I want to introduce Eric Radom...Eric will do for fantasy baseball what I have done for fantasy football and that's help you win your leagues...I have played fantasy baseball for years but always found the NFL to be my love...and therefore Fantasy Football has become my forte...but so many readers asked for Baseball tips...so I will present my baseball guru....Eric take it away.

Headline: Top 5 Reasons You Must Try Fantasy Baseball

Like you, I am a fantasy sports fan. Actually I’m more than a fan. My obsession with fantasy baseball has virtually taken over my life for the last 10 years. But all the hard work does pay off, and I’ve enjoyed incredible fantasy success in many leagues with many different formats. After years of fun, excitement, and competition I have decided that it is time to give back, and now all of the knowledge I have gained I offer to you, my fellow fantasy fans. For the first time ever, I will be publicizing my championship strategies, rankings, and formulas: follow me towards fantasy baseball domination.

Since Fans Fantasy has been exclusively a football site until now, my guess is that many of you may not have tried fantasy baseball yet. Or maybe you tried it, but had a bad first experience, and gave up on it. So let us convince you to take the leap into the amazing world of fantasy baseball. Below I’ve listed the “Top 5 Reasons You Must Try Fantasy Baseball”.

1. Baseball is played every day.

Could you imagine every day was like Sunday, and you didn't have to wait until the end of the week to find out how your fantasy team was going to do? With baseball, you don't have to imagine, because it’s played every day. Every night, there is a game on TV that you can watch and root for your players. With today’s special networks you can even have unlimited access to the action. If you don’t want to have to set your lineup every day, join a weekly league, and you will only have to set your lineup each Monday. Or, join a daily league, where you can utilize your bench to your advantage during the week. You can start a bench player instead of leaving a spot empty if your starter has the day off, or you can bench a player like Matt Joyce, because he is bad against lefties, and replace him with a bench player with a better pitching matchup.

2. There are more positions and players.

Football has about 10 total starting spots (1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, Flex, K, D), but a standard league in baseball typically has 23 spots (2 C, 1 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 SS, 1MI*, 1 CI*, 5 OF, 1 UT*, and 9 P). Football has 4 key positions that you must draft early (QB, RB, WR, and sometimes TE), but baseball has about 7 (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, SP*). This means that you are not dead in the water if your 1st round pick goes down with a season ending injury, since one pick is a smaller percentage of your total output. This allows for owners to win with various different strategies. It also means more players to root for on any given day, which equals more excitement. If 23 spots seem overwhelming, don't worry because there is a format to suit everyone. Standard yahoo format, for example, usually only has 1 UT, 1 C, 3 OF, no MI or CI, and only 8 pitchers. But if you desire more opportunities to get the better of lesser owners, baseball offers that with more positions and more players. And perhaps the best part, more players means more trading, and isn’t the trade the most interesting and exciting aspect of fantasy sports?

3. There are more ways for players to contribute in baseball.

In football, players earn points for yards (passing, rushing, and receiving), touchdowns, and receptions. In standard baseball leagues players earn points for runs, rbi's, HR's, SB's, BA*,wins, k’s, ERA, WHIP*, saves, along with various other statistical categories that can be added. Unlike football, different players at each position can be specialists in certain categories. For instance, one owner can draft Mike Stanton for homeruns and rbi's, and the next pick could be Michael Bourn, who is awesome in steals. This again allows many different strategies to be successful. The different categories also give owners another reason to trade. If your team has too many speed guys, and another team has too many power guys, than you become a match for a trade. Are you picking up a theme yet?

4 The player's production is less dependent on the rest of the team and the game situation.

We’ve all experienced the frustration of our starting fantasy QB's team getting ahead by 21 in the first half on two defensive td's, which leads to the coach entering conservative mode to run out the clock, costing our quarterback a chance at a big day. That still happens in baseball, but it is much less likely because there is no clock. For the most part, you know your player is going to get 4 at bats a game, and it is up to the player what he does with those at bats. You don't have to watch helplessly as your Receiver's QB continues to throw the ball to the other Receiver, or when your QB’s starting stud left tackle gets injured and now he has no time to throw. In baseball, it’s just a classic batter vs. pitcher matchups.

5. The Rotisserie format brings a whole new aspect.

There are still head to head formats with baseball, and some of you football diehards may still prefer that format, but fantasy baseball started as rotisserie baseball, and it is our opinion that this is the best format. Instead of playing a different opponent each week and getting a win or a loss, all of your players statistics are kept as a season total, and ranked from 1-12 (in a 12 team league). For any given category you can earn 1 to12 points at the end of the season, and the team with highest point total at the end wins. How frustrating is it when you put up149 points one week, and you suffer a loss by playing the team with 150 points? Especially when the next best team that week only had 120 points! In rotisserie format, every stat counts towards your total, so you know that the team that won deserved the crown. In addition, rotisserie makes balance among categories more important, which motivates even more trading (there’s that theme again). If a team is doing badly in stolen bases and average, but is way ahead in home runs and rbi, they might be interested in trading Dan Uggla for Ichiro, while in a head to head format, that trade might not make sense. Sometimes with pitching, if you are way ahead in saves, you can just trade away a closer and get something completely different in return. Again, there are more strategies and more opportunities to play the game.

I could go on forever, and don’t even get me started on keeper and dynasty leagues. So think about it when you are sad the football season is over. If you've been a stubborn football only guy or gal, than give it a shot. If you listen to what we have to say here at Fans Fantasy, you might end up lining your pockets as well.

Glossary*:

MI: Middle Infield, which can be a second baseman or shortstop.

CI: Corner Infield, which can be a first baseman or third baseman.

UT: Utility player, which can be any position. Several players can only be used at utility because they are primarily a DH, like David Ortiz.

SP: Starting pitcher, as opposed to a relief pitcher (RP).

BA: Batting Average

WHIP: Walks plus hits divided by innings pitch. Usually a better barometer of pitcher performance than ERA.