Cockcroft: How to play and win Baseball Challenge

Welcome back, Baseball Challenge faithful! We're about to embark on another season of baseball action, and I'm here to help steer you to another title run.

For those of you new to our game, though -- where have you been? -- here's the scoop: Pick 10 players, one each at catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field, right field, designated hitter and team pitching staff. Players score points based on their efforts in real-life games, and your goal is to amass the most points while keeping your team's salary at less than $50 million.

But it's not always as simple as that, right? BBC domination requires keen strategy, attention to detail and a close eye on the happenings around the league. With that in mind, here are a few handy tidbits to remember throughout the season:

Build around OPS and home runs. One of the things that differentiate BBC from standard rotisserie leagues is its inclusion of additional, valuable pure-baseball categories, like doubles, triples and walks. By awarding one point per base -- thereby rewarding doubles and triples as well as singles and home runs -- and one point for walks (as well as runs scored, RBIs and stolen bases), it more closely reflects the value of each base a player earns, a critical aspect of the on-field game.

OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) does a good job of demonstrating a player's ability to rack up bases and walks, making it a useful category with which to scout your picks. Home runs is another; keep in mind that in BBC's scoring system, a homer is worth four points, the run scored it creates is a fifth point, the RBI it generates is a sixth point and any other men on base driven home are worth an additional point apiece. In other words, a grand slam is worth nine points: four for the homer, one for the run and four for the RBIs. That makes a homer the most valuable outcome in BBC.

Take a look at 2008's top 25 in BBC points:

1. David Wright, 682 (0.93 per plate appearance)
2. Albert Pujols, 669 (1.04)
3. Ryan Howard, 664 (0.95)
4. Lance Berkman, 651 (0.98)
5. Carlos Beltran, 648 (0.92)
6. Manny Ramirez, 645 (0.99)
6. Grady Sizemore, 645 (0.87)
8. Mark Teixeira, 639 (0.93)
9. Hanley Ramirez, 637 (0.92)
10. Josh Hamilton, 632 (0.9)
11. Jose Reyes, 630 (0.83)
12. Chase Utley, 620 (0.88)
13. Justin Morneau, 613 (0.86)
14. Adrian Gonzalez, 610 (0.87)
15. Jason Bay, 604 (0.9)
16. Ryan Ludwick, 601 (0.97)
17. Miguel Cabrera, 600 (0.88)
18. Carlos Delgado, 594 (0.87)
18. Nick Markakis, 594 (0.85)
20. Dustin Pedroia, 593 (0.82)
21. Ryan Braun, 592 (0.89)
21. Nate McLouth, 592 (0.86)
23. Aubrey Huff, 591 (0.89)
24. Matt Holliday, 587 (0.94)
25. Alex Rodriguez, 582 (0.98)
25. Bobby Abreu, 582 (0.85)

Of those 25, 12 -- Wright, Pujols, both Ramirezes, Teixeira, Hamilton, Utley, Ludwick, Cabrera, Braun, Huff and Rodriguez -- also finished among the game's top 25 in both OPS and home runs. Howard led the majors in home runs, Delgado and Gonzalez cracked the top 10 in homers, and Berkman ranked fifth in OPS. And of the 25 qualified MLB leaders in OPS, only Adam Dunn, Vladimir Guerrero and Brian McCann failed to finish in the top 25 in either BBC points or BBC points per plate appearance. Those are pretty strong correlations.

Grab 30/30 candidates, too. Of the aforementioned top 25 BBC points leaders, Beltran, Reyes, Morneau, Pedroia, McLouth and Abreu were the only ones who fell short of the top 25 in MLB in either OPS or home runs. Morneau was the only one who didn't manage double-digit homers and steals; his top-25 status was a bit of an oddity. But look at what the others did in those categories: Beltran (27 and 25), Reyes (16 and 56), Pedroia (17 and 20), McLouth (26 and 23) and Abreu (20 and 22). The game's two 30/30 men, Sizemore and Hanley Ramirez, both were top-10 BBC players. Both 25/25 men, Beltran and McLouth, finished in the BBC's top 25. And among the nine 20/20 men, Jayson Werth was the only one who didn't rank among the top 100 in BBC points. So, like in a standard rotisserie league, multitalented players dominate in BBC.

Go for quantity. Sure, quality matters in BBC, but quantity of playing time is absolutely important. In 2008, the 643 MLB hitters (pitchers excluded) averaged 0.72 BBC points per plate appearance, meaning even an average batsman would have earned you almost three points in a typical four-plate-appearence game.

So ask yourself this: Which is better, your average hitter scheduled for six games in a given week, or the one scheduled for seven? That might mean an additional four PAs and three points in that week, and that assumes merely an average batsman.

Or, ask yourself this: Which is better, your average hitter slotted into the No. 1 spot in the lineup, or the one hitting seventh? Statistics show a hitter sees roughly 15 fewer plate appearances per season per spot he drops in the batting order, so doing the math, that's 90 PAs' difference between the Nos. 1 and 7 spots, and divided by 26 weeks of a season, that's roughly 3.5 PAs lost per week. It's a small difference, but a difference nonetheless.

Not that this means you should pick a vastly inferior player over an All-Star simply because he's batting leadoff and gets an extra game in a given week. Elite BBC performers tend to average one point or more per PA, while poor ones -- think Kenji Johjima last season -- can average as little as half a point per PA, so take that into account. Doing the math, it would take a player who offers the league-average 0.72 BBC points more than 34 PAs to surpass the 25 points a 1.00-BBC-points-per-PA player would amass every 25 plate appearences.

Play the matchups. This rings especially true if you opt for daily lineups, as opposed to weekly. BBC provides you all the historical hitter-versus-pitcher data on a daily basis, helping you unearth those strong and poor individual matchups. For instance, if you knew Alfonso Soriano is a combined 29-for-60 (.483 average) with eight homers and 13 RBIs lifetime against likely Pirates rotation members Zach Duke, Paul Maholm and Ian Snell, wouldn't you grab him for any of their meetings? Or, if you were aware that Garret Anderson is a .500 hitter with four homers and 11 RBIs in seven career games at Colorado's Coors Field, wouldn't you use him in all his games there?

I'll help guide you through each week's matchups in my BBC preview, and my weekly Fantasy Forecaster also will help guide your decisions. In addition, keep an eye on our Daily Notes, which point out strong daily matchups.

Buy low. Getting in on the early part of a player's hot streak is the smartest strategy; you can keep him locked in at a cheaper rate, while others who hop on the bandwagon later will pay full price. It's not much different from standard rotisserie; buying low is the best way to maximize value in fantasy baseball, and that's no different in BBC.

Don't, however, sell high. Well, that is, unless the player has shown you some reason to sell high, like he's hurt, his role has changed or he's headed back into a slump. But to look to a 2008 example, had you bought in on Hamilton right from Opening Day, you'd have had him at a 4.8 price tag throughout his entire 95-RBI, 407-BBC-point first half. Plus, even though he slowed down shortly thereafter, he still was worth roughly 22 BBC points per week after the All-Star break, plenty productive for a player at that price. What's different in BBC compared to standard rotisserie is there's no "cashing in" system with trades. If you let a player go, he'll cost you the full listed price if you want him back later, so don't cut bait unless you're prepared to pony up if you choose to re-sign him.

Ride the hot pitching staff. BBC scores pitching on a team basis, so in no other aspect of the game is the team dynamic more important than in your pitching staff selection. As such, make sure you account for streaks, health, ballparks and run support when making your pitching staff pick. Some other things to consider:

• Saves aren't worth anything. Interestingly enough, the top five pitching staffs in BBC points in 2008 also were the top five in starters' WHIP: the Blue Jays, Cubs, Dodgers, Rays and Diamondbacks. In addition, seven of the 14 teams to notch 40-plus saves finished outside the top 10 in BBC points. In other words, pick more on strength of rotation than bullpen.

• WHIP drives BBC scoring the most. The top nine pitching staffs in points in 2008 also represented the top nine teams in WHIP.

Best of luck to you this season, and remember, I'll be helping guide you along the way!

Tristan H. Cockcroft is a fantasy baseball analyst for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him here.