Yes, now that we’ve got a new collective bargaining agreement (with all of its rule tweaks and the like) signed, sealed and delivered, what are the fantasy baseball takeaways that fantasy baseball managers need to know about before diving headlong into the 2022 season?
We asked the hosts of our ESPN Fantasy Focus Baseball podcast to weigh in on this debate — and debate they did:
Tristan H. Cockcroft: The National League’s permanent adoption of the designated hitter is the big one. (At least we assume this will be permanent as there’s a new CBA negotiation scheduled for five years from now, but let’s not think about that right now.) I discussed the universal DH in much greater detail a few weeks back.
Beyond that, though, the fact that many of the on-field rule changes which had been speculated — a ban on shifts, the pitch clock and larger bases — all of which would have significant impact on fantasy baseball have been pushed off until 2023 represents good news for us, at least from a draft preparation standpoint. The new Opening Day is scheduled for April 7, or four weeks from now, so fantasy managers need to enter their “cram-stravaganza” period of draft-day prep. The last thing we would have needed was a slew of major on-field changes for which to adjust.
Source: www.espn.com