Things You'll Need:
- Baseball statistics
- Baseball schedule
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Step 1
Draft consistent performers. One major distinction between head-to-head and rotisserie fantasy baseball is that you are fighting each week, rather than relying on a full season of statistics. For this reason players who are consistent tend to be more valuable in this format. A player who hits 50 home runs in one week and zero in the other 22 is a detriment to your team in those 22 homerless weeks, and less valuable than a player who hits 2 homers every week for the duration. Thus, steer clear of streaky players.
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Step 2
Target players who help across a wide number of categories. In head-to-head you should avoid single-category contributors. While their stats will look good at the end of the year, relying on a single player to provide all of your stolen bases, for example, is a bad idea. The schedule might dictate a difficult match-up for them or they might get injured, losing you an entire category. Instead try to fill your rosters with guys who do a little bit of everything. This will make your roster consistent even when individual players are struggling.
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Step 3
Boost your rankings of injury-prone players. While in rotisserie baseball you want to avoid injury-prone players, in head-to-head a lot of value can be found here. Because you want the best team only for a seven-day stretch, it is fine to rely on guys who might miss some time, particularly if your league has a disabled-list feature. Injury-prone players are devalued because of the likelihood that they get hurt, not because of their performance. If they get hurt you can replace them, but you will get full value for them in the weeks that they play.
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Step 4
Avoid drafting players on the same team. Many fantasy baseball players like to acquire players on the team that they root for. In rotisserie this can work out, but is generally a bad idea in head-to-head. This often produces a feast and famine type result that is not conducive to consistent success. In weeks where the team faces several tough pitchers, your hitters will struggle, pulling your team's batting categories down. Similarly if you have several pitchers from the same team, a series in a hitters' park could frustrate your chances at a winning week. Diversify.
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Step 5
Track your progress through the week and adjust your rosters accordingly. If you are ahead by a wide margin in a particular category, think about benching the player most helpful in that category for one who will help more in a category where you are deficient. By mixing and matching several players with different skill sets, your team can perform better than the sum of its parts.
