MLB Postseason Cheatsheet

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Updated on September 29, 2020 12:27PM EST

Postseason leagues can be played in multiple formats, with some contests allowing for substitutions upon each round, others locking and loading for the duration of the playoffs. For the purposes of this set of rankings, I'm going to use the NFBC's Postseason Holdem Contest as the default format. In their contest, you can adjust your roster after each round of the playoffs, to account for eliminated players. There's a multiplier for each round that you have a player advance - if you take a player in the first round and he makes it all the way to the World Series, he gets 4x his score. This format requires you to draft 10 hitters (a player at each infield position, a UT, and four outfielders) and six pitchers. For the first round, you have to draft one player, and only one player, from every team. In the next round, the floor is one player from the eight remaining teams, with a max of three, then two and six respectively for the LCS's, and finally a floor of six and a max of 10 for the World Series. Finally, this is a points league - here's the scoring system:

We're operating under a new playoff format, making our game a bigger challenge than ever. Many have speculated that we'll see more upsets than ever, with the three-game series format in the first round perhaps taking away the advantage from a higher-seeded team, especially if the lower seed has strong starting pitching. The two most frequent examples of this have been the Reds and the Indians - well, at least until the Indians passed the White Sox to become the fourth-seed against the Yankees. I'm not wholly convinced of that likelihood, but that might be my Reds-fan pessimism settling in.

There's also one more idiosyncrasy you should be aware of when you're setting your first round lineup - you are allowed a "free look" at Tuesday's game, as the deadline to set your lineup is Wednesday at noon ET. There are going to be some outlier performances on Tuesday night, and it's going to put us to the test whether that one game should outweigh our initial opinion. At the very least, in your preparation should prepare a few different scenarios at each position, given that contest requires a player from each team in the first round.

Finally, I'm going to list the rankings by position, rather than an overall set, given the rules of this contest, where the entire field can select anyone, rather than be subject to a draft. I'll first list the matchups (along with run differentials), then my positional rankings.

American League

#1 Tampa Bay Rays (+60) vs. #8 Toronto Blue Jays (-10)

#2 Oakland A's (+42) vs. #7 Chicago White Sox (+60)

#3 Minnesota Twins (+54) vs. #6 Houston Astros (+4)

#4 Cleveland Indians (+39) vs. #5 New York Yankees (+45)

National League

#1 Los Angeles Dodgers (+136) vs. #8 Milwaukee Brewers (-17)

#2 Atlanta Braves (+60) vs. #7 Cincinnati Reds (0)

#3 Chicago Cubs (+25) vs. #6 Miami Marlins (-41)

#4 San Diego Padres (+84) vs. #5 St. Louis Cardinals (+11)

Catchers