Hello, everyone! The cookie shop has closed up as I make the move from two-start pitcher ranks to points leagues. Will baking references find their way into this column over the course of the year? Probably. I am who I am. Depending on how you felt about that, I am sorry/you’re welcome.
Anyway, what are points leagues and why should I play in one (or more)?
Excellent question!
To answer it, I actually first need to ask a second question. And that is, what do you see as the goal of fantasy baseball? Is it a game that’s based around the sport we love, but not necessarily meant to reflect real-world value? Because that, I think, is what your standard roto league does. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing roto. It’s the Original Game, as the kids say (citation needed). However, if you are of a certain vintage, you may recall the days when Billy Hamilton was drafted fairly high year after year, even though when it came to things like “hitting the baseball” and “not getting out,” he wasn’t very good. Because he provided such a big advantage with those sweet, sweet steals, his fantasy value far outstripped his real-life value. Imagine Chandler Simpson, minus 50 points of batting average, going in round 5. (It was dark days in 2015, folks.) Sure, things aren’t quite that drastic anymore, but it can still happen that fantasy baseball doesn’t always very accurately reflect who is actually good or bad at baseball. At least on the offensive side of it.
That’s where points leagues come in. They boost the value of guys who might not hit for a lot of average but do take a lot of walks. They suppress the value of those one-category specialists. And they reward guys who might not have swings optimized for the long ball, but take advantage of line drives to the gap. To age myself again, I used to love taking Nick Markakis in points leagues. He was a fairly middling roto option due to his lack of homers, but he was sneakily good, bordering on elite option at times in these leagues because all those doubles added up.
Also, whether you like it or not, we live in a fantasy sports world dominated by football. And, much more than roto leagues, points leagues provide a similar type of feel, as you only need to care about getting points and not trying to maintain a balance between individual categories. (That being said, Rudy’s Draft Rooms provides a ton of help toward doing that when drafting in your more standard leagues. You should subscribe!)
So Points Leagues are Fantasy Baseball Easy Mode?
That’s not what I said!
While an argument can certainly be made that they aren’t as intellectually challenging as a 15 team roto, they aren’t without their own quirks, strategies, and sources of fun. But at the same time…yeah. They do tend to be more like fantasy football. But is that a bad thing? In a season-long roto league, you can be out of contention before May is over. But when you’re competing on a week-to-week basis for a spot in the playoffs, there’s a bit more grace, and with that grace comes more reason for more people to stay invested into the dog days of summer. That’s not nothing!
Ok, so how does the scoring work in these things?
Ah. Yeah. That.
Roto leagues and head-to-head categories leagues will occasionally swap out one category for another here or there. For the most part, though, they’re pretty standard. That means when it comes to drafting and roster management, you can pretty much find anyone’s ranks (though I recommend Grey’s, and not just because I’m a #CompanyMan) and go from there. For points leagues, though, it’s a bit trickier. That’s because even beyond individual leagues doing their own thing here and there, no two providers use the same scoring. And then, to make matters even more complicated, some sites have Best Ball Leagues (ahem) that are point-based, but use a different scoring system altogether. Basically, it all makes my job here a bit jumbled. But that’s ok!
Does the different scoring really matter?
Yes! It matters a lot! It is absolutely imperative that you familiarize yourself with your league’s scoring system before you sit down and draft.
Each site has its own quirks, and you need to know what to expect in each so that you can properly bump up or lower certain players in terms of how you rank them. In the coming weeks, we’ll look a bit more at how some specific players’ value gets affected from one to another, but for now, I’ll just give a (perhaps overly) rough and ready look at the differences between the three sites’ scoring systems. (Those sites are ESPN, CBS, and Fantrax. I’m ignoring Yahoo! because their points league settings are weird, and I frankly don’t have a good grasp of them.)
Hitter Strikeouts
First, for hitters, the default scoring for ESPN is -1 per strikeout, while it’s -0.5 at CBS and 0 over at Fantrax.
What that means is over at ESPN, especially, contact is king. Your guys who truly mash and/or pair their whiffs with large numbers of walks (think Kyle Schwarber) are still excellent choices. However, the Oneil Cruzes of the world become almost unplayable.
On the flip side, a guy like Luis Arraez was a desperation play who made you feel sad using him as your 1B in roto, but was an entirely serviceable top-10 1B option on ESPN because he simply never Ks.
At CBS, a hitter with a high K-rate isn’t ideal, but they aren’t punished nearly as severely, so you can more easily stomach those types.
And at Fantrax? Swing away, kings! Guys who strike out too much are going to hurt you just because they aren’t producing enough positive outcomes, but there’s no outright penalty for swinging and missing.
Stolen Bases
Over at ESPN, steals count for 1 point. This makes the Chandler Simpsons of the world far, far less appealing. The worldwide leader wants you to want guys who rake, not run.
At CBS and Fantrax, steals count for 2 points. It isn’t enough to make zeros with the bat high-end options, but it makes a significant difference.
So what do those effects combine to look like? For one example, Elly de la Cruz was ESPN’s 7th rated SS last season, scoring a total of 388 points. At CBS he came in 4th at the position with 509.5.
Like I said, know your league’s point settings.
Pitching
Oh, pitching. I can’t get away from you, can I?
This is where the biggest differences come in. I’ll get into it a little bit more in the future when we look at how you should approach your draft and roster construction, but for now, let’s broadly characterize what each site prioritizes for this position.
ESPN: Run prevention is the name of the game. You need volume, because each inning pitched is 3 points, but each run allowed is -2. That hurts. Wins and losses matter, but not as much as at the other sites. Innings, Ks, and keeping runs off the board are what you’re looking for.
CBS: It’s all about volume. Losses are more heavily penalized than at ESPN (-5 vs -2), but wins are more rewarded (7 vs 2). Guys who can go 6+ innings also get rewarded with 3 points for a Quality Start, which is nice. Control is also important, because strikeouts are only worth 0.5 points, while walks will cost you -1. Their leagues are big for maximizing points via two-start arms who might be able to snag a couple wins, but guys on bad teams who walk everyone aren’t going to be worth it.
Fantrax: Wins and Ks. That’s it, basically. Control doesn’t matter, as there is no penalty for walks. They also only give you 1 point for each inning pitched. But it’s a full 10 points for a Win, 3 for a Quality Start, and 1 for each K. Losses are -5, but without a penalty for walks, I don’t think I care. Even more than the other sites, load up on pitching and win via cheap SPs and streaming. Something about that approach sounds familiar for some reason…
Anyway, see you next week!
