Rotisserie Baseball Rules

Rotisserie baseball is a fantasy sports game where the participants compete against one another by keeping track of statistics accumulated by players in Major League Baseball. The rules of the league can vary from style of the draft to what statistics are used for scoring, but generally all leagues follow the same guidelines. Players can keep track of the score manually or use a website to do so.

  1. Scoring

    • Rotisserie baseball leagues tend to shun head-to-head scoring. The winner is determined at the end of the season based on points awarded for winning certain statistical categories. The categories for points are divided into hitting and pitching statistics, with a minimum of four of each. Examples of these statistics are team batting average, total home runs, runs batted in (RBI) and stolen bases for hitting statistics and team earned run average (ERA), total wins, saves and strikeouts. In a 10-player league, the person whose team has accumulated the most home runs will be awarded 10 points while the person with the least would be given one point. The points are awarded at the end of each week. The overall winner is determined by who has the most overall points at the end of the season.

    Picking Players

    • A draft or auction system picks the players. Using a draft involves randomly assigning the participants a slot in a round. A serpentine draft alternates draft picks to achieve optimal fairness. In this draft style the player with the first pick in Round 1 would then pick last at the end of Round 2, then first again in the third round. This promotes equality as no one person is able to accumulate high picks every round.

      With an auction draft the participants receive a fixed amount of money to spend on their team. An auction draft begins with one player announcing his selection and an opening bid. From there each of the other participants is allowed to bid on the player until one person is successful. They are then awarded the player and the final amount spent is deducted from their total. The next participant announces their choice and the auction continues until all roster spots are filled.

    Roster Limits

    • Rotisserie baseball rosters follow Major League Baseball guidelines by having roster limits of 23 active players with seven bench spots who do not accumulate points. This is broken up into 14 slots for batters and nine for pitchers. With the batters the position which they play becomes a second category. Teams must have at least one player for each of the five infield positions but can use any combination of outfielders they see fit. These players form a team’s active roster. Depending on league rules, teams are allowed to waive any player on their roster as they see fit to pick a replacement but allotment of unpicked players is subject to the waiver wire. Teams are assigned a position on the waiver wire based on their record at the time.