And we are off....(I am pissed that this site won't let me put up pictures anymore??)
RTTC 12 (5th season!) is back and better than ever (sorry, I am not a big Mike and Mike fan either). We have an all time high of 60 RTTCers this season including 13 rookies...which means we have over $3K in prizes to be had. We have RTTCers from Colorado, New Jersey, Philly, St Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, all over Ohio, Mississippi, Boston, Texas, Indy, and Shittsburgh (Sorry D)...and thats just those I know for sure...crazy...
The heart and soul of RTTC is the player picks. (95ish% of the total $ pot) This year we were able to bump up the weekly Stud of the Week payout to $60. So after 1 week, someone could have their season already paid for and playing with house money...
The new addition to RTTC is the Team Picks. (5ish% of the total pot) We added this as a side game and as a 1 year experiment. We may decide it is stupid after this year and never do it again...or we may decide it is great and make it more important next year. We will have a vote after the season to determine this side games fate. The regular season champ will get $80 and the WS Champ will get $120...
SEASON PREVIEWPlayer Picks - This being our 5th year, have a pretty good handle on what to expect here. The season long leaders will be neck and neck with real life MLB season long leaders...it is crazily realistic number-wise. I am betting only 1 of these RTTC records gets broken this year, as they are pretty lofty:
HRs- 44 - Punches '11
RBI- 136 - T Krauss '09
AVG- .339 - Carroll '10
Some other lines from Vegas for RTTC...
Over/Under7.5 times - Monday injuries that screw the whole week
3 - Separate Stud of the Week Awards by 1 person
Week 23 - When Kapcar goes on the DL for the rest of the year
15 times - Someone doesn't get a pick in on time and is ineligible for the week
1 time - An ineligible person would have won the Stud of the Week
1.5 - Number of rookies that finish in the season long money
80% - Chances Sunderman has a good 1st half and is an All Star, but chokes in 2nd half
Thats it for now...
TEAM PICKS - No idea what to expect here honestly...I would think it will be hard to get 90 wins since we have to use 26 of the 30 teams in the league, and pretty much forced to use shitty teams like the Tigers, etc. Remember week 14 All Star week and week 26 are shortened weeks. This will be interesting to see how this plays out...Also remember once you have a total of 162 games played, you will be done with the team picks. (This could happen in week 24 for example) At seasons end, the top 10 finishers will draft the 10 MLB playoff bound teams, and keep them for the entirety of the playoffs...
From Vegas -
Over/Under6.5 - Most wins for a team during a week (not counting week 1)
1 - least wins for a team during a week
92 wins - Regular season champ
70.5 wins - Last place finisher
WEEK 1 PREVIEW - Quick breakdown of this weeks picks...
37 different players picked...
Lots of Kinsler, Pujols, Han Ramirez, Hosmer, Kemp picks it seemed like
Elvis Andrus is a 1st time RTTC pick...When the hell did Mike Stanton become Giancarlo?? That news must have been buried under the Fausto Carmona debacle..He was 0-4 last night, so he may go back to Mike real quick...Congrats to K Roach...he has the first hits of the season via J Reyes...
15 different teams were picked...Rangers and Phillies were the big ones...3 guys went with the Marlins and are officially .5 games out of first place...
The Marathon has started...good luck this year to all...welcome, if you are now...feel free to use the comment section below to talk smack, or introduce yourself if you are a Rookie....later on!
HAPPPY MASTERS/OPENING/EASTER WEEKEND!(I will TRY and update this blog w something everyday...if anyone would like to contribute with a weekly segment feel free to be a TEAM PICK Analyst, or a Player Pick Analyst, or a RBI correspondent, whatever...you can name your title...)