Points leagues in fantasy baseball mimic what fantasy managers get from fantasy football — each play’s outcome is awarded a fantasy point value. It adds a simplicity factor to fantasy, where you just want the players who score the most points. However, just like fantasy football, there are nuances and strategies in putting together a championship fantasy baseball roster.
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Fantasy Baseball Points League Primer
Scoring
It’s become a cliche at this point, but you have to understand your league’s scoring settings. Here is a breakdown of some popular fantasy sites’ default points league settings:
| CBS | Yahoo | ESPN | |
| Hitting | |||
| Single (1B) | 1 | 2.6 | 1 |
| Double (2B) | 2 | 5.2 | 2 |
| Triple (3B) | 3 | 7.8 | 3 |
| Home Run (HR) | 4 | 10.4 | 4 |
| Runs (R) | 1 | 1.9 | 1 |
| Runs Batted In (RBI) | 1 | 1.9 | 1 |
| Base on Balls (BB) | 1 | 2.6 | 1 |
| Hit by Pitch (HBP) | 1 | 2.6 | – |
| Stolen Bases (SB) | 2 | 4.2 | 1 |
| Strikeouts (K) | -0.5 | – | -1 |
| Pitching | |||
| Wins (W) | 7 | 8 | 5 |
| Saves (SV) | 7 | 8 | 5 |
| Quality Starts (QS) | 3 | – | – |
| Innings Pitched (IP) | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Strikeouts (K) | 0.5 | 3 | 1 |
| Losses (L) | -5 | – | -2 |
| Earned Runs (ER) | -1 | -3 | -2 |
| Base on Balls (BB) | -1 | -1.3 | -1 |
| Hits (H) | -1 | -1.3 | -1 |
| Hit by Pitch (HBP) | -1 | -1.3 | – |
| Holds (HD) | 2 |
Notice how Yahoo doesn’t penalize batters for strikeouts, and one pitching strikeout is equivalent to an inning pitched. CBS leagues heavily incentivize going deep into games by giving extra points for the quality start threshold. ESPN is the only site that defaults to giving points for holds.
Rosters
Points league rosters are generally smaller than category league rosters. Barring any custom settings, the hitting starters usually closely resemble a standard MLB lineup. Similarly, the pitching spots are split between starting pitchers and relief pitchers.
Since points league rosters are smaller, it’s important to get a sense of what positions to target at each part of the draft. Here is a table showing the distribution of points at each position in 2025 with CBS scoring. Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber have been included with the outfielders for this exercise.
| 350-399 | 400-449 | 450-499 | 500-549 | 550-599 | 600-649 | 650-699 | |
| C | 3 | – | – | – | 1 | – | |
| 1B | 6 | 4 | 4 | – | – | – | |
| 2B | 6 | 3 | – | – | – | – | |
| 3B | 3 | 7 | 3 | – | 1 | – | |
| SS | 3 | 7 | 1 | 3 | – | – | |
| OF | 12 | 9 | 4 | 1 | – | 4 | |
| SP | 14 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | – |
| RP | 8 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – |
There were six hitters with more than 600 points last year: Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Cal Raleigh, Kyle Schwarber and Jose Ramirez. Garrett Crochet and Tarik Skubal were the only pitchers to meet that threshold.
Relievers lose almost all value in these leagues. There were 12 total relievers with 350+ points in 2025, compared to 40 starters with 350+ points. Robert Suarez, Carlos Estevez, Andres Munoz and Aroldis Chapman were the only relievers with 400+ fantasy points. Where were they drafted in fantasy drafts last year?
Hitting Draft Advice
As a general rule, hitters with a high strikeout rate and a low on-base percentage (OBP) are players to avoid. Outs are missed opportunities to score points and, thus, are not beneficial in these leagues. With that said, there are plenty of ways for hitters to score fantasy points, and it doesn’t really matter how they do it.
Aaron Judge led the league with 693 points. He only had 12 steals, but every other stat was truly elite. He struck out a little more than average.
Shohei Ohtani was second with 681 points. He was elite in every counting stat, and his .282 average, although not elite, was more than good enough. His strikeout rate was in the 22nd percentile.
Juan Soto put up 662 points on a career-high 38 steals. He also, surprisingly, had his lowest batting average since 2022 at .263. However, his strikeout rate was under 20% for the sixth consecutive season.
Kyle Schwarber and Cal Raleigh hit .240 and .247, respectively, but led their respective leagues in homers, leading to 622 points. They both struck out a lot (27% strikeout rates).
Jose Ramirez put up 604 points with his usual balanced approach. He rarely strikes out and routinely puts up solid walk rates. Ramirez’s strikeout rate of 11% was his second-best season since 2017.
Pitching Draft Advice
Pitchers with high win potential who go deep into games are valuable targets. There were 11 starting pitchers with 500+ points last season. Six of the 11 had 15 or more wins. Nine of the 11 pitched 185+ innings. They all had at least one of the two.
There were seven pitchers with 15+ wins. Jesus Luzardo of the Philadelphia Phillies was the only one on that list to score fewer than 500 fantasy points (he had 476).
Thirteen total pitchers pitched 185+ innings, and they averaged 515 fantasy points. Kevin Gausman (452), Zac Gallen (376), Framber Valdez (442) and Zack Littell (414) are the only ones who didn’t crack 500 points.
Starting pitchers with relief pitcher eligibility are a cheat code. Middle-of-the-pack starters are almost always going to score more than middle-of-the-pack relievers. In recent years, pitchers like Spencer Strider, Cole Ragans and Garrett Crochet had relief pitcher eligibility while being in their respective rotations. Getting a pitcher of that caliber in your relief pitcher roster slot could be huge.
We likely won’t get an ace outcome from someone who is relief pitcher-eligible this year. However, Chase Burns of the Cincinnati Reds could be interesting. He showed high velocity and great strikeout stuff in his limited time last year. Over 43.1 innings, he had a 35% strikeout rate. He’ll have to limit the free passes and fly balls, but there’s plenty of potential. Bruns is currently projected to be the fifth starter for the Reds.
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