Best Ball Fantasy Baseball 2026 Guide

How Best Ball Scoring and Lineups Work

Best Ball leagues still use familiar fantasy baseball scoring categories or point systems. What changes is how lineups are handled.

Automatic Lineup Selection

Each scoring period, the system automatically fills your lineup using the highest-scoring players on your roster. If your shortstop has a bad week but your backup shortstop goes on a power surge, the system uses the better performance.

You never have to predict hot streaks. You just need players capable of producing them.

Why Depth Matters More Than Stars

Acquiring players for your roster who qualify in your league to play multiple positions is a critical aspect of the Best Ball game.  Generally, I raise on my rankings a significant number of spots, players who have two qualifying positions and draft at least one player who qualifies at three or more positions.  This saves a roster spot to attack pitching deeper.

Because only your top scorers count, having multiple playable options at each position is critical. One superstar alone doesn’t carry a team. Depth protects you from injuries, slumps, and uneven playing time. 

For platoon players, I only draft players who are left-handed.  They are more likely to see 4-5 right-handed starters in a given week and have productive weeks.  Having platoon right-handed hitters can really hurt your team.

Know Your League Format

Generally, Best Ball leagues are either total points or Roto scoring.  The concept of draft and play does not convert well to the Head-to-Head formats.  Knowing which scoring style you are playing with is important to how you assemble that roster.  So for instance, if you are in a Roto-style league, you need to draft relief pitchers who will get saves.  If you are in a points system, you just want the highest scoring pitchers.

Additionally, if your roster requirements have two catchers, it is more important to get good catchers as it can take value away from the other teams in your league and give you an advantage.  Many leagues have different roster requirements and you need to change your approach.

Drafting Hitters for Roto-Style Leagues

When drafting your hitters in a Roto-style league, you can follow the SMART System with some minor adjustments.  The main adjustment we will address later.  You can take a lot more risks in a Best Ball format on players who switched cities or who are coming off injuries or who are less experienced.  My Best Ball teams will have more rookies and second-year players than my normal leagues as they are less projectable.

Drafting Hitters for Points Leagues

In points leagues, you want to acquire as many plate appearances as possible.  Focus on hitters who play everyday, are durable and bat early in the lineup.  You can acquire a lot of points by simply getting your hitters to the plate.

Of course, reviewing the metrics that we talked about previously on your hitters and pitchers can help.  For hitters, we suggested that you look at wOBA, BABIP and Barrels which combine exit velocity and launch angle.  

Drafting Pitchers for Roto-Style Leagues

When drafting pitchers in Best Ball Roto-Style leagues for fantasy baseball, you need to have balance on your roster to make sure that you pick up enough saves and enough wins.  It is important to understand the rules for the number of innings pitched to qualify for ERA and WHIP categories.  When that number is low there are a lot more strategies that can be employed.  For beginners, I still suggest the SMART System to eliminate mistakes.  In Best Ball contests, I often take starting pitchers earlier and make sure I get two of them early enough to LOCK in statistics to stay competitive.  

Drafting Pitchers for Points Leagues

Points leagues are very different on the pitching side.  YOU NEED POINTS.  You don’t need saves or wins.  These differences allow many different strategies to take place.  Many will tell you that you do not need closers for instance.  A starting pitcher on a good team who is in the rotation should outscore all the closers.  

Although this is generally true, that is only true for the aggregate.  Every mid-level starting pitcher will have bad weeks.  

A couple of interesting strategies emerge here:

First, make sure you get different level starters to maximize points.  Most No. 1 starters on teams will more often than not face the #1 starters and so on.  If you have No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 starters, you will have a more balanced approach to those pitchers who have two starts in a given week.  So BALANCE.

Second, getting multiple potential closers late can give you an edge.  Having middle relief pitchers or starters who don’t strike out a lot of hitters and are on a bad team is way worse than having a closer on a mid-level team.

Here is the logic.  In any week that a closer picks up two saves, he will be in your starting lineup.  All of your pitchers cannot have the equivalent of the points for 1.4 wins.  Usually a win is 10 pts and a save is seven.  So if a mid-level starter gets 5IP, 5Ks, 3ER and a no decision.  He gets seven points.  The closer who gets 1IP, 2Ks and a save, accrues 10 points.  If he does that twice, he gets 20 which is more than the starting pitcher even if he got the win.

Of course, reviewing the metrics that we talked about previously on your hitters and pitchers can help.  For pitchers, we suggest that you look at SwK, velocity, xFIP, FpK and BABIP.

Why Best Ball Works So Well for Beginners

Best Ball teaches core fantasy concepts without overwhelming you. You learn how playing time, depth, and roster balance affect results. You can try many different strategies to see which ones work the best for you.  For the most part, there is not a lot of interaction with the other teams so you can practice without the stress.

It is also an amazing way to study baseball.  Many Best Ball leagues have clocks that give you hours to look at your options and therefore learn as you go without the pressure or a one-minute clock.

So play stress free fantasy baseball.  Play Best Ball.

People Also Ask

What is Best Ball fantasy baseball?
A draft-only fantasy format where the system automatically starts your highest scorers each week.

Do you set lineups in Best Ball leagues?
No. Lineups are optimized automatically based on scoring.

Is Best Ball good for beginners?
Yes. It removes weekly management and focuses on drafting fundamentals.

How many players do you draft in Best Ball fantasy baseball?
Most leagues draft larger rosters than traditional formats to account for depth.

Can you make trades or waiver moves in Best Ball?
No. Once the draft ends, your roster is locked.