Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues

Nearly everyone began playing baseball roto style. You might have been in a 4x4 league (Wins/ERA/WHIP/SV and AVG/HR/RBI/SB) if you’re old school, or perhaps a 5x5 setup if you’re a bit later to the game (Wins/ERA/WHIP/K/SV and AVG/HR/RBI/Runs/SB). As the years have gone by, we’re now starting to see a bunch of 6x6 or 7x7 leagues as well. There’s another direction you can go in if you’re looking for a new challenge, or just a return to a set-up you played in years past (this “other” style has been around forever). With that, let’s break down the other main option for fantasy baseball – the points league.

YOU MUST KNOW YOUR SCORING SYSTEM

This one seems obvious, but it’s way more important in a points league that it is in a roto set-up. You have to know the system so you can know how to properly evaluate players (there’s more on this line of thought below). A few examples.

Does the league reward two points for a steal, or one? Doesn’t sound like much, of course, but if you’re guy swipes 30 bases that an extra 30 points over the course of the season which comes to more than one a week. Trust me, you will win or lose a match-up at some point where a handful of points would have made a difference (note we’re only talking about one player here, when actually, this situation could be applied to a whole host of hitters on a weekly or seasonal basis).

Does your league ignore strikeouts, rendering them unimportant, or does your league penalize players for a strikeout by taking a point away? Again, doesn’t sound like much until you realize that Paul Goldschmidt, as great as he is, struck out 150 times. That’s 42 more punchouts than Anthony Rizzo. Forty-two points is a lot. However, what if your league also counts walks as a plus-1? Remember the plus-42 Rizzo has over Goldy in a pure K league? If we add in walks, that advantage shrinks to just a plus-6 for Rizzo since Goldschmidt walked 110 times compared to 74 for Rizzo.

Seemingly small changes to scoring systems can drastically effect point totals. Read the small print. Closely.

A STANDARD POINTS SETUP

You can get as aggressive or as in-depth as you would like with your points league. Here is a basic setup that I would suggest as a starting point. Build off it if you would like to dig deeper.

Your mind is the only limitation as most formats and sizes allow for a good deal of customization.

*NOTE: The reason that there aren’t “points” rankings in this Guide is the fact that there simply is no basis for there being a “standard” points league. Some leagues might give 10 points for wins, others seven, still others five. Some league might take away a point for batter’s strikeouts, other might take away half a point. Without there being a traditional points setup to reference, it’s simply not feasible to produce a rankings setup that we can have full confidence in.

AVOID THE RANDOM PTS. CATEGORIES

You can do anything you want with your points league. You can award bonus’ for quality starts or hitting for the cycle. Maybe you kick the tires on adding sac flies, grounded into double plays or blown saves. You can basically make your setup as broad as you would like.

At the same time, I would suggest caution with going nuts. An example to consider before you start clicking every box in your points league.

Nearly every points league I’ve ever been in rewards points for complete games. Why? There were only two men in baseball, Chris Sale and Johnny Cueto, who had more than four complete games last season. Moreover, there were only 12 men in baseball who threw two complete games. Why the hell is complete games a category? Is it because you have to find a way to make Kendall Graveman relevant? Complete games are a horrible category. Even worse, I’ve been in leagues that reward bonus points for shutouts, sometimes as many or more points than a win generates. There were 20 complete games in baseball last year. By everyone. Why the hell are we bonusing that up?

Avoid the random points categories. They’re just dumb.

PROJECTIONS MATTER A BIT

The best thing to do, when entering a points league, is to look at the points produced the previous season. Take a look. Maybe Ian Kennedy ended up 79^th in the league in points. You gotta know these things and investigate why that was – is that effort repeatable?

The next step is more voodoo than science.

You can try to look at projections for players, understanding that they are inherently flawed (see Projections and Category Targets). I say voodoo because, as the previously referenced article points out, projections systems really don’t work. However, if you do some diligent work with a few projection systems, you can sorta come up with a baseline (like I discussed in Projections – How Did We Do?). This homework, coupled with common sense, can help you attain a rough idea of what should be expected in the coming season. You can then plug those numbers into your scoring system to get a rough guess of what to expect.

Hey, I told you it wasn’t perfect at the start.

HEALTH IS PARAMOUNT

Points leagues favor players who play. While there are always negative categories for both offense and pitching, the fact of the matter is, the majority of leagues favor playing-time. Nearly all points league reward something positive for throwing an inning. Sure is nice to get an additional 40 points right off the hop because “my guy” is throwing 210 innings while your guy is throwing 170. If we’re in a league that rewards one point for an inning pitched, it’s not as important as it would be in a league that rewards three points for a frame. In the 3-point per inning league, durability is a huge asset; one that may even trump overall skills a bit since you’re getting such a huge point total for each innings. Additionally, offensive players who are in the lineup, even if they aren’t sexy, are solid additions. It’s why a guy like Nick Markakis likely scored a much higher point total than you thought was possible.

POINTS ARE POINTS, CATEGORY BE DAMNED

If your league counts it then it matters.

Caught stealing? Gotta pay attention to it.

Never used walks before? Doesn’t matter if your league counts them now.

Homers allowed? Who cares as long as the guys ERA is low. That’s the position you can take in roto leagues, but not in points leagues where a homer might cost a pitcher a handful of points.

It all matters in points leagues, just like it does in the real world. Truth? Points likes record the actual game more accurately than roto baseball, that is if your leagues point system is set up properly.

TWO CATEGORIES TO CONSIDER

I like the idea of Solds which is saves+holds (see the article in this Guide titled "Is It Time to Replace Saves?" when it is published). In this instance we can focus more on the idea of skills trumpeting role. Even though your points league won’t be counting solds, the measure would still be a solid way to viewing the importance of bullpen arms. Note, you have to pay attention to the movement in bullpens because it can obviously effect the output of relievers.

Troubles is another category to consider. You may not have ever heard of this simple, yet important, measure in points leagues. Troubles are triples+doubles. This category speaks to those batters who play a lot but may not have home run power. These types of mid-level offensive performers can be very effective in points leagues. Here are 2017 Troubles leaders.

These types of players, i.e. Martin Prado and Kevin Pillar types, aren’t sexy, but they can still be useful pieces.

Points leagues are really fun. If you haven’t given one a try in a while, why not?