Francisco Cordero. Blue Jays RP, $4.5M, 1 yr. In a closer market filled with talent, he was the last good one to sign, and he seemed to have gotten squeezed. The Reds turned down a $12-million option for him, but based on 194 saves over the past five years, that seems closer to his true value... read more

By Matt Snyder Come Monday, just two days from now, every single team will have pitchers and catchers in big-league camp. Ten clubs -- Orioles, Twins, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals, Angels, Cubs, Reds, A's and Giants -- have their pitchers and catchers report Sunday. Soak it in, fans. The far-too-long wait is over. No more do we have to yearn for the season while chasing Yu Darvishor Yoenis Cespedes or Prince Fielder rumors. Instead, the actual season is closer than the horizon. When spring training opens for baseball teams, it's the fan version of New Year's Day... read more

by John Sickels

Prospects in the A.J. Burnett TradeThe New York Yankees traded right-hander A.J. Burnett to the Pittsburgh Pirates today in exchange for two prospects, reliever Diego Moreno and outfielder Exicardo Cayones... read more

Submitted by Randy Burgess on Thu, 2011-11-17 23:42

Fantasy sports players are constantly monitoring their team rosters and checking their winners, but are they monitoring the impact of gambling winnings on their taxes? Our guide below talks about the state of fantasy sports and tax rules to follow when playing.

http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/2011/11/11/are-taxes-considered-in-your-football-fantasies/

By Ray Flowers

Average Draft Position, or ADP, is a tool that everyone in the fantasy game is using these days. For those of you who don’t know what ADP is, here you go:

ADP takes into account a whole bunch of drafts. You add them all up and come up with the average draft position of a player. As an example. Let’s say that in four drafts Matt Cain is taken 39th, 79th, 51st and 67th. You add up the four draft slots, which equal 236, divide by the number of drafts (in this case four), and come up with an ADP of 59 for Cain. Simply enough right?

One of the industry leaders in ADP data is Mock Draft Central... read more

By Ray Flowers

Yesterday I broke down just what Average Draft Position is, and then I took a spin around some of the ADP numbers for hitters that stood out in my mind. Today, I’m going to bookend that piece by breaking down some of the numbers for the men who climb the hill and chuck the pill at batters.

To see my thoughts on the hitters click on: ADP Talk: Late January.

One of the industry leaders in ADP data is Mock Draft Central. In what follows I will break down some of the early ADP numbers for 5×5 mixed leagues (there are 471 qualifying drafts under consideration here that took place from 1/12 to 1/26)... read more

For people looking for a dose of mental edge, a purported brain enhancer called citicoline is popping up in beverages and dietary supplements.

"What you drink when you want to think," says the label of Nawgan, a drink from Nawgan Products LLC. The St. Louis company's website invites consumers to track their mental performance with an online memory and focus test.

11.5 ounce cans of Nawgan

Go GungHo Inc.'s gel packets carry the slogan, "Ninja like focus" and the Orem, Utah, company hopes its newly introduced product will be popular with gamers... read more

By Jeff Roberts

Gannett (NYSE: GCI) Co. has bought The Big Lead and a family of other sports blogs. The company hopes the acquisition, when combined with its existing USA Today properties, will vault it into the major leagues of the online sports scene.

Gannett did not disclose the purchase price for Fantasy Sports Ventures, a property in which it acquired a minority share in 2008... read more

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A fantasy sport (also known as rotisserie, roto, or owner simulation) is a game where participants act as owners to build a team that competes against other fantasy owners based on the statisticsgenerated by the real individual players or teams of a professional sport. Probably the most common variant converts statistical performance into points that are compiled and totaled according to a roster selected by a manager that makes up a fantasy team. These point systems are typically simple enough to be manually calculated by a "league commissioner... read more