Analyzing the Impact on Team Expansion on Fantasy Sports

The MLB has recently expanded the number of players per team to 40 in order to accommodate players who can easily replace those who are in the injured list. It’s a smart move by the MLB since they want to provide more options to various teams around the league so that they could continue to be competitive even when they are plagued with injuries. While it will still end up to who can really spend money on 40 players per season, it’s a welcoming development to the league as they will have more professional baseball players.

Ryan Braun - Milwaukee Brewers

But what does this development mean for the MLB Fantasy players? Here are some of the implications:

1. More roster depth – when your fantasy league adjusts to the roster requirement of the MLB, you’ll have more time to scout for additional players in the league. Instead of immediately waiving the player who would be injured for a few weeks, you could opt to save him in your roster so that you will not have any trouble in using the player again. Of course, this means you can’t use the player because of the injury but there are other players in your roster that you can use to put on the points you need.

2. Rule changes – another possible implication of the expansion of team roster is the rule changes in various fantasy leagues. Because the chance of getting more good players for the team, fantasy league owners have to adjust their rules so that the fantasy game will be more competitive. Expect fantasy league owners to enforce salary capping in your league especially if he or she notices that the number of competitive professional players stay in one fantasy team.

3. More depth on next year’s draft – the next year’s draft of MLB will certainly be interesting to know that there will be more players that can play for the team. No one knows yet if the draft rounds will be expanded but one thing is for sure – the players available for drafting will be more aggressive as they compete for limited slots. This means good news for fantasy players as they will be able to hold more players in their fantasy team. The depth will still be more impressive next year even with the salary cap. As already indicated, an improved draft will mean improvement on fantasy roster.

4. Interesting rotisserie format – with more players on the league, choosing the right player for the game could be increasing confusing. This means you have to improve your research technique about the player you want to draft. More choices are good but in this case, you end up with more work just to have an advantage over other fantasy players. Be sure to research on your prospective players for the next year’s draft especially on rotisserie format.

The 40-man roster in MLB has surely stirred some fantasy leagues around the world. This change should be very interesting not only in MLB but also in various fantasy leagues especially next season.