The Z Files: Tips for Best Ball Leagues

One of the ways draftniks are passing the time is by participating in best ball leagues. These are points leagues where the hosting site determines your optimal lineup each week. Some contests feature free-agent periods, while others are draft and hold. When playing the latter, once you make your last draft pick, you're done managing your club. Hence the allure. Everyone loves to draft, but the time required for in-season management limits the number of leagues most can join.

Several sites offer best ball leagues, most for economical entry fees. The only national contest is the NFBC Cutline but hurry as they're closing the signups Sunday. RTSports, Fantrax and BestBall10s (part of the SportsHub Game network, the same company running the NFBC) all continue to fill best ball leagues.

I've discussed points leagues previously in Points League Pointers and Strategy for Points Leagues. Today, I'll provide some tips germane to the best ball format.

1. Know Thy Scoring Rules

This is mandatory for all points-leagues formats as there isn't a universal system.

2. Multi-Position Eligibility

Make sure you know how each site handles players eligible at more than one position, as some, notably Fantrax, assign just one spot per player. Others have software capable of determining your optimal lineup by incorporating any eligible positions of the associated players. This extends to how the site handles Shohei Ohtani. The NFBC and BestBall10s determine optimal lineups considering Ohtani at either pitcher or utility.

3. Hitting versus Pitching

The scoring system obviously dictates how hard to attack pitching early, but keep in mind two-start and multiple save weeks propel lesser arms into the optimal lineup more frequently than reserve batters will outperform front-line batters. As such, leave a few pitching spots open for this purpose.

4. Drafting Closers

The number of points awarded for saves obviously matters, but in general closers aren't drafted aggressively in best ball formats since they're prone to losing their job and most leagues don't incorporate in-season pickups. Personally, I like to take advantage of this reluctance with a volume approach, focusing on the closers least likely to lose their job and accepting the discount. There will be weeks a closer barely scores, but others where they rack up points with multiple saves. Having several on your roster, which is possible, increases the odds one of them goes off that week. I prefer carrying three or four over one or two. It takes some experience reading the room, but I won't draft a closer if I sense the room is aggressive on the position. When I feel they're reticent, I hit them early and often.

5. Drafting Catchers

As with closers, catchers are often discounted, in this case due to perceived injury risk. My approach this draft season has been J.T. Realmuto or bust behind the plate, and that was true even before Opening Day was delayed. Sure, the risk with a big-name catcher is you might lose an early pick for a significant period of time to a foul tip off his finger, but the advantage Realmuto offers over the field is substantial. If he stays healthy, the best ball nature of the competition helps compensate you for passing on a stud batter you could have landed instead where Realmuto was drafted.

In lieu of Realmuto, it's best to wait. In one catcher leagues, draft the backup sooner than your competitors, increasing the chance one of the receivers has a productive week. In two catcher formats, if you don't get Realmuto, look for another guy at a discount then take your second catcher and backups before everyone else. Ideally, look for a pair of teammates in a time share as opposed to a regular and backup. The idea is time share pairings usually involved decent hitters, ranked lower due to less playing time, but in a given week they're capable of a couple of productive games. Handcuffing teammates means if one gets hurt, the other gains extra playing time. Unfortunately, there aren't many suitable duos, with Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki the best options. Danny Jansen and Reese McGuire fit the bill as well.

The other tip with respect to catchers is to favor power hitters over those with limited counting stats but a decent average. You're looking for the weeks your guy slugs one or two out and scores mid-pack in terms of other catchers. Hopefully your two backstops don't pop in the same week. 

6. Drafting Reserves

Inevitably, one of the infield positions seems to slide. Ideally, it's second base, as there is limited firepower at the top but the back end is deep. In fact, baking this into your draft plan is a viable approach. Regardless of the position last filled with a starter, that's the place to earmark with the first reserve. In fact, the order of reserves should be as close to the reverse of the strength of your starters as possible. Obviously, you don't want to lose hope if first rounder Francisco Lindor or Trevor Story go down, but prioritizing a second shortstop isn't an efficient use of draft picks. In leagues with a middle and corner, it's best to fill that spot with the weaker position. For example, if you drafted Nolan Arenado and Rhys Hoskins, target a first baseman to fill the corner spot.

While it's helpful to incorporate multi-position eligibility players into the early picks, some overdo it. There's plenty of options later (Tommy Edman, Eduardo Escobar, Max Muncy, Jeff McNeil, DJ LeMahieu, etc.). The more the site you're using allows players to cover multiple spots, the more roster spots you can use on pitching.

7. Embrace Variance

This is especially true once you're into the reserve portion of the festivities, as well as with the back end of your pitching staff. Target hitters with some sort of extreme split. It could be home/away or batting platoon splits. The idea is, the week that fringe hitter is at home in his power-friendly park, he's apt to have much better numbers than when he's on the road for a couple of series. Similarly, batters with platoon splits will also be inconsistent, based on the handedness of the opposing pitchers. If everything works out perfectly, one of those more volatile players will be in a favorable scenario each week, and hopefully they take advantage.

As far as pitching goes, wins are unpredictable, but they also are gold in most points league scoring systems. After drafting reliable starters, focus on those with an elevated chance to pick up a win, at least on paper. A lesser pitcher on a club with a strong offense can be avoided in standard rotisserie due to his damaging ratios. In best ball, he'll still have a few solid outings in which he'll garner a win. Earmarking starters in weak divisions (assuming MLB doesn't go with one of the realignment plans being floated) is also favored in best ball. Examples are hurlers in the AL Central, since they could get double-start weeks in which they face, say, Detroit and Kansas City. Again, the plan is to attack with volume and have multiple players who could benefit from such scenarios in any given week, while hopefully they stagger the weeks in which they possess an edge.

Admittedly, it's possible the schedule MLB settles upon throws a lot of this out the window, but the key to best ball is filling the early part of the roster with solid players, then looking for ways to gain an edge later. Especially now, the key is to have fun as the format opens up uses for players and strategies not often deployed by many risk-averse drafters in traditional roto formats.