How To Pick A Fantasy Baseball League

While some fantasy baseball scoring formats can take a minute to understand, the scoring format for head-to-head leagues is relatively straightforward.

• Every week, your team will face a different team in the league. Your objective each week is to outperform your opponent, either by scoring more points or winning more categories, depending on the league format.
• A typical scoring week usually goes from Monday through Sunday. At the end of play on Sunday, the team with the most points or categories wins.
• The winning team gets a victory added to its overall W-L record, while the losing team receives a loss.

At the end of the season, the teams with the best records compete against each other in the playoffs.

Pros

• The format is easy to understand and similar to other fantasy sports.
• Head-to-head leagues can be a fun way to break up the monotony of a long season and add excitement, especially when matchups go down to the wire on Sundays.
• Gamers get the satisfaction of winning matchups and beating opponents.

Cons

• The team that wins the championship round is crowned league champion, even if it didn’t score the most points or win the most categories during the regular season.
• Head-to-head losses can be frustrating if you only lose by a few points or one category.
• Luck is more of a factor, especially in leagues where weekly lineups lock at the beginning of a week. If a player gets hurt early in the week, sometimes you can’t replace him.

There are two main types of scoring for head-to-head leagues: categories and points.

H2H Categories

In head-to-head leagues, teams try to outdo each other in a mix of hitting and pitching categories each week.

For example, say Team A and Team B are facing each other in the first week of the season. If Team A tallies 25 stolen bases that week and Team B records 20, Team A wins the category.

There are two main ways that categories count towards victory.

• One is where the team that wins the most categories wins the matchup. Say Team A wins seven categories and Team B wins four, then Team A receives the win for the week. Team A improves to 1-0 and Team B falls to 0-1.
• In these formats, there is often an odd number of categories (11, 13, etc.) to prevent ties. Keep in mind that it’s possible for ties to occur in individual categories if two teams finish with the same count.

Another format tracks the number of categories you win and lose each week.

• In the above example, Team A would finish Week 1 at 7-4 for winning seven categories and losing four. If Team A goes 5-5-1 the next week, its record after Week 2 is 12-9-1.
• This format credits teams for winning more categories. That way, a 6-5 win doesn’t count the same in the standings as a 10-1 win.

Whichever format you choose, your goal is to build a well-balanced team that keeps you competitive in categories across the board.

Pros

• Categories force gamers to value and pay attention to players with different skill sets, creating more interesting draft strategies, trades and waiver wire needs.
• Gamers can root for certain plays like home runs and stolen bases, similar to how fantasy football players root for touchdowns and field goals.

Cons

• There’s no reward for dominating a category. Whether you beat an opponent by two stolen bases or 20, it counts the same.
• You can fall victim to the ebbs and flows of the season. If your star hitter goes into a slump and your ace gets hurt at the same time, your team could be in for a rough couple of weeks.

H2H Points

Head-to-head points is similar to categories, except there is a point value assigned to each individual category.

For example, a total base for a hitter and a strikeout for a pitcher usually counts as one point. A win might be 10 points for a pitcher and a save might be 5 points because they occur less frequently.

Some statistics will also incur negative points, like strikeouts and caught stealings for batters and runs allowed for pitchers.

The goal here is to outscore your opponent every week. The team with the most points receives a win and the losing team gets a loss.

Instead, it’s often a good strategy to build around power hitters and strikeout pitchers, as they’ll consistently generate points through total bases, RBIs and strikeouts.

Pros

• You don’t have to worry about chasing stats in certain categories like steals or saves. You only need to focus on the number of points your players score, not how they score them.
• Less random and arbitrary than category leagues, which usually don’t provide much (if any) credit for important statistics like doubles and triples.

Cons

• It can be hard to remember or keep track of the point value of each statistic.
• Weekly volatility. You can beat an opponent by 100 points one week and lose by only two points the following week, but that still leaves you at 1-1.
• More homogeneous rosters with less variety in strategy.
• Weekly point totals are often heavily dependent on the schedules of your starting pitchers. It’s harder to do well if your ace only starts once in a given week, whereas two-start weeks provide a significant boon.

In season-long leagues, players do not face each other and there are no playoffs. Instead, the goal is to finish the season with the most points or category wins.

You don’t have to worry about having a bad week against an opponent or losing a matchup by one point. In the end, the best overall team wins.

This format requires patience and long-term planning, whereas weekly head-to-head leagues require more attention to weekly schedules and matchups.

Like head-to-head leagues, season-long formats are usually based on either points or categories.

Pros

• No week-to-week volatility here. This format throws out all of the bad beats and tough weekly matchups and instead focuses on the entire season, rewarding sustained excellence rather than good fortune.
• You can focus on building the best possible team for the long haul instead of worrying about beating your opponents in certain categories every week.

Cons

• The lack of short-term urgency can sometimes make the season seem long and tedious. In weekly leagues, you have an opponent who can motivate you, whereas in season-long leagues the onus is on you to put your best team forward every day for six months.
• There isn’t much to play for at the end of the season, when only a few teams are still in the race. In weekly leagues, however, you can still play spoiler and try to prevent other teams from making the playoffs.

Rotisserie Leagues

One of the most popular fantasy baseball formats is season-long rotisserie, also known as roto.

In this format, players try to win certain categories. The most common format is known as 5×5 standard, which includes five offensive categories and five pitching categories.

• Offensive: Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, Stolen Bases, Batting Average
• Pitching: Wins, Strikeouts, ERA, Saves, WHIP

The goal is to build a roster that will accrue stats in all of these categories, although some managers “punt” on certain categories like saves or steals to focus on other categories.

At the end of the season, the team with the highest number in each category wins that category and receives a corresponding point total based on the number of teams.

If you win a category in a 12-team league, you receive 12 points. The second-place team receives 11, the third-place team gets 10, etc.

The team with the most combined points across all the categories wins.

Pros

• This format allows gamers to get creative with their roster-building. Do you try to compete in all categories or dominate a few?
• Players can customize their leagues with different categories, either by adding more (i.e., 7×7, 8×8) or swapping them out (i.e., replacing wins with quality starts).

Cons

• Teams don’t face each other during season-long roto, so there’s more of an emphasis on the long run as opposed to winning a matchup each week.
• There are no playoffs or championship rounds, which can feel anticlimactic at the end of a long season – especially if one team has a large lead in numerous categories and is clearly going to win the league.

Points Leagues

Another common format for season-long fantasy baseball is total points.

In this format, points are assigned to certain statistical categories. For batters, runs, hits and RBIs may count as one point each.

Rarer events like home runs and stolen bases may count for multiple points, while negative outcomes like strikeouts and caught stealings may deduct points.

There is a similar scoring system for pitchers. A completed inning or a strikeout may count as one point, while less common events like wins (10 points) and saves (5 points) usually count for more.

Categories like walks, blown saves and losses typically count for negative points.

At the end of the season, the team with the most points wins.

Like rotisserie, teams do not face each other in season-long points leagues. The goal is to score the most points in a league that doesn’t have playoffs.

That will affect which players you want to target in the draft and pick up throughout the season.

Pros

• This format allows you to build a deep team filled with players of various archetypes. In this format, it’s important to have a strong bench so you can sub players in when starters get hurt.
• No weekly volatility. Your goal is to simply pile up as many points as possible during the season.

Cons

• The lack of weekly urgency can make it hard to determine when to make trades or roster moves.
• Some scoring systems can be confusing and vary by platform, so make sure you understand which categories are being counted and the number of points each represents.

One important difference in leagues is the draft format.

There are two main types of fantasy baseball drafts – auction drafts and snake drafts.

• In auction drafts, everyone starts with a set budget, usually around $260. Each league member takes turns nominating a player to bid on, and the member who bids the most wins the player.
• Auction drafts require careful planning and budgeting to ensure you have enough money to fill out your roster.

If you spend too much of your budget early in the draft, you’ll be stuck with a lot of less talented $1 players.

Some gamers do this on purpose, however, opting for a “stars and scrubs” approach.

• Snake drafts are simpler, faster and require less strategy. Draft order is often randomly selected before the draft, and members simply take turns picking players.
• The order flips every round, so the person with the first pick in the first round gets the last pick in the second round.

Make sure you know the draft format before joining a league. If you’re not familiar with a format, you can do several mock drafts beforehand to practice.

To make fantasy baseball more challenging and competitive, some gamers restrict their player pools to only the American or National League.

• AL-only leagues are not allowed to use players from NL teams and vice-versa.
• This significantly limits the level of available talent, so it will be impossible to load up your team with stars.
• These are “deeper” leagues that require more strategy and knowledge of the particular league.

AL and NL-only leagues are for serious players and are not recommended for beginners.

It helps if you’re a fan of a specific league or more familiar with one over the other. For instance, if you’re a New York Yankees fan, you probably have a better understanding of the American League than a Los Angeles Dodgers fan.

• You’ll need to do your research to understand the rosters of each team in the league and which prospects could be promoted during the season. One key trade or pickup could have a major impact on the league’s outcome.

Every possible edge is magnified in these leagues, so they’re not for the faint of heart.

Pros

• Differentiates a fantasy league from standard cookie-cutter formats.
• Narrows the scope to one league, so gamers only need to follow 15 MLB teams instead of 30.

Cons

• There are fewer players to roster, which is tough if your favorite teams and players are in the opposite league.
• Much less available talent to choose from, and losing a star player to injury is especially devastating.

Another way leagues vary is by the number of teams, which can significantly alter strategy.

• “Standard” leagues are typically 10 or 12 teams, which guarantees that gamers won’t have to reach too far into MLB rosters to fill out their lineups.

In these leagues, there are usually enough quality players available that you won’t need to draft random middle relievers and utility players.

• “Shallow” leagues have fewer than 10 teams, although it’s rare to see fewer than eight.

These leagues can be fun because almost every team resembles an All-Star team, so you’ll likely have a lot of stud players on your roster and won’t need to scour the waiver wire as much.

• “Deep” leagues typically have 14 teams or more. At this point, gamers will notice a significant talent drop-off during the later rounds of the draft, and the waiver wire will be thin.

It’s important for players to nail their drafts in these leagues, because there won’t be much help available once the season starts.

Regardless of league size, it can be helpful to do a few mock drafts ahead of time to get a sense of which players will be available in certain rounds.

Another wrinkle to fantasy baseball leagues is the number of players (if any) that you are able to keep every year.

• In re-draft leagues, you simply draft a new team every year.

While it is possible to draft some of the same players repeatedly, you can not guarantee that you will have them on your roster again.

• In keeper leagues, you’re able to select a set number of players to bring back next season. For example, you may get to keep five players on your current roster.

There are often rules surrounding keepers, such as not being able to keep the same player multiple seasons in a row or not being able to keep a player who was drafted in the first three rounds.

• Dynasty leagues are even more complex. You draft minor leaguers and sign your players to contracts, running your team like a true general manager.

The more complicated a league is, the more time and research you’ll need to put into it, so make sure you understand the level of commitment before signing up for a more serious league.

Pros

• You get to have some continuity with your roster and keep your favorite players rather than losing them at the end of the season.
• You get to play GM in the offseason, which keeps the league interesting year-round.

Cons

• You don’t have as much flexibility building your roster and won’t have access to certain players being kept by other teams.
• If you mess up your draft or keepers, it can set your team back for multiple seasons.
• Requires more work in the offseason and a deeper knowledge of the game, including minor-league and major-league players.

Feel free to experiment and try different leagues, especially if you’re already familiar with the basic ones. That said, remember that fantasy baseball takes a lot of time and effort with so many games and players to keep track of, so don’t over-extend yourself.