There was no joy in Gutville as my 2026 bold preseason predictions proved fruitless. I intentionally focused on early-round hitters, so later-round targets like Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Logan Henderson, and Drew Rasmussen had no chance of making the cut. Read and laugh at my preseason bold predictions by position among the top 100 ADP.
On the third Saturday of March, as has been customary for many of the past 15 years, I joined friends and colleagues in Las Vegas to draft live in the NFBC. Their Main Event is the largest national high-stakes contest – a 15-team standard 5×5 roto format with an $1,800 entry fee and a $200,000 grand prize for the overall champion. This season, I reduced my FAAB leagues from 10+ to five to focus on content and time management/family balance. Before having kids, spending most of my Sunday updating FAAB content and working through my own bids was no sweat. Now, with two youngens, ages five and seven, and a robust youth travel hockey schedule, limited weekend time during the MLB season is mostly spent on producing content. For that weekend in Vegas, the Saturday NFBC Main Event was my only live draft in the Year of Brad Lord, 2026.
A few days before the draft, I set pick 14 as my sixth draft preference (KDS) after picks 1-5 and earned the 14th pick. I would have been thrilled to earn pick one or two to start with Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. Sadly for many, those early first-round picks were anything but a gift this year. At pick 14 and pick 17 in the second round, I knew I would have the option to select two players I’d be happy with — Kyle Tucker, Gunnar Henderson, Fernando Tatis Jr., Junior Caminero, and/or Cristopher Sánchez. Since Sánchez was my only SP target in Round 2, I mapped out two contingency-based draft roadmaps: one with Sánchez, and one that started with two hitters. I also had a few precepts for this draft I wanted to stick by:
Smooth moves, kid
George Lombard Jr. also drove in the winning run for the Yankees with this two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth.
On the Agenda:
Welcome back, Ceddanne Rafaela!
My bad. Rafaela left in the third inning of Wednesday’s contest with a strained right hamstring.
On the Agenda:
Every Monday, this column will break down the most popular waiver wire and free agent acquisitions from the weekend. I dig into the top adds on the ever-popular Fantrax and in the NFBC Online Championship (OC), a national mid-stakes contest with 240 total leagues of 12 and a six-figure grand prize. Reviewing player adds between the two should provide us with a well-rounded perspective and barometer of the fantasy baseball marketplace.
How nice of Luis Medina!
On the Agenda:
Raving and ranting!
It was John Rave’s sixth of the season and third in September.
On the Agenda:
Every Monday, this column will break down the most popular waiver wire and free agent acquisitions from the weekend. I dig into the top adds on the ever-popular Fantrax and in the NFBC Online Championship (OC), a national mid-stakes contest with 240 total leagues of 12 and a six-figure grand prize. Reviewing player adds between the two should provide us with a well-rounded perspective and barometer of the fantasy baseball marketplace.
This preseason, they told me that Chandler Simpson was a butcher in the outfield…
He may not be PCA-esque, but he’s greatly improved his defensive rating — from -8.2 last season to -0.3 this season.
On the Agenda:
Five straight games with a dong for Elly De La Cruz!
On the Agenda: