Regardless of how well you’ve fared in your home, work or online leagues, high-stakes fantasy baseball is a different game. It’s not that the competition is necessarily better just because money is on the line. It’s all about the mindset and amount of risk you’re willing to incur.
Before we get into that, let’s set the stage by reviewing the formats available in the high-stakes arena.
Leagues using both standard rotisserie and points-scoring are available. You can assemble a roster via snake draft, auction or salary cap. Most high-stakes formats involve playing out a standard-sized league then all the participants are lumped together in an overall competition with a large grand prize. The catch with overall competitions is the individual league prizes are less since the grand prize money needs to come from the same entry fee that funds the league prizes. That said, if you want to join a stand-alone league with the majority of the entry fee going to league prizes, those are available as well. It should go without saying, but before playing any high-stakes contest, make sure you completely understand the rules.
With that as a backdrop, here’s five tips for success in high-stakes fantasy baseball.
1. If you enter a contest with an overall champion, play to win the whole thing
Let’s borrow from DFS with the following analogy. In order to cash a daily tournament, it helps to take some calculated risks that focus more on a player’s ceiling than their floor. The same is true for competing for an overall high-stakes championship. You don’t need to do it with every player, but you’ll need to pick and choose instances to roster a high-risk, high-reward players. The repercussion is you may cost yourself some points within your individual league, perhaps dropping out of the money. But remember, if this isn’t your style, you can always choose to play in a league without an overall contest where the league prizes offer a stronger return on your investment.
2. Pay extra attention to your opponent’s roster construction in stand-alone leagues
Often, the payout structure in stand-alone leagues lends itself to using a strategy that increases chances to cash but perhaps not win. While there’s really nothing you can so if that’s the manner an opponent chooses to play, it’s obligatory to be aware what’s happening since their player acquisition can alter the available player pool as well as skewing the distribution among the categories in rotisserie scoring. The more common strategies have to do with pitching such as using all starting pitchers or avoiding starting pitchers. On the hitting side, teams can load up on or avoid stolen bases while some will choose not to worry about batting average.
3. In overall contest, avoid gimmick strategies and draft for balance
The opposite is true in overall contests. While it’s mathematically possible to cash in the overall via punting a category or two, the margin of error is razor thin. Look to compete across the board then manage the categories to maximize points as the season progresses.
4. Draft day is only the beginning
Research demonstrates that somewhere between 50 to 80 percent of season-ending stats are acquired via the original draft or auction. While it is true that the winning teams are generally closer to high end, there is still a lot of work to be done. Diligence on the waiver wire is integral since trades are not allowed in high stakes contests.
5. Don’t bite off more than you can chew
Admit it, drafting is your comfort food. We can always make time for a draft. In-season management, however, is another story. It can become tedious, especially if your squad isn’t performing as expected. We owe it to the integrity of the league and contest to play it out until the end but it’s human nature to focus on that which is yielding positive results while shunning the negative. You owe it to your fellow competitors to take on as many leagues as you can handle assuming each will go down to the wire. For those that want to minimize in-season time commitment, there are leagues that are draft and hold (no FAAB, just managing active and reserve) and even points based best-ball formats that entail no in-season management at all.