Fantasy Baseball Draft Advice: Roto vs. Head-to-Head Categories

The offseason is heating up, and it’s time to focus on fantasy baseball draft prep. Let’s break down the most popular way to play fantasy baseball: Category leagues. There are two ways to play in a category league: Rotisserie (roto) and head-to-head category leagues (H2H).

Roto leagues pit all of the teams in a league against one another. In a 12-team league, teams are ranked 1-12 in each category. The team with the best stat in each category is awarded 12 points, with the lowest team getting one. All the categories are then added up to give each team its overall score.

Head-to-head leagues have weekly matchups where teams play against one opponent. The matchups are determined by whichever team wins the most categories.

Fantasy Baseball Roto vs. Head-to-Head Categories Primer

Now that we have a brief introduction of both formats, let’s get into some specifics.

Rosters

Traditional roto leagues have the biggest default starting rosters in fantasy baseball. They start an extra catcher, a middle-infielder, a corner infielder and two outfielders over a standard MLB lineup. They also start nine total pitchers, with no distinction between relief and starting pitchers.

Head-to-head leagues start a typical lineup with two utility bats. The pitching spots on Yahoo are split between two starting pitchers, two relief pitchers and four pitcher spots.

The extra hitting spots in roto leagues allow fantasy managers to draft the best player available without having to worry about how they will fit in their lineup. The main difference, however, is how the pitching spots are allocated. Roto leagues allow fantasy managers to decide how many starters and relievers to put in the lineup. Head-to-head leagues are slightly more restrictive, needing two relief-eligible pitchers, but most teams would have at least two in their lineup anyway.

Scoring

We already know how the scoring is recorded in roto leagues, from the intro above, but what categories (stats) are being recorded? Default scoring is runs, home runs, RBI, stolen bases and batting average for batters; wins, saves, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP for pitchers. Leagues can customize the scoring, but this has been the standard for many, many decades.

Head-to-head leagues usually play for the same categories. Two teams are matched against one another, and whoever wins the most categories wins the matchup.

There are two ways to record a won matchup in hesad-to-head leagues. The first and most common (outdated) option gives the winner a win and the loser a loss, regardless of the number of categories won. The other option is to record each category as a win or a loss. So, if Team A wins against Team B seven categories to three, the first option would make Team B 0-1. However, the second option would make them 3-7. Giving them a greater chance to rebound with another 10 categories available to win in the next matchup.

Drafting Differences

While head-to-head and roto leagues are very similar, there are some key differences when drafting. Catcher value fluctuates a lot from one category league to another. In a standard 12-team roto league, 24 catchers would be starters. That’s not including backups, so the best catchers get pushed up in the draft compared to a head-to-head league, where only 12 are started.

Another difference is relief pitcher value. In roto leagues, saves are worth 10% of the overall scoring, so the ones that feel like sure things are pushed way up in the draft. However, in head-to-head leagues, you can wait on relievers all day if you’d like. You don’t need a stud reliever from Opening Day to build up the category all year like rotisserie leagues require. You just need to find enough throughout the year to compete against your matchups.

Not all leagues handle injuries the same way. What I mean by that is teams in a roto league can handle a star player being injured way better than a team in a head-to-head league. If your first-round pick is out for a month in a roto league, it stinks, but it’s survivable. You have the chance to replace them in your lineup, and whoever you replace them with will still be contributing to the overall category counts.

In a head-to-head league, if you lose your first rounder for a month, chances are the player you’re replacing them with is going to be a significant downgrade. That replacement player probably isn’t going to be able to replace the production, and you may lose every single matchup for the month they’re out. Injuries are hard to predict, but it’s worth keeping in mind.