One week into the season, it's too early to draw conclusions about player's skills. We are starting to see patterns emerge in team usage though, specifically which players are in a platoon and preferred batting orders. We'll draw some early conclusions about winners and losers stemming from those, with a specific focus on the context of points leagues.
We'll take a look at some pitchers next week, after most fantasy-relevant starters have had at least three turns through the rotation.
Risers
Keibert Ruiz 
40% Yahoo, 59% CBS
There were high expectations for Ruiz heading into the 2024 season, but he fell flat with a pitiful .268 wOBA while averaging only 2.1 fantasy points per game (using CBS standard scoring). The Nationals have curiously responded by moving Ruiz to a more prominent position in the lineup, as he's hit third in three consecutive games with an additional appearance at cleanup (through Wednesday). Even better, he's started every game, so volume is on his side. Ruiz has a decent skillset for points leagues given his ability to make contact, but he'll need quantity contact too if he wants to keep pace with the best players at his position.
Michael Busch 
27% Yahoo, 54% CBS
The case for Busch is a bit more complicated. He's set for a strict platoon role, which makes him best suited for a daily lineup league rather than weekly. Busch's role against righties is why he lands on this last though, as he's batted cleanup in every
One week into the season, it's too early to draw conclusions about player's skills. We are starting to see patterns emerge in team usage though, specifically which players are in a platoon and preferred batting orders. We'll draw some early conclusions about winners and losers stemming from those, with a specific focus on the context of points leagues.
We'll take a look at some pitchers next week, after most fantasy-relevant starters have had at least three turns through the rotation.
Risers
Keibert Ruiz 40% Yahoo, 59% CBS
There were high expectations for Ruiz heading into the 2024 season, but he fell flat with a pitiful .268 wOBA while averaging only 2.1 fantasy points per game (using CBS standard scoring). The Nationals have curiously responded by moving Ruiz to a more prominent position in the lineup, as he's hit third in three consecutive games with an additional appearance at cleanup (through Wednesday). Even better, he's started every game, so volume is on his side. Ruiz has a decent skillset for points leagues given his ability to make contact, but he'll need quantity contact too if he wants to keep pace with the best players at his position.
Michael Busch 27% Yahoo, 54% CBS
The case for Busch is a bit more complicated. He's set for a strict platoon role, which makes him best suited for a daily lineup league rather than weekly. Busch's role against righties is why he lands on this last though, as he's batted cleanup in every game. That puts him in the desirable position of hitting behind Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki.
Otto Lopez 
49% Yahoo, 52% CBS
Lopez was the second-most added second baseman on Yahoo Leagues as of Wednesday, meaning fantasy managers are already starting to catch on that he has a chance to be a legitimate fantasy contributor. His 4.7 points per game aside, Lopez has gone from hitting fifth in the Miami lineup in the team's first two games to either second or third in four of five games since. Team context will hurt him in the long run, but there are consistently fantasy-relevant players that emerge every year despite bad lineups.
Gavin Lux 
7% Yahoo, 26% CBS
The analysis for Busch can essentially be copied and pasted for Lux. The Reds have only faced one left-handed pitcher in their first six contests, and Lux sat that one out. In the other five games against righties, he hit fourth in the lineup, immediately following Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz. Lux also has a strong skills profile for points leagues, highlighted by a near 10 percent career walk rate. The hope would be that he also gets a nice boost in power thanks to a positive shift in his home park.
Lars Nootbaar 
49% Yahoo, 75% CBS
Nootbaar is another player whose roster rate that has skyrocketed since Opening Day. He didn't earn a single plate appearance from the leadoff spot in 2024, yet that's the only spot he's occupied across six games in 2025. Nootbaar is another player with a tailor-made profile for points leagues. The most common projection systems have him with a wOBA in the range of .335 to .349, with the top end of that range being an excellent mark.
Fallers
George Springer 
52% Yahoo, 79% CBS
Springer has been a leadoff hitter since 2016. It's no secret he's on the back side of his career, and the Jays have taken note by dropping him from the top spot in the order and have hit him no higher than fifth in the lineup and primarily sixth. He's masked that with an all-or-nothing approach at the plate, including a 32 percent strikeout rate and .238 ISO. Perhaps he can keep that up, but it seems very unlikely, and his decreased volume and opportunities for counting stats will eventually catch up to him.
This analysis needs to start with the fact that Albies should not be dropped in any league format. He's bounced around the Atlanta lineup throughout his career, but he's consistently been in the top third of the order. He's opened the season hitting fifth, and even a potential shakeup doesn't seem likely to help him much. Following Jurickson Profar's suspension, Michael Harris jumped to the leadoff role while Albies stayed static.
Jake Burger 
95 % Yahoo, 98% CBS
Burger was projected to be the cleanup hitter in Texas, but he's instead begun the regular season hitting sixth. Wyatt Langford has consistently jumped to the third spot, but Joc Pederson and Adolis Garcia are more surprisingly also ahead of Burger in the order. It's too early to jump into skills analysis, but Burger also hasn't made the best impression on his new squad, posting just a .484 OPS in his first 26 plate appearances. He's not particularly well suited for points leagues even at his best. The Rangers' lineup could lift him, but his chances of being a difference maker hitting the bottom third of the order are small.
