Competing Fantasy Metrics and the Perfect Fantasy Team

As you may know, if you are even at all aware of Major League Baseball, Fantasy season is coming up. Every devoted fantasy player takes some steps to prepare their team for the next season, and one of those steps, for me, is studying lists of fantasy rankings.

My travels over the Internet have brought me within striking distance of two competing ranking systems: that used by MLB.com and that used by ESPN.com. We know that each of these two sites must use different metrics to determine the value of the same players, for the simple fact that their lists are different. But how different are they, exactly, on the surface?

For this post, I've compiled two fantasy baseball lineups - one for each ranking system. Each lineup consists of the highest-ranked players in each position, according to each system. Looking at these two lineups side by side, you might be surprised at the results. Then again, you might not be.

What we see is complete agreement on all 8 starting position players (yes, only 8... if your league includes a spot for a dedicated DH, you're doing something wrong). While the actual ranking numbers don't match up (except in Joe Mauer's case, which I'm sure is nothing more than coincidence), there's no doubt in either system's "mind" who the best player is at each position.

Same goes for 4 of the top 5 pitchers. And all 4 of the top closers. I guess whatever metric you use, evaluating which players will turn in impressive fantasy performances isn't hard to do. Now if only it were as easy to convince all those guys to play for my fantasy team...