Are you looking to understand how the various leagues work in fantasy baseball?
Here’s a guide to help you understand the various league formats and how they work.
Playing Fantasy Baseball
Baseball fans all have one thing in common during the dog days of Winter, letting their mind drift to sunny spring training fields in Arizona or Florida with the crack of a baseball coming off a bat ringing in the background. Luckily, that magnificent image is now a reality, with Major League Baseball returning for its 148th season.
This article aims to inform players new to the fantasy of the primary ways it is played while also enhancing interest for the opening day.
Similar to fantasy football, with several different leagues and scoring styles, fantasy baseball can be adjusted to the league’s preference. This reading will be focused on the generic league types and what best suits each level of player commitment.
Fantasy Baseball League Styles
Standard league sizes range from 8 players all the way up to 16. The main difference in styles is whether the league accrues counting stats throughout the whole season or goes by weekly head-to-head matchups.
The two main formats are Rotisserie (Roto) and Head-to-Head and can be played using categories or overall points. In general, year-long Roto and points leagues are more enjoyable for casual fantasy players, while Roto Head-to-Head better suits dedicated players.
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Rotisserie Scoring Format
Rotisserie is the most common way that fantasy baseball is played. In a standard rotisserie, teams are ranked from first to last in each statistical category, with half being for batters and half for pitchers.
| Batting Average | Runs Scored | RBIs | Home Runs | SB | Strikeouts | ERA | WHIP | Saves | Wins |
Points are then awarded based on the order in the player’s team resides in each, then totaled to give the overall league rank. The least amount of total points from each category is added up to determine the standings. Below is an example of player A’s team of points total for each category at the end of a season.
In this example, player A’s team hit the most home runs and had the most strikeouts but did poorly in other categories and was last in Saves.
| 9 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 5 |
The players’ total is 60, which would most likely finish middle of the pack at the end of the year. A balanced lineup is key in Roto leagues, as seen by how bombing one category can really set a team back.
Rotisserie Head-to-Head Scoring Format
The majority of leagues use season totals for counting stats because it is less intense for the player to have to monitor each day during the 6 month season and can set a lineup and forget about it for chunks of time.
An alternative is to play roto on a head-to-head weekly basis. The categories are the same for this type, but each column that the player does better than their opponent in a single week is awarded 1 point.
A sweep of all categories would be 12 points, while a split would be 6 etc. This style brings out the friendly “rivalry games” that friends cherish. At the end of the year, the team with the most points wins the league.
This format has a lot more strategy, as picking certain players like base stealers or big hulking home run hitters can make the difference between winning and losing the week, depending on your opponent’s team strengths.
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Points Scoring Format
A simplified league format based on points has steadily been gaining more followers. In a points league, a balanced lineup is not important, only possessing the best overall players. Hitters earn 1 point for each total base, run scored, stolen base, walk, and RBI. However, 1 point is subtracted for striking out.
Example: Mike Trout goes 2-3 with a single, double, walk, rbi, and one strikeout = 1+2+1+1-1= 4 points.
Pitchers are slightly more complicated and receive 1 point for each out made, with a bonus if it’s a strikeout. However, they lose 1 point for each walk and hit allowed, and 2 points for each earned run. Wins and saves are worth 5, while a loss is minus 5
High strikeout pitchers and elite closers provide the most pitching value in a point’s league.
Points Head-to-Head Format
The same rules as above, just that wins are each week instead of the season’s total. All formats have the option to have playoffs in September or run the regular season through the last game.
I hope you enjoyed this overview of Fantasy Baseball League Styles.
By Nik Ebert
Nik is a lifelong Chicago resident and loves all things sports, but Fantasy Baseball is his favorite fantasy sport to follow. He can often be found rambling on about random stats and stories to any ears that will listen when he is not writing about fantasy football.
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