There are a lot of ways to determine a fantasy football league draft order. You can do it randomly, by the previous year’s standings, or you can do something a little more creative, like what the Toronto Blue Jays did. Well, if you are a Major League Baseball player, you can.
This year, the Toronto Blue Jays came up with a very unique way of determining their fantasy football league draft order. According to Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae, the Blue Jays players participating in this year’s team fantasy football league each drew the name of a member of the team’s support staff. Then, they had those people throw a pitch. The player whose staff member threw the hardest pitch got first pick. Each player’s representative then set the rest of the order based on how hard they threw.
On Sunday, Mae posted a video of Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider using a radar gun behind home plate while the staff members threw pitches toward the backstop.
The winner of the contest threw some serious gas
Later, she posted an update in which she congratulated assistant pitching coach Sam Greene, a former McGill University and Toronto Maple Leafs baseball player, on winning the contest.
Greene was able to reach 90 mph with his pitch to give Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto the first pick. The Toronto Sun speculated that since he is a rookie, Okamoto is likely playing in his first NFL fantasy football league, which should be interesting.
The Sun also noted that Sportsnet aired some video of the contest during Sunday’s game against the Yankees. In an interview, Max Scherzer revealed that the fantasy football league elected Shane Bieber as the new commissioner. Daulton Varsho, who was traded to the Houston Astros at the deadline, had previously held the position.
In 2024, the Toronto Blue Jays’ fantasy football league went viral for its punishment for finishing last. During a spring training game in February, then Blue Jays reliever Tim Mayza was forced to serve as the team’s bat boy. Not only that, he had to wear a jersey with the number 4-10 on it (his record during the fantasy football season that year).