Best Fantasy Sports Books
The 6 Best Fantasy Sports Books on the Market
Some people just have a gift, pure talent that the rest of us mere mortals can only observe with envy. This is true of all walks of life and it certainly very true in the world of fantasy sports, but are the rest of us destined to just be living in the wake of these natural talents? I would say the answer to that question is a resounding NO! Not only should you not trail in their wake but they should be in yours.
How is this possible? Well fortunately for us, fantasy sports is a quantifiable game that is subject to scientific rigor. Many people of significant intellect have worked tirelessly on coming up with scientific and mathematical models and consistencies within fantasy sports and they have kindly put all this work into the form of books for our consumption.
There are countless such books around, some are extremely helpful and will take your fantasy sports game to the next level if you choose to work through the material in the books studiously. I have listed 6 of the better books out there at the minute in the world of Fantasy Sports literature.
So here is the list:
Mathletics: How gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in baseball, Basketball, and Football.
As the title suggests this book can be rather intensive on mathematics so may not be the best choice for anyone scared by numbers but it is by no means overly complex. You do not need a PhD in pure mathematics to understand this. For those of you that enjoy a bit of math or don’t mind getting stuck in with it then this is an excellent book.
It delves into how to properly analyse different sports and then how you can use that to your benefit. The mathematics used in this book is the same mathematics used by the sports associations, teams and managers themselves to analyse how the teams are performing and the best strategies to pick.
Mathletics is not all mathematics though, it mixes in some great stories and trivia in a well-rounded book that will provide any fantasy sports player with a wealth of information.
How to think like a daily fantasy football winner:
Applying psychological lessons from the poker table and Wall Street to capture a completive edge in the daily fantasy sports marketplace.
C.D Carter has brought us a wonderful book here and one that I think everyone should read, not just fantasy football players. Unlike Mathletics, this book does not approach fantasy sports in a statistical mathematical way but instead approaches it from the angle of “having the correct mind set is key”.
As the title suggests many of the things mentioned in the book relate to experiences from poker and Wall Street. It is a brutally honest book with some hilarious anecdotes that will keep readers entertained throughout. But ultimately the goal of the book is to train the readers to approach fantasy sports knowing that they will not win every time. This is the nature of the game as it is also the nature of trading stocks on Wall Street or sitting down at a poker table.
Having the correct mind set is of vital importance for long term success in the fantasy sports world, so this is a great book to add to your collection.
Essential Strategies for Winning as Daily Fantasy Sports
This book is designed to be like “the bible of fantasy sports” and that isn’t a terrible description of it. For one it was written by the founder of the first ever Daily Fantasy Sports website. It goes into details about the strategies, thought processes and mathematics that the majority of the top fantasy sports players use on a regular basis. It break everything down into easy to understand terms and delivers it well.
Other unique methods of increasing your profitability are also discusses such as targeting weaker opponents or taking advantages of overlays, freerolls and various other bonuses and promotions. Material about accurately keeping records and use them to systematically measure your success and improve your strategies in a continual iterative process.
Essential Strategies for Winning at Daily Fantasy Sports
Fantasy Life:
The Outrageous, Uplifting, and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy who’s Lived It.
So this book isn’t about how to be better at fantasy sports or strategies or mathematics or anything like that. It is simply a tale of a legend of fantasy sports and Fantasy Sports analyst of ESPN. It’s a story that recounts the ups and downs he went through as well as his own musings on the world of fantasy sports as a whole.
As an analyst for ESPN he has seen and heard some hilarious and some not so hilarious stories about people involved in the world of fantasy sports. They are all there in this book which makes this an enjoyable read for anyone who is interested in the world of fantasy sports.
Fantasy Baseball for Smart People:
How to Profit Big During MLB Season
This is the baseball edition of the book but there is also a football edition too. For beginners in the world of daily fantasy sports this is a great book and definitely one you should check out. For the more advanced daily fantasy sports players this may not book may start off pretty slow but after the first 50 or so pages of the book it will give you some great information that you can use to improve your game to the next level.
The writing style of this book is very informal but it does not compromise the information at all. It results in the information being presented in a digestible way for the reader instead of being very intensive and heavy like many books on the topic are.
Beginner or advanced players and all in between can find some benefit from this book for sure.
Fantasy Baseball for Smart People: How to Profit Big During MLB Season
Fantasy Football for Winners:
The Kick-Ass guide to Dominating Your League from the World’s Foremost Fantasologist.
This again is a very informal read that has a tongue in cheek sort of style that is very charming. But hiding behind all of that is an extremely informative book that will yield a lot of profit in the fantasy sports games that you play if you follow some of the ideas and concepts presented in this book.
Although it is rather informal it does provide the readers with graphs and statistical analysis of various situations that can arise throughout the football season. How will these situations affect the teams you should pick? How accurate are the player ratings on the online ranking sites? How should you react when a player gets injured? All of these and many many more are answered within the pages of this book.
All of the above books are of course are only a small selection of the great books that are available out there that will give you an incredible edge over most of the field in fantasy sports. If you just want to beat your friends or you are planning on taking fantasy sports more seriously and possibly play for a living or somewhere in the middle trying to make some extra pocket money then reading any or all of these books will provide you with the ammunition and knowledge you need to move forward and crush the competition.
Have you ever considered adding industry-related / insider books on fantasy sports? For example – Jay Correia’s ‘Daily Fantasy Sports’ got a lot of media attention in 2016. The website for that is bookDFS.com. Daniel Barbarisi has a new book coming out as well titled ‘Dueling with Kings’. For the list to be complete of all the bigger titles, I think getting those on there makes a lot of sense.