Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to figure out if I could have a fantasy baseball game this season — similar to each football season and March Madness — but haven’t really had the time to figure it out. A regular baseball fantasy league seems like too much work, especially as my actual knowledge of current players is so thin. Every year I’ve played in one, I come in dead last, which is not my idea of a good time. But I may have figured out at least something to try, even if it is last minute, what with opening day of the baseball season tomorrow.

This year, Yahoo Fantasy Sports is offering a number of fantasy baseball games, and one caught my eye as potentially a lot of fun but much easier to play, in terms of time commitment and knowledge necessary. It’s called Home Run Derby, and you draft a team and get points only when one of your players hits a home run. You have a roster of 15 players, and each day you have to field a player at each infield position, plus 3 outfielders and a “Util” (utility) player from any position, to round it out to nine (and since pitchers won’t really count for much in this type of game), leaving six players for your bench. Each time one of your players hits a home run, you get a point. If one of your players hits a grand slam, you pick up four points. Whoever racks up the most points over the season is declared the winner, with all attendent bragging rights.

Currently, Yahoo allows the maximum number of teams in a league to be 20, and I already gave a slight preference and invited everyone who played last year or played Marzen Madness. So far, we have six teams, so there are 14 spots left. If you want to play, sign up now. As soon as we reach 20, I’ll turn the league status to “ready” and the auto draft should begin within 24 hours. So we may miss the first day or two of the season, but the settings give me the impression that it may go back and assign retroactive points, so we’d all get the points we’re due anyway. If not, we’re still all in the same boat.

Below are the instructions if you want to play Brookston Home Run Derby this year, but hurry up so you don’t miss out. If it won’t let you sign up, check to make sure we’re not full yet. If we are, sorry about that, there’s always next year. I’ll post the standings throughout the season and update them at least weekly, if not more often.

In order to join the league, follow this link or go to game front page, click the “Sign Up Now” or “Get Another Team” button and follow the links to “Join a Custom League”. When prompted, enter the League ID# and password below.

League ID#: 144900
Password: Homer

We will send you a confirmation with further details once you have completed the registration process.