Your typical redraft fantasy football leagues are like dating; you choose your mate(s) and spend several magical weeks together before eventually parting ways for someone else next year.
Dynasty leagues are like marriage; you choose your mate(s) and commit to them for life, sticking together for better or for worse.
Best ball leagues? They're the one night stand of fantasy football; you enjoy the thrill of picking different positions for a few hours and dominating (the draft) but have no reason to see that league ever again after the draft.
All jokes aside, best ball drafts are like mock drafts in that there's zero maintenance after the draft, but better than mock drafts because drafters are humans with skin in the game (ie money) instead of robots or humans that leave after a few picks.
They're perfect for fantasy football players that enjoy drafting but do not enjoy all the weekly maintenance that goes along with fantasy football leagues (setting lineups, evaluating trades, making waiver claims, etc.). Here's how it works...
Because there's no transactions allowed, best ball drafts are usually 20 rounds or more to account for added bench spots in lieu of submitting waivers. In other words, you draft a deep team to account for bye weeks, injuries, etc.
Each week during the season, you're awarded your optimal score. The platform you play on will automatically fill in your lineup after the week to give you your best possible output. So if your league "starts" 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE and 1 FLEX, then you'll automatically get the best possible points for that setup every single week.
For example, let's say you drafted Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield and Mac Jones. In a "regular" league, you'd probably pick Allen every single time right? And more often than not, you'd be right.
But every once in awhile, Allen might have a down week while Mayfield or Jones has a big week. Let's say it's week 8 and Mac Jones puts up 25 points while Allen only scores 18. In best ball, you'll automatically get Jones' 25 points.
In other words, you don't have to predict who is going to have the best game and when. You simply get the best possible points for your team each week.
As you'd guess, that makes certain players more/less valuable than a regular format.
Think Mike Williams for example.
In 2021, Big Mike had 7 games over 15 PPR points (2 even reached 30). 🚀
But in that same season, he also had 7 games under 8 PPR points (2 were even under 4). 🤢
In a "regular" league, that's maddening because you have to predict when the booms and busts are coming, and will inevitably end up with instances of 3 points in your lineup and/or 25 points on your bench. 😡
In best ball leagues, you don't have to make those guesses. You simply avoid the duds and cash in on the explosions.
Best places to play? I prefer Underdog (half PPR) and Draft Kings (full PPR).
Capeesh? Please email me or hit me up on twitter if you have questions about this!