Fantasy is in large part about knowing your targets and knowing your particular format, as there exists a wide variety of scoring systems, roster requirements, transaction rules, etc., across the vast universe of fantasy sports leagues.
The classic "rotisserie" or "roto" scoring dominates the discussion in fantasy baseball, but head-to-head and points leagues now dominate the overall landscape.
I've been honored to play in the Tout Wars Head-to-Head (H2H) points league since 2018, reaching the finals multiple times but falling short of winning a championship. Last season, I snuck into the championship round as the No. 5 seed in the playoffs, only to fall decisively to the great Ariel Cohen, creator of ATC projections, who recently joined me on the RotoWire Fantasy Baseball podcast to discuss his victory. Even with the volatile nature of H2H, I've found that the best team and manager are usually rewarded when it's all said and done, if not always the regular-season points leader.
I was back for another year of the live auction draft at the esteemed Hotel Belleclaire in New York City on Sunday, March 15, 2026, surrounded by some of the brightest minds in the industry including the aforementioned Mr. Cohen, Nick Pollack, creator of Pitcher List, Chris Towers of CBS Sports and Lauren Auberbach of Fantrax, who earned the No. 1 seed in the H2H playoffs last year, among many other great people and players. The full list of participants in Tout Wars H2H:
- Ariel Cohen, CBS Sports, @ATCNY (2025, 2020 Tout H2H Champ)
- Clay Link, RotoWire, @claywlink
- Lauren Auerbach, Fantrax, @lkauerbach
- Ryan Hallam, Fighting Chance Fantasy, @fightingchance
- Nick Pollack, Pitcher List, @nickpollak
- Sky Dombroske, Fantistics Insider Baseball, @SkyDombroske (2024 Tout H2H Champ)
- Frank Ammirante, RotoBaller, @FAmmiranteTFJ
- Michael Govier, Pallazzo Podcast, @mjgovier
- Joe Gallina, Fantasy Alarm/Athlon Sports, @joegallina
- Chris Towers, CBS Sports, @CTowersCBS
- Britton Allen, Pallazzo Podcast, @BrittonAllen
- Sam Wirsching, Dynasty Guru
Just within the world of points leagues, there are numerous scoring systems. There is no one "default" fantasy baseball points system. Over time, this 12-team league has settled on the CBS scoring settings:
Hitting
Single: 1
Double: 2
Triple: 3
Home Run: 4
RBI: 1
Run: 1
Base on Balls: 1
Strikeouts: -.5
Stolen base: 2
Caught stealing: -1
Pitching
Win: 7
Loss: -5
Save: 7
Quality Start: 3
Strikeout: .5
Base on balls: -1
Inning pitched: 3
Hits allowed: -1
Earned Runs: -1
Hit batsman: -1
You can read the full league Constitution here.
The first thing I recommend any points leaguer do is plug your scoring settings into the valuation calculator of your choice. This will give you baseline rankings and/or custom dollar value estimates for your particular draft. You can also see how those player valuations might differ from ADP, which is usually based on rotisserie league drafts. Of course, I'm going to recommend the RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit '26 for iOS. There, you can customize to your heart's content and cross check your picks with our projections and ATC projections in real time.
It's always important to remember that in points leagues, the delicate category balance of roto leagues gets thrown out the window. A fantasy manager simply needs points, not standings points within each particular category. One particular wrinkle for this league is that there are two designated relief pitcher slots, with some starting pitchers having RP eligibility depending on number of relief appearances from the previous season. So, with that in mind, here's how my auction draft turned out:
I found the prices at the very top of the draft to be entirely reasonable, more so than in past years. Paul Skenes and old friend Vladimir Guerrero ended up being the foundational pieces of my team. The prices were right on Roman Anthony, Wyatt Langford, Addison Barger and Wilyer Abreu, four of my top hitting targets this season. In fact, I was holding out more money for both Barger and Abreu than I ended up needing.
Side note: auction drafts are so much fun because they allow you to get a higher number of targets you might otherwise not be able to land in a traditional snake draft.
Kevin McGonigle will likely be rocketing up draft boards as it looks like he could be the Tigers' new leadoff man and everyday shortstop. At this point, I'd say he looks more likely to make his team than fellow top prospect Konnor Griffin.
I seem to be in the minority on this one, but I like one last gamble on an Ozzie Albies bounce-back, though in retrospect I wish I would have pushed Matt McLain higher instead. McLain is now going higher in drafts, which is understandable given McLain's hot spring, and it may very well prove to be the correct call. Albies has been trending downward for a while now, but he had a massive homer in the WBC, he still puts bat to ball with consistency (see: -.5 points per hitter strikeout) and there has been talk of Atlanta potentially running more this season under new baserunning coach Antoan Richardson.
I'm not feeling good about Andrew Abbott's spring, but at $3, it made sense.
Perhaps because the spending at the top was a little reined in compared to past years, and because I didn't need as much as expected for targets like Barger and Abreu, I ended up in unfamiliar territory with a little too much money at the end of the draft, which led to slight overpays on guys like Albies, J.T. Realmuto, Royce Lewis and Edward Cabrera. A few other managers found themselves in a similar boat, and this more conservative spending by the league may actually be a direct result of the success of Cohen, who typically spreads his budget around his roster rather than taking the stars-and-scrubs approach.
Auction dynamics are an interesting part of the game.
Durability and performance are incredibly important (please overlook the fact that I drafted Lewis), and I want some conceivable upside with almost every pick.
So much will come down to in-season management as we all attempt to overcome the injury attrition over the course of the long MLB season and maintain a top team until the very end of the H2H playoffs.
See the full draft board here.
Big thanks to the Tout Wars board for including me and hosting a fantastic weekend of fantasy baseball drafts.
For up-to-the-minute updates on injuries, lineups, roster changes and more, head to RotoWire's Fantasy Baseball News & Latest MLB Updates or follow @RotoWireMLB on X.
