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Bestball leagues have taken off in recent years. They are essentially fantasy leagues that involve drafting a team and getting the best optimized lineup every week based on your roster. They are great alternatives to standard leagues, as there is no roster setting, no grinding the waiver wire, and no trading. They are also a good way to mock draft because most bestball formats involve some form a cash payment, which means more realistic results, and less people drafting a kicker in the first round and leaving the draft. Draft in bestball involves a different approach than a typical draft, so here are some Do’s and Don’ts to help you get a leg up on the competition in your bestball drafts.
1) DO Set up your Queue after every pick.
Most Bestball leagues are “Slow drafts”, meaning instead of getting 90 seconds between picks, there are usually 2, 4, or 8 hours between picks, as there is really no rush to finish a draft in mid-June. As you check draft throughout the day, I recommend setting up a queue of players equal to the amount of turns until your next pick. Nothing would infuriate you more than being autopicked a suspended player of a free agent during a draft when you had 8 hours to make a decision.
2) DON'T use a Zero-RB approach in Bestball leagues!
The trendy “Zero-RB” strategy, which involves avoiding drafting RBs early due to their injury risk and taking the “safer” positions early on instead, is not very optimal in Bestball formats. The main reason is Zero RB relies heavily on using the waiver wire to supplement te lack of taking elite RBs, which is impossible in Bestball leagues as there are no waiver wire transactions. Use those High Value picks on RBs who are projected to get plenty of touches. WR and QB are deeper than normal, meaning there is plenty of value to be had later on.
3) DO Stack QBs and Pass-Catchers whenever possible.
Your Starting lineup each week is picked based on the highest scoring players on your roster, so you want to create as much weekly volatility in your lineup as possible. An easy way to do that is to stack QBs and pass catchers from the same team whenever it makes sense on your Bestball teams. The level of urgency you want to pursue a stack depends on the payout. Most Bestball leagues only payout the top 2 or 3 finishers in the league, so you want to have some volatility in your lineup, as finishing 4th place is the same as finishing last. Personally I prefer to target later round QBs to stack with my early round pass-catchers, as oppose drafting QBs early and seeking out their pass catchers.
4) DON’T draft your own handcuffs!
As stated in the previous tip, volatility is a major key to success in Bestball leagues. The “safety” you get when drafting the handcuff to your Top-Tier RB not only limits that volatility, it clogs up you roster with a player who more often than not will not play enough to provide any value to your team. I suggest drafting the handcuff of the RBs on other teams instead. The primary reason for this is potential of getting a starting RB should the starter miss time, increasing the upside of your team. Also, if a top tier RB on your roster gets injured, your chances of winning the league are slim anyway, so taking your own handcuff provides little benefit.
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