Toronto and Austin fight to draw.
Mazsters and Ehs take no quarter.
Magic turns Pond to scum.

Don’t Spook the Horse: Hammers gain ground.
Pistol Nine and Junior Felix rout rivals.
Garth Iorg eyes upper division while top teams scuffle.

Hot Glyndwyr burns another opponent.
Pistol whips WAMCO while Europe holds off Posse.
Baseball North backs into first place thanks to sour Papaya.

Pitiless in Alomar: Walrus, Decepticons, Senators and Glyndwr win big.
Lubumbashi Posse washes the Sweaty Guys and catches Pistol.
Baseball North conquers New Jersey, sets sights on tasty Papayas.

Tyranny of One-Party Rule: Senators dominate again.
Midgets comb Beach, find treasure.
Kickers and Bashers reap rewards of violence.

Decepticons outwit the Brain.
Europe conquered by Pistol.
Brutes lose to Fruits.

Senators pitch another shutout.
Pistol Nine shoot into lead.
Magic 9 mystify Hee Seop Choi.

Senators legislate permanent one-team rule.
Jay’s Ehs maintain narrow leads over Pistol Nine.
Baseball North announces presence with authority.

For die-hard baseball fans, the typical 10-team, 5x5-scored fantasy league leaves much to be desired. The BBFL improves on this format by demanding knowledge of practically every player in baseball and awareness of advanced statistical categories. For interested parties and new owners, I present a brief history of the BBFL and the kind of information you’ll see every Monday during the season.

BBFL owners keep five players from the previous year's roster. For the first time, Alomar owners will face the issue of lame ducks, as league rules stipulate that players cannot perform under the same ownership for more than three years. The junior Barfield Division owners chose their keepers for the first time.

And now, the 95 players each owner cannot draft in 2005:

The BBFL concluded its offseason trading window with a modest amount of activity: five trades in the Alomar Division and seven in Barfield.

28 owners took part in the annual vote on rule changes and additions. Among the issues decided were creation of a third division, methodology for replacing departing owners, and roster composition.

And the winners are…

Our discussions over past two weeks have resulted in nine proposed rule changes and additions. BBFL team owners may now vote on these propositions. Any proposition that has more than two options will be voted on via the Borda Count Method. In voting for such propositions, owners must rank their answers from most favored to least favored.

To vote, send an email to bbfl@scottlucas.com. Please put your team name in the message so I can keep track of who has voted. Use this forum to politick, discuss the upcoming season, or whatever.

Voting ends at 1159pm PST, Saturday, February 12. If necessary, I may push back the trading window until all teams have owners. I'll keep you posted. The window will still be fourteen days.

I've heard from all the owners, thirty-eight of whom are returning. We have lost one Alomar owner (Jordan "Dad" Furlong's SABR Magicians) and one Barfield owner (Mike Hansen's Springfield Isotopes, relegated from Alomar). It speaks well of our league that everyone responded quickly and that almost everyone can continue to play. Kudos to the returning owners, and thanks to Jordan and Mike for playing the last two seasons.

Gentlemen, it is time. Time to throw our intellects, sweat and treasure into the pursuit of excellence. Fantasy excellence.