While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even larger entry fees ($2.5K to $15K). They are named Elite leagues (previously called High Stakes Leagues), and there are nine of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers try to gain every advantage. Most of the time, these managers will be a week or two ahead of everyone else on their adds. Here are the players and some information on the ones added in five or more leagues.
Before I get into analyzing what I think may be a relatively broken hitter, I have something to admit. This admission may sound familiar to you. Especially if you are at all impulsive. Or love to trade.
A few weeks back, after trading Corey Seager for Dylan Cease in what felt like an absolute coup, I got a bit ahead of my skis. Without looking at a single Fangraphs or Baseball Savant page, I fired an offer into the ether. I dealt away Michael King, Cade Cavalli, and Bo Bichette for Gunnar Henderson, in what felt like a classic buy low-sell high, where Henderson represented the low and King the high.
The point of this article is not to discuss King’s less than rosy peripherals. Nor is it to shame me for dealing Bichette before he seemingly started heating up. It is, at least in part, a cautionary tale, though I’d say it’s a hopeful one.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Casey Mize (12) delivers a pitch against Minnesota Twins during the first inning at Comerica Park in Detroit in Monday, August 4, 2025.
Welcome to the Daily SP Chart, click here if you’re new to get an idea of what I’m doing with these rankings.
The chart includes their performance for 2026, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, and recently added opponent’s K% (also v. SP handedness), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues – essentially a shallow, medium, deep league setup – and then a note about some, most, or all depending on the day. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.
These are general recommendations for standard 5×5 roto leagues, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. I usually won’t have much to write about aces who are locked into our rotations. If you want to discuss someone further, please feel free to leave a comment. I usually do a few sweeps of the comments before game time in case there are time-sensitive questions.
Got rid of the Blue/Black color coding at the top/bottom end. Just Green = good, Yellow = OK, Red = bad.
Meanwhile, Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles is slated to pitch the bulk of the innings in the Blue Jays vacant rotation spot for the time being, either as a starter or behind an opener.
“You don’t want to move him back and forth too much. If we’re going to do it, try to be consistent with it,” said Schneider before the Blue Jays game against the New York Yankees on Monday.
In his last appearance, he threw 56 pitches across 3.2 IP. Miles has been solid this season with a 2.55 ERA (3.24 xFIP), 1.09 WHIP, 8.4 K/9, and 52% GB%. Similar rate stats to Nathan Eovaldi. Nice upside play. Read the rest of this entry »
RAGBRAI: When/if Woodruff returns to the rotation, who gets bumped? And is it to the bullpen or AAA?
1:03
Paul Sporer: The thing is, those questions often sort themselves out by someone else getting hurt by the time someone else is returning from the IL, in this case Woody. Gasser is last one so prob first one out right now
1:04
Carter: 12 Team 5×5 Cats: Should i finally cut bait on Matt Chapman? and Who would you look for to replace him? Some names on the wire: J. Jung, I. Paredes, A. Bohm, N. Arenado? (also I have Colt Emerson waiting for 3B eligibility)
1:06
Paul Sporer: Ya the extreme power outage is enough to push me off in 12s. I’d go for Jung with as strong as he’s been. Assuming that’s Josh, right? Surprised if he’s out there!
1:06
RAGBRAI: What can we expet from Dylan Crews? Not surprised he didn’t making OD, put has he done enough at AAA to realy to push his way into everyday ABs in the OF? They can’t have brought him up to sit or platoon, could they?
I’ve played fantasy baseball for almost 30 years now. The older I get, the more I am comfortable leaning into building fantasy teams around higher-floor players, aka the Steady Eddies. You know who they are: someone consistent, reliable, and dependable. Though it isn’t known where the term originated, most baseball fans remember it as the nickname of the steady Hall of Fame hitter, Eddie Murray. There’s also the Australian comedian Steady Eddy from the 1990’s, though his act was hectic and chaotic, hence the irony of his moniker.
Steady Eddies are hard to find in baseball since no one can maintain consistent, dominant production over a 162-game season. We’re mostly talking about durable players who stay healthy and away from the IL, hitters with above-average plate discipline who don’t fall into prolonged funks, and pitchers who rarely get bombed for five or more earned runs in a start.
It’s hard to project how a reliever will turn into a starting pitcher, especially within a season. We expect velocity to decline as a starter, and we imagine arsenals will evolve as they pitch deeper into games. Today, we’ll dive into three pitchers who made this transition in 2026. Two of these pitchers were on fantasy rosters this year and in the past, both entering the season in different roles than they have now. The third’s path to fantasy relevance was through deeper formats.
Like most of my pitching articles, we’re looking at the underlying skills and metrics, diving into the arsenal, movement profiles, locations, and command.
Welcome to the Daily SP Chart, click here if you’re new to get an idea of what I’m doing with these rankings.
The chart includes their performance for 2026, their opponent’s wOBA versus the pitcher’s handedness, and recently added opponent’s K% (also v. SP handedness), my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues – essentially a shallow, medium, deep league setup – and then a note about some, most, or all depending on the day. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.
These are general recommendations for standard 5×5 roto leagues, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. I usually won’t have much to write about aces who are locked into our rotations. If you want to discuss someone further, please feel free to leave a comment. I usually do a few sweeps of the comments before game time in case there are time-sensitive questions.
Hancock bounced back from his only Dud of the year with a 6 IP/1 ER gem v. SDP.
Early has tapped into his Ks the last 2 times out with 14 in 12 IP, against 2 tough to K teams, too! (TBR/ATL have 2nd/8th lowest K% vL).
Going into Wrigley is never easy, but Harrison has looked every bit like the 3x Top 100 Prospect he was coming up.
Upon further look, Cabrera might deserve a lower ranking. He hasn’t been bad, but after opening the season w/11.7 scoreless IP, he has a 5.26 ERA in 7 starts. Despite the elevated ERA, he’s only allowed more than 3 ER just once so it’s not like he’s getting stomped every 5th day. Not sure I’d take any 2-x’ers over him so I’d probably only drop him to 11 on a re-rank.
McGreevy’s been great this year with a 2.10 ERA/0.88 WHIP thru 9 starts but the 4.08 SIERA hints at trouble ahead. The .203 BABIP/90% LOB rate can’t sustain at those levels so there will be regression and it could be sharp. Throw in that PIT has been great vR this year and this becomes a bit dangerous. It’s tough because how can you put ratios like that on your bench even when you know danger is comin’?
Anderson might need to stretch out to be a full part of the rotation, but he did make it 4 IP last time out and I do think he could be a solid SP for DET once fully stretched out.
All 3 1-x guys are terrifying for their own reasons – Vásquez for the matchup, of course, and Nola/Burrows because they simply haven’t been great this year but their matchups give ’em a tinge of playability. I’d rather take the better guy facing the Dodgers, though.
Hot Right Now (HRN) is a weekly Ottoneu feature focused on popular players currently being auctioned or players who you should think about auctioning in your Ottoneu leagues. Even if you don’t play Ottoneu, we’ll be highlighting players you should be looking at in deeper and keeper formats. In this feature, we will break down players into two sections:
Current Auctions: A closer look at players being auctioned at a high rate.
Hot Performers: Players with a high P/G or P/IP over the last 14 days who are also rostered in 80% of leagues or less.
The RotoGraphs Ottoneu team plans to run this feature weekly, updating fantasy managers on the biggest movers in Ottoneu leagues with an analysis of how these players could or could not help your roster.
