Draft Leagues and Stock Teams

I have been involved in many projects through the years involving both draft teams and leagues with stock teams. As far as the stock teams go, I’ve completed leagues with the 1908
NL, ’77 AL and NL as well as about twelve cross-era leagues and three King of the Hill style tournaments, one of which used teams from the Negro Leagues. I’m thinking of doing
an eight team, 154 game league using cross-era stock teams in the near future. My preference however is draft leagues, for a couple of reasons.

My best way to explain my preference is the reason I believe many of us play these games. We use them as a way to relax after work and/or a means of escaping from real-world stuff
for a while. Organizing and playing out a season keeps our minds active. Organizing a draft league takes a little more work, and for me provides a more rewarding gaming experience.
And let's face it. So much of what happens in our life is not in our control. But with a hobby, we have something of our own which we control with as much or as little detail as we want.

With stock teams, you more or less know how good a team is. You know where they finished in the standings, who the stars were, etc. Teams that are made up of players drafted from
a pool of talent are a mystery, especially if the draft is completely random (as mine are). With a draft league, you don’t know what to expect. It’s kind of like creating your own little world,
and it really gives you a chance to manage. You set the lineups. You make all the strategic decisions. In the mid-late 80s I was involved in a draft league with a bunch of guys who played
Statis-Pro baseball. There were eight of us, and the draft process we agreed on went something like this: you got six picks which you selected on your own. After six rounds, the balance of
your 25 man roster was filled by randomly picking your players from decks representing position players and pitchers which were shuffled and placed face down. You could pick a star
player, or you could pick a bum. It was completely random. I've also been involved in draft leagues where you got to pick your entire roster. I found the random draft more appealing. I just
like the feel of not knowing what you're getting. It's kinda like life, you know?

Leagues with a random draft have their drawbacks of course, especially when a major star doesn't get picked. I had some gaming buddies who disapproved of my random draft format for
just this reason and also for the tendency for teams to get two quality players at the same position. My response is, this is the hazard of doing business. It's another way of saying, it is what it is.
I made a decision to conduct the draft this way, and these are the consequences. Let the chips fall where they may and see how it plays out. The other drawback has to do with the final results.
Just as with a stock league, you will have outliers in a draft league. I have a couple right now in my '71 draft league: Willie McCovey and Joe Hague are way above their actual home run
production. However unlike stock teams, in a draft league you have the likelyhood of having a batter face a pitcher who may have been his teammate in real life. I can see how this alone may
turn gamers off to conducting a draft league, but I'm not bothered by it. In fact, I prefer the "what-if" situations that our hobby allows us to indulge in. And that makes this fun hobby even more
fun! I mean, how many of you weren't riveted by the game-ending World Baseball Classic matchup of real-life teammates Shohei Otani and Mike Trout?

May 8, 2023 (slightly amended on June 23, 2023)