Enjoy It While It Lasts

There is something special about this time of year.

For the moment, every team in the Sagebrush Cactus League is undefeated.

No one has wasted $47 on a running back who will spend October in a committee. No first-round acquisition has suffered a mysterious soft-tissue injury. No owner has watched 31 points sit comfortably on their bench while the player they started instead produces 4.

Last year's division champions – Consolation Kings, Who Is You, Cerebral Ballsy, and Badazz Bri – take the stage at the SCL Draft to see if they have what it takes to repeat their past success.

There have been no heartbreaking losses. No disastrous waiver claims. No regrettable trades.

Just hope.

Beautiful, irrational hope.

Across the league, owners are undoubtedly studying depth charts, reading training camp reports and convincing themselves that they've identified the players everyone else has somehow overlooked. Draft strategies are being developed. Sleepers are being circled. Budgets are being calculated.

Some of you probably feel very good about your preparation.

Enjoy that feeling.

History suggests it has a remarkably short shelf life.

The Keeper Draft

The first opportunity to damage your season arrives Wednesday, August 26 at 7:00 PM PST with the annual SCL Keeper Draft.

Franchise Tags will be revealed at the opening of the draft, followed by three rounds of Restricted Tag bidding.

For some teams, the Keeper Draft represents an opportunity to preserve the foundation of a championship roster.

For others, it provides the opportunity to retain many of the same players responsible for last year's failures.

I have never understood the optimism involved in the latter strategy, but I admire the commitment.

Remember that Restricted Tag bidding requires considerably more thought than simply determining what you believe a player is worth. You must also consider what the nominating owner believes the player is worth, what everyone else believes the player is worth, how much of your auction budget you're willing to commit before the General Draft, and whether you're about to spend $38 simply because another owner annoyed you.

That last one has historically been more influential than it should be.

Prepare accordingly and keep an eye on your inbox for the email invite coming soon.

Then We Do It Again

One week later, on Wednesday, September 2 at 7:00 PM PST, we'll conduct the General Auction Draft.

This is where months of research, careful planning and sophisticated draft strategy traditionally collide with someone clicking "Increase Bid" approximately four seconds after deciding they desperately need a player they hadn't considered drafting until his name was announced.

It's one of my favorite nights of the year.

Not because I enjoy it.

Because after more than two decades of providing you with statistics, information, structure and sage wisdom, the General Draft remains my annual opportunity to observe just how little influence any of it has had.

Still, this could be your year.

Perhaps you've finally discovered the perfect strategy.

Perhaps you've identified this season's breakout players.

Perhaps you'll dominate the Keeper Draft, exercise remarkable discipline during the General Draft and assemble a roster so formidable that the rest of the league will spend the next four months helplessly watching you march toward an SCL Championship.

It's possible.

Right now, anyway.

That's the beauty of August.

Reality hasn't arrived yet.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

— Commish