MLB: Postseason Cheat Sheet and Strategy

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Published on October 6, 2022

Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is!

Regular season champions may have been crowned, but there is still baseball being played, hence fantasy teams to be drafted. Playoff fantasy baseball comes in many shapes and sizes. Today's discussion and rankings will focus on a standard draft. The NFBC postseason contest does not include the Wild Card Series, so a separate piece will be provided with rankings dedicated to that.

Most playoff leagues draft teams similar in composition to standard fantasy rosters, perhaps eliminating some combination of second catcher, corner, middle and an outfielder or two, along with shortening the pitching. Scoring is usually points, as opposed to rotisserie, but diehards can stick to their favorite roto categories.

The conundrum is whether to pick players from as many teams as possible or back one or two teams, preferably not one of the favorites. Most playoff leagues don't have reserves. Once a team is eliminated, you get a goose egg from anyone on that team.

Another approach is speculating on the series requiring more games to decide and loading up on the involved players.

Positions matter much more in a playoff league. The expanded playoffs help a bit, but the rule of thumb reverts to when scarcity was a thing: lock up middle infield and third base. It's even better if one of the best players on the team you're stacking fills one of those spots.

Keeping with the contrarian approach, fading players from the favorites

Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is!

Another approach is speculating on the series requiring more games to decide and loading up on the involved players.

Keeping with the contrarian approach, fading players from the favorites (Dodgers and Astros) is wise. The downside is being eliminated from competing earlier, but if you support the right underdogs, a payoff is heading your way.

For a detailed rundown of the playoff odds, my SiriusXM MLB Network Radio co-host Erik Halterman has you covered with MLB Playoff Picks: 2022 World Series Best Bets. This is a great guide to determine the "chalk" plays, helping to shape your strategy.

I've been haggling with how I want to present the rankings. There are three ways.

My personal rankings, based on how I feel the playoffs will transpire
Estimate how many games everyone will play based on the betting odds and set rankings accordingly
Simply rank everyone without considering how many games they'll play, and you to adjust based on your strategy.

I decided on No. 3, but I'll end with how I am approaching a draft of this nature with my colleagues at ESPN. Here are hitter rankings assuming everyone garners the same plate appearances followed by pitching with all starters assumed to throw the same number of innings and all relievers with identical innings projections. Please keep in mind most scoring systems downgrade stolen bases relative to 5x5 rotisserie scoring. On the pitching side, strikeouts are key.

Apologies in advance if I included players not on the playoff rosters as well as some that may be out for the season but slipped through the cracks. Everyone likely to be drafted is ranked, but if I missed someone, please post below and I'll adjust.

Hitters

	Hitter	TM	POS
1	Aaron Judge	NYY	OF
2	Yordan Alvarez	HOU	OF
3	Paul Goldschmidt	STL	1B
4	Mookie Betts	LAD	OF
5	Kyle Tucker	HOU	OF
6	Manny Machado	SDP	3B
7	Bryce Harper	PHI	OF
8	Jose Ramirez	CLE	3B
9	Pete Alonso	NYM	1B
10	Freddie Freeman	LAD	1B
11	Kyle Schwarber	PHI	OF
12	Jose Altuve	HOU	2B
13	Julio Rodriguez	SEA	OF
14	Michael Harris II	ATL	OF
15	Trea Turner	LAD	2B/SS
16	George Springer	TOR	OF
17	Anthony Rizzo	NYY	1B
18	J.T. Realmuto	PHI	C
19	Teoscar Hernandez	TOR	OF
20	Nolan Arenado	STL	3B
21	Giancarlo Stanton	NYY	OF
22	Ronald Acuna	ATL	OF
23	Starling Marte	NYM	OF
24	Austin Riley	ATL	3B
25	Francisco Lindor	NYM	SS
26	Vladimir Guerrero	TOR	1B
27	Brandon Lowe	TAM	2B
28	Juan Soto	SDP	OF
29	Dansby Swanson	ATL	SS
30	Randy Arozarena	TAM	OF
31	Mitch Haniger	SEA	OF
32	Alex Bregman	HOU	3B
33	Bo Bichette	TOR	SS
34	Will Smith	LAD	C
35	Ozzie Albies	ATL	2B
36	Matt Olson	ATL	1B
37	Danny Jansen	TOR	C
38	Matt Carpenter	NYY	2B
39	Dylan Moore	SEA	2B/OF
40	Matt Chapman	TOR	3B
41	Albert Pujols	STL	1B
42	Tommy Edman	STL	2B/OF
43	Andres Gimenez	CLE	2B/SS
44	Wander Franco	TAM	SS
45	Brandon Drury	SDP	OF
46	Vaughn Grissom	ATL	SS
47	Eugenio Suarez	SEA	3B/SS
48	Gleyber Torres	NYY	SS
49	Max Muncy	LAD	1B/2B
50	Jonathan Aranda	TAM	2B
51	Justin Turner	LAD	3B
52	Trayce Thompson	LAD	OF
53	Wil Myers	SDP	OF
54	Travis d'Arnaud	ATL	C
55	Chas McCormick	HOU	OF
56	Rhys Hoskins	PHI	1B
57	Joey Gallo	LAD	OF
58	Tyler O'Neill	STL	OF
59	William Contreras	ATL	C
60	Mark Canha	NYM	OF
61	Vidal Brujan	TAM	OF
62	Lars Nootbaar	STL	OF
63	Harrison Bader	NYY	OF
64	Jarred Kelenic	SEA	OF
65	Oswaldo Cabrera	NYY	2B
66	Cody Bellinger	LAD	OF
67	Jake Cronenworth	SDP	1B/2B/SS
68	Brendan Donovan	STL	2B
69	Brandon Nimmo	NYM	OF
70	Jeremy Pena	HOU	SS
71	Ty France	SEA	1B/2B
72	Yandy Diaz	TAM	1B/3B
73	DJ LeMahieu	NYY	1B/2B/3B
74	Jeff McNeil	NYM	2B/OF
75	Josh Naylor	CLE	OF
76	Juan Yepez	STL	1B
77	Cal Raleigh	SEA	C
78	Tyler Naquin	NYM	OF
79	Gavin Lux	LAD	2B/SS
80	Eddie Rosario	ATL	OF
81	Daniel Vogelbach	NYM	1B
82	Marcell Ozuna	ATL	OF
83	Alejandro Kirk	TOR	C
84	Whit Merrifield	TOR	2B
85	Josh Bell	SDP	1B
86	Aaron Hicks	NYY	OF
87	Oscar Gonzalez	CLE	OF
88	Nick Castellanos	PHI	OF
89	Chris Taylor	LAD	2B/SS/OF
90	Lourdes Gurriel Jr.	TOR	OF
91	Jean Segura	PHI	2B
92	Steven Kwan	CLE	OF
93	Cavan Biggio	TOR	3B
94	Sam Haggerty	SEA	OF
95	Trent Grisham	SDP	OF
96	Gabriel Arias	CLE	SS
97	Nolan Jones	CLE	3B
98	Eduardo Escobar	NYM	2B/3B
99	Jose Siri	TAM	OF
100	Bryson Stott	PHI	SS
101	Kyle Higashioka	NYY	C
102	Amed Rosario	CLE	SS
103	Isaac Paredes	TAM	2B
104	Manuel Margot	TAM	OF
105	Jesse Winker	SEA	OF
106	Oswald Peraza	NYY	SS
107	Ji-Man Choi	TAM	1B
108	Aledmys Diaz	HOU	3B
109	Paul DeJong	STL	SS
110	Josh Donaldson	NYY	3B
111	Dylan Carlson	STL	OF
112	Jurickson Profar	SDP	OF
113	Jake Meyers	HOU	OF
114	Harold Ramirez	TAM	OF
115	Carlos Santana	SEA	1B
116	Dominic Smith	NYM	OF
117	Orlando Arcia	ATL	OF
118	Abraham Toro	SEA	2B/3B
119	Brandon Marsh	PHI	OF
120	Trey Mancini	HOU	1B
121	Taylor Trammell	SEA	OF
122	Derek Hill	SEA	OF
123	Darick Hall	PHI	1B
124	Rene Pinto	TAM	C
125	Ha-Seong Kim	SDP	2B/3B/SS
126	David Peralta	TAM	OF
127	Alec Bohm	PHI	3B
128	Isiah Kiner-Falefa	NYY	SS
129	Francisco Mejia	TAM	C
130	Corey Dickerson	STL	OF
131	Santiago Espinal	TOR	3B
132	Taylor Walls	TAM	SS
133	Raimel Tapia	TOR	OF
134	Christian Vazquez	HOU	C
135	Christian Bethancourt	TAM	C
136	Will Benson	CLE	OF
137	Guillermo Heredia	ATL	OF
138	Jorge Alfaro	SDP	C/OF
139	Will Brennan	CLE	OF
140	Robbie Grossman	ATL	OF
141	Austin Nola	SDP	C
142	Curt Casali	SEA	C
143	Matt Vierling	PHI	OF
144	James McCann	NYM	C
145	Tyler Freeman	CLE	2B
146	Kyle Lewis	SEA	OF
147	Jose Trevino	NYY	C
148	Yuli Gurriel	HOU	1B
149	Owen Miller	CLE	2B
150	Estevan Florial	NYY	OF
151	Marwin Gonzalez	NYY	2B
152	Jose Azocar	SDP	OF
153	Martin Maldonado	HOU	C
154	Nolan Gorman	STL	3B
155	Yadier Molina	STL	C
156	Myles Straw	CLE	OF
157	Jackie Bradley	TOR	OF
158	Hanser Alberto	LAD	2B/3B
159	Adam Frazier	SEA	2B
160	J.P. Crawford	SEA	SS
161	Tim Locastro	NYY	OF
162	Darin Ruf	NYM	1B/OF
163	Tomas Nido	NYM	C
164	Luis Guillorme	NYM	3B
165	Austin Hedges	CLE	C
166	Luke Maile	CLE	C
167	Josh Lowe	TAM	OF
168	Ernie Clement	CLE	2B
169	Austin Barnes	LAD	C

Pitchers

	Pitcher	TM
1	Jacob deGrom	NYM
2	Max Scherzer	NYM
3	Justin Verlander	HOU
4	Gerrit Cole	NYY
5	Edwin Diaz	NYM
6	Shane McClanahan	TAM
7	Josh Hader	SDP
8	Cristian Javier	HOU
9	Clayton Kershaw	LAD
10	Julio Urias	LAD
11	Ryan Pressly	HOU
12	Aaron Nola	PHI
13	Yu Darvish	SDP
14	Shane Bieber	CLE
15	Zack Wheeler	PHI
16	Spencer Strider	ATL
17	Emmanuel Clase	CLE
18	Nestor Cortes	NYY
19	Luis Castillo	SEA
20	Alek Manoah	TOR
21	Blake Snell	SDP
22	Kenley Jansen	ATL
23	Jordan Romano	TOR
24	Max Fried	ATL
25	Jeffrey Springs	TAM
26	Triston McKenzie	CLE
27	Robbie Ray	SEA
28	Luis Severino	NYY
29	Kevin Gausman	TOR
30	Tony Gonsolin	LAD
31	Tyler Glasnow	TAM
32	Ryan Helsley	STL
33	Andrew Heaney	LAD
34	Joe Musgrove	SDP
35	Framber Valdez	HOU
36	Tyler Anderson	LAD
37	Drew Rasmussen	TAM
38	Luis Garcia	HOU
39	Charlie Morton	ATL
40	Lance McCullers Jr.	HOU
41	Raisel Iglesias	ATL
42	Logan Gilbert	SEA
43	Jason Adam	TAM
44	Paul Sewald	SEA
45	Kyle Wright	ATL
46	Jordan Montgomery	STL
47	Pete Fairbanks	TAM
48	Clay Holmes	NYY
49	Chris Bassitt	NYM
50	George Kirby	SEA
51	Giovanny Gallegos	STL
52	Dustin May	LAD
53	Ross Stripling	TOR
54	Miles Mikolas	STL
55	Jameson Taillon	NYY
56	Evan Phillips	LAD
57	Jose Quintana	STL
58	Jose Urquidy	HOU
59	Carlos Carrasco	NYM
60	Aaron Civale	CLE
61	Bailey Falter	PHI
62	Taijuan Walker	NYM
63	Frankie Montas	NYY
64	Domingo German	NYY
65	Mike Clevinger	SDP
66	Bryce Elder	ATL
67	Corey Kluber	TAM
68	Andres Munoz	SEA
69	A.J. Minter	ATL
70	Rafael Montero	HOU
71	Craig Kimbrel	LAD
72	Aroldis Chapman	NYY
73	Jack Flaherty	STL
74	Sean Manaea	SDP
75	Ranger Suarez	PHI
76	Tommy Kahnle	LAD
77	Alex Vesia	LAD
78	Cal Quantrill	CLE
79	David Peterson	NYM
80	Colin Poche	TAM
81	Noah Syndergaard	PHI
82	Brooks Raley	TAM
83	Hector Neris	HOU
84	Yoan Lopez	NYM
85	Adam Ottavino	NYM
86	David Robertson	PHI
87	Chris Martin	LAD
88	Collin McHugh	ATL
89	Diego Castillo	SEA
90	Garrett Cleavinger	TAM
91	Jose Berrios	TOR
92	Erik Swanson	SEA
93	Matt Festa	SEA
94	James Karinchak	CLE
95	Seranthony Dominguez	PHI
96	Steven Wilson	SDP
97	Adam Wainwright	STL
98	Blake Treinen	LAD
99	Robert Suarez	SDP
100	Will Smith	HOU
101	Dylan Lee	ATL
102	Trevor May	NYM
103	Kyle Gibson	PHI
104	Jose Alvarado	PHI
105	Lou Trivino	NYY
106	Phil Bickford	LAD
107	Pierce Johnson	SDP
108	Andrew Bellatti	PHI
109	Seth Lugo	NYM
110	Ryne Stanek	HOU
111	Caleb Ferguson	LAD
112	Zach Plesac	CLE
113	Jake Odorizzi	ATL
114	Nick Sandlin	CLE
115	Scott Effross	NYY
116	Brusdar Graterol	LAD
117	J.P. Feyereisen	TAM
118	Tim Mayza	TOR
119	Bryan Abreu	HOU
120	Trevor Stephan	CLE
121	Connor Brogdon	PHI
122	Ryan Thompson	TAM
123	Nick Martinez	SDP
124	Tommy Hunter	NYM
125	Silvino Bracho	ATL
126	Enyel De Los Santos	CLE
127	Jonathan Loaisiga	NYY
128	Luis Garcia	SDP
129	David Price	LAD
130	JT Chargois	TAM
131	Lucas Luetge	NYY
132	Ron Marinaccio	NYY
133	Ryan Pepiot	LAD
134	Adam Cimber	TOR
135	Brad Hand	PHI
136	Drew Smith	NYM
137	Jalen Beeks	TAM
138	Justin Bruihl	LAD
139	Matt Brash	SEA
140	Phil Maton	HOU
141	Shawn Armstrong	TAM
142	Tyler Matzek	ATL
143	Sam Hentges	CLE
144	Yimi Garcia	TOR
145	Joely Rodriguez	NYM
146	Seth Martinez	HOU
147	Ian Anderson	ATL
148	Wandy Peralta	NYY
149	Eli Morgan	CLE
150	Kodi Whitley	STL
151	David Phelps	TOR
152	Marco Gonzales	SEA
153	Trevor Richards	TOR
154	Zach Eflin	PHI
155	Matthew Boyd	SEA
156	Penn Murfee	SEA
157	Steven Matz	STL
158	Adrian Morejon	SDP
159	Clarke Schmidt	NYY
160	Trevor Williams	NYM
161	Nabil Crismatt	SDP
162	Andre Jackson	LAD
163	Calvin Faucher	TAM
164	Craig Stammen	SDP
165	Sam Coonrod	PHI
166	Yusei Kikuchi	TOR
167	Chris Stratton	STL
168	Jordan Hicks	STL
169	Julian Merryweather	TOR
170	Michael Grove	LAD
171	Miguel Castro	NYY
172	Justus Sheffield	SEA
173	Vinny Nittoli	PHI
174	Genesis Cabrera	STL
175	Kirk McCarty	CLE
176	Parker Mushinski	HOU
177	Yency Almonte	LAD
178	Ryan Yarbrough	TAM
179	Hunter Brown	HOU
180	Brandon Bielak	HOU
181	Chris Flexen	SEA
182	Kyle Muller	ATL
183	Reiss Knehr	SDP
184	Cristopher Sanchez	PHI
185	Junior Fernandez	STL
186	Ryan Borucki	SEA
187	Trent Thornton	TOR
188	Matthew Liberatore	STL
189	Francisco Morales	PHI
190	Tim Hill	SDP
191	Blake Taylor	HOU
192	Javy Guerra	TAM
193	Albert Abreu	NYY
194	Packy Naughton	STL
195	Nick Nelson	PHI
196	Greg Weissert	NYY
197	Andre Pallante	STL
198	Mychal Givens	NYM
199	Zack Thompson	STL
200	Jake Woodford	STL
201	Zach Pop	TOR
202	Jackson Stephens	ATL
203	Jesse Chavez	ATL
204	Anthony Bass	TOR
205	Mitch White	TOR
206	Konnor Pilkington	CLE

I've decided to stack Mariners, while doing what I can to squeeze as many ATL players onto my roster as possible. Atlanta is a popular pick, so it is hard to stack, but I'd like some exposure. The issue with this approach is there aren't any Seattle hitters to targets in the scarce positions, so I drafted Julio Rodriguez early and flipped to pitching. Admittedly, it's a win-or-go-home-early approach, but that's how I prefer to handle playoff leagues.