Seth Trachtman won his third Tout Wars title in 2025, and provides tips and lessons learned for next season.
I was fortunate to win my third Tout Wars title in 2025, claiming first place over 14 top industry players in the 15-team Mixed Draft. It wasn't easy, and luck was certainly on my side, especially finishing first place in a rotisserie-scoring league that size with only 109 points.
Along the way, these 10 foundational strategies led the way to help put me in position to win the title. I believe they not only apply to drafting in Tout Wars but most leagues, as we look toward the 2026 draft season.
ADP is a Cheat Code
It's not a mystery but worth repeating just how important average draft position is in helping rank and draft players. Generating ADP in Tout Wars becomes more difficult than many leagues since Tout Wars includes on-base percentage instead of batting average, but major ADP sources like the NFBC, ESPN, CBSSports, and Yahoo can still be a solid guide for knowing approximately when players will be drafted and adjusting rankings based on that info.
The key is understanding that ADP isn't just about when a player should be drafted—it's about when they will be drafted in your specific league format. This allows you to identify value picks who may fall due to format differences, and avoid reaching for players who will still be available rounds later.
The Draft Room Matters
If you draft in an online draft room, there is likely a default ranking of players. This could be based on a proprietary projected points formula, ADP, or something else. Either way, the default rankings will certainly have an impact on the order in which players are drafted, especially in a live draft when drafters are up against the clock and need to make a tough decision.
The Tout Wars Mixed Draft used the Fantrax live draft room. While I do like the room, as mentioned previously, the ADP and rankings within the room are based on batting average instead of on-base percentage, and some of the point projections can be described as "interesting." This draft room could be one reason why I've felt on-base percentage and closers are slightly undervalued in the league.
Understanding your draft platform's default rankings allows you to anticipate runs on certain positions and identify players who may slip through the cracks simply because the platform undervalues them in your specific scoring format.
Know Your Opponents
Many of the same participants remain in Tout Wars year-after-year. This is an element worth keeping in mind that is different from public online leagues or the NFBC. Heading into the draft, the repeat drafters have some idea of when and where certain positions and categories will be drafted, what types of players will be drafted late, and even whether players they like are at risk of going well ahead of ADP because another drafter has hyped them publicly.
My previous two observations about the value of OBP and saves hold true in this case. If someone is publicly talking up a mid-round target, you may need to draft them a round or two earlier than you'd prefer. Conversely, if everyone seems to be fading a player type or category, that's your opportunity to exploit market inefficiency.
Take Advantage of the Rules
Private leagues usually have some unique rules, and Tout Wars is no exception. I took advantage of some of the rules unique to Tout Wars like position eligibility requirements and unlimited IL spots in the draft. For example, I was able to play Alec Burleson at first base immediately with 15 appearances in 2024, but he started the year ineligible at the position in leagues that require 20 appearances. I was also more willing to draft injured players like Ronald Acuña Jr. due to the unlimited IL.
Every league has quirks in its rules—whether it's roster size, transaction limits, keeper rules, or scoring categories. These rules aren't just administrative details; they're competitive advantages waiting to be exploited. Study your league's constitution thoroughly and build your draft strategy around the areas where you can gain an edge that others might overlook.
Injuries Aren't Always Bad
The aforementioned unlimited IL spot rule in Tout Wars has always been a rule that I like to take advantage of during the draft and throughout the season. While some leagues like NFBC provide no space to stash injured players, Tout Wars allows you to free up roster spots with the IL. Even better, you're able to reclaim FAAB by dropping an injured player, so that injury investment can end up paying big dividends if the player's return doesn't pan out as expected. The FAAB reclaim rule also changes some of the FAAB spend strategy, as effectively more FAAB is added to the pool as the season moves along, providing reason to be more aggressive in bidding than leagues where the available FAAB dollars are finite. One other way I've taken advantage of the unlimited IL each season is at the All-Star break. With a three-day week, I'm willing to sacrifice a roster spot or two to stash talented, injured players down the stretch. This year, I did so with Kyle Bradish, who eventually made a key contribution to my team.
Don't be afraid to draft injured stars at a discount if your league rules allow for proper stashing. The combination of elite talent and depressed draft cost can be a championship-winning formula, especially in deeper leagues where replacement-level production is readily available on waivers.
Predict Category Availability in Free Agency
Unless you're in a Draft Champions or Gladiator league format, leagues aren't won on draft day. While most drafts try to balance rotisserie-scoring categories in the draft, it's likely that teams will fall short. In the case of Tout Wars, I fell short in OBP and starting pitching at the draft, but felt confident in the supply of fill-ins for those areas in free agency. The key is understanding which stats are abundant on the waiver wire versus which are scarce. Power and speed tend to be drafted heavily, while sources of batting average/OBP, and quality innings are often more available throughout the season as playing time situations clarify and prospects get called up. This knowledge allows you to punt certain categories in the draft knowing you can address them later, while loading up on scarce categories early.
The Draft Date Matters
Drafting well before Opening Day is a polarizing subject, but I generally prefer drafts that are at least a couple weeks before the season starts. The uncertainty of rosters and position battles can be used as an opportunity. Some of my early bets worked out, such as drafting Carlos Estévez in Round 15 when the Royals closer job was somewhat uncertain, selecting Max Meyer in the 26th round while he battled for a rotation spot with the Marlins, and picking up Ben Rice in the final round before he emerged as Giancarlo Stanton's early replacement at DH.
Generally, drafting early also allows for more opportunities in the first FAAB period as surprises emerge in Spring Training, and I spent over 30% of my initial FAAB budget in the first period with mixed results adding Jack Leiter, Victor Scott II, and Landen Roupp. Early drafts reward preparation and bold projections. While others wait for clarity, you can secure players at discounted prices based on your conviction about how situations will resolve. Just be sure to stay active in the early FAAB periods to pivot when your bets don't pan out.
Depth Matters
There’s a great debate about how to use late-round picks: Should you draft usable depth or high-risk, high-reward players who might not pan out? The truth is that I believe in doing a bit of both, depending on the league format. In a league like Tout Wars where I’m trying to only beat 14 other fantasy managers, I want to make sure that I have ample depth at every spot and category, though holes can certainly be filled via FAAB. I’ll throw in an upside play here or there, but leave the home run bets for tournament formats like the NFBC where truly peak performance is needed to beat out hundreds or thousands of other teams. I was able to find some late “sure things” like Zack Littell and Harrison Bader in the late rounds of Tout Wars who played a significant role in 2025.
Master In-Season Management
Winning Tout Wars requires more than just a good draft—it demands relentless in-season management. This means staying ahead of playing time changes, injury news, and performance trends. Set up alerts for your league and follow beat reporters for every team, not just the ones with your players.
In my title season, I constantly churned the bottom of my roster to maximize opportunities. I streamed starting pitchers based on favorable matchups, spent big FAAB dollars on pitchers like Emmet Sheehan and Kyle Bradish, and pounced on playing time developments before they became obvious.
The most successful fantasy managers treat every day like draft day, constantly evaluating whether each roster spot is being used optimally. In competitive leagues like Tout Wars, the team that wins is usually the one that makes the most smart moves, not necessarily the one with the best draft.
Trust Your Process, Not Your Results
Perhaps the most important lesson from my championship run is that good process doesn't always lead to immediate results, and results don't always reflect process quality. There were weeks where I made what I considered optimal decisions that backfired, and other times when questionable calls worked out due to pure luck.
To be honest, there have been past Tout Wars drafts when I felt more confident about my team than my 2025 squad, but the results didn’t quite come to fruition. A poor result doesn’t always mean a poor process, and at least a little luck is needed to win any fantasy baseball league.
-Seth Trachtman