This article is part of our Rounding Third series.
Round 2 of the MLB Playoffs begin today, with two AL games. I'm going to do a quick set of Round 2 rankings - once again, for the purposes of this set of rankings, I'm going to use the NFBC's Postseason Holdem Contest as the default format. You can see my initial set of rankings here. As a reminder, 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:
The "free look" that we had for the first round is gone, so we're no longer saved from ourselves with the likes of the Shane Bieber blowup (only 6% rostered in the first round - remarkable in and of itself), and,
Round 2 of the MLB Playoffs begin today, with two AL games. I'm going to do a quick set of Round 2 rankings - once again, for the purposes of this set of rankings, I'm going to use the NFBC's Postseason Holdem Contest as the default format. You can see my initial set of rankings here. As a reminder, 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:
The "free look" that we had for the first round is gone, so we're no longer saved from ourselves with the likes of the Shane Bieber blowup (only 6% rostered in the first round - remarkable in and of itself), and, on the same team, no anomalies like Josh Naylor (57% rostered) will exist.
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, then my positional rankings. For my own teams, I'm using three Dodgers, Braves, Yankees and A's, in that order of confidence in the result of the series. I'm far more confident about the NL outcomes than the AL outcomes.
American League
#1 Tampa Bay Rays vs. #5 New York Yankees
#2 Oakland A's vs. #6 Houston Astros
National League
#1 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. #4 San Diego Padres
#2 Atlanta Braves vs. #6 Miami Marlins
Catchers
- Will Smith, Dodgers
- Travis d'Arnaud, Braves
- Austin Nola, Padres
- Gary Sanchez, Yankees
- Sean Murphy, A's
- Martin Maldonado, Astros
- Jorge Alfaro, Marlins
- Kyle Higashioka, Yankees
- Chad Wallach, Marlins
- Mike Zunino, Rays
First Basemen
- Freddie Freeman, Braves
- Cody Bellinger, Dodgers
- DJ LeMahieu, Yankees
- Luke Voit, Yankees
- Max Muncy, Dodgers
- Eric Hosmer, Padres
- Matt Olson, A's
- Jesus Aguilar, Marlins
- Tommy La Stella, A's
- Jake Lamb, A's
- Nate Lowe, Rays
- Garrett Cooper, Marlins
- Jake Cronenworth, Padres
- Yuli Gurriel, Astros
- Ji-Man Choi, Rays
- Mitch Moreland, Padres
- Edwin Rios, Dodgers
Second Basemen
- DJ LeMahieu, Yankees
- Ozzie Albies, Braves
- Max Muncy, Dodgers
- Gleyber Torres, Yankees
- Brandon Lowe, Rays
- Chris Taylor, Dodgers
- Tommy La Stella, A's
- Jake Cronenworth, Padres
- Jose Altuve, Astros
- Jurickson Profar, Padres
- Joey Wendle, Rays
- Jon Berti, Marlins
- Enrique Hernandez, Dodgers
- Mike Brosseau, Rays
Shortstops
- Corey Seager, Dodgers
- Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres
- Manny Machado, Padres
- Gleyber Torres, Yankees
- Dansby Swanson, Braves
- Marcus Semien, A's
- Carlos Correa, Astros
- Alex Bregman, Astros
- Willy Adames, Rays
- Chris Taylor, Dodgers
- Jake Cronenworth, Padres
- Miguel Rojas, Marlins
- Jon Berti, Marlins
- Tyler Wade, Yankees
- Johan Camargo, Braves
Third Basemen
- DJ LeMahieu, Yankees
- Manny Machado, Padres
- Max Muncy, Dodgers
- Justin Turner, Dodgers
- Gio Urshela, Yankees
- Alex Bregman, Astros
- Tommy La Stella, A's
- Jake Lamb, A's
- Yuli Gurriel, Astros
- Brian Anderson, Marlins
- Austin Riley, Braves
- Jon Berti, Marlins
- Joey Wendle, Rays
- Yoshi Tsutsugo, Rays
- Edwin Rios, Dodgers
- Yandy Diaz, Rays
Outfielders
- Mookie Betts, Dodgers
- Ronald Acuna, Braves
- Marcell Ozuna, Braves
- Cody Bellinger, Dodgers
- Aaron Judge, Yankees
- Trent Grisham, Padres
- Wil Myers, Padres
- Kyle Tucker, Astros
- Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees
- George Springer, Astros
- A.J. Pollock, Dodgers
- Brandon Lowe, Rays
- Adam Duvall, Braves
- Ramon Laureano, A's
- Chris Taylor, Dodgers
- Aaron Hicks, Yankees
- Robbie Grossman, A's
- Brett Gardner, Yankees
- Jurickson Profar, Padres
- Mark Canha, A's
- Michael Brantley, Astros
- Garrett Cooper, Marlins
- Corey Dickerson, Marlins
- Clint Frazier, Yankees
- Austin Riley, Braves
- Manuel Margot, Rays
- Randy Arozarena, Rays
- Brian Anderson, Marlins
- Matt Joyce, Marlins
- Yoshi Tsutsugo, Rays
- Joc Pederson, Dodgers
- Nick Markakis, Braves
- Jon Berti, Marlins
- Hunter Renfroe, Rays
- Lewis Brinson, Marlins
- Josh Reddick, Astros
- Starling Marte, Marlins
- Stephen Piscotty, A's
- Magneuris Sierra, Marlins
- Enrique Hernandez, Dodgers
- Mike Tauchman, Yankees
- Tommy Pham, Padres
- Austin Meadows, Rays
Designated Hitters
- Khris Davis, A's
Starting Pitchers
- Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
- Gerrit Cole, Yankees
- Max Fried, Braves
- Blake Snell, Rays
- Walker Buehler, Dodgers
- Tyler Glasnow, Rays
- Julio Urias, Dodgers
- Dustin May, Dodgers
- Tony Gonsolin, Dodgers
- Ian Anderson, Braves
- Zack Greinke, Astros
- Chris Bassitt, A's
- Mike Clevinger, Padres
- Lance McCullers, Astros
- Jesus Luzardo, A's
- Charlie Morton, Rays
- Sean Manaea, A's
- Sixto Sanchez, Marlins
- Framber Valdez, Astros
- Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees
- Frankie Montas, A's
- Sandy Alcantara, Marlins
- Zach Davies, Padres
- J.A. Happ, Yankees
- Chris Paddack, Padres
- Cristian Javier, Astros
- Pablo Lopez, Marlins
- Ryan Yarbrough, Rays
- Mike Fiers, A's
- Jose Urquidy, Astros
- Garrett Richards, Padres
- Dinelson Lamet, Padres
- Deivi Garcia, Yankees
- Josh Tomlin, Braves
- Jordan Montgomery, Yankees
Relief Pitchers
- Kenley Jansen, Dodgers
- Liam Hendriks, A's
- Trevor Rosenthal, Padres
- Mark Melancon, Braves
- Aroldis Chapman, Yankees
- Ryan Pressly, Astros
- Brandon Kintzler, Marlins
- Nick Anderson, Rays
- Diego Castillo, Rays
- Brusdar Graterol, Dodgers
- Zack Britton, Yankees
- Blake Treinen, Dodgers
