Ray Flowers breaks down his 15-team Tout Wars mixed league, a setup that uses three different categories versus a traditional 5×5 roto setup (more on this below). How did Ray’s team come together? After all, his last three years in this league he’s finished second, first and third.
RULES
5 x 5 Rotisserie style scoring.
Hitting Categories – OBP, HR, RBI, Runs, SB
Pitching Categories – IP, ERA, WHIP, K, SOLDS
This league does not use AVG, Wins or Saves as are used in traditional 5×5 leagues.
ROSTER: 2-C, 1-1B, 1-3B, 1-CI, 1-2B, 1-SS, 1-MI, 5-OF, 1-UT, 9-P, 6 reserves
POSITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
This league drops positional qualification to 15-games from the traditional 20. Here is a link to games played to find those names that appeared at a position 15 times in 2026.
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. Zero dollar bids are allowed.
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. Greg Jewett
2. Ryan Boyer
3. Ray Flowers
4. Kev Mahserejian
5. Zach Steinhorn
6. Joe Orrico
7. CJ Kaltenbach
8. Geoff Pontes
9. Scott Pianowski
10. Matt Trussell
11. Tim Heaney
12. Howard Bender
13. Matt Cederholm
14. Sara Sanchez
15. Kyle Soppe
MY ROSTER
*Round taken in parenthesis.
Catcher: Adley Rutschman (9), Keibert Ruiz (29)
First Base: Pete Alonso (2)
Second Base: Brendan Donovan (13)
Third Base: Austin Riley (4)
Shortstop: Kevin McGonigle (16)
Middle Infielder: Matt McLain (14)
Corner Infielder: Maikel Garcia (5)
Outfield: Juan Soto (1), James Wood (3), Bryan Reynolds (10), Jung Hoo Lee (20), Parke Meadows, (26)
Utility: Jordan Lawlar (17)
Pitchers: Nick Pivetta (6), Spencer Strider (7), Robbie Ray (8), Shane Baz (11), Bryce Miller (12), Matthew Boyd (15), Carlos Estevez* (18), Grayson Rodriguez (19), Troy Melton (22)
BENCH: Andres Gimenez (21), Ryan Walker* (23), Zach Eflin (24), Taj Bradley (25), Nolan Arenado (27), Tyler Rogers* (28)
***Comments below written live during the event.
DRAFT WRITE UP – OFFENSE
CATCHER: Which Adley am I getting? The guy with a .362/.374 OBP (his first two years) or the guy from the last two years (.318/.307)? Fingers crossed. Ruiz is the choice as my second catcher – just ahead of his teammate Ford. This league went absolutely bonkers with catchers. Wild. Here is the count: 17 in 13 rounds, 20 in 15 rounds and 23 in 16 rounds. Wild spending as folks didn’t want to get caught here like I did.
FIRST BASE: Alonso in BAL seems like a match in heaven hitting dingers at Camden. An elite power bat who plays every day, he had a .347 OBP last year and I like the idea of a banger at first.
SECOND BASE: Donovan also qualifies in the outfield which is nice. He owns a career .361 OBP and seems destined to hit leadoff in front of Raleigh/Rodriguez, and I love that. McLain has another offseason of health which should let him split the difference between last season and his rookie effort. A 15 homer, 20 steal season is doable.
THIRD BASE: Riley needs to stay healthy, something he has not done the last two years. Has gone 30-90-90 his last three seasons of more than 115 games played. Maikel Garcia qualifies at 3B and SS in Tout with 15 game qualification, and that opens up my ability to build my team differently moving forward. Lawlar will be on many of my teams this season. He has strikeout woes and he’s been injured a ton, but he’s got legit 20/20 as early as this season, qualifies at third and will be playing the outfield to start the season. Arenado is in a good lineup, in a good park, and he’s a viable corner infield option in a league this deep. Probably. Possibly.
SHORTSTOP: McGonigle has a shot to break camp in the lineup for the Tigers. Even if he’s demoted to start the year, he won’t be down long. He’s probably the top rookie in the AL this season. Tremendous talent. Andres Gimenez is 2B/SS eligible here. He will play SS to start the year if KM is sent down – if I don’t shift Maikel over.
OUTFIELD: Thought Soto would go second and I would end up with Ohtani. I ended up with Soto, who almost went 40/40 last year. He won’t do that again, but he could lead baseball in OBP, or at least the NL, while going 30/20. Love this pick. Wood went 30/15 last season and should do so again. Also posted a .350 OBP. Almost took him in second, but thought he would fall to third. Great news he did. Reynolds plays every day. He should rebound a bit from a down 2025, won’t hurt me at all in OBP, and the Pirates lineup should be much better this season. JHL is a passable 4th OF in this setup. Plus, he’s one of my nephew’s favorite players… and there is no reason not to have a Giant. Meadows changed up his swing, and his minor league track record is littered with significant OBP marks.
DRAFT WRITE UP – PITCHING
Nick Pivetta is my ace. He’s not an ace. He’s a fine pitcher though. He will be part of my stable of good, but not necessarily great, starters.
Strider will certainly bounce back. I don’t need primetime Strider. Just give me 170 innings and I’m sure his performance will be solid enough that he will work here.
Ray returned from surgery last year and tossed 182.1 innings with 186 punchouts. I’ll take that again.
I’m a big fan of Baz, so I jumped his ADP to get him. He will have his best season this year and threw 166 frames last year.
Miller is a year removed from a 2.94 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. I expect a solid rebound this season and early reports suggest his velocity is back if not slightly up thanks to getting in better shape.
Boyd was fantastic last year (1.09 WHIP over 179.2 IP). He’s a perfect 6th SP option.
Estevez has averaged 33 saves the last three years.
Grayson has obvious injury concerns, duh, but he’s said to be healthy, has been highly effective when healthy, and if he throws 120-innings and pitches as expected – I’m fine with that.
Sniped on Cantillo when I went JHL. Hard to sneak guys through in experts leagues.
Melton has a huge arm. He just needs a rotation spot which he wont have to start the year.
Walker has 57 solds with a 2.87 ERA and 1.03 WHIP the last two years for the Giants.
Eflin – with health – should be a stable ratio guy.
I don’t know if Bradley will ever figure it out, but he has a live arm and there is always hope that the Twins coaching staff has gotten through to him.
Rogers has 30 holds in 4-of-5 seasons and I fully expect him to do that again in TOR after signing a 3-year, $37M deal.
Here is a link to the draft board.
