Fantasy Baseball Best Ball Draft Strategy Overview (2025) - How To Win Your Best Ball Leagues

January 28, 2025

Chris' tips and advice how to win fantasy baseball best ball drafts and leagues. He gives you his expert best ball strategies to help you win MLB best ball leagues.

Do you want to draft in more fantasy baseball leagues but don’t want more in-season management? Best ball formats may be an excellent option for you! As the best ball format has grown in popularity, so have the options to play on various sites. The most popular place to play best ball is still Fantrax, but you also have Underdog, which allows you to draft very quickly, and NFBC if you want to play for higher stakes.

Each platform is going to have a different scoring setting, so be sure you know the settings before jumping in. This article will provide the scoring and roster template for each site, as well as how you should approach the draft.

If you are like me and find less time on your hands every day, the best ball format might be the perfect way for you to scratch that draft itch. RotoBallers, if you are new to best ball drafts, this draft guide should help you get started.

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What Are Best Ball Fantasy Baseball Leagues?

So, what is a best ball league for fantasy baseball? A best ball league is a 12-team, season-long league with a 40-round draft. It is as simple as drafting and leaving the team all year and letting the computer set your lineup.

There is no in-season management, such as trades or waiver wire claims. The players you select in your draft stay on your roster all season. If you draft well, you will likely perform well in the league. You can follow along with your league standings all season or check it at the end of the year. There is zero commitment from you after the draft.

You can play best ball leagues on several sites, which I mentioned in the introduction. We will focus on Fantrax’s best ball leagues, which is where I play most of my best balls. The leagues are 12 teams that draft a 40-man roster. Your lineup will automatically be set each week based on the top score at each position.

Each week, the computer will select the highest-scoring player at each position and set your lineup for you. Here is the positional breakdown below.

It is also important to note that players are only available at their primary position on Fantrax. Players also do not have multi-position eligibility. Take this into account when drafting.

Best Ball Fantasy Baseball Scoring Rules

For this article, we are going to focus on Fantrax's best ball scoring, as it is one of the more popular platforms to play on. The table below shows you how it is scored.

It is also important to know the differences, so here is how NFBC scores best ball:

And finally, Underdog's best ball scoring:

As you can see, in Fantrax's best ball drafts, hitters receive one point for each hit, walk, run, and RBI. Home runs and stolen bases are both worth three points apiece. The scoring for hitters is pretty balanced overall.

On the pitching side, the scoring is not as simple. You can find value in multiple ways, especially with a closer, who seems to be pushed down in best ball drafts.

In 2024, only Tarik Skubal, Zack Wheeler, and Chris Sale finished in the top 20 overall scoring-wise. Thirty hitters reached the 500-point total in 2024. Just five pitchers reached the 500-point mark in 2024. Thirty-four pitchers reached the 400-point mark, which shows there is a little more depth in the middle tier of pitchers. Meanwhile, 89 hitters reached the 400-point total.

Chris Sale sitting 95 and touching 97 this early in encouraging. The pitch data looked solid on all 4 of his offerings.
64% whiff rate
48% CSW
Health is likely the biggest factor. 140 IP from Sale could return nice value on fantasy.
pic.twitter.com/4mClh8HmuF

— Chris Clegg (@ChrisCleggMiLB) February 27, 2024

Based on this, I land somewhere in the middle. High-end starting pitching is important, but the high-end bats will likely give you the highest point total. With that being said, let’s look at some best ball draft strategies.

How to Approach a Fantasy Baseball Best Ball Draft

When I first started playing best ball, I used projections to create a point value based on whichever site I was using scoring settings for best ball. Using the highest projected points system with good roster construction is fine. Winning leagues is possible and I have won plenty with this method.

Instead of drafting straight from total points, I now look at points over replacement level. Use the last “startable” players at each position as a standard. The standard Fantrax best ball league is 12 teams and, therefore, uses the 12th-highest-projected scorer at each position (minus OF and P). Since five outfielders are started per team, you should use the 60th-highest-projected scorer as the baseline. For pitchers, since nine are started, the 108th-projected one.

Using this method can show you where the values are and where you may need to draft early. Catchers usually have the lowest replacement level value, so getting an early catcher may be beneficial. The same can be said for outfield and third base.

This strategy is not perfect because you also have to factor in three utility spots. It does, however, show replacement level and which positions are worth filling sooner than others.

This year, pitching is projected to be deeper than in years past. If you don't draft one of the top arms, you can probably afford to wait and fill some bats early. You can build a very solid foundation of pitchers while having elite bats on your roster.

How To Approach Hitters for Best Ball

When evaluating hitters for best ball drafts, a few categories are worth focusing on that would differ from a standard roto league. The first is walks. A hitter who walks would play better in an OBP and the same applies for a best ball points league.

While batting average is a major aspect of a 5×5 roto league, you can almost completely ignore it in best ball. Hits still matter but you can get away with lower batting averages in best ball. Willy Adames and Kyle Schwarber were the 10th and 11th overall-ranked players last year, respectively. Anthony Santander hit .235 but still wound up as the 25th-best player in the best ball format.

JUNE ISNT THE ONLY MONTH THAT BELONGS TO KYLE SCHWARBER pic.twitter.com/DYevw94dL8

— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) October 17, 2023

Home runs and steals are worth three points, making them the most-valued hitting categories for best ball. Elly De La Cruz can hit .240 and still probably finish as a top-10 player here. Brenton Doyle and Brice Turang were two players who surprisingly finished top 40 overall in best ball last year.

You have to think outside the traditional roto box a bit when it comes to valuing players for the best ball format.

How To Approach Pitchers for Best Ball

Looking at the scoring system, you may be enticed to push closers up because of the value of saves. While it is understandable, innings are still important, and if a closer gets just one save in a week, they are going to be of no value to your team.

Ryan Helsley accumulated the most points of any relief pitcher last season, which wound up being top 10 overall for all arms. He averaged 7.29 points per game in best ball formats. This largely came from the fact he had 49 saves. Emmanuel Clase also finished well thanks to his 47 saves total, but you would have to drop to Pitcher 34 to find the next-highest finisher among delivers.

On a different note, when drafting starting pitching, what should you look for? Pitchers who can accumulate innings and get strikeouts. There is a major correlation between this scoring system's impact and how many innings a starting pitcher throws. Chris Sale and Michael King were the only starters who ranked in the top 10 and did not throw more than 185 innings. They were also highly dominant in terms of strikeouts and ratios.

Banking on wins is not a good strategy. If a pitcher goes deep into games, they increase their chance of a quality start, which is highly valuable. With that being said, it is ok to draft relievers at the right cost. In the past, I have avoided closers completely in best ball drafts. But, when a good closer falls, you can capitalize. My advice is to grab starting pitchers who give you volume, and Logan Webb is a perfect example.

Importance of Depth in Best Ball Drafts

Having depth on your roster seems like common sense. It is much easier to do in other formats where players have multi-positional eligibility. In the Fantrax best ball drafts, it is a singular position. Making sure you have multiple players eligible at each position is important to track.

While you will start just 13 hitters, your bench hitters are important. It is essential to have plenty of quality bats and those who accumulate at-bats. At the end of drafts, shoot for boring players with roles. Sometimes the true upside is just simply plate appearances.

Sometimes, prospects don't pan out, especially in Year 1. Taking too many shots on the upside prospects can hurt you, and you might wind up taking zeros if you get injuries and don't have the plate appearances to cover each spot.

Best Ball Roster Construction Tips

There is no right or wrong way to construct a roster. You can build several ways and wind up winning. With the 40-man rosters, my preference is usually to have 21 hitters and 19 pitchers. Catchers may not provide much, so grabbing one of the top guys is important, and then filling it out with depth or even the stars' backup catcher is a good strategy.

In general, I want three players for each infield position. You have five outfield roster spots, and I would roster nine of them. Injuries happen, and you need backups. You also have three utility spots to fill. Get your depth!

From a pitching standpoint, you should grab innings-eating starters later in the draft. Look for arms like Erick Fedde, Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning, Miles Mikolas, and other types who are very valuable.

That should give you what you need to know. Happy drafting, RotoBallers!

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