Fantasy Major League Baseball Scores and Standings

Fantasy baseball is a game where participants manage an imaginary roster of real Major League baseball players. The participants compete against one another using those players' real life statistics to score points. It is one of the most commonly played fantasy sports games, and is arguably one of the most difficult and time-intensive due to the 162-game season of the MLB and the inconsistency of players.

The most common scoring system in Fantasy Baseball is known as "Rotisserie". The landmark development in fantasy baseball came with the development of Rotisserie League Baseball in 1980.

Fantasy baseball has continued to grow [based on recent studies from the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA.org)], but has been overtaken by fantasy football as the most popular form of fantasy sports. This is primarily because some of those sports, such as football and auto racing, only participate once a week, making it easier for a person to make adjustments, since they do not have to check their team daily.

There are different ways to play fantasy baseball. One way to play is a head-to-head format that makes each individual team play against a different team each week to acquire wins through total points scored for the week. Another style, the original style of playing fantasy, is rotisserie. The statistics compiled by the players from each team are then ranked by category, and the team with the highest cumulative rank at the end of the season is determined to be the winner.

The growing popularity of fantasy baseball has created a niche for fantasy baseball trade referees. Owners of fantasy teams often trade players, and often those trades incite disputes within leagues. Third party websites provide fantasy players a place to have their trades reviewed by a panel "judges" in exchange for a fee.

New fantasy baseball formats have appeared that combine a traditional points-based competition with a liquid market that is used to facilitate real-time player trading. These games eliminate the need for fantasy trade judging by having team owners buy and sell players on a trading floor instead of negotiating trades directly with other owners. Another new format of fantasy sports is 'daily fantasy sports'.

Fantasy MLB (Major League Baseball) is divided into the American League (14 teams) and the National League (16 teams). Currently, each league is further subdivided into three divisions – labeled East, Central, and West.

As professional baseball became increasingly profitable, players frequently raised grievances against owners over issues of control and equitable income distribution. During the major leagues' early decades, players on various teams occasionally attempted strikes, which routinely failed when their jobs were sufficiently threatened. In general, the strict rules of baseball contracts and the reserve clause, which bound players to their teams even when their contracts had ended, tended to keep the players in check.