This might be the most obvious piece of advice I will ever formulate into 500-plus words, but for the love of God, know your league’s rules folks. No one is more hated universally in fantasy leagues than the one who complains directly after or even during the draft, claiming they weren’t aware of the roster requirements for their league. An informed owner is obviously going to have the best chance at succeeding, so do yourself a favor and look over the league rules and settings before you set up a draft strategy.

Understanding how a league is set up will not only give you the best chance possible at a championship, but it may also drastically change the way that you look at a particular baseball season. For example, a league featuring a large roster size with over 12 owners might force you to scour the waiver wire more often and more thoroughly. In a league that asks owners to start more than three outfielders and flexible infield slots, players featuring positional versatility might become more impactful on your roster.

Another important league setting aspect to pay close attention to – and this one may be the most important – is scoring. Understanding if you are in a standard Roto league, in H2H league, or H2H points league can completely change an owner’s strategy in running a fantasy franchise. You won’t believe the amount of people who join Rotisserie fantasy baseball leagues and wonder directly after the draft who they are playing first.

My first experience with a waiver budget last season is a perfect example on why understanding league rules is of pivotal importance. Each owner was given a $100 budget for all waiver pickups throughout the fantasy baseball season, leaving it up to each individual on how much free agents were worth on the open market. In the beginning, I didn’t have a great feel for the system, so in late April – making one of my earliest transactions – I spent a whopping $10 on Kevin Plawecki. With 1/10th of my budget already gone in April, I figured if I was going to stay alive in this league, I was going to have to figure out what the rest of the owners were paying free agents. Turns out, I greatly overpaid for a mediocre backup catcher.

Going forward, I spent my money more wisely, eventually adding difference makers such as Rougned Odor ($1), Miguel Sano ($2), Steven Matz ($5), and Luis Severino ($2) for pennies on the dollar compared to what I paid for Plawecki. Once fully understanding the league specific waiver system, I was well on my way to winning the 2015 Fantasy Alarm: Staff League 1 championship.

All with just adequate attention to details, a fantasy owner can take his/her team from mediocre to great. Understanding fantasy league rules and settings is almost as important as knowing the players and their respective baseball card statistics. If anything was learned from this lecture hopefully it’s that ignorance is not an excuse and if you do your homework, you won’t end up with a raw catching prospect as your top waiver purchase.