Some fantasy managers love the traditional aspects of the rotisserie format for fantasy baseball, while others want something that most closely resembles the most popular of the fantasy sports — fantasy football. In this case, they turn to points leagues in fantasy baseball. The final option is a hybrid of the two: Head-to-head categories leagues. These leagues combine the specific rotisserie categories with the head-to-head structure fantasy managers love.
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Categories League Primer (2025 Fantasy Baseball)
Understand Your League
No format has more variability than head-to-head categories leagues. Because of that, it’s paramount that you know how your specific league is set up.
Let’s start with how you win each week. In some leagues, winning seven out of 10 categories means you go 7-3 that week. In another league, that may only equate to a 1-0 week.
There’s also the matter of which categories are used. Many leagues stick to the 10 traditional rotisserie categories (R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, S, K, ERA, WHIP). Some swap out a traditional category, such as batting average for on-base percentage (OBP), which impacts players’ values. What can add to the challenge of head-to-head categories is when additional categories are added on top of the traditional ones. For example, I play in a 20-category head-to-head league each year, making it essential to know what to target.
Roster setups also vary in head-to-head leagues. Most leagues remove the middle infield and corner infield positions, deepening the player pool. With pitchers, it’s not uncommon to see all the classifications removed in favor of simply using nine pitcher spots. This allows you to build your team around specific strategies, like stacking relief pitchers.
Punting is Possible
Winning a traditional rotisserie league while punting even one category is nearly impossible. One last-place finish in a category makes the margin of error razor-thin in the other categories. But that’s not the case with a head-to-head categories league. Not only can you still win, but punting can be a good strategy to help you win.
Punting means purposely ignoring a category to improve other categories. Not every category is punted equally because some categories are interconnected. For offense, the two most often punted categories are stolen bases and average. If you choose to punt pitching categories, the easiest to punt is saves. You can try to punt wins, but that category is extremely luck-based anyway. For example, Tanner Houck finished 11th in all of baseball in earned run average but finished with a losing record.
If you choose to punt, realize what it does to player values. For instance, if it is stolen bases you are choosing to punt, there is no reason to roster players such as Jose Caballero or Maikel Garcia. Conversely, players like Marcell Ozuna or Salvador Perez, who offer no speed, become more valuable.
Hitters Early and Often
While you should always have an equal balance of pitching and hitting statistics, target the hitting statistics early. Head-to-head categories involve as much variability as any fantasy sport. Anything you can do to limit that variability helps and that starts with hitters over pitchers.
There are several ways to demonstrate the reliability of hitters over pitchers. Let’s just look at FantasyPros’ average draft position (ADP) data from 2024 and 2025. If you look at the top 12 hitter ADP from 2024, nine are in the top 12 again in 2025. By contrast, only six of the top 12 pitchers in 2024 remain in the top 12 again in 2025.
That’s a solid data point, but remember there are no hard-and-fast rules about what “drafting hitters early” looks like. The draft process is about finding values with each of your picks. Therefore, if a pitcher is falling, don’t hesitate to draft him. I prefer to select seven hitters in the first 10 rounds, but other strategies can work as well.
Lean Into the Head-to-Head Aspect
One of the reasons managers love fantasy football is the head-to-head matchups. It leads to rivalries, good-natured ribbing and, most importantly, camaraderie. That all happens in head-to-head categories leagues. The difference is the importance of knowing your opponent’s team. Checking your opponent’s team in fantasy baseball gives you an indication of what categories you can win. Perhaps even more important is knowing what categories you won’t be able to win.
For the sake of simplicity in the explanation, we’re going to provide you with a rather extreme example. Let’s say your opponent has Emmanuel Clase, Raisel Iglesias, Robert Suarez, Ryan Walker and Lucas Erceg in his pitching lineup. Meanwhile, you have Porter Hodge and Aroldis Chapman as your relievers. It’s safe to assume barring a miracle you will lose saves that week. That’s OK. Just pivot.
It’s almost as if you are punting categories weekly. If you know you have no realistic chance in one category, use your starting lineup to fortify the other categories. In the example above, you might bench your closers entirely and instead grab two more two-start pitchers from the waiver wire. While you’ve lost saves, you’ve bolstered your chances in wins and strikeouts.
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