LABR, the League of Alternative Baseball Reality, was formed in 1994, and continues to be run by Steve Gardner to this day (thanks Steve). I used to eagerly anticipate the release of the USA Today each year when it came time to draft season, so I’m always honored to be part of the group asked to participate each year. Here is my live diary of how my team came together in 2025.
RULES
5 x 5 Rotisserie style scoring.
Hitting Categories – BA, HR, RBI, Runs, SB
Pitching Categories – W, ERA, WHIP, K, SV
ROSTER: 2-C, 1-1B, 1-3B, 1-CI, 1-2B, 1-SS, 1-MI, 5-OF, 1-UT, 9-P, 6 reserves
Every team must have a minimum of 3,500 at-bats and 900 innings pitched.
New to LABR this year (at my behest)… we will set our lineups Monday for the entire week for pitchers. For hitters, there are two time periods (1) Monday and (2) Friday. This setup allows you to swap out injured players or to change based on matchups for your hitters.
POSITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
This league is staying old school saying that you need to have participated at a position 20-times times last season in order to qualify at the spot this year (for more on that I discussed qualifications here).
FREE AGENT ACQUISITION BUDGET
This league will indeed be using FAAB. Each team will have $1,000 to spend over the course of the year. You must have $1 to big on a player (no zero bids).
INJURED LIST
There is no limit to the number of players that can be placed on the Injured List. Players must be activated by the scoring period after they are activated.
DRAFT PARTICIPANTS
1 Scott Pianowski, Yahoo
2 Alan Harrison, @TheFantasyFix
3 Mike Gianella, Baseball Prospectus
4 Mike Podhorzer, FanGraphs
5 Derek VanRiper, The Athletic
6 Paul Sporer, FanGraphs’ Sleeper & the Bust podcast
7 Jeff Erickson, RotoWire
8 Ray Flowers, Fantasy Guru
9 Tim McLeod, Prospect361
10 Fred Zinkie, Yahoo/RotoWire
11 Ryan Bloomfield, Baseball HQ
12 Jenny Butler, FTN Fantasy
13 Zach Steinhorn, Creative Sports
14 Mark Bloom, Dr. Roto
15 Rudy Gamble, Razzball, 2024 champion
MY ROSTER
*Round taken in parenthesis.
Catcher: Gabriel Moreno (13), Freddy Fermin (28)
First Base: Tristan Casas (9)
Second Base: Jose Altuve (4)
Third Base: Max Muncy (15)
Shortstop: CJ Abrams (3)
Middle Infielder: Masyn Winn (11)
Corner Infielder: Nolan Schanuel (21)
Outfield: Kyle Tucker (1), Ronald Acuna (2), Riley Greene (8), Brendan Donovan (16), Evan Carter (17)
Utility: Garrett Mitchell (20)
Pitchers: Bryce Miller (5), Logan Webb (6), Luis Castillo (7), Robbie Ray (10), Nick Lodolo (12), Shane Baz (14), Jordan Romano (18), Liam Hendriks (19), Edwin Uceta (22)
BENCH: Jason Foley (23), Brandon Marsh (24), Luke Weaver (25), Bobby Miller (26), Jonathan Aranda (27), Hayden Birdsong (29)
DRAFT WRITE UP
Since I also hosted this draft on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio, I was unable to do my live diary during the draft. All comments here were written after the draft was completed.
INFIELD
I did two 15-team drafts on Tuesday, February 25th (here is my Tout Wars review). In both leagues I rostered a solid first catcher – and got buried at my second catcher spot. I’m not against this strategy – obviously – but it also isn’t ideal by any means. I will say, I doubt many of you are in 15-team leagues that start two catchers, so hopefully it won’t be an issue for you.
Triston Casas is my first baseman. He’s primed for a breakout campaign and appears likely to hit cleanup for the Sox too. At third I grabbed Max Muncy. He only had 237 at-bats last year but still socked an impressive 15 homers. His average will be poor, but he’s also gone 30-90-90 in two of three healthy reasons. In fact, he’s gone 30-75-75 in four of five career seasons with 475 PA. My corner infield spot is – a bit spotty. Aranda should be rostered his this format, and if he gets 475 PAs he could go deep 25 times hitting at Steinbrenner Field. Nolan Schanuel has a crappy club, but I would see his .250 averaging becoming .270 leading to a .270-15-75-75 type of season. Much like my second catcher spot, I might be treading water at corner infield.
Up the middle though, that is a strength of this team. CJ Abrams will hit leadoff this year for the Nationals and though he disappointed some last year, his two-year average is still .245-19-65-81-39. I’m expecting him to go roughly 20/40 again and I think he could hit .270. Jose Altuve might end up adding outfield eligibility which won’t hurt, but he’s my second sacker. The position gets weak relatively quickly this year, so Altuve holds premium value IMO. He also went 20/20 with a .295 average and 94 runs scored in 2024 and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see him be basically that guy again. Maysn Winn will bat leadoff for the Cardinals meaning all three of my MI should start off in the leadoff spot for their respective clubs. Winn has stated he wants to run more putting a 15/30 season, with 90+ runs scored, in the realm of the possible.
OUTFIELD
Kyle Tucker is a five-category monster and universally a first-round selection. Taking him over Mookie Betts is a razor thin call.
Ronald Acuna was a risk in the second round (I passed on Bryce Harper here, and as you read above that caused my CI spots to be a bit dicey). Sounds like he could miss most of April coming back from knee surgery. We have IL spots here so I will replace his open spot in the first waiver run while sliding Brandon Marsh into the lineup (he went 16/19 last year). By the way, the last time Acuna returned from knee surgery he went 24/17 in only 82 games. He should still be able to ply 125+ games this year, if not a bit more.
Riley Greene went 24-74-82 last season. If he went 30-90-90 this year, I would not be shocked.
Brendan Donovan is INF/OF eligible. He went .277-14-73-65 last season. He’s boring, but he’s a stable offensive bat who could hit cleanup for the Cards. If I hadn’t been hosting while also drafting, it isn’t an easy thing to do both (trust me), I would have taken Nolan Jones here instead. My multi-tasking ways let me down a bit here.
Evan Carter was ruined last year by back woes that are said to be behind him. With a bat in his hands he would appear to be similar to Christian Yelich if it all comes together which is pretty darn exciting. Wouldn’t be a shock to see him swipe 15 bases either.
Garrett Mitchell went 8/11 last year in less than 200 at-bats. It is very reasonable to expect a Brandon Marsh type effort from him this season (15/20 type of thing). He should hit 4/5 too with the Brewers giving him a shot at some solid counting category numbers.
PITCHING
I love the way the starting pitcher group came together given their cost.
Bryce Miller was top-5 in baseball in WHIP last year and basically had a punchout an inning. Logan Webb led the NL in innings (204.2) and has gone 190 innings with 160 strikeouts and double-digit wins 3-straight seasons. Luis Castillo pitches in the best park in baseball for hurlers, and even if his elite days are behind him, 180 punchouts in 180 frames seems doable. Ray had 43 punchouts and a 1.14 WHIP over 30.2 frames in his return from surgery last year. He has 200 punchouts his last three healthy seasons and SF is a great place to pitch. Lodolo is basically a younger version of Ray, one with 200 strikeout upside with health. Baz dominated down the stretch last season and seems more than capable of surpassing his draft day cost (my selection of him generated a groan in the chatroom as others wanted him). Bobby Miller was touching 99 mph in his first spring outing but a dart throw on the mouthwatering talent is all this really is after a disastrous 2024. No idea if this ticket will pay off. Hayden Birdsong is pumping 98 mph gas this spring, though his role is completely up in the air (he could be the Giants 5th SP, he could end up in the pen or he could start the year in the minors).
In 15-team leagues, putting a full team together ain’t easy (like pimpin’). The reliever group I assembled is potentially dominant, but with questions.
Jordan Romano and Liam Hendriks are my top-2 pen arms. Both men, coming back from injury, are expected to get first shot at the 9th inning with their clubs. Could they each get 30 saves? Yes. Could they struggle to get 30 total saves combined? Absolutely. Totally wild cards. I don’t mind taking a shot on one, but you probably want to avoid having to take a shot on both.
Edwin Uceta will punchout out well above a batter per inning, and Pete Fairbanks cannot, under any circumstance, stay healthy. Jason Foley is in the closing mix with DET, though I would not call him their closer. On the live broadcast covering the draft I simply said – give me 18 saves Mr. Foley and I will be happy. Luke Weaver would appear to be the #2 man in NY behind Devin Williams who missed a chunk of last season with health woes. Weaver dominated all year long including into the playoffs.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My second catcher is spotty and I’m going to need some fortune in the saves column. That said, if there are two spots where I don’t mind being thin in a 15-team league – those are the two.
In retrospect the build kinda hinges on the Acuna over Harper call in the second round. If I had gone Harper my infield would have been stellar, and I likely wouldn’t have a worry at the corner infield spot. However, if Acuna returns and goes 30/30 or 25/35 or something like that, I’m not going to second guess my decision. Frankly, Ray Flowers “normally” takes Bryce Harper. Ray Flowers wanted to change things up this season and embrace a bit more risk. Mission accomplished.
On the starting pitcher front, I don’t necessarily have an SP1. However, I have three guys I believe are SP2s, and it wouldn’t be bonkers to think I could get 375+ punchouts from my 4-5 (Ray/Lodolo). If Baz can recapture just a bit of the velocity he’s struggled to find since surgery, and his K-rate ascends to just league average, then I think this starting group is pretty banging.
IF Romano/Hendricks give me 45 save total…
IF Acuna goes 25/30…
IF Lodolo/Baz finally arrive…
If they don’t…
Well, you know.
Off to the waiver-wire we go.
Here is a link to the draftboard.
