There is little doubt baseball was a better game before the designated hitter. Not in recent years, necessarily, but going back to a time when pitchers didn’t become specialized at such a young age, when they still could step into the batter’s box and have to be dealt with as competent hitters.
The DH ruined that. Now, it dominates the game, with just the National League standing in defense of those better days left behind. It is virtually impossible to envision a future in which it doesn’t soon also overtake the NL.
And now that we’ve ventured so deep within the dark side, what are the chances we ever get another Babe Ruth, someone who excels on the mound and at the plate? Well, help us, Shohei Ohtani. You’re our only hope.
So, you ask, what is the fantasy football Madman doing opining on the DH? Well, fantasy football has its own comparable poison. It is called PPR.
Points-per-reception scoring formats undermine the game. They muddy otherwise clean waters. By delivering points disproportional to particular positions, it warps the fantasy value of certain players. Suddenly Kenyan Drake outscores Derick Henry — despite Henry tying for third in the league in touchdowns and scoring three more than Drake, and having more combined yards. Yet, fewer fantasy points.
Chris Carson ranked fifth in rushing yards, tied for seventh in touchdowns and converted the third-most first downs of any running back, yet he ranked 14th among running backs in total fantasy points. Sure, his receiving numbers were paltry, but based on total yards and touchdowns, he should have been virtually even with James White in scoring (185 fantasy points to White’s 189). But instead, he trailed White by more than 70 points.
Carson was the primary running back for the Seahawks. He was a foundational component to what they scheme. White was the second running-back option behind Sony Michel in New England. He was used primarily in passing situations, much more of a specialized role. Can any reasonably argue that in that less impactful role in his team’s overall strategy that White was still 25 percent more important to his offense than Carson was to his?
These are just a couple of examples of how arbitrarily biased distribution of fantasy points can distort production. The game of football doesn’t care if you gain 5 yards on the ground or in the air, so why should fantasy scoring add a manipulative element that does so?
PPR was invented to counter an imbalance in draft strategy in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when ground-and-pound offenses were still prevalent across the league, when committee backfields were a rare exception rather than routine, before the game evolved into a pass-heavy league.
Even if we assume these were good reasons, those reasons have since disappeared. Wide receivers routinely rank among the top fantasy scorers even in standard leagues. So why has it not only gained staying power, but is now overrunning more reasonable scoring formats?
Because points are fun, silly. And that is quite literally the only reason. Some have acknowledged the flaws in PPR scoring and have adopted a half-point PPR format. At least that’s only half as bad. Though it downgrades the impact of those PPR flaws, it still incorporates those flaws.
What is the solution, you ask? After all, you want those precious points. The more points the merrier, right? Well, how about scoring for first downs converted.
The fantasy output falls along the lines of half-point PPR in terms of additional scoring. It gives an earned bonus for those who actually deliver tangible real-world impact, keep drives alive, gain yards that mean something. And the points are distributed in a way that a particular position of specialized role isn’t given undue value.
Baseball was better without the DH. Fantasy football is better without PPR. Don’t let is overrun the fantasy landscape the way the DH has baseball. There’s still time to stop it. Convert your league to a first-downs league. Stand up for fantasy equality.
