The Fantasy Baseball Blueprint to a 2025 championship

The fantasy baseball season is among us, and it's a glorious time. This is the truest fantasy sport in a lot of ways. It demands the most decisions and knowledge of the most players, and it's tied to the longest season. For those reasons, the winner of a fantasy baseball league is mostly determined by skill. Six months is an awfully long time for flukes and bad bounces to even out and iron out.

That said, the preparation for a fantasy baseball season can be intimidating. So many decisions, so many options. Paradox of choice can be a pesky thing in modern society — it's possible to be frozen by so many alternatives staring back at us.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2025 MLB season]

So today, I'll try to help you out with this planning, make it less scary. Of course, you're welcome to adopt any piece of my strategy and player takes, as small a slice of it you want. You can even ignore all of it completely. At the end of the day, you're the one who has to be satisfied with your team, and heck, any strategy will work if you pick the right players (and sadly, the converse of that is also true).

Let's start with broad strokes, and then we'll get into specifics. As always, season this to taste, factoring in your league shape and the managerial styles you're competing against.

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(Although most of what's below would apply to any league in general, please assume we are assembling a mixed-league roster in this exercise.)

My goal entering any draft is to attack hitting and blend in pitching. Hitting is more stable year over year, more projectable. Pitching is more variable. It's also likely that your hitting preference list is more similar to the market, while your pitching preference list is more different than the market. Thus, you might be surprised when you land more of your pitching sleepers and values than you initially thought.

I definitely won't take a starting pitcher in the first round and probably not in the second, either. And I'm never going to be the first manager to tab a closer. But this does not mean we're ignoring those spots, or punting them. I want to shoot for very good players who have a chance to be great.

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In other words, I favor a Hero-Driven pitching strategy.

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Think back to fantasy football, where the Hero RB strategy is a common one (I called it Anchors Aweigh many years ago, but no one else did; branding has never been my strongest suit). I like to examine the starting pitcher and relief pitcher boards and ask myself what good player — but not at a prohibitive price — has a chance to climb a tier and be elite at the end of the season. Said another way, I'm looking for a B or B+ purchase who could give me an A season.

If I can get one starting pitcher in this frame, and one reliever in this frame, I've filled my Hero quota. And in the meantime, I'm loading up on a fantastic offense, too.

Some of those affordable aces who could jump a tier (in no particular order):

• Cole Ragans, Royals

• Logan Webb, Giants

• Garrett Crochet, Red Sox

• Logan Gilbert and George Kirby, Mariners

• Framber Valdez, Astros

• Michael King, Padres

• Shota Imanaga, Cubs

Most of those pitchers are tied to good teams and in favorable parks — with Gilbert and Kirby, you're getting the most significant cheat-code park in baseball. Not only can you draft these guys, you can watch them and enjoy them. King and Imanaga burst on the scene as starters last year but they're not ridiculously priced. Webb was BABIP-unlucky in 2024, and that San Francisco park will hide a lot of his mistakes. Crochet gives me Chris Sale 2.0 vibes — and remember, the early Sale years in Boston were especially fruitful.

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Eventually you'll need to think about your SP2s and SP3s and SP4s and such, the rest of your staff. I have two player types I like to consider for these roles, a combination of intriguing-upside picks and boring-floor picks.

Let's start with the upside picks, they're more exciting:

— Hunter Brown figured it out over his final 22 turns, with a 2.31 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. He was always a highly-rated prospect. Major ceiling. Go get him.

— Did you know Hunter Greene led the NL in pitcher WAR last year? You could drink for free all night on that trivia question. Sure, the walks are a smidge high, and he also hit 19 men last year. But he'll always miss bats and he's entering an age-25 season. The early Yahoo ADP (after Pick 100) looks like a gift.

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— With MacKenzie Gore, we're betting a little on the come-up. Still, 181 strikeouts last year, the ERA snuck under 4. It's an age-26 season, and he's another pedigree kid. If a career season is going to happen, why not in 2025? You can land him well after Pick 200.

— When we think about the Mets we mostly concentrate on their destination offense, but keep Kodai Senga (off an injury-wasted year) and Clay Holmes (new role, after relieving with the Yankees) in mind as ADP-beating picks. Maybe Holmes can be this year's Michael King.

Some of the boring values I like on the mound:

— Bailey Ober. Good defense, the right park, stable peripherals. Easy to watch.

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— Luis Castillo and Bryan Woo. I'm so ready to draft into Seattle's staff, I might take Randy Johnson and Félix Hernández.

— Seth Lugo. He was quietly good before the breakout great season last year. So, he's earned a profit two straight years. Flat-out disrespected in ADP.

— José Berríos is all floor but the last two years it's been a 3.63 ERA and a 1.170 WHIP while making 64 starts. Boring consistency, and let's also give him credit for a career of durability. The Blue Jays also improved their infield defense.

Let's shift to the closers for a second. Yahoo ADPs are pricy on the top guys, Emmanuel Clase, Devin Williams and Josh Hader. But how sure are we that they'll be better than some of the affordable options?

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A few value closers I like:

Mason Miller, Athletics

He is fifth on the Yahoo board but I suspect the Athletics could be this year's Tigers. This is not a bad baseball club.

Ryan Walker, Giants

He was lights out all of 2024 and appears to have no competition for the ninth inning. He's tied to a big park and a team that should be competitive and win a lot of close games.

Jeff Hoffman, Blue Jays

There's a little more risk to this pick, as Hoffman's medicals scared off the Braves and Orioles. But assuming he checks out in spring training, I see little reason why Hoffman can't be the undisputed closer in the YYZ. He gave us wipeout ratios last year, and that ADP well after pick 100 gets my attention.

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That's a lot of pitching stuff to get you started. I know you're eager to take some cuts. Let's shift to offense.

Two key points to start — one thing to know, and one assignment to complete.

— Brent Rooker, Kyle Schwarber and Marcell Ozuna all qualify as outfielders in Yahoo — they do not have OF tags in most other formats. So recognize they're more valuable in our format since they don't instantly lock up a utility spot. I already have acquired shares of all three of those guys, here and there. We don't know how Rooker's new Sacramento park will play exactly, but there's almost no chance it will be the death-valley that Oakland was, where the foul territory was expansive. I want you to draft some Athletics this year, amigos.

— Every league is different so this is something you have to do for yourself — try to figure out what positions and stats you can easily acquire at the end of your draft or during the year in free agency. Often that will be saves and steals. Maybe it will be a shortstop, or an outfielder. I can promise you third base and first base dry up quicker than in previous eras. But you really need to tailor this to your personal league environment. How you answer this question will influence your decision making in the flow of your draft.

[Fantasy Baseball Draft Rankings: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP]

My early picks will focus on power-speed combos, while still keeping an eye towards batting average. And obviously, you want dynamic players on top-tier offenses. There are very few players who check most of all of these boxes, so the supply will deplete quickly. That's all the more reason why I'm not taking a pitcher in the first couple of rounds — the dramatic offensive dropoff is something to be mindful of. Hopefully, I draft in a slot where I can get at least three major impact bats.

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And a word about draft slot — if you get your choice on your draft position, take one as early as possible. The talent drop-off is most significant early, and then becomes unrecognizable as the draft goes along. Consider: the fifth-round results of almost any draft would still look plausible if you flipped them upside down. You would never say that about the first round. Although, there's also something to be said for being in the middle of a draft order, where you never are that far removed from your next pick, but regardless I want you to land an above-fold draft slot if at all possible.

Here's how I consider every position with respect to depth.

— Catcher is deep, especially if you only need one starter. Even if your league requires two, you don't need to panic. I will not break the seal here, there's no need to. Try to pay attention to catcher-eligibles who pick up at-bats at other positions; this makes their volume more appealing and also saves them some physical wear and tear from the demanding catcher position.

— First base and third base are top-heavy. You probably want a starter at both slots in single-digit rounds.

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— Shortstop is the fun zone, absurdly deep, but because so many of the best players have shortstop eligibility, you'll likely consider one early, too.

— Second base is average depth. Not a panic position, not a blowoff position.

— With outfield, it comes down to how many you need. If it's just three, the living is easy. Four, you shouldn't feel taxed. Five, you'll want to try to get a collective group that avoids platoons and bad batting slots, though a heavy-side platoon hitter can be acceptable if your league has daily or at least bi-weekly transactions. I view platoon bats as problematic in leagues that only allow once-a-week roster moves.

Strategy is nice, but sometimes it's easier to have the names, the Glengarry Leads. Here are some of my favorite targets, round by round, both hitters and pitchers.

Round 1: Bobby Witt Jr. early, Gunnar Henderson middle, Francisco Lindor second half. Kyle Tucker, assuming the Astros didn't know something when they traded him away.

Round 2: Lindor if he ever slips. Yordan Álvarez. Jackson Chourio.

Round 3: Austin Riley is a snap-call here. I'll maybe consider Logan Gilbert, though I'd prefer to wait for something similar, later. Matt Olson, if he slips. In some deeper leagues, I might take Olson or Riley in Round 2.

Round 4: A good time to lock in that SP1. George Kirby will often land here. The pitching names around him all make sense, too. And as always, you have to consider any Round 3 name brand who slipped for some reason; that's the understood rule of value drafting, no matter where in the proceedings you are.

Round 5: I need to have a pitcher if I start with four bats. Otherwise, one of those Util/OF cheat codes would make a lot of sense here. I'm also not opposed to considering them in the fourth round.

Middle-Round Targets: Hunter Brown, any Seattle rotation guy, Bryan Reynolds, Mark Vientos (dynamite lineup), Riley Greene, Vinnie Pasquantino, Jake Burger, Alex Bregman, Seiya Suzuki.

Later-Round Targets: Xavier Edwards (will run as much as he wants), Isaac Paredes, Brandon Pfaadt, Yusei Kikuchi, Seth Lugo, Bryson Stott.

After Pick 200: Spencer Arighetti, Gleyber Torres, Michael Toglia, Kyle Finnegan, Josh Jung, A.J. Puk, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (ultimate boring vet), Mackenzie Gore, Willi Castro (get one of these versatile guys for your bench every year), Luis Rengifo, Tyler Soderstrom.

Some players I'm fading at ADP

Jacob deGrom (it's head over heart; I have one keeper share and I'll limit it to that), Mike Trout (Byron Buxton has a similar upside — and downside — and is over 100 picks cheaper), Ronald Acuña Jr. (he's already told you he doesn't want to run that much; believe him!), Willy Adames (bad park change and pressure of new contract; San Francisco also doesn't want to run); Xander Bogaerts (career arc headed in wrong direction, and park takes a tax), Randy Arozarena (in a dangerous age pocket and park will drive him crazy).

Speed Round: Leftover Tips & Tidbits

— If you can find a friend who shares a similar baseball view to you, co-managing is forever a cheat code. You have a buddy to share the fun and the work, and someone else who always cares about your team. It needs to be the right fit, but if you can find it, I promise you the winning odds just improved.

— I've never seen a team as playoff-guaranteed as the 2025 Dodgers, barring a catastrophic run of bad luck. With that in mind, I'm especially concerned about how load management might affect their in-season usage. Only Gavin Stone (140.1) and Tyler Glasnow (134) made it past 90 innings for L.A. last year. With every hiccup of elbow and shoulder, the team is going to play it safe. I also think this will affect the position guys, too; it's one reason why I (mildly) faded Shohei Ohtani this year, as amazing as he is.

— Never forget that by staying the course in August and September — when football comes into play and life often gets in the way — you can count on passing some disengaged fantasy managers. Working hard usually pays off in this pursuit. (All the more reason to get a partner, right?). Don't be discouraged by a slow start. And make sure you're still hitting your routines in September, even with football dominating the sporting landscape. You'll be rewarded.

— When I need observational help with my teams, I lean on certain industry and offline friends, mindful that they specialize in different things. Of course, I listen to everyone I respect but I make my own decisions. I encourage you to do the same thing.

— Right before my key drafts, I'll take one more look at the projected lineups. Although those preseason lists are often speculative and always subject to in-season change, I want to avoid platoons and 7-8-9 guys whenever possible.

— Yahoo has more position flexibility than any other provider in the industry, but I still want a few Swiss-army knives on the roster. If you're trying to break a tie, an extra position is often a good way to do that.

— Take immediate note of the waiver calendar and cadence when your league assembles. It's very easy to miss the critical first waiver or FAB period because you weren't ready for it. Life is complicated and dynamic for everyone. Don't count on remembering anything. Make sure it's all in your online calendar.

— When ERA and WHIP don't tell the same story, trust the WHIP.

— Unless your closer is a fire-breathing dragon, try not to watch him pitch. It's just going to stress you out.

— New metrics enter baseball every day and some of them are wonderful. We're adding a bunch of flashy bells and whistles to the Yahoo interface this year, too. But never forget walks and strikeouts are the first thing to look at for any pitcher, and for most of the hitters, too. The K/BB ratio is the water of baseball stats.

— Every year a bunch of unknown relievers become useful in our game, in part because more wins are being filtered back into the bullpens. A few weeks into the season, look for these guys. Don't worry if you don't know the name or if they were bad in the past. Several of these emergences will be real, and it's a potential way to help your ratios at the cheapest acquisition cost.

— Never forget we're playing a game about a game. It's supposed to be fun. I know for most of us it's more fun when we win, but I'm not opposed to making sure I have a local player or two, just for kicks. These players might be in your life for the next 6-8 months. You want to be smart about it, but it's totally okay to play favorites.

I'm here to share the ride with you. Catch me on at X/Twitter (@scott_pianowski) or on Blue Sky (@pianow.bsky.social) and let's talk some ball.