What Is a 5X5 League in Fantasy Baseball?

Since its inception around 1980, the hobby of fantasy baseball has evolved to include many formats. People play in head-to-head leagues, keeper leagues and dynasty leagues. Baseball diehards can use a variety of statistics as league measurements such as OPS, which is on base percentage plus slugging percentage. A 5X5 league, however, keeps playing fantasy baseball simple and doesn’t intimidate newcomers.

  1. Statistics

    • A 5X5 league uses five hitting and five pitching categories. The hitting measurements are runs batted in, home runs, stolen bases, runs scored and batting average. The five pitching categories are earned run average, strikeouts, wins, saves and WHIP--walks plus hits divided by innings pitched.

    Standings

    • Points are awarded in descending order based on whose players do the best in each category. In a 10-team league, for example, the squad with the most home runs gets 10 points. The team with the second-most home runs gets nine points. It continues all the way down to one point for the last place team. The team with the most combined points over the 10 categories wins the league.

    Roster

    • Generally, a team has 23, 24 or 25 players based on the league’s preference. The Tout Wars Baseball Experts League--considered one of the most competitive 5X5 leagues because it includes members from national media outlets that cover baseball--uses 23 players. Their lineups consist of nine pitchers, five outfielders, two catchers and one each of the following positions--catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, a corner infielder (first or third baseman), a middle infielder (a second baseman or shortstop), and a designated hitter. The DH can be a player of any hitting position. Other leagues may go with one catcher or 10 pitchers. Additionally, some leagues have a bench where you keep players that aren’t in your active lineup.

    Team Formation

    • A team is typically formed in one of two ways. A draft takes place before the season in March or early April. Each team gets one pick during each round until the teams are filled. So a team with 23 players in a 10-team league has a 23-round draft with 230 total players taken. A league can have a salary auction instead of a draft. In a typical auction, each team has a $260 budget of fake money to bid on players. Teams can get into bidding wars over desirable players, much like in an antique auction. An owner must find a balance with a mix of high-priced stars and cheaper players to fill out the lineup.

    Transactions

    • Players that aren’t on any team are placed on the waiver wire as free agents. Teams are allowed to drop struggling players and pick new ones up off the wire. Some leagues have unlimited drops. Others may limit the drops to five or 10 per season. A team can place an injured player on the disabled list and acquire a replacement until he gets healthy. Then, the team has to decide who to drop. Teams may also trade with one another.

    Format

    • Leagues can combine players from the American League and the National League. Some leagues, however, are AL-only and NL-only and strictly use players from the one league. If a player gets traded during the Major League Baseball season to a team in another league, then the fantasy team can no longer use him.