Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is!
Regular season champions may have been crowned, but there is still baseball being played, hence fantasy teams to be drafted. Playoff fantasy baseball comes in many shapes and sizes. Today's discussion and rankings will focus on a standard draft. The NFBC postseason contest does not include the Wild Card Series, so a separate piece will be provided with rankings dedicated to that.
Most playoff leagues draft teams similar in composition to standard fantasy rosters, perhaps eliminating some combination of second catcher, corner, middle and an outfielder or two, along with shortening the pitching. Scoring is usually points, as opposed to rotisserie, but diehards can stick to their favorite roto categories.
The conundrum is whether to pick players from as many teams as possible or back one or two teams, preferably not one of the favorites. Most playoff leagues don't have reserves. Once a team is eliminated, you get a goose egg from anyone on that team.
Another approach is speculating on the series requiring more games to decide and loading up on the involved players.
Positions matter much more in a playoff league. The expanded playoffs help a bit, but the rule of thumb reverts to when scarcity was a thing: lock up middle infield and third base. It's even better if one of the best players on the team you're stacking fills one of those spots.
Keeping with the contrarian approach, fading players from the favorites
Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is!
Regular season champions may have been crowned, but there is still baseball being played, hence fantasy teams to be drafted. Playoff fantasy baseball comes in many shapes and sizes. Today's discussion and rankings will focus on a standard draft. The NFBC postseason contest does not include the Wild Card Series, so a separate piece will be provided with rankings dedicated to that.
Most playoff leagues draft teams similar in composition to standard fantasy rosters, perhaps eliminating some combination of second catcher, corner, middle and an outfielder or two, along with shortening the pitching. Scoring is usually points, as opposed to rotisserie, but diehards can stick to their favorite roto categories.
The conundrum is whether to pick players from as many teams as possible or back one or two teams, preferably not one of the favorites. Most playoff leagues don't have reserves. Once a team is eliminated, you get a goose egg from anyone on that team.
Another approach is speculating on the series requiring more games to decide and loading up on the involved players.
Positions matter much more in a playoff league. The expanded playoffs help a bit, but the rule of thumb reverts to when scarcity was a thing: lock up middle infield and third base. It's even better if one of the best players on the team you're stacking fills one of those spots.
Keeping with the contrarian approach, fading players from the favorites (Dodgers and Astros) is wise. The downside is being eliminated from competing earlier, but if you support the right underdogs, a payoff is heading your way.
For a detailed rundown of the playoff odds, my SiriusXM MLB Network Radio co-host Erik Halterman has you covered with MLB Playoff Picks: 2022 World Series Best Bets. This is a great guide to determine the "chalk" plays, helping to shape your strategy.
I've been haggling with how I want to present the rankings. There are three ways.
- My personal rankings, based on how I feel the playoffs will transpire
- Estimate how many games everyone will play based on the betting odds and set rankings accordingly
- Simply rank everyone without considering how many games they'll play, and you to adjust based on your strategy.
I decided on No. 3, but I'll end with how I am approaching a draft of this nature with my colleagues at ESPN. Here are hitter rankings assuming everyone garners the same plate appearances followed by pitching with all starters assumed to throw the same number of innings and all relievers with identical innings projections. Please keep in mind most scoring systems downgrade stolen bases relative to 5x5 rotisserie scoring. On the pitching side, strikeouts are key.
Apologies in advance if I included players not on the playoff rosters as well as some that may be out for the season but slipped through the cracks. Everyone likely to be drafted is ranked, but if I missed someone, please post below and I'll adjust.
Hitters
Pitchers
I've decided to stack Mariners, while doing what I can to squeeze as many ATL players onto my roster as possible. Atlanta is a popular pick, so it is hard to stack, but I'd like some exposure. The issue with this approach is there aren't any Seattle hitters to targets in the scarce positions, so I drafted Julio Rodriguez early and flipped to pitching. Admittedly, it's a win-or-go-home-early approach, but that's how I prefer to handle playoff leagues.