Fantasy Sports Seasons

Fantasy sports games are played in season with the actual sport. Here is a rundown of a few major professional fantasy sports, their corresponding season and game schedule, and a unique element of the fantasy game. This will help you be ready to choose the best fantasy sports software and sign up in time as well.

MLB
30 Major League Baseball teams each play 162 games in around 183 days from late April into early October. If you want to vie for prizes or bragging rights in a fantasy baseball league, youre in for a serious time commitment during the season. However, rules and scoring models are adjusted to compensate for this hectic schedule and generally points are still accumulated by the week as in American football and many other fantasy sports. For example, on ESPN fantasy baseball specifically, you start 12 pitchers every week and pitchers are generally considered to be the lynch pin of any fantasy baseball team.

To sign up for a fantasy baseball team, begin paying attention to the site of your choice sometime in late March or early April to form your team and draft players.

NFL

The National Football League and schedule is more concise and far less expansive than MLB. 32 professional teams play 16 games in as 17 weeks (each team has one bye week on the schedule), from September to January (for regular season play). Playoffs continue through January culminating in the leagues championship game, the Super Bowl. In fantasy football, a specialized league type known as IDP allows team owners using fantasy sports software to also draft individual defensive players on their team. In standard league types, the defense is usually drafted as a unit.

To sign up for a fantasy NFL team, begin paying attention in August to get your players drafted and ready for the regular season game play.

NBA
National Basketball Association schedule includes 30 professional teams engaging in 82 games played from Late October to mid April, with playoffs and championship games played into June. In a rotisserie league, your goal is to have your team perform best across a number of statistical categories. In a fantasy points league, the goal is to have your team earn more fantasy points than all other squads in the league. To win in a head-to-head league, your team needs to compile a better win-loss record than all other squads in your league. These rules will vary from service to service. And when you pay for your own software you can make up your own rules.

You can begin signing up and creating your fantasy basketball teams in late September.

NHL
The prestigious National Hockey League features 30 teams vying for the Stanley Cup in 90 games played in a 7-month season spanning from October through April. Preseason or exhibition games, as they are known in the NHL take place in September. The NHL is has a lot of international flavor, currently (as of the 2007-08 season) employing players from 18 different countries, slightly more than half of those originating from Canada. One player is even from Indonesia.

You can begin signing up for NHL fantasy sports software leagues in September.

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