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The following is Part Two of an Intro to Scoresheet Series. You can check out Part One here.
In Part One last week, I went over some of the basics of Scoresheet Fantasy Baseball and the differences in relation to a standard fantasy league. This week, I’ll go over how to fill out your lineup card.
To illustrate, I’ll use my lineup card from BP Kings, a competitive 24-team league featuring many familiar names from the fantasy baseball community.
The first thing you’ll notice is the usage of separate lineups against right-handed and left-handed pitching. This is where you can take advantage of platoons and preferences depending on the strengths and weaknesses of your lineup.
That strategy is already evident at the top of my lineups. Yoan Moncada has the platoon advantage against right-handers and takes a big hit against southpaws. Meanwhile, Amed Rosario is much better against lefties than righties, which makes it an easy call to bump him to the top of the lineup in those situations. On a similar vein, Jorge Soler also gets moved up due to his prowess against left-handed pitching.
Aside from keeping the platoon advantages in mind, there’s no need to invest in a Joe Maddon starter kit here. It’s hardly revolutionary to say that you should try to give as many at-bats as possible to your best hitters. Ideally you’ll have a strong on-base option at the top and power-oriented hitters in the middle, but that’s just a rough guide. Push your lesser hitters to the bottom of the lineup or players who you aren’t confident will play a lot in a given week. Depending on your depth, catchers fall into this group a lot. I usually try to carry three catchers on my roster to avoid running out of at-bats and avoiding disaster if there’s an injury.
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If you remember last week’s column, I noted that each player has a defensive ranking. Jorge Soler and Willie Calhoun are both below-average defenders, with Soler ranking slightly lower, so my intention is to slide him into a DH spot while putting a superior defender in the outfield. Against right-handers, I’ll put Cameron Maybin into that spot while using Jon Berti against southpaws. My outfield defense isn’t going to be great regardless of where I go here, but Berti is at least closer to true center field range.
Each lineup must have a starter at every position, including three outfielders and a DH depending on the set-up of your league. For your outfielders, you can put “OF” next to their names or be more specific about whether they play LF, RF, or CF. If you use “OF,” Scoresheet will automatically put the strongest defensive option in center field. Generally you’ll want to slot in players where they are eligible, but there’s no penalty for playing other infielders at first base. While not ideal, good fielding shortstops could also be used at third base or in a corner outfield spot without much damage.
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Your choices in Scoresheet go beyond simply putting together a lineup, as there are strategic settings to keep in mind…
Steal - For each player, toggle “Y” for yes or “N” for no. Some Scoresheet players avoid the risk of attempting steals, but if you are going to give the green light to certain players, just make sure that they are likely to be successful most of the time. The general rule of thumb is that it’s not worth the risk to send players who don’t have a success rate of at least 75 percent, so it makes sense to follow something similar here. Players will only run as often as they run in the actual games from the previous week. The opposing catcher’s defensive ability will also play a part in whether the stolen base attempt will be a successful one.
Bunt - This is a setting where you designate the earliest a hitter can drop down a sacrifice bunt. This might be something you want to avoid altogether. #NeverBunt and all that. If that’s the case, you’d just put a dash next to each of your players. At the very least, you’ll want to make sure you don’t bunt with your best hitters. There’s a case to be made to bunt with a weak hitter (perhaps your number nine hitter) in front of your leadoff man, but even then, you wouldn’t want them bunting before the eighth inning in most cases. Outs are precious.
Pinch Hitting - This isn’t just about the players on your bench. Think of it as an overall preference list, both against right-handed and left-handed starting pitchers. Put your best hitter at No. 1 and work from there. The reason it’s important to include members of your starting lineup here is that you could be faced with a scenario where they didn’t play enough in the previous week to start every game. However, they could still come off your bench and make an impact. One overlooked detail is that if you put a number next to everyone, that means nobody will come up as a pinch hitter. With that in mind, be sure to leave a dash next to the players who you prefer to necessitate a pinch hitter.
Bench - Sort your bench players by preference in case they are needed in the starting lineup. It’s possible that a player you have listed as a starter might not have enough playing time in a particular week, possibly due to injury or a change in role. So this isn’t a minor detail. Also keep in mind that these rankings are different than the pinch-hitting preferences mentioned above. If for some reason a player is needed from your bench to start, Scoresheet will tweak your lineup automatically. I have Yoenis Cespedes listed at the bottom of my bench, but obviously he’ll have a much more prominent role if I know he’s actually going to play.
Defensive Substitutions - It’s not a necessity to use this feature, but it’s an option for those who have highly-skilled defensive players who could step in for those who are liabilities. It’s also not a bad idea to put some of your top hitters in these spots. Perhaps your players might not have played enough in the previous week to start every game, but they could be able to step in for a late-inning at-bat.
Check back for Part Three of this series breaking down how to manage your rotation and bullpen in Scoresheet Leagues.
