Although many fantasy baseball writers primarily think about rotisserie formats when writing their articles, points leagues have become the default setting on many popular sites, including here at Yahoo. And unlike roto formats, points-league scoring systems differ greatly from one site to another.
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Luckily, the default settings at Yahoo are as sensible as one can find on any platform. In fact, when looking at the final player rankings from 2024, most players finished in similar spots within their respective positions in roto and Yahoo points scoring. The top-seven hitters (Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., Juan Soto, José Ramírez, Gunnar Henderson) were the same in both formats, as were the top-three starters (Tarik Skubal, Zack Wheeler, Chris Sale).
Still, there are some wrinkles to playing in Yahoo points leagues that wise managers must know.
POSITION PLAYERS
In points leagues, players are rewarded for collecting doubles and triples. Jarren Duran is the poster boy for this type of skill set, as last year he led the majors in both doubles and triples en route to being the eighth-most valuable player in points leagues. Ezequiel Tovar finished second in baseball with 45 doubles, which enabled him to rank as the 37th-most productive hitter. And although Alec Bohm provided unremarkable totals in homers and steals, he was a top 60 hitter in points leagues thanks to his 44 doubles.
Patience is a virtue
In points leagues, walks are valued the same as singles, which gives a high floor to those who draw plenty of free passes. Kyle Schwarber’s low batting average is less of a problem in this format, as his frequent walks make up for the lack of base knocks. Jonathan India was an average roto asset who drew 80 walks, which helped him rank 52nd among points league hitters. And although Nolan Schanuel was an afterthought in roto leagues, he was the No. 100 points-league hitter on the strength of collecting 68 walks. It’s also worth noting that no points are deducted for strikeouts in default Yahoo scoring, which benefits the classic three-true-outcomes players.
Speed still matters
Unlike some sites, Yahoo rewards baseball’s fastest players by giving 4.2 points for each stolen base. Brice Turang and Nico Hoerner nearly cracked the top 50 hitters last year, while Maikel Garcia and Andrés Giménez each found their way into the top 100. Although one-dimensional base stealers are…