It is time for fantasy baseball playoffs! If your league has not already started the playoffs, it will very soon. The season has taken its path, and maybe you are sitting at the top of the standings, or perhaps you are already looking forward to the football season. Either way, fantasy baseball players fall into one of three categories at this point in the season. Here are some strategies by tier for the final push to your fantasy baseball championship.
Top Tier
Top tier fantasy players just need to stick with the program. Continue doing what you have been doing. It has gotten you where you are in the first place, so don’t fix what isn’t broken and dance with the one that brought you here. Whatever idiom you want to use, but stick with your Gerrit Cole, Cody Bellinger, or Mike Trout. If you are strong in home runs but weak at average, just keep your sluggers going and don’t chase average at the sake of homers. If you can improve, do so, but do not do it at the cost of your current position.
Middle Tier
Look for the right match-ups. Pick your spots and exploit an advantage. This is the hardest place to be in fantasy sports because the wrong move may cost you against a lower-tier fantasy player. Even worse, would be to make the wrong choice and have the right guy in the right situation sitting on your bench. But we are going to stay positive here, so find a good match-up like the Minnesota Twins at the Detroit Tigers or the Chicago Cubs hosting the Seattle Mariners. Start guys that have great match-ups and good percentages. Yahoo! Fantasy has a star rating for daily line-ups, ESPN uses their proprietary Play Rater, and CBS Sports uses their own ranking system. Grind out the victories, and finish strong.
Bottom Tier
Similarly to the middle tier players, look to find an advantage or exploit a match-up. Then be adventurous. Look for the big upset — it’s the playoffs, and anything can happen. Pick up a quality flyer or find a guy riding a hot streak. Go pick up Mike Ford of the Yankees, or look to snag the Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Gavin Lux for a sneaky playoff victory. Don’t give up! You can really mess up another fantasy team’s championship hopes with a victory by stealing an additional category or sneaking in an extra couple of points here or there.
Final Words
You have made it to the final stretch of the fantasy baseball season. The draft seems like forever ago, you dealt with players on the IL, worked the waiver wire, and then stayed strong through the dog days of summer. The weather is cooling off, but the playoffs are hot. Keep going and finish what you started. Whether you’re looking to lock up the championship or are grinding out the best finish you can, have fun completing the fantasy baseball season. After all, having fun is what it’s all about.
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