I consider myself a solid 60 grade fantasy baseball player. It’s an inevitable that players with inflated egos, like myself, will look to play for big money. There are two major websites players can play for serious money: CBS and NFBC. The question I’m debating is which one to choose. I’ve played on CBS before for small potatoes ($30 buy-in) and have come in second place a few times. I’ve had pretty good luck, never experiencing collusion. My buddy has won one league and the process of collecting his winnings was time intensive. He had to wait a month to get his paper work, then had to get the paperwork notarized, then had to wait six weeks to receive his winnings. I’ve never played at NFBC before but I’ve heard good things in the Fantasy Hour Facebook Community.

Every eye tracking report I’ve read suggest online readers love tables, images, charts or any other way to process information in the shortest amount of time possible. So I created a table (below) that summarizes what I’m about to talk about. NFBC has the biggest stakes with a buy-ins as high as $1,500. NFBC has 20% rake compared to CBS taking 40%, which make the payouts smaller in CBS. Also, if you interested in having in-person drafts NFBC offers drafts in Las Vegas, Chicago and New York. Be forewarned, if you want to play, the buy-in is going to be over $1K.

The biggest difference in gameplay is CBS allows trades while NFBC does not. NFBC does not allow trades in an effort to minimize collusion, which could be a problem, especially for higher stake leagues. Another step NFBC takes to minimize collusion is to create leagues randomly. For example, NFBC randomly draws the name of participants for each league in each city, so there is no way two “friends” can request to be in the same league. So if you’re looking to play with a buddy, CBS is the spot for you. Another major twist is the use of FAAB (free agent acquisition budget) for NFBC leagues. If you play fantasy football you’ve heard of FAAB before. Basically, each owner is given a budget and each week owners submit bids in order to pick up free agents. FAAB is mandatory for every NFBC league while CBS uses the traditional waiver system where any player is available at all times. It looks as though NFBC doesn’t have a mobile app to manage rosters, which can be another sticking point for some owners. Lastly, NFBC allows owners to change their lineups twice a week instead of only once at CBS. NFBC allows owners to update their hitters on Monday’s and Friday’s while pitchers can only be updated once a week.

So what hosting website am I going to use this year? NFBC. I was very intrigued about going to Las Vegas with a buddy and playing in a high stakes NFBC League, but I’ve never played in league with FAAB and no trading of players. I’m going to play in a 2-3 lower stake NFBC leagues to get a feel for the format. If I do well, you may see me in Las Vegas next year. I’m also going to play in one CBS League with a friend of mine, but if my buddy wasn’t playing, I wouldn’t give CBS any of my money. CBS takes too big of rake for my liking.