The most important quality in fantasy baseball is consistency. How we think a player will perform this season is often based on how he did last year ... and the year before. However, 2020 is going to be an unpredictable, high-speed roller-coaster ride … in the dark.

For all of the posturing over the past several weeks by MLB owners and players, they eventually have to come together and find a way to play something resembling a season. Well, if you thought the discussions between MLB and the players union were contentious, wait until fantasy leagues start trying to figure things out. Fantasy leagues have so many different formats, it might be close to impossible to figure out the best way to proceed.

To win a fantasy league title this year, it’s going to take a little more imagination and outside-the-box thinking than in the past. Since many pro athletes have said it helps to construct a mental picture of themselves accomplishing their goals, I’m going to see if I can imagine what an 82-game season might look like. Please … Gaze into my crystal bubble, where the season I began in early spring using the Dynasty League Baseball online simulation has now reached the 82-game mark.

One of the likely results of a shortened 2020 MLB regular season is a universal designated hitter. Adding one is going to create new roles for players in the National League – and potentially ease some lineup logjams. So let’s take a look at a post-hype sleeper from each NL team who could be poised to raise their fantasy profiles.

A month into what would have been the 2020 regular season, we’re no closer to knowing when we’ll have meaningful baseball games this year – if at all. If we do have games, they will most likely be played in centralized locations. That could create a strange situation for fantasy owners by forcing them to eliminate a variable that’s always been a big part of the decision-making process: park factors.

An extended offseason isn’t making things easy for the many writers and broadcasters who make their living discussing the national pastime. The main questions fans want answered these days are when baseball will return and what it will look like when it does.

As painful as it was to see MLB's opening day come and go with no real games, a little bit of creativity can at least help soften the blow. We’ll never know how those contests would have played out, but virtual results can be a fun substitute.

Any other year, this week would mark the high point of the sports calendar. But 2020 is not like any other year. The extended wait before opening day will give fantasy owners even more time to prepare for our championship quest. It’s just that now we have a new set of variables to consider.

The biggest question for fantasy owners looking ahead to next season is how the power-centric environment will impact strategy. But before we peer too far into the future, let’s hand out our annual achievement awards for this season.

As the regular season winds down, only a few fantasy teams are still in the running for a title. The rest of us are already looking ahead to when we can start drafting again, so here’s our annual list of the most intriguing players for 2020.

Players who provide unexpectedly high levels of production at minimal cost can make the difference in winning a fantasy championship. Let’s highlight some of the AL’s best value picks, players who either kept us in contention this year or give us hope for next season.