A substantial portion of the fantasy baseball content that you read or listen to is based on the rotisserie format. It remains the most popular format, but it’s far from the only one.
One of the reasons people love fantasy football is its head-to-head nature. Each week, you get the opportunity to face just one opponent. We can have that, too, in fantasy baseball. There are even options within head-to-head matchups in fantasy baseball.
Read on to see the differences and some advice for winning in either H2H Categories or points leagues.
- Fantasy Baseball Draft Rankings
- Fantasy Baseball Research & Advice
- Fantasy Baseball Average Draft Position (ADP)
- Fantasy Baseball News
Fantasy Baseball H2H Categories vs. Points Leagues Draft Primer
Know What You Want to Play
There will be primers for both H2H categories and points leagues on FantasyPros. This article will include a very brief overview of the differences for the sake of ensuring you know what you are signing up for.
As you would expect from their names, category leagues involve targeting specific categories. Points leagues are about accumulating points in whatever facet possible.
Typically, category leagues use the traditional 5 x 5 categories (runs, home runs, RBI, stolen bases, and batting average for hitters/wins, saves, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP for pitchers). Realize that there are many combinations of different categories, though. Check that carefully when you join a league.
If you want the fantasy baseball game that most resembles fantasy football, it’s a points league. Just like in fantasy football, you are facing a single opponent with a win or a loss each week. How the production comes also doesn’t matter. You just want the most points at the end of the period.
Category Specialists
Now that you have a basic understanding of the differences, let’s take a bit more nuanced approach. First, category specialists are a non-factor in points leagues. Yet, they can be the difference between winning and losing in H2H categories leagues.
Category specialists are related to punting. A category specialist is someone who provides a significant contribution in a single category. You can’t have an entire roster of single-category contributors, but at the backend of your roster, they can help to bring home victories.
Go into your fantasy baseball drafts with the intention of drafting as many multi-category contributors as possible. That provides you with a baseline to compete throughout the season in every category. However, if you’re approaching the end of your matchup and need a few steals or a save to pick up a point, don’t be afraid to add the specialist to get it done.
Turn Up the Volume in Points Leagues
The most basic aspect of points leagues is that you can’t accumulate points if you are not playing. Therefore, we’re looking for volume from both pitchers and hitters.
The reason we look for volume from pitchers is that it’s the most predictable way to get points. Wins and saves typically yield the most points, but there is a luck factor that isn’t present with pitching innings. Generally, if you pitch well, you pitch more innings and earn more points. Unfortunately, even that is slowly getting less.
The gold standard used to be 200 innings pitched, but that is now down to the 180 range. As you can see from the table below, the numbers continue to shrink yearly. Do your best to get at least two pitchers who will throw 180 or more innings on your team.
| Year | 200 Inning Pitchers | 180 Inning Pitchers |
| 2025 | 3 | 21 |
| 2024 | 4 | 21 |
| 2023 | 5 | 25 |
| 2022 | 8 | 27 |
| 2021 | 4 | 20 |
| 2020 (Covid Shortened Season) | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 15 | 33 |
When it comes to hitters, you want players who are playing nearly every day. If you are rostering a platoon player in a weekly points league, before the lineups lock for the week, do your research to make sure that you get at least five starts. Otherwise, find a replacement for that week.
Don’t get overly granular with lineup spots, though. Yes, the higher up in the lineup that you are positioned, the more plate appearances you get. Research typically shows that as you move down the lineup, each spot is typically 20 fewer plate appearances over the course of the season. That’s certainly something, especially when comparing the top of the lineup to the bottom. Don’t let it influence you too much, though, into taking a leadoff hitter at the expense of a better player who bats lower in a lineup.
Embrace Randomness
Baseball is a game of chance. The real-life game involves a ball being contacted by a few inches of wood after traveling in the blink of an eye. Once it’s contacted, it has to be at a launch angle and velocity so that it isn’t fielded by the nine players who are paid to catch it. As you can tell, luck plays a big factor.
It also plays a major factor in fantasy baseball. No matter how well you draft and manage your weekly roster, it’s nearly inevitable that you will lose matchups. Injuries in the middle of a weekly lineup can be devastating, but there will also be weeks where your best players get a single hit or two. That’s fantasy baseball. Embrace it.
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | SoundCloud | TuneIn