Nephews of Jody Reed - Season XI Roll-out

After a weird season without fans, fans like us have a lot of burning questions. Did Trevor Bauer really need to take all winter to select a team? Will San Diego buy all the players? How did they afford both Tatis AND Machado? How much money did they waste to finish after the Dodgers? 

It's time for baseball. It's time for... the Nephews of Jody Reed!

Welcome one and all to the 11th year of NoJR. It looks like we've got a great group of active GMs returning, and we're likely adding a couple new friends to the fold.

Below are some FAQs about the league that I copypasta'd from prior seasons - take a look if you want the 4-1-1 on all things NoJR.

2017 NoJR Season Revue - AJ's Aces Round the Bases

This season summary is 3 years late, but I'll be danged if I have any gaps in cataloguing the illustrious history of the Nephews of Jody Reed fantasy league!

2017 is noteworthy in that it was basically the same season as 2019: it was an Astros vs. Dodgers World Series won by Houston using a sign stealing system. The difference back then is that we didn't know about it, and the city of Houston had suffered damage from back-to-back hurricanes (Harvey and Irma), so people still liked the Astros' story back then.

You know what they say: party today, whistle blow tomorrow.

From a fantasy perspective, 2017 brought with it an expansion from 12 to 14 teams for NoJR, making it a fiercely competitive and active season. One team rose above the fray to win the first championship in the new expanded format, and it was AJ's Aces!

Ready to feel embarrassed? AJ was 1.5 when he won his first chip.

Read on for a season synopsis that looks at the road to the championship, starting with the draft, identifying the top free agents, and a look at how AJ's Aces navigated the playoffs to secure the title.

2020 NoJR Season Revue - Oh, It's Over Already?

That's what she said.

2020 has been a wild, weird, and memorable year for the world, and it was no different for NoJR. We entered our 10th season with a beastly 14 teams and an epic auction draft that was almost longer than the actual season itself. Then COVID shut down everything, we waited for the league and players union to figure out what the heck they were doing, and on July 23rd we finally played ball.

A caption that only makes sense in 2020.

All things considered, I'm shocked the season went as well as it did. When the Marlins had to postpone over a week of games, and then the Cardinals joined in, I thought the season was going to unravel, but teams managed to keep it together enough that fans and fantasy players were able to stay invested.

As for NoJR, we had a lightning quick regular season with just 5 match-ups followed by 3 rounds of playoffs making this a sprint like no other. 

MLB clubs have had significant roster churn such that I probably can't even name half of my favorite team's roster right now (Red Sox); accordingly, we lifted weekly free agent transaction restrictions from 3 to 10, creating a surge of GM activity.

We also expanded the number of playoff teams to 8, meaning over half the league had a shot at the championship.

While the season may have been unique in these many ways, the end result was anything but. For the 3rd year in a row, the Rip City Reavers are champions!

If this guy posts that scene from Serenity one... more... time...

As usual, this season-ending synopsis will review the draft (long, long ago) and the flurry of activity from opening day through our final stanza in what was a weird and unforgettable year.

They're Making a Sonic Movie

And they "revamped" Sonic's look in their latest trailer.

At left was their first effort, and I die laughing every time I look at it. Enjoy.

2019 NoJR Season Revue - A Reav-ent to Remember

The 2019 season of NoJR is officially in the books, and our 9th edition was the biggest and baddest yet. Fourteen teams and numerous records set, including total transactions, trades, and home runs.

We also witnessed quite a degree of league parity - you basically had one team firmly atop the standings (St. Hubert), one team firmly in the cellar (Bats R Us), and everyone else fighting for a playoff spot.

In the end, after a long and fiercely competitive season, the defending champion Reavers were able to get hot at the right time and keep the NoJR trophy in Rip City. The Reavers are now 5-time champions, going back-to-back for the second time in franchise history.

Reavers!

Of course, there were many other notable happenings on the winding journey to October, and TDZ's got your season-ending synopsis for all things 2019 NoJR.  As usual, we'll review the draft way back in March, and the key transactions and moments that made this year one for the record books.

When You Had a Bad Draft...

UMassBallers... Burning Questions for 2019

It's crazy to think that the league is entering its 12th year, and while I'd like to think we've seen it all over that time frame, every season seems to have its own set of unique circumstances and new wrinkles.

Here's what I see as the burning questions for the Ballers in 2019:

1. Above all else, just how neat will Neat Team be this year? Will we know on draft day? Or will we have to wait til midseason for peak neatness?

2. Will this fantasy league consume Tribe's attention to an extent that he only watches Red Zone and can avoid the blindness induced from watching Redskins games?

3. Will we have the first 3-time league champion this year? Chicago Ferrets, Nickel Blitz, and smackycat have all won 2 titles, meaning there's roughly a 30% chance that we see this feat accomplished.

4. In 2017, Sweaty Sac set a league record with 133 transactions. Last year, he had a disappointing 99. Will he return to triple-digits... or perhaps set an all-new record in 2019?

5. Will Cash4Gould get the cash he demands every year?

• Answered: Robbie Gould got a 4-year, $19 million contract - just not with the Bears. Also, he's not actually Cash4Gould. (Or is he?)

6. How can smackycat be smacky if he's stuffed into that cardboard tube like a purrito?

7. Will mangenius deploy an auto-draft strategy again after ending up with an absolutely loaded lineup in 2018 that included Melvin Gordon, Christian McCaffrey, Tyreek Hill, Mike Evans, and 3 QB1's (Russell Wilson, Big Ben, and Cam Newton)?

8. Are ferrets just land otters? (Important otter footage)

9. Will anyone be able to out-bid Nickel Blitz when it comes to Tom Brady?

• Plot twist: Nickel Blitz has drafted Tom Brady each of the past 3 years. The last time he didn't draft Tom Brady was the last time he won a championship.

10. What are the odds that Adam's Expert Team gets asked by my young nephew what a Sweaty Sac is?

11. Will Doge Flutie repeat?

12. Is there a word for a rhetorical question where the answer is not "yes," but rather a very obvious "no"?