My Brother’s Growing Obsession with Fantasy Baseball During COVID
Samantha Degnan reports on the popularity of fantasy baseball and how her brother and his friends have taken it up as a new hobby during confined times.
Keeping Contact Through Fantasy
Fantasy football has a regular refrain. Every September, a bunch of people, mostly guys, get together and create teams of their favorite players and make bets on whose team will do best that season. However, did you know that there are fantasy leagues for other sports too… one of which is baseball?
My brother, Henry Degnan, was recently invited to join a fantasy baseball league by a few of his old baseball buddies.They have been friends since high school and met when they played varsity baseball together.
During initial COVID-19 lockdown days, when it was announced that MLB would be bringing baseball back, they decided to create a fantasy league as a virtual way to pass time together.
Zoom and Group Messages
“I really enjoy interacting and competing with my friends,” Degnan said of now turning to fantasy baseball. “It’s also been especially nice this year since our college baseball seasons have been cancelled due to COVID.”
Degnan said. COVID has also slightly changed the way they hold their fantasy league events. They held their draft meeting over Zoom and use a group message to keep each other updated on games and scores.
“It hasn’t changed too much to be honest… it’s pretty much the same set up as years past. The only difference is the number of games played due to the shortened season,” he said.
We went on to discuss the popularity of fantasy baseball, particularly in comparison to fantasy football.
“I would say fantasy baseball is pretty popular but fantasy football is definitely way more popular. Football is the most popular sport in the country so it makes sense,” he said.
Overall, his experience participating in the fantasy league has been an outlet for him and his friends to involve themselves, virtually, in their favorite sport while staying in touch with each other. It also doesn’t hurt that so far Degnan’s team is in the lead.
