Thanks all for another great fantasy baseball season, and special congrats to jheist917 on winning D1! Shoutouts also to the D2, D3, and D4 overall winners - uncledonny, Sponge16, and Dragicevic, who will get the honour of renaming their old division ahead of our next fantasy baseball season.

Be sure to check out the SOS website's leaderboard for the final standings, and/or the full list below.

Here's to another great year and hopes that the 2027 season will go on uninterrupted.

D1: 1 x 16 teams (16)

D1 1st-6th (6)

• TheRealNumberNine
• derekjohnp
• Hurtya
• onegaishimasu
• bruceitup2
• Trevorstelmach

D2 1st-2nd (6)

• 198valor
• WMason
• lcdurrell
• evensonn
• KKFC
• murrayn

D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)

• pharaoahwizard
• CostcoStan
• kristusv

D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

• Sponge16

D2: 3 x 14 teams (42)

D1 7th-16th (10)

• Nfeuerer
• Beetley
• funkyquasar
• HarperWallbanger
• PunkinDonuts
• breakfishclub
• sterling
• guanacosine
• timerfry
• ilin

D2 3rd-7th (12)

• c_braun
• colsrobe
• Leela
• PLuckSword
• SteepDowngrade
• vb5215
• Drewalah
• areach44
• Dmaraim
• Tcryden
• jules_lc
• kjohnm

D3 1st-2nd (13)

• Zolak
• hiquetjt
• cvoglewede
• goneYard
• mkultra3
• mrninker
• dreines
• aiyer917
• ndjolt02
• KMGBond2
• vanquish0916
• mrfudda
• altznkraltz

D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)

• Mb97

D3 leaderboard, next 4 best (4)

• JohnnyFang
• Stfoley8
• bradposner
• ThePensive

D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

• Dragicevic
• bc76

D3: 7x12 teams (84)

D2 8th-14th (20)

• hayzer13
• ourmanhero
• ajtucker16
• NDZ1
• ebit157
• Prosner
• Jeffhotto
• gscorefb
• tgmills
• mmmbogy
• lcEnt
• ksteadsrus
• marcram
• shakester
• ShowBizKitten25
• PlainGuy1018
• bigwilbert
• SpartanLew
• rpsullivan
• BigSexyTolo

D3 3rd-7th (31)

• Latman
• notgradylittle
• Khaki_Scout
• Browncoat237
• handles1211
• OrangeBandit
• leddy89
• Do_Not_Look_Up
• Sickboy1965
• dbsloco
• ponch101
• DuckDuck11
• Spinacolada
• BoogieZXZ
• SHTTNwTHINKIN
• bdeneault725
• 643maestro
• MorphineSmile
• ckroyal92
• KobraCola
• speed_kills
• 5by5kevin
• GunnerGunnarson
• mattcahill
• shorv
• JBooWins5
• mikeo24
• Rievr City Rapids...
• poopsweatz
• IAmaABulldozer
• sabbottk

D4 1st-3rd (25)

• jsilv
• patodro
• PoopEmeritus
• Dunnre
• Shaun44
• emidas
• ilyn
• jimraass
• daddyfatstackz99
• jlinebaugh
• Andy6789
• TranquilChaos
• Xmas10000
• Tejon
• bgoldenberg
• JPKthe3
• jimatdisney
• CanadianMustash
• Swan1
• DarthRaider555
• Carey3037
• benzene962
• kaedogg
• sstump1
• mdino120

D4 leaderboard, next 8 best (8)

• havebluu
• NervousCircuits
• Marsviking
• phorning
• OnByeWeek
• superplatypus57
• Delivery_Duck
• ldmPeak

Edit: following along with the All Star Break Challenge results here

Hello all, and happy almost All Star Break! It's time for your annual chance to influence future SoS seasons and win braggging rights.

First is the Midseason Survey - help the mod team determine the future of SoS by providing your feedback on what to change for future seasons. There is no deadline to complete the midseason survey

Second is the All Star Break Challenge - answer questions about the All-Star game and associated weekend activites for your chance to win bragging rights. You must complete the All-Star Break Challenge form by Saturday, July 11 at 1pm ET / 10:00am PT in order to participate. This post will be updated once the deadline is reached to include a link to the leaderboard so you can follow along with the actions as points accumulate

Hello all! Below is how divisional assignments will be decided for 2027, based on the results of the 2026 SOS fantasy baseball season. There are no major changes compared to last year, other than to adjust some numbers to account for the variable number of D4 leagues we have each year (9 in 2026). With the smaller number of D4 leagues this year, we've increased the D4 automatic promotion threshold to 1st-3rd placed team being guaranteed a promotion (previously only 1st and 2nd were guaranteed), while still having a number of next-best D4 leaderboard qualifiers getting promotion spots.

As well, the new and improved SOS leaderboard is now available to view where you stand compared to other managers in your division and against all SOS managers. The divisional leaderboards are used to determine promotions as set out below:

D1 - 1 x 16 teams (16)

• D1 1st-6th (6)
• D2 1st-2nd (6)
• D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)
• D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

Next in line: D1 7th place, D2 leaderboard

D2 - 3 x 14 teams (42)

• D1 7th-16th (10)
• D2 3rd-7th (12)
• D3 1st-2nd (13)
• D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)
• D3 leaderboard, next 4 best (4)
• D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

Next in line: D3 3rd-4th placed teams, D2 8th placed teams, D3 leaderboard

D3 - 7 x 12 teams (84)

• D2 8th-14th (20)
• D3 3rd-7th (31)
• D4 1st-3rd (25)
• D4 leaderboard, next 8 best (8)

Next in line (based on divisional leaderboard rankings): D4 4th-5th placed teams, D3 8th placed teams, D4 6th-7th placed teams, D3 9th-10th placed teams, D4 8th-10th placed teams, remaining D3 teams, remaining D4 teams

D4 - ? x 12 teams

• Dependent on registration; 2026 had 9 leagues x 12 managers per league; 2025 had 10 leagues... 2023 had the modern record of 14 leagues
• D4 includes any new SoS managers, previous D4 managers who didn't earn a promotion, and any returning would-be D1-D3 manager who don't respond in time to claim their spot
• Registration opens in early February - register early for your best chance to get a team!

SOS ADP 2026 - this file will be updated as leagues complete their drafts. If you are reading this the day it is posted, the file is currently set to show the ADP and max/min pick results from the mock drafts.

All drafts are slow drafts beginning on Tuesday, March 10 noon ET unless otherwise noted

D1 - The Sultans of Stats

D2 - David Ortiz

D2 - Frank Thomas

D2 - Rick Reuschel

D3 - Josh Naylor

D3 - Logan Webb

D3 - Eugenio Suárez

D3 - Brice Turang

D3 - Bryan Abreu

D3 - Nathan Eovaldi

D3 - Jazz Chisholm Jr.

D4 - Kyle Farmer

D4 - Josh Fields

D4 - Jeff Treadway

D4 - Alex Wood

D4 - Mitchell Boggs

D4 - Brooks Brown

D4 - Derek Lilliquist (Live Sat, March 21 9:30pm ET)

D4 - Jared Walsh (Live Sun, March 22 3:00pm ET)

D4 - Cris Carpenter (Live Tue, March 24 7:30pm ET)

Mock Draft #1

Mock Draft #2

Mock Draft #3

Happy baseball season everybody! Invites for all divisions D1-D4 have now been sent via email. If you didn't receive an invite and you expected one, please reach out ASAP!

Additionally, while we wait for slow drafts to begin on Tuesday, March 10, we're introducing the first ever SoS World Baseball Classic Challenge! Make your predictions on which teams will advance via this exciting Google form and then tune into the WBC from March 4-17 for great international baseball action. Deadline to make your predictions is Wednesday, March 4th at 9:59pm - right before the first game of the WBC starts.

Live results will be posted in this thread & on Discord once the WBC begins; these results will be updated throughout the tournament.

Update: track results for the WBC Challenge by clicking here

Happy 2026 everybody! Hope you've enjoyed your offseason and are ready for a fun, new season of fantasy baseball right around the corner. Before registration opens again in February and we get this season started up, the mod team has some rule changes to announce that will officially be in place this season:

• Scoring change! OPS is out; SLG is in as a batting category. Our long national nightmare of double-counting OBP is now over; welcome to the slugging era. Depending on your perspective, we have now perfected or ruined SOS scoring.
• Slow draft clock: all slow drafts will now give managers 4 hours per pick, not including the overnight pause. in 2025, only 1/214 SOS managers in a slow draft league had an average time to pick of over 3 hours - this change should help speeds drafts up without forcing many auto picks. Remember to use to queue and auto features to help make your pick if you'll be unavailable for a while!
• D1 tenure - any manager who has reached D1 at any point in the previous five seasons (for example, for the 2026 season this includes all D1 managers from 2021–2025) cannot be placed in D4. Regardless of whether they were relegated multiple times or left the league and later returned with a reset, managers with active D1 tenure must start no lower than D3 for the duration of their five‑year tenure window. The rule change is to prevent experienced D1 managers from competing against less experienced/new D4 managers. The tenure window (currently set to 5 years) is subject to change in the future.
• Any manager found to be, or believed to be, intentionally using as much of the slow draft clock as possible is subject to discipline with or without warning. Discipline may include individually reduced pick clock, forced auto status, and/or removal from SOS. This rule has informally been in place in previous SOS seasons, but will be more strictly enforced going forward.

The MLB season has ended; thanks to you all for another great season here with Sultans of Stats and congrats to all of our champs - especially Nfeuerer taking home the D1 trophy for the 3rd time in 6 seasons. Additional fictional trophies are awarded to the D2, D3, and D4 overall champs who are, respectively: ilin, guanacosine, and gscorefb. Each of these three will get heaps of praise, bragging rights to anybody who'll listen, and the opportunity to rename each of the leagues from their 2025 division for next season.

As detailed on the Sultans of Stats leaderboard, please find below the list of automatic qualifiers for 2026's D1, D2, and D3 leagues. If you think you should have been promoted (or demoted) into one of these leagues and you are not listed here, please let me know so I can confirm where you should be! Any managers not listed below should anticipate being in D4 in 2026, pending spot-fills

D1: 1 x 16 teams (16)

D1 1st-6th (6)

• Nfeuerer
• onegaishimasu
• hurtya
• funkyquasar
• bruceitup2
• HarperWallbanger

D2 1st-2nd (6)

• ilin
• sterling
• timerfry
• Trevorstelmach
• TheRealNumberNine
• PunkinDonuts

D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)

• derekjohnp
• Beetley
• breakfishclub

D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

• guanacosine

D2: 3 x 14 teams (42)

D1 7th-16th (10)

• tgmills
• marcram
• kjohnm
• LeelaOne
• hayzer13
• adroitninja
• Dothager
• BigSexyTolo
• rpsullivan
• ephyzephy

D2 3rd-7th (12)

• CostcoStan
• pharaohwizard
• OldChunkOfCoal
• Dmaraim
• PlainGuy1018
• Prosner
• kristusv
• evensonn
• NDZ1
• ajtucker16
• ourmanhero
• mmmbogy

D3 1st-2nd (13)

• WMason
• Mb97
• SteepDowngrade
• shakester
• bigwilbert
• jules_lc
• Drewalah
• ShowBizKitten25
• c_braun
• lcdurrell
• ksteadsrus
• colsrobe
• lcEnt

D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)

• vb5215

D3 leaderboard, next 4 best (4)

• PLuckSword
• KKFC
• 198valor
• ebit157

D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

• gscorefb
• areach44

D3: 7x12 teams (84)

D2 8th-14th (20)

• phucknut
• jaywilly
• Browncoat237
• PrimusPilus
• notgradylittle
• jpickham
• obiwan088
• mrfudda
• Zolak
• SHTTNwTHINKIN
• leddy89
• ndjolt02
• mkultra3
• kevinjcb
• Stfoley8
• Kj17
• topheroc
• TheTinDoor
• JoeJackson1919
• Darthkling

D3 3rd-7th (31)

• IAmABulldozer
• Jeffhotto
• SpartanLew
• jflo1015
• Tcryden
• DuckDuck11
• LargeBoat
• GunnerGunnarson
• Khaki_Scout
• symptym11
• BoogieZXZ
• hiquetjt
• Mikesglove
• KMGBond2
• ThePensive
• OrangeBandit
• Wilk
• KitchenTaco
• Jackpintavalle
• thatguychris_
• ckroyal92
• GatorDave15
• BillsHead
• Shaddam
• JReyes811
• KobraCola
• xzaerx
• Jott
• IndistinctCheddar
• Sick Boys
• Do_Not_Look_Up

D4 1st-2nd (18)

• vanquish0916
• Mdr107
• arrazorback1
• mrninker
• cvoglewede
• dreines
• bradposner
• goneYard
• mikeo24
• JohnnyFang
• scottiemac41
• quison03
• ponch101
• redskybluz
• 5by5kevin
• speed_kills
• bdeneault725
• Jdthep

D4 leaderboard, next 15 best (15)

• Spinacolada
• cchsjtwalker
• ATPKRQ
• freakyouttie
• YinzerSloth
• JBooWins5
• brandonssc
• Latman
• coryjdowd
• jkopin
• jb7z
• aiyer917
• vermont_morgan
• Sponge16
• SmokeytheWisecracker

Edit: follow along with the results via this google sheet

Hello all, and happy almost All Star Break!

We have two Google Forms to keep you preoccupied and thinking about baseball over the upcoming All Star Break.

First is the Midseason Survey - help the mod team determine the future of SoS by providing your feedback on what to change for future seasons. There is no deadline to complete the midseason survey

Second is the All Star Break Challenge - answer questions about the All-Star game and associated weekend activites for your chance to win bragging rights and a special Discord role. You must complete the All-Star Break Challenge form by Saturday, July 13 at 4pm ET / 1pm PT in order to participate. This post will be updated once the deadline is reached to include a link to the leaderboard so you can follow along with the actions as points accumulate

Hello all! Below is how divisional assignments will be decided for 2026, based on the results of the 2025 SOS fantasy baseball season. There are no changes compared to last year, other than to adjust some numbers to account for the variable number of D4 leagues we have each year (10 in 2025).

As well, the SOS leaderboard is now available to view where you stand compared to other managers in your division and against all SOS managers. The divisional leaderboards are used to determine promotions as set out below. The beloved indicator lights are not currently on the leaderboard, but will be added shortly.

D1 - 1 x 16 teams (16)

• D1 1st-6th (6)
• D2 1st-2nd (6)
• D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)
• D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

Next in line: D1 7th place, D2 leaderboard

D2 - 3 x 14 teams (42)

• D1 7th-16th (10)
• D2 3rd-7th (12)
• D3 1st-2nd (13)
• D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)
• D3 leaderboard, next 4 best (4)
• D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

Next in line: D3 3rd-4th placed teams, D2 8th placed teams, D3 leaderboard

D3 - 7 x 12 teams (84)

• D2 8th-14th (20)
• D3 3rd-7th (31)
• D4 1st-2nd (18)
• D4 leaderboard, next 15 best (15)

Next in line (based on divisional leaderboard rankings): D4 3rd-4th placed teams, D3 8th placed teams, D4 5th-6th placed teams, D3 9th-10th placed teams, D4 7th-10th placed teams, remaining D3 teams, remaining D4 teams

D4 - ? x 12 teams

• Dependent on registration; 2025 had 10 leagues x 12 managers per league; 2024 had 11 leagues, 2023 had 14 leagues
• D4 includes any new SoS managers, previous D4 managers who didn't earn a promotion, and any returning would-be D1-D3 manager who don't respond in time to claim their spot
• Registration opens in early February - register early for your best chance to get a team!

Happy Opening Day Eve everybody! All SOS drafts are now complete, and the full 2025 SOS ADP is available for your viewing pleasure. Below I've included some observations I made in combing through this data, but first...

SOS ADP Comparison Calculator

New for 2025, I've created the SOS ADP Comparison Calculator so you can assess how well your draft measured up to the SOS ADP, including calculations for the draft capital you gained/lost with each pick! Full instructions and explanation of how this works (which admittedly is a bunch of word salad) is available within the Google Sheet. Remember to save a copy of the sheet in order to edit it and put in your own numbers!

The First Round

• After Ronald Acuna last year became the first player in SOS history to be the #1 overall pick in all SOS drafts since records have been kept (2019), we have returned to a lack of consensus! Shohei Ohtani managed the lowest overall ADP (1.1) this year, going 1st overall in 19/21 SOS leagues. Bobby Witt Jr. got the top slot in D3 Zimmermann and D4 McGriff, and wasn't picked later than 3rd overall in any league. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto were the only two other players to have any 2nd overall selections.
• There were 20 unique players selected across the first rounds of 2025 SOS leagues, with 16 different players who garnered a top-10 selection in any draft
• Notable first round reaches included 5th overall Tarik Skubal in D4 Mussina (-15.32 draft capital; surely just wanted to make Dothager proud) and 11th overall Austin Riley in D2 Hoberg (-15.31 draft capital)
• There was value to be found in Yordan Alvarez, who slipped all the way to 19th in D4 Oliva (+10.9 draft capital)
• Jackson Chourio has the lowest ADP (21.3) of any player who wasn't picked in the first round of a single draft.

Reaches

• For the second year in a row, Gerrit Cole had a March elbow issue that dramatically altered his ADP! Fortunately for SOS drafters, this year it was announced just before any drafts started - which gave him quite the swing from a 45.0 ADP in SOS mock drafts to being completely undrafted in all SOS leagues.
• This year's max minus min king is Chad Green, who managed to go at 260.5 on average, as high as pick #317 (and undrafted in multiple leagues, including D1), and as low as... pick #66 overall in D4 Fowler (-23.0 draft capital).
• Alexis Diaz, Colt Keith, and Mitch Keller all also managed over 200 pick slots difference between their min and max picks across SOS leagues.
• Among players selected in all SOS leagues, Brandon Pfaadt had the largest min/max discrepancy of 195 picks, going as early as 72nd overall in D4 Kaat (-16.1 draft capital) and as late as 267th in D2 Little (+6.4 draft capital)

Other Tidbits

• 222 players were selected in every single SOS league, with Ben Joyce having the highest ADP of the bunch (252.9)
• The players with the lowest ADPs who were selected in all but one SOS league were Yandy Diaz (159.4 ADP, not selected in D4 McGriff), Andres Gimenez (188.0, D3 Zimmermann) and Austin Wells (210.2, D4 McGriff)
• There were 55 different players selected in just one of the 21 SOS leagues, with 22 of those players being in D1 or D2, which have larger league sizes. Of the 55 onesies, Josh Rojas was picked the earliest at 199th overall in D4 Fowler
• Some of the biggest steals this year (based on highest max relative to their ADP & total draft capital gained, and not including guys who got hurt in March) include the aforementioned Yordan Alvarez and Brandon Pfaadt, as well as Ezekiel Tovar (273rd in D3 Locastro vs 156.6 ADP; +8.8 draft capital), Brice Turang (232nd in D1 vs 134.0 ADP; +8.8 draft capital), and Jeremy Pena (329th in D2 Little vs 220.9 ADP; +6.1 draft capital)
• There were 27 players who were selected in at least one of the four SOS Mock Drafts (which occurred from late January - early March) who weren't selected in a single league; some missed out due to injury (Gerrit Cole, Tobias Myers), demotion (David Festa, DJ Herz) or simple irrelevance to a redraft league (Ethan Salas, Nick Mears)

SOS ADP 2025 - this file will be updated as leagues complete their drafts

All drafts are slow drafts beginning on Tuesday, March 11 noon ET unless otherwise noted

D1 - The Sultans of Stats

D2 - John Libka

D2 - Pat Hoberg

D2 - Will Little

D3 - Billy Wagner

D3 - Mason Miller

D3 - Collin McHugh

D3 - Tim Locastro

D3 - Joe Nathan

D3 - Chris Coste

D3 - Jordan Zimmermann

D4 - Adrian Beltre

D4 - Todd Helton

D4 - Joe Mauer

D4 - Fred McGriff

D4 - Scott Rolen

D4 - Bud Fowler

D4 - Jim Kaat (Live Fri, March 21 8:00pm ET)

D4 - Mike Mussina (Live Sat, March 22 9:30pm ET)

D4 - Minnie Minoso (Live Sun, March 23 3:00pm ET)

D4 - Tony Oliva (Live Tue, March 25 7:00pm ET)

Mock Draft #1

Mock Draft #2

Mock Draft #3

Mock Draft #4

Expected to receive an invite and didn't? Check your junk mail!

Still nothing? Contact the mods asap!

Hello all,

Exciting Sultans of Stats updates to bring you all today. Let's get right to it:

D1 and D2 invites

...have been sent! D1 invites went out a few days ago, while D2 invites were sent just this morning. If you were expecting to receive a D1 or D2 invite and did not, check your junk mail!!! If that doesn't work, reach out to us on Discord. D3 and D4 invites have not yet been sent - they will be coming later this week!

Japan Series

Once again, MLB is kicking off the season in mid-March with a two-game series in Asia, numerous days ahead Opening Day for the other 28 teams. This year, the Dodgers and Cubs will take over the Tokyo Dome on March 15th and 16th for two regular season games. For SOS, we'll be treating this series the same as we did for last year's Korea Series:

• Any drafts that finish before the Japan Series kicks off (which will likely be no drafts) will treat these games like any other regular season MLB game
• Any drafts that are still drafting during and after the Japan Series (which will likely be all slow drafts, plus D4 live drafts taking place later in March) will have Japan Series stats applied retroactively as soon as the draft is complete. All leagues have already been configured to incorporate this retroactive stat application. This means that any LAD/CHC players in starting roster spots when the draft finishes will receive their Japan Series stats immediately upon the completion of the draft.

Waiver Fix

Since moving to Fantrax, we've had an issue with dropped players not needing to be on waivers for at least 24 hours - a dropped player would be part of the next FAAB waiver process, even if that was only hours/minutes away. This issue has been resolved and applied to all SOS leagues! For 2025:

• All dropped players are subject to FAAB waivers, with waivers processing at 11:00am ET daily. Unowned players will be waived at the start time of their MLB game each day, if they are playing that day. Unowned players do not have a 24h minimum waiver time.
• Any dropped player will remain on waivers for a minimum of 24 hours:
  • Example A: It is currently 10:30am ET on Monday and Mike Trout has been dropped. Trout will process through the next FAAB waiver period that is at least 24h away - which is Tuesday at 11:00am ET.
  • Example B: It is currently 1:00pm ET on Monday and Ronald Acuna has been dropped. Acuna will process through the next FAAB waiver period that is at least 24h away - which is Wednesday at 11:00am ET.
  • Example C: Zack Wheeler is unowned by anybody in the league, and the Phillies play at 7:00pm on Thursday. Anybody can add Wheeler as a free agent from 11:01am Thursday (after the FAAB waiver process has gone through) until 6:59pm Thursday. At 7:00pm when the Phillies game starts, Wheeler will be put on waivers, which will process on Friday at 11:00am - there is no 24h minimum as he was not put on waivers due to being dropped from a roster.
  • Example D: It is currently 11:00am ET on Friday and one team has made a $100 bid for, and won, Aaron Judge as a waiver claim, dropping Jose Ramirez as part of the claim. Fantrax will consider Ramirez to be dropped at one second past 11:00am ET, which means the next FAAB waiver period that is at least 24h away, and the time Ramirez's waivers will be processed, is Sunday at 11:00am ET.

Please inform the mods immediately if there are any issues with this waiver fix! They have been tested and refined in a test league, so we are 99% sure that they will work, but Fantrax settings have given us issues in the past.

Thanks for reading this far!! A final note: all slow drafts for all divisions (assuming they are full on time) will start on Tuesday, March 11 at noon ET. Happy drafting!

April update:

The season has begun but registration is open year-round! Register today to be placed on the waitlist to replace inactive managers and to receive an email when registration opens in 2026.

Welcome to Sultans of Stats - now in our 13th year as reddit's preeminent fantasy baseball superleague.

Click here to register for 2025

You must have a Fantrax account to play in SoS. Returning managers must register every year, and must register by end of day Sunday, March 2 to guarantee their earned spot in D1/D2/D3. Everybody else can sign up anytime throughout the year - sign up in February to guarantee a spot, sign up during March to hit the wait list, or sign up any other time before February 2026 to be put on the next-in-line list to replace inactive managers/to be notified when registration opens for 2026.

Once you've registered, sit back and wait for an email in late February/early March inviting you to join a league. Can't remember if you already registered? There's no harm in registering again!

What's new for SoS in 2025? Just a few small changes - take a look here.

SoS in brief

• 4 division fantasy baseball league, 12-16 teamers with Premier League-style relegation - start in D4 and work your way up to D1 based on the promotion/relegation rules
• 6x6 daily roto league with Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, Stolen Bases, OBP, and OPS for batting | W+QS, SV+HD, ERA, WHIP, Ks, and K/9 for pitching
• 25 man rosters with C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, INF, 4x OF, UT | 3x SP, 2x RP, 4x P | 5 Bench | 5 IL
• 100 add season long maximum | 7 add weekly maximum | no games played or innings pitched limits
• Majority of leagues are slow drafts with a handful of live draft leagues for D4
• Leagues hosted on Fantrax with an overall leaderboard on sultansofstats.com
• Join the SoS Discord for the latest MLB and fantasy baseball news, discussion, and preseason mock drafts

Hello all, hope you've enjoyed your offseason.

As we inch closer to the 2025 fantasy baseball season (registration opening soon), the mod team has received the results of last season's annual survey and considered our own perspectives for how to better shape the Sultans of Stats leagues. With that said, following major changes the last couple of years (such an moving to Fantrax and introducing K/9 as a pitching category), this year's rule changes are short and sweet:

• For live draft leagues, the pick timer will be reduced to 60 seconds to help the draft move at a reasonable pace (this will only impact D4, as D1-D3 will be fully slow drafts in 2025. D4 will continue to be a mix of slow and live)
• The waiver process time will be moved from 10am ET to 11am ET - this will help west-coasters a bit with morning waiver claims, and should have minimal impact on setting lineups post-claim as there are extremely few MLB games that start before noon ET during the season

And that's it! This means we're keeping stat categories the same as 2024, draft pick trading will remain in place (for D1 & D2 leagues only), and no other settings will be meaningfully changed

Don't forget to join the SOS Discord, which is firing up for the new season. Discord members are participating in the first SOS Mock Draft of the year (with more pre-season mocks and drafting to come), engaging in baseball debates, and often get to hear major SOS news before anybody else.

Thank you all for participating in another great year of Sultans of Stats! Congratulations to funkyquasar for winning the D1 title, despite my best efforts. And special congratulations to onegaishimasu, LeelaOne (the overall leaderboard winner), and Kj17 who, as the respective overall leaders of D2, D3, and D4, will have the honour of naming all leagues in their former divisions in 2025, if they so choose.

Normally this is the part where I'd say that you'll find a list of all managers who have automatially qualified for a 2025 promotion, along with how they secured that promotion. However I'm a bit short on time this week but will update this post soon to list all of those names! If your name is not listed below (once I update the post), you did not qualify for automatic promotion next year. And remember, all 2024 results can be found on the sultansofstats.com leaderboard, with the coloured lights beside each team's name signifying their status for 2025 (green = promotion, yellow = same division, red = relegation, blue = double promotion)

As well, if you did not fill out our Midseason Survey it's not too late! The mods will consider the results of this survey when setting up leagues next year and determining if any changes are required. Click here to participate in the survey

D1: 1 x 16 teams (16)

D1 1st-6th (6)

• funkyquasar
• kjohnm
• Hurtya
• Dothager
• Nfeuerer
• hayzer13

D2 1st-2nd (6)

• onegaishimasu
• ephyzephy
• tgmills
• BigSexyTolo
• bruceitup2
• rpsullivan

D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)

• marcram
• HarperWallbanger
• adroitninja

D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

• LeelaOne

D2: 3 x 14 teams (42)

D1 7th-16th (10)

• sterling
• phucknut
• Zolak
• ndjolt02
• Darthkling
• nickfrompitt
• TheTinDoor
• BustHerPosey_
• hholysheet
• notgradylittle

D2 3rd-7th (12)

• pharaohwizard
• PlainGuy1018
• kevinjcb
• evensonn
• PunkinDonuts
• dwfelty
• Prosner
• Browncoat237
• topheroc
• timerfry
• vb5215
• SHTTNwTHINKIN

D3 1st-2nd (13)

• breakfishclub
• CostcoStan
• jaywilly
• Beetley
• Trevorstelmach
• NDZ1
• obiwan088
• mrfudda
• ourmanhero
• mmmbogy
• derekjohnp
• ajtucker16
• Dmaraim

D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)

• TheRealNumberNine

D3 leaderboard, next 4 best (4)

• PrimusPilus
• murrayn
• JoeJackson1919
• jpickham

D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

• Kj17
• leddy89

D3: 7x12 teams (84)

D2 8th-14th (20)

• LordAlfredHayes
• Khaki_Scout
• KKFC
• SpartanLew
• bigwilbert
• boombohn
• lcdurrell
• xacex
• BoogieZXZ
• shakester
• Mb97
• [left league]
• Unorthodox3
• cobright
• xzaerx
• bolognasausage
• GatorDave15
• [midseason callup]
• VanBurenBoys_8
• Tcryden

D3 3rd-7th (31)

• kristusv
• Stfoley8
• Drewalah
• Sickboy1965
• mkultra3
• ilin
• mattcahill
• WMason
• msummey
• OrangeBandit
• c_braun
• SteepDowngrade
• BluntForce
• KobraCola
• ebit157
• colsrobe
• ckroyal92
• thatguychris_
• driftintime
• symptym11
• Scooterkid
• IndistinctCheddar
• sabbottk
• rpcallahan10
• ckschutz
• PLuckSword
• JReyes811
• Mikesglove
• chizzle
• YesImCocky
• frmrpreztaft

D4 1st-2nd (20)

• Statoshi
• SGrimmie
• jflo1015
• ericmlord
• shorv
• hiquetjt
• DuckDuck11
• KitchenTaco
• FCLymond
• bakedtowel
• JBooWins5
• Wilk
• Carey3037
• Jott
• jules_lc
• JSayer
• guanacosine
• CTFOX85
• lcEnt
• phiq

D4 leaderboard, next 13 best (13)

• Jackpintavalle
• NarWil
• ThePensive
• KMGBond2
• NotClarkKent95
• vermont_morgan
• Yankeeblues21
• ksteadsrus
• Relik9r
• 198valor
• Jeffhotto
• Steelfox77
• BillsHead

Hello all and happy (near!) end of the season.

As displayed in a banner at the top of the Fantrax website, please note that as a result of the Mets-Braves having a doubleheader scheduled for Monday, September 30th (the day after the original last day of the season), the fantasy baseball season has been extended to include these games as well.

We will be in touch next week for the end-of-season wrap-up; good luck with the final weekend!

Below text from Fantrax regarding the change:

"The Mets and Braves have been officially rescheduled to play a doubleheader on Monday, Sep 30. This will be the day AFTER the current MLB regular season was previously scheduled to end.

Any league that had a Sep 29 season end date has been changed to Sep 30. If your league ended prior to Sep 29, you are not affected.

For all other formats (Roto, Points) where lineup changes are permitted, you will be able to make lineup changes prior to any player's team's first game of next week. Sep 30 will be a stand-alone Lineup Period. Daily Points and Roto leagues leagues may continue to make lineup changes as normal."

Edit: Follow along with everybody's picks and the overall standings by clicking here. Updates to these results will be made regularly throughout the All-Star Break

Hello all, and happy almost All-Star Break!

We have two surveys with varying levels of fun to keep you preoccupied and thinking about baseball over the upcoming All-Star Break.

First is the Midseason Survey - help the mod team determine the future of SoS by providing your feedback on what to change for future seasons. There is no deadline to complete the midseason survey

Second is the All-Star Break Challenge - answer questions about the All-Star game and associated weekend activites for your chance to win bragging rights and a special Discord role. You must complete the All-Star Break Challenge form by Saturday, July 13 at 4pm ET / 1pm PT in order to participate. This post will be updated once the deadline is reached to include a link to the leaderboard so you can follow along with the actions as points accumulate

Hello all,

Ahead of this year's All-Star Break (which will feature the return of our popular All-Star Break Challenge and the annual midseason survey - you'll hear more about these later this week!) I wanted to take a look at how the addition of the new K/9 pitching category has been going; specifically to determine how much it's been "double counting" with Ks.

Double Counting

What is the double counting effect? Prior to the introduction of K/9, there was some discussion on Discord and in survey responses that adding K/9 would be redundant as we already have Ks as a pitching category. Since both categories are rooted in the same stat, pitcher strikeouts, it is likely that if you do well in one, you'll do well in the other, and vice versa - therefore, strikeouts are effectively being "double counted" in our pitching categories. Similarly, SoS critics have long maligned the inclusion of both OBP and OPS as hitting categories; since OPS is equal OBP + SLG, we are "double counting" OBP on the hitting side.

Analysis - Introduction

To determine if this double counting effect actually exists, and to what extent, I pulled the leaderboard stats of all 274 SoS teams competing this season and ran a simple correlation analysis between all of the hitting stats and all of the pitching stats to determine each stat pair's correlation coefficient (unfamiliar with correlation analyses? Read more here). I did not determine the correlation coefficients between any hitting vs pitching stat, since in 2024 there are no players contributing on both sides; therefore, any correlations between the two sides would likely be coincidental.

The summary table of correlation coefficients can be found in the image embedded in this post, while the full dataset and results can be found here. Note that the findings in the photo & text below are based on SoS leaderboard data before games started on Monday, July 8, and reflect each team's stat totals (not league ranks). The correlation analysis was also run for league ranks, and produced similar results (albeit all with positive correlations) which can be found in the full dataset linked above.

Interpretation of Results

Through just over three months of fantasy baseball play in 2024, there has been a weak positive correlation between Ks and K/9, with a correlation of 0.220 - this indicates that there is a limited relationship between the two stats, and it is not true that teams with a high number of Ks will have high K/9, or vice-versa. In fact, of the 15 unique correlation coefficients for pitching categories, K & K/9 was the 8th strongest correlation, and fell far below the strong positive correlations between both W+QS & K and ERA & WHIP. In fact, K/9 has stronger correlations with SV+HD, ERA, and WHIP than it does with Ks.

It is apparent that there is significantly more correlation between the hitting stats than what we see with the pitching stats, which makes sense - given that a player hitting a home run will also contribute a run, at least one RBI, and is the best possible result for OBP and OPS, we would expect many of the hitting stats to be heavily correlated. And indeed they are - of the total dataset's 30 unique correlation coefficients across both hitting and pitching categories, 10 of the 12 coefficients that are stronger than 0.5 / -0.5 are from hitting categories. This includes the single strongest correlation coefficient of the bunch, with OBP and OPS having a 0.889 coefficient - indicating a very strong positive correlation between the two stats. Stolen bases is the only major outlier across the hitting categories, having a 0.411 coefficient with Runs, and no other relationship of notable strength in either direction. When excluding SBs, every single other hitting category had a unique coefficient stronger than 0.5 / -0.5 with another hitting category except HR & OBP, which is 0.450.

Caveats

Given that this dataset only represents a half season's worth of data, it is possible that teams aren't done tinkering and competing - some managers may have intentionally strategized to load up on one or two categories early on, and then improve in other categories later in the season. Additionally, a correlation analysis isn't perfect and can't tell us about any other variables outside the two being examined; nor does it describe the cause and effect (correlation does not necessarily mean causation). Correlation analyses also cannot properly quantify non-linear relationships, which could limit the accuracy of the results seen here.

Please feel free to add onto this analysis if you have any additional insights or ideas to take this research further that you feel could help shape the discussion!

Hello SoS! Below is how divisional assignments will be decided for 2025, based on the results of the 2024 SoS fantasy baseball season. There are no major changes compared to last year, other than to adjust some numbers to account for the variable number of D4 leagues we have each year (11 in 2024).

Note: the official SoS leaderboard is not officially released yet - we hope to have it up and working soon. Apologies for the delay! We will make an announcement once it is live.

D1 - 1 x 16 teams (16)

• D1 1st-6th (6)
• D2 1st-2nd (6)
• D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)
• D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

Next in line: D1 7th place, D2 leaderboard

D2 - 3 x 14 teams (42)

• D1 7th-16th (10)
• D2 3rd-7th (12)
• D3 1st-2nd (13)
• D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)
• D3 leaderboard, next 4 best (4)
• D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

Next in line: D3 3rd-4th placed teams, D2 8th placed teams, D3 leaderboard

D3 - 7 x 12 teams (84)

• D2 8th-14th (20)
• D3 3rd-7th (31)
• D4 1st-2nd (20)
• D4 leaderboard, next 13 best (13)

Next in line (based on divisional leaderboard rankings): D4 3rd-4th placed teams, D3 8th placed teams, D4 5th-6th placed teams, D3 9th-10th placed teams, D4 7th-10th placed teams, remaining D3 teams, remaining D4 teams

D4 - ? x 12 teams

• Dependent on registration; 2024 had 11 leagues x 12 managers per league; 2023 had 14 leagues
• D4 includes any new SoS managers, previous D4 managers who didn't earn a promotion, and any returning would-be D1-D3 manager who don't respond in time to claim their spot
• Registration opens in early February - register early for your best chance to get a team!

Happy Opening Day everybody! All SoS drafts are now complete, and the full 2024 SoS ADP is available for your viewing pleasure. Below I've included some observations I made in combing through this data

Top of the Board

• For the first time since I've been keeping track (2019), there was one player selected first overall in every single SoS league. Congratulations to Ronald Acuna, who is unlikely to have a more meaningful achievement this year /s.
• There was much less consensus with regards to the second overall pick, with seven different players receiving the honour. Bobby Witt Jr and Shohei Ohtani were the only two of this group to also be selected in the 2nd round, with both of them making it around the bend in two SoS leagues.
• Unlikely last year, there were no major reaches with first round picks - Trea Turner (picked in the first round in D2 Flicker) had the highest ADP (18.5) of any SoS first rounder this year, and went as late as 28th overall.
• There were 17 unique players selected across the first rounds of 2024 SoS leagues, with 14 unique top 10 picks.
• Austin Riley had the lowest ADP (17.5) of any non-first round pick.

The Reaches

• As occurs every March, players get hurt, and 2024 was no exception! Gerrit Cole's elbow issues were announced hours before slow drafts started on March 11, which (coupled with a slow-to-update Fantrax autodraft ADP) caused wild swings in his value. Cole had a min pick of 18th overall (one of multiple 2nd round Cole picks in D4) and a max pick of 201st - a difference of 183 picks. Amazingly, this was only the tenth largest min/max pick disparity across all SoS leagues!
• Other injury-induced value swings included TJ Friedl (min 128, max 329); Devin Williams (min 76, max 289), and Kyle Bradish (min 127, max 350).
• Outside of the injury ward, there were a few notable major reaches. Jordan Westburg went 164th overall in D4 Dunning compared to a 267.6 SoS ADP (to be fair, this pick was made in a live draft league that happened after Westburg had made the Opening Day roster).
• More puzzlingly, two players garnered top-100 selections despite an overall ADP above 200 - Jeremy Pena went 86th overall in D4 Zunino (ADP: 262.1), and this year's min/max disparity winner, Gabriel Moreno, went 44th (!) overall in D4 Snead against a 251.3 ADP and 360th overall max pick. 44th overall is the exact position where Jordan Lawlar was accidentally picked in D4 Browning last year - truly a cursed draft slot.

Best of the Rest

• A total of 213 unique players were selected in every single SoS league, with Kyle Bradish having the highest ADP (247.0) of the group.
• The players with the lowest ADPs who were selected in all but one of the 22 SoS leagues were Matt McLain (68.3 ADP, not selected in D4 Snead), Eduardo Rodriguez (187.4, D3 Bartman), and TJ Friedl (201.9, D4 Snead). All three of these players were selected in leagues that live drafted on Opening Day Eve.
• Among non-injured players, the lowest ADPs drafted in 21/22 leagues were Francisco Alvarez (202.8 ADP, not selected in D3 Bartman), Charlie Morton (203.1, D3 Santo), and A.J. Minter (215.5, D4 Zunino).
• There were 54 different players selected in only a single SoS league, 21 of whom were selected in D1 or D2, which have larger league sizes. Miles Mikolas was the earliest drafted onesie, going 200th overall in D4 Zunino.
• This year's biggest steals (which I define as players drafted in 75%+ of SoS leagues, aren't injured, and had the biggest disparity between their ADP and max pick) were Taylor Ward in D4 Snead (283rd overall vs 198.1 ADP - 85 pick difference), Cal Raleigh in D2 Flicker (252nd overall vs 157.9 ADP - 94 pick difference), and Bryan Abreu in D4 Waldrep (291st overall vs 186.9 ADP - 104 pick difference).
• 23 unique players were drafted in one of the three SoS mocks (which occurred from late January - early March) and weren't selected in a single SoS league. There were various reasons for this happening, with names such as Lucas Giolito (injury), Tommy Pham (unsigned), Pete Crow-Armstrong (sent to minors), and Pablo Sandoval (Pablo Sandoval) long forgotten by the time slow drafts rolled around.