Champ or Chump: Nate Pearson
The MLB season is finally underway, and a lot of what fantasy owners "knew" before the first pitch has already fallen apart. Juan Soto has tested positive for COVID-19, leaving both the Nationals and a lot of fantasy rosters without a superstar talent for the foreseeable future. Clayton Kershaw was scratched from his Opening Day... Read More
First Impressions - MLB Opening Day 2020 Fantasy Notes
I can't remember being more excited for an Opening Day than this one. Although Thursday, July 23 was technically the first day of the 2020 MLB season, Friday is when 28 of the 32 teams took the field for the first time for regular-season play. Never have I been happier to fire up MLB Extra Innings... Read More
Prospects To Cut Loose In Dynasty Leagues
The dynasty format requires an owner to consider both the immediate and future implications of draft picks, trades, and waiver wire moves. Viewing roster decisions through two lenses, both present and long-term future makes fantasy baseball much more strategic and, unfortunately, much less forgiving. Any wrong move lives with you for years and makes you... Read More
Ariel Cohen's 2020 MLB Awards Predictions
Baseball is back! Opening day is finally upon us. We can now finally log in to our fantasy leagues and observe as the statistics start to accumulate. What a great feeling! We had to wait a few months longer this year due to the tragic global pandemic of COVID-19, but we are finally here. I... Read More
Deep Dive: Oakland A's Starting Rotation
Managing fantasy starting pitchers will be especially tough this season. With just three weeks of summer camp, some pitchers will be better prepared for the start of the season than others. Identifying the deepest MLB pitching staffs that can serve as valuable waiver wire resources will be one of the keys to your successful fantasy... Read More
Daily Fantasy Baseball Streamers - MLB Lineup Picks for Friday 7/24
Welcome to the 2020 MLB Season! While the delay has now been well over four months, it is finally time to start the season and we here at RotoBaller could not be more excited! The season will be a sprint to the finish as the teams will be playing 60 games across 66 days and we will... Read More
MLB Streamers for Thursday, July 23rd
Welcome to the 2020 MLB Season! While the delay has now been well over four months, it is finally time to start the season and we here at RotoBaller could not be more excited! The season will be a sprint to the finish as the teams will be playing 60 games across 66 days and... Read More
Sauceda's Slants: Finding POWA in the Infield
We recently introduced our new hitter metric, POWA (which stands for Prediction of wOBA Attempt), to more appropriately align and weight new Statcast metrics to better predict future performance. You can read the introductory piece for the full details and a 2019 POWA leaderboard, but the gist of it is: POWA is nearly 10% more... Read More
Sauceda's Slants: More POWA to your Outfield
We recently introduced our new hitter metric, POWA (which stands for Prediction of wOBA Attempt), to more appropriately align and weight new Statcast metrics to better predict future performance. You can read the introductory piece for the full details and a 2019 POWA leaderboard, but the gist of it is: POWA is nearly 10% more... Read More
Fantasy Life Vests: Safe Hitters In A Season Of Chaos
Chaos is the name of the game when it comes to the 2020 Major League Baseball season. We've got a short season, a limited schedule, expanded rosters, universal DH, and the continuously looming threat of a global pandemic. In other words, we have a plethora of factors we've never had to deal with before as... Read More
Historically Fast Starters to Target
The 2020 fantasy baseball season will be unlike any that has existed before. A 60-game sprint to the finish will offer all kinds of unexpected twists and turns. One consequence that seems obvious, though, is that players will not have a chance to round into shape. Guys will need to be on top of their... Read More
MLB Injury Guide - Week of July 19th
Injuries are commonplace in all sports. Baseball has seen the rate of injury continue to rise over the past few years. In fantasy, if someone is not in the medical field, it is hard to gauge how long a player will be out and whether they need to be replaced in a lineup. Sometimes this... Read More
Relief Pitchers to Target in 2020 Drafts
The pitching landscape in 2020 is going to be an odd one, as most teams' starting pitchers are not going to be fully built up in time for the season to start. Some teams have even already announced that their starters may not go more than four innings to start the year, and openers could... Read More
Divisional Adjustments: Pitchers On the Rise
After some painfully-long negotiations, the MLB season will begin in late July with a 60-game season. For the general fan and for us in the fantasy community, the length of the schedule is less than ideal, but I think we can all agree that some baseball is better than no baseball. The abbreviated season will... Read More
Platoon Situations to Avoid in a Shortened Season
Fantasy baseball fans, the 2020 season is finally almost upon us, which means it’s time to start thinking about drafting and valuing players all over again! As I am sure you are all aware, the shortened season and rule changes will impact aspects of your fantasy baseball strategies, some more than others. One of the... Read More
The COVID Conundrum - To Drop or Not to Drop?
So….real, actual baseball games are almost upon us. Opening Day is July 23rd. And yet, we are still in the midst of a pandemic. At the time of my writing this, by my calculations, at least 90 players have had COVID-19 or have gone through the COVID Protocol due to players being traced back to... Read More
Six-Man Rotations: Who's Doing It and Why It Matters
With only 60 games making up the 2020 regular season, it appears likely some unconventional pitching strategies will be featured. One strategy that is likely to be somewhat popular is the six-man rotation. So far, two teams have already committed to using six starters for at least the beginning of the season. Others could follow... Read More
Introducing the MLB Baller Ranks
It’s my extraordinary pleasure to introduce The Baller Ranks, an up-to-date rankings sheet for player values. We wanted to roll this out back in March, but 2020 has had other ideas... Ideally, The Baller Ranks are not a set of pre-season rankings or draft recommendations. They are designed to be an in-season set of data-based... Read More
Schedule Factors - Hitters on the Rise
Now that MLB schedules are finally official, it's time we take a look at which hitters are going to be impacted the most. In order to fully breakdown the way in which a schedule may impact a hitter, we need to keep three things in mind: player talent, strength of schedule, and directional park factors.... Read More
Historically Slow Starters to Avoid on Draft Day?
There is no telling how this 60-game jumble of a 2020 season will affect each MLB player individually. Some may relish the opportunity to have an outsized impact on the season. Others may feel uncomfortable playing at all, let alone be at full game speed in time for Opening Day. Regardless of the unknowns, however,... Read More
Rethinking DFS Strategies for a 60-Game MLB Season
The 2020 MLB season is going to be weird. In a 60-game season, previous in-season game performance holds limited value, making game-to-game projections unusually difficult across the entire season. Consider what some player production looked like 60 games into last season: David Dahl had a .457 BABIP Jose Ramirez had a .202/.303/.307 slash line Jake... Read More
Is Aaron Judge Worth The Draft Risk?
On September 18, 2019, Aaron Judge suffered a stress fracture in his rib while attempting to make a catch in right field. Judge played through the injury, but he was forced to take a break from hitting in early March thanks to shoulder and pectoral discomfort. Judge recently began swinging again, and GM Brian Cashman... Read More
A Crash Course for MLB's Sprint Season
In true 2020-style, baseball is about to get funky. Maybe you’re excited about the idea of getting some strange baseball, or maybe the word “fluid” reminds you of the morning after your last visit to Taco Bell. Either way, it’s time to start sorting the chalupas from the chimichangas. Let’s acknowledge that we’re venturing into... Read More
2019 Breakout Starters Who’ll Continue to Improve
Breakout starters are one of the great joys of fantasy baseball. There are few things more satisfying than adding or drafting a player who emerges as one of the season’s best values. Starting pitchers are particularly prone to come out of nowhere and propel a team to a championship. However, that volatility makes it difficult... Read More
30 Burning Questions (and Answers) for 2020 Fantasy Baseball
Upon hearing that Major League Baseball was finally set to return to action and the fantasy season was back, a million questions popped in my head. Sadly, I forgot most of them by the next day so I'm left with just 30, coincidentally a nice even number. Actually, my initial plan was to do 60... Read More
Top DH Options for National League Teams
There is finally a plan for Major League Baseball in 2020! After months of negotiations and discussions, baseball is tentatively scheduled to open up in late July, and with it, a couple of new rules. The most notable new rule for 2020 is the implementation of the designated hitter in the National League, which certainly... Read More
The King's Insider Guide To the 60-Game MLB Season
Since the spring, I have been conducting interviews with many notable and well-informed MLB sources on the 2020 season. On the condition of anonymity, current and former players, scouts, executives, media members and others have shared their unfiltered insights, and I have supplied my in-depth fantasy baseball takes on the information they have shared. As... Read More
Outfielders Ready to Break Out Late
Finding value is crucial on draft day and finding just one or two players later in drafts that provide better numbers than projected can give you a significant edge on the competition as you bid for fantasy glory. All too often, we look for the new shiny object in drafts thinking they’ll come up to... Read More
Infielders Ready to Break Out Late
Finding value is crucial on draft day and finding just one or two players later in drafts that provide better numbers than projected can give you a significant edge on the competition as you bid for fantasy glory. All too often, we look for the new shiny object in drafts thinking they’ll come up to... Read More