As MLB Network approaches its second baseball season of existence, 2009 viewers won’t be surprised to once again see a fantasy-draft special on Sunday night (March 21).

What’s new, however, is that the network has decided to bring it’s Fantasy 411 online radio show to the television airwaves.

Starting Tuesday, April 6, and running throughout the season, MLB Network will simulcast every weekday at 5 p.m. what it touts as MLB.com’s “longest-running hosted program.”

Fantasy was one thing noticeably lacking from the first season of programming for the 24-hour baseball network, so it’s nice to see the channel make this addition. As someone who used to listen to Fantasy 411 in his office, I know that Cory Schwartz and Mike Siano will provide consistently valuable material.

Of course, on the league-owned channel front, NFL Network could also stand to beef up its fantasy presence, particularly with a daily programming lineup that currently seems to be about 50 percent filled by reruns of Total Access.

The fantasy audience is thirsty enough to not only drink in content throughout the season but at least once a week through the off-season months. Let’s see if the networks realize or if they just keep tossing up “classic” games and show replays.

I just finished watching the MLB Network fantasy draft preview show tonight, and am left with just one question: Why, again, can’t you guys put together a regular fantasy broadcast?

The show was good. I got strong, credible information from MLB’s pair of fantasy guys, Cory Schwartz and Mike Siano — just the kind of material I got used to receiving from them when I listened to the Fantasy 411 radio show on my computer at work.

Former second baseman and current analyst Harold Reynolds didn’t pretend to know fantasy, instead adding his take on things such as why Howie Kendrick might be striking out more so far in the big leagues than he did in the minors. He certainly provided some of his own opinions but made it clear that he deferred to Schwartz and Siano on matters of fantasy.

Twice, I found myself heading to the waiver wire in my keeper league to see if a player was available after he was talked about on the show.

Why can’t MLB Network find 30 or 60 minutes a week to focus on this stuff throughout the season? I can’t imagine there’s a good answer.

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– Today officially opened the new year for the BASS Fantasy Fishing game.

– Here’s the story of a fantasy NASCAR convert. (The sport ain’t just for rednecks, y’all.)

– Major League Baseball’s cable outlet has finally brought Bob Costas aboard. Of course, that won’t do anything to help the perception of sports bloggers or fantasy on the league’s network.

Be sure to check out our Jobs page for recent additions.

Baseball fans might have been especially excited to ring in the new year, because Jan. 1 meant the debut of the MLB Network.

Major League Baseball becomes the last of the traditional four “major” American professional sports to launch its own television outlet, but the timing of the debut has reportedly helped it to garner the largest initial audience in the history of cable television.

It is not, however, setting any trends in fantasy sports coverage. We already knew that the opening schedule for the network would include no fantasy-specific programming, so the words of president and CEO Tony Pettiti only that it wasn’t a mere oversight.

Here’s what Pettiti had to say in an interview with BizofBaseball.com:

Bizball: Fantasy baseball is a popular pastime for many fans of MLB. Has there been any consideration to adding any content that may approach the fantasy baseball at any level?

Petitti: There’s two ways to look at that. First, in terms of specific shows prior to the season that will air before people draft their teams and get involved with that. We’re definitely going to do something there. The second piece is that I look at it almost as you are providing information in somewhat of a passive way. All baseball fans care about numbers, it’s just part of a way the game is watched and understood. It’s the way it’s measured in a lot of ways. So numbers are important to all kinds of fans, whether you play fantasy or not. Our show, MLB Tonight, is going to be able to put a lot of those numbers into context. We will have a lot of times stuff like league leaders, and who’s done and what trends there are. So the way I look at it, you’ll get that information and if you care about fantasy that will be important to you and you’ll realize you’re getting it. On top of that, whether you play fantasy or not you’ll still get it. It’s sort of done to include all views of the game. And then from there we’ll see if we need specific segments on fantasy within the course of an MLB Tonight show. I think that our show will provide so much in-depth information that fantasy players will realize and will see that their information is coming.

It’s certainly true that we fantasy players gather pertinent information from wrap-up and analysis shows, but Pettiti and others should pay attention to the growth trend among fantasy players and make an aggressive — not passive, as he says — play for what already is a strong market.

The lack of fantasy-specific programming shouldn’t really be surprising. Football is by far the leader in the fantasy marketplace, yet the still-new and growing NFL Network provides no fantasy-centered shows. It does at least present appearances by NFL.com’s fantasy face Michael Fabiano, however, to carry over the league’s online fantasy presence to its broadcast outlet.

MLB.com features a fantasy homepage, and MLB Radio carries a daily show, Fantasy 411, through the season. Judging by Pettiti’s comments, there doesn’t even seem to be a plan for intersection between those offerings and MLB Network.

In my admittedly biased opinion, it seems almost irresponsible to launch a 24-hour sports network in 2009 without specifically directing at least a small portion of your programming at the active, multiplying and wallet-wielding fantasy consumer. MLB Network has the opportunity take the lead in this area, but it doesn’t even appear ready to take its cuts.