Bubba & the Bloom EP 306 - 2026 New Year's Resolutions

·53 min·5 clips

Bubba announces the 2026 draft kit drop with rankings from Ryan, Martin, and Ben, plus live updates all season.

This episode features hosts Bubba and Ryan Bloomfield discussing their annual New Year's resolutions for 2026, blending fantasy baseball plans with personal goals. The show is a yearly tradition where they outline five resolutions each, focusing on improving their podcast, draft preparation, and league participation. They begin with significant announcements about new offerings for their Patreon subscribers and listener leagues. The hosts announce the launch of their 2026 draft kit on Patreon, a living document that will be updated throughout draft season with rankings from Bubba, Ryan, and contributor Martin Sikulski. They reveal plans for ten $50 auction listener leagues administered through the NFBC, with guaranteed spots for paid Patreon members. Ryan's first resolution involves developing interactive web applications for Patreon, starting with an NFBC standings predictor tool that uses FanGraphs projections. Bubba aims to return to producing two weekly episodes of his "Bench with Bubba" show, specifically seeking to feature new or less familiar voices in the fantasy industry. Both hosts resolve to focus more on auction league formats in 2026, inspired by a recent interview with experts Mark Winokur and Mike Mager. Ryan plans to participate in an auction draft-and-hold in January, a listener league in February, and a high-stakes auction in Las Vegas in March. Bubba echoes this goal, wanting to apply deeper strategic prep to auctions rather than treating them as an afterthought. Ryan's third resolution is to finalize his personal league slate by learning to say "no," specifically stepping away from the Wharf League to limit his FAAB league commitments to five or six. Bubba's corresponding goal is to improve his in-season management and finish better in FAAB leagues, which may require cutting certain leagues and establishing a more consistent weekly process. A surprising insight is Ryan's detailed approach to building proprietary web apps as a form of personal development, moving beyond Google Sheets to create tools like a live NFBC standings simulator. Bubba's desire to feature emerging voices highlights a perceived lack of new talent entering the fantasy baseball podcast space. The hosts' mutual struggle with FAAB management and league overload is a relatable pain point they openly analyze, with Ryan settling on a Friday afternoon workflow. Bubba notes that effective auction preparation involves planning backwards from mid-tier price points, a strategy highlighted in their interview with Winokur and Mager. The tone is casual and conversational, filled with friendly banter and self-deprecating humor about their work-life balance and personal quirks. The style is educational but informal, as they share behind-the-scenes plans for their business and personal fantasy processes. Fantasy baseball enthusiasts who enjoy the hosts' dynamic and want insider tips on draft prep and auction strategy would love this episode. Listeners seeking hardcore player analysis or news for the upcoming season might want to skip it, as the focus is on show business, personal resolutions, and league structure.

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