We’ve gone over many different types of leagues in our pre-season primers. We’ll continue looking at separate formats and comparing the two as we continue our pre-draft coverage at FantasyPros.

Up next is a comparison of two formats that are very similar to each other and have the most mainstream-focused content for them.

Where points leagues tend to have a lack of representation in the fantasy community from a coverage standpoint, roto and category leagues have enough coverage that you can find advice articles anywhere you click (but do stay on FantasyPros, please. It will help our bounce rate).

But as similar as they are, there are key differences between the two, as well, which we will be digging into during this column.

2023 Fantasy Baseball: Roto vs. H2H Primer

Marathon vs. Sprint

It’s not that you don’t need to worry about the long term with head-to-head leagues, it’s just that you need to win each week in order to have the long-term matter. With roto, though, it’s the classic model that preaches patience and end-of-year results.

How does this change your strategy? Well, you don’t need to worry about matchups as much or having a blow-up start ruin your week because the chances are that a seven-run start won’t be a deciding factor by the season’s end.

The roto format also allows fantasy managers to be more patient through the ebbs and flows of the season. If a player is slumping – when a player slumps, really – it can hurt the individual matchup in a category league, resulting in the fantasy manager losing their matchup. But in roto leagues, you can afford to wait through the slump and accumulate the end-of-year numbers.

Speaking of Accumulators

Players like Javier Baez and Brandon Lowe can be frustrating for fantasy managers. In points leagues and category leagues, they can be hard players to not only start but also roster through the season, given the ups and downs that they have. But for roto leagues, all you care about is the end result. And typically, with players like Baez and Lowe, the end-of-year numbers are good and justify the price point you had to meet in the draft.

The same can be said for those in platoon roles. I think of Joc Pederson as the poster person for this in the past. He notoriously struggled(s) against left-handed pitching, and you have to rotate him in and out of your lineups in matchup-based leagues. But for roto leagues, you actually don’t mind if he’s not playing against lefties when he’s in your lineup because it helps his ratio-based stats and makes the numbers look better than they’d be if he faced lefties at the end of the year.

Rewarding the Best Team?

I object to this a bit, but I understand the thought. Roto will account for all 162 games – even the last month of the season when players you’ve never heard of are playing and being streamed. But the idea is that it eliminates luck (eh) and rewards the best team at the end of the year (again, eh). I also think that it eliminates players from caring from July on when they are obviously out of the hunt.

For category leagues, I like to cut the last 2-3 weeks from the season to help with the luck factor. This way, you can play who brought you to the dance while still knowing that you can get knocked out in the playoffs even if you dominated the regular season.

You know, kind of like real baseball.

Happy Compromise

I enjoy leagues that do a roto-based regular season and then a head-to-head playoff structure. It’s not only the best of both worlds, but it’s a good compromise to give the league a facelift that all managers can adapt to. That way, if you’re in eighth place in July, instead of realizing you won’t catch the No. 1 spot to take home the title, you can still focus on finishing No. 6 to make the playoffs.

I’d like to see more and more leagues shift to this format in the future.

To Stream or Not to Stream

In roto leagues, I tend to stream a little less and focus on building a staff with 2-3 guys I fully trust and fill the gaps with a few other arms I can use based on their matchups and high-leverage relievers. I like to try to keep solid ratios throughout the year and not focus as much on chasing the extra win or two-start pitchers.

Punting Only Works in One

We talked about punting earlier in our primer series and how it’s achievable in category leagues. I prefer to punt the batting average or go with the reliever-heavy strategy to lock up three categories in pitching each week and build a stout offense.

But in roto leagues, you can’t punt. Well, not fully. The extent of punting in roto leagues is finishing toward the middle in a category. Since you’re taking the total output of your team to establish a winner, it’s hard to be at the top when you have a 1 or a 2 in a category.

Trade from your Strengths

Trading is huge in both formats, as you will realize where you’re falling short each week in your category-based leagues. You can punt, sure, but it’s always a risky strategy. Instead, I like to find a nice balance across the board and find players who can help me in my upcoming matchups – especially when I analyze the teams I have coming up.

For roto leagues, if you invest heavily in saves and stolen bases early, look to shore up other areas and trade from those strengths. Steals and saves always go for a lot of value in trades, and if you build up your lead enough in either area where trading an elite steals or saves guy won’t cause you to plummet, I recommend doing so.

If you’re first in steals (12 points) and seventh in home runs (six points), moving a top speed guy for a power bat is worth dropping from first to third in steals (10 points) and moving up to fourth in home runs (nine points).

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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.