There are only so many ways that I can introduce my annual fantasy baseball cheatsheets. Trust me, I know because I’ve written such introductions for nearly fifteen years on this site. As far as the internet goes, this site is considered ancient but it’s still hanging around here in the year 2023, much like Rich Hill.
This year, I am going to keep the preamble short though. I feel that most people who have landed on this page know what they are getting into.
That being said… for the people who landed here without any past experience with my work, this post is announcing the release of my 2023 fantasy baseball cheatsheets.
These sheets are professional spreadsheets made for Microsoft Excel (desktop). There are four cheatsheets. They’re first broken into whether you’re conducting a standard fantasy draft or holding a fantasy baseball auction. From there, there are two sheets to choose from depending on whether you are in a roto league or a points-based league.
The main reason these cheatsheets are great is that they generate custom player values based on whatever unique settings your league may have. You’ll enter your league information, and you’ll choose what data you’d like to use, and then you’ll have a list of unique values for every single player you may draft. You can then conduct your draft from the spreadsheet itself because it’ll track the projected standings for your league as you go. That’s handy because then you can make adjustments to your draft strategy as needed, especially in rotisserie leagues.
That’s the idea! I think the spreadsheets are pretty great and I hope you’ll think so too. So, let’s get on with it.
Warning: These Are For Microsoft Excel On Your Computer
I’m just pointing this out to say that these spreadsheets do not work in any other program other than Microsoft Excel at the moment. They also do not work on the web or mobile version of Excel. You need to use these on your laptop or computer in Microsoft Excel itself.
Fantasy Baseball Draft Cheatsheets
There are four types of cheatsheets that you can download here so let’s figure out which cheatsheet is for you first.
The first question to answer is about your draft type.
Your league is either conducting a standard fantasy draft or they’re having an auction. A standard draft contains multiple draft rounds and you make a pick each round. An auction would be where each player is put up for bidding and you can use fictional dollars to get the players you want. These first two cheatsheets are for the standard drafts. If you’re in an auction, skip past these.
The second question you need to answer is about what type of scoring your league uses.
The two common formats are either roto or points-based. A roto league is where you are ranked from first to last in various statistical categories, either each week or for the whole year. A points league is more like fantasy football where you get X number of points for each thing a player does and you try to get more points than your fantasy opponent.
So, if you’re in a roto league that’s conducting a fantasy draft then here is the spreadsheet that you want to download:
If you didn’t download that file but you’re still here then that likely means that you’re in a points league. The points league is where you get individual points for each statistic and try to get the most points each week.
If that’s your league type and your league is holding a standard draft then download this spreadsheet to win your league:
Perfect! If you’re in a fantasy baseball draft then you should be good to go now. You can skip to the end if you want to read any final thoughts. Now, for the rest of you…
Fantasy Baseball Auction Cheatsheets
If your league is not conducting a standard multi-round draft and you are bidding on players to put onto your team then, yes, you need a different spreadsheet than what I have above. You need my auction spreadsheets.
You just need to ask yourself which type of league you’re in before you download one of these two sheets.
To quote myself from just a minute ago, “the two common formats are either roto or points-based. A roto league is where you are ranked from first to last in various statistical categories, either each week or for the whole year. A points league is more like fantasy football where you get X number of points for each thing a player does and you try to get more points than your fantasy opponent.”
If you’re in a roto league that is holding an auction-style draft then here is the spreadsheet that you want to download:
That leaves one final cheatsheet. The points league is closer to fantasy football as each player’s stat is assigned a specific point value and you try to get the most points each week. If that’s your league and it’s holding an auction-style draft then download this spreadsheet:
There you have it! Now you can win your fantasy leagues.
Need Help Using These?
You may open these up and find yourself asking a lot of questions. First, I’d check out this FAQ-style post to see if your issue is mentioned in the post. Secondly, I’d search the site to see if the issue has been mentioned before. Thirdly, I’d ask the question in the comments below here and I’ll get back to ya. One of those methods should get you to a solution but I’d start by checking out that post I linked to first.
Found A Bug?
Yeah, that’s definitely going to happen. I’m just one person making these and there are four different spreadsheets to maintain so there may be human error at times. If your cheatsheet is acting strange and you think there’s a bug, contact me or post in the comments below so I can fix it.
Cheatsheet Updates
There will be at least one or two updates to the cheatsheets before the season starts. When a new version comes out, you can copy your league’s data to the new sheet by using the Save & Load tab.
Donations
One icky matter to discuss here is the fact that these gigantic spreadsheets are all free to use. That’s a personal choice that I made a long, long time ago and it’s a choice that I still stand behind. I’m not trying to get rich here; I’m trying to make you all richer though by helping you win your fantasy leagues. It’s a cool feeling without needing to attach dollar values to it.
But, this isn’t free for me to make. This requires a ton of manhours that I don’t get paid for and it requires paying for web hosting and domains and all that fun stuff. As a result, it would mean a lot to me if you would consider donating to the site and the cause itself so that I can keep doing this each year.
If you are in a position to do so, you can submit donations through Venmo or PayPal, or you can buy me coffees.
No pressure at all. You do what you feel comfortable with.
A Personal Note
Before I wrap up this post, I did want to address some things I talked about last year on this site. I noted some personal health/life issues that had popped up at that time. In all honesty, there’s a bit of a vulnerability hangover after talking about all of that publicly as I generally like to keep my life fairly private. Last year was a bit of a nightmare though and some of that personal stuff came up on here as a result.
While things continue to be challenging, this is a fantasy baseball site and we want to win fantasy baseball leagues and that’s what I’m keeping the focus on here. I appreciate all of the kind words from everyone very much though, and I thank you for caring about my health and well-being.
Good Luck!
Hey, you’ve got an awesome spreadsheet that has all the data you’ll ever need for your fantasy baseball draft. Now it’s up to you to go out there and win your league. Just keep in mind that there’s always a matter of luck involved in this game. There will be unexpected injuries and weird things throughout the season that could ruin a great draft. So, I say this sincerely before we go:
Good luck, and have fun.
