Fantasy baseball continues to evolve as some forward-thinking leagues look for new ways to keep things interesting and align fantasy production with the new trends emerging in the game. As a result, fantasy baseball players have many options open to them as they pick and choose the type of league that they want to play in.

The most common type of fantasy baseball leagues are the Rotisserie and Head-to-Head formats. It doesn’t matter which one of the two you prefer. The statistical categories used in each of those two types of leagues will affect fantasy scoring, production, and draft strategy as well.

When it comes to offense, some leagues have opted to either replace traditional categories like Batting Average with stats like OBP and OPS. On the pitching side of the equation, some leagues have added categories like Holds, or Saves plus Holds. Still other leagues have replaced the Wins category with the Quality Start (QS).

Whether or not to use Wins or Quality Starts as a pitching category has sparked a healthy debate among fantasy baseball players. Some are traditionalists and prefer to track Wins, while others feel that the QS provides a better representation of a pitcher’s performance.There are valid arguments on both sides of the equation, but with the recent uptick in home runs and runs scored, and starting pitchers not pitching as many innings as they used to, should fantasy baseball leagues reverse course? Should they go back to predominantly tracking Wins as a category again?

Let’s begin by defining a QS. Any start in which a SP pitches at least six innings and gives up three earned runs or less is considered a QS. Therein lies one of the main arguments against using the stat.

Fantasy baseball players who are against using Quality Starts as a category contend that working six innings and giving up three runs results in a mediocre 4.50 ERA. A 4.50 ERA is only slightly better than the overall 4.54 ERA that starting pitchers averaged last season.Those arguing against the use of the QS point out that posting a 4.50 ERA will give you virtually no chance of winning the ERA category in a typical fantasy baseball league.

Others argue that the QS stat has outlived its relevance. Pitchers are not working deep into games anymore. They note that the last time starting pitchers averaged six innings per start was 2010.

QS haters despise the fact that a starting pitcher could pitch five innings of shutout ball and get a win, but he wouldn’t get credit for a QS.

Leagues utilizing Quality Starts limit the fantasy value of the middle relievers who don’t have a potential direct link to a closers role. While top middle relievers who contribute elite ratios can still help your fantasy team in a QS league, unless they’re given the opportunity to pitch an occasional spot start, they’re contributions will be fairly minimal.

Conversely, middle relievers with elite ratios can be of significant value in leagues that use the Wins category. Studies have shown that middle relievers typically record wins at the same rate as starting pitchers when IP per win are taken into consideration. As we’ll demonstrate later, the fantasy value of middle relievers is increasing in leagues that use Wins as opposed to the QS.

Proponents of using the QS in fantasy baseball contend that it makes a wider number of players fantasy relevant as compared to leagues that track Wins. They propose that QS leagues add fantasy value to good pitchers who are stuck playing on bad teams that don’t usually provide them with ample run support. Some of those pitchers wouldn’t normally be rosterable in fantasy baseball leagues that track Wins. For instance, a pitcher like Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara definitely had more value in QS leagues as opposed to leagues that tracked Wins last season. He posted a respectable 3.88 ERA, but the Marlins only scored an average of 3.13 runs in his 32 starts. That was the second lowest average run support per game in baseball. As a result, Alcantara only recorded six wins last season. However, he pitched well enough to record 14 Quality Starts.

In addition, those in favor of using Quality Starts in fantasy baseball feel that the stat has a greater focus on a pitcher’s ability. Take the pitcher who’s able to win games because he gets plenty of run support despite usually pitching poorly. Does he deserve to be rewarded? Well, in Quality Starts leagues he’s not. For example, a starting pitcher pitches seven innings, doesn’t walk or strikeout a batter, and records a win despite giving up five runs. In a QS league, the only fantasy implication off of that performance is that he hurts his fantasy team’s ERA.

With Wins and Quality Starts both being on the decline of late, top starting pitching talent will continue to be extremely highly valued in this live ball era, no matter what type of league you play in. The following stats demonstrate just how valuable starting pitching has become.

In 2011, 13 pitchers recorded 25 or more Quality Starts. By last season that number had dwindled to just five pitchers.

Last season 14 starting pitchers posted 15 wins or more. Back in 2011, 20 starting pitchers won 15 or more games.

More often than not, you’re going to have a hard time winning your league if you didn’t draft at least one legitimate Ace within the first three rounds of your draft this preseason.

Interestingly enough, the top 30 pitchers in the Wins category and the top 30 pitches in the QS category both provided fantasy managers with potent fantasy production.

Starting pitchers who finished within the top 30 in the QS statistic last season had a cumulative 3.42 ERA, struck out 8.53 batters per nine innings, and posted a 1.13 WHIP.

Starting pitchers who finished in the top 30 in Wins last season had a cumulative 3.63 ERA, struck out 9.33 batters per nine innings, and posted a 1.19 WHIP.

The above stats show that correlation exists between the top echelon of both the Wins and Quality Starts categories and above league average ERA and WHIP. (The 8.53 K/9 rate among the QS group was slightly below the 8.58 K/9 rate).

You will need to adjust your draft strategy depending on if you play in a Wins or QS category driven league. If you’re drafting in a QS league, try to avoid drafting starting pitchers who are projected to have their total innings pitched capped for the regular season. Managers may limit the number of innings they pitch per game in an effort to ensure that they stay below their overall IP target for the season. There’s also a risk that they may be moved out of the starting rotation by August or September or completely shut down before the end of the season in order to limit their total IP.

Good pitchers on bad teams could have more value in QS leagues. We previously provided the example of Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara , but there are others. While we don’t love Brad Keller ’s 4.19 2019 ERA and his seven wins for the Royals last season, he was credited with 14 QS. The Mariners won just 68 games last season, however starter Marco Gonzalez pitched to a 3.99 ERA. He won an impressive 16 games, but Gonzalez was even better in QS leagues, logging 19 Quality Starts.

Draft strategy in leagues that track Wins is going to be slightly different. Of course, Wins will always be there for the taking in fantasy baseball leagues. However, fantasy players are going to have to be more creative in finding them. With the Opener and Follower here to stay, and more and more managers limiting the number of times a starting pitcher gets to work against an opponent’s lineup, a higher percentage of wins are being recorded by relief pitchers. Need proof? Last season 29 relief pitchers won six or more games. In 2011 just 19 relief pitchers won that many games.

While it appears that starting pitchers will continue to pitch fewer innings for the near future, it looks like that trend will probably hurt the Quality Starts category more than the Wins category. After all, the QS stat requires that a pitcher pitch at least six innings in a start, and starting pitchers averaged just 5.2 IP per start last season. With just nine pitchers logging at least 200 IP in 2019 compared to the 39 who pitched 200 or more innings in 2011, the QS could continue to become an endangered species.