In the spring of 2005, I was a rookie fantasy writer for CBSSports.com and David Gonos, an industry titan, approached me to play in a new league called B.I.G.S. (Baseball in Grand Scale). The format was simple, 24 teams with 12 in an “AL-only league” and 12 in an “NL-only league.” The 24 teams would then blend together and have head-to-head matchups, with interleague play the same weeks that MLB used interleague play.
Bonus: Underrated pitching sleepers, American League (GIFs)
My team, Vandelay Industries, won the inaugural season. My squad featured Alfonso Soriano, Carl Crawford, Mariano Rivera, Joe Crede, Travis Hafner and Francisco Rodriguez... back when they were all fantasy studs.
B.I.G.S. has gone on to become one of the fantasy industry’s top leagues, featuring writers, podcast hosts and baseball analysts. My team hasn’t won since the inaugural season, but the name of my team will forever be “Winning! ’05 Champ.”
As the tenth season of the B.I.G.S. kicks off, I’ll be recapping the draft results as they occur. Since we live throughout the country, we use an online draft without a clock. The draft takes a few weeks and owners get an e-mail when their pick is up.
This year I’m on the AL side. Through Round 5, my team is:
Winning! ’05 Champ
Round 1: Adam Jones
Round 2: Justin Verlander
Round 3: Wil Myers
Round 4: Jose Abreu
Round 5: James Shields
I'm very happy with it overall. I obviously need some infielders and a closer with my next few picks.
Nando Di Fino of CBSSports.com, another monster of the industry, has a team that I like a lot, too:
Round 1: Robinson Cano
Round 2: Yu Darvish
Round 3: Jose Reyes
Round 4: Shin-Soo Choo
Round 5: Josh Hamilton
And a B.I.G.S. recap wouldn't be complete without sharing the picks of Gonos, who founded the league:
Round 1: Prince Fielder
Round 2: Adrian Beltre
Round 3: David Price
Round 4: Ian Kinsler
Round 5: Ben Zobrist
We'll continue to share results as the draft moves on. Who has the best team through Round 5 out of Nando, Gonos and myself? Hit me up on Twitter at @briansflood
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