An Intro to Best Ball Leagues: Prizes, Rules & Basic Strategy
What are Best Ball Draft-Only Leagues?
Best ball is a fantasy football format where league managers draft their team, but there is no in-season management—no waiver wire, no trades, no setting lineups. Instead, your highest-scoring players are optimized to form your starting lineup. Leagues are decided by cumulative season points rather than head-to-head matchups. Roster size and payout structures vary by platform, and while there are traditional live drafts available, slow drafts (1- 2- 4- 6- and 8-hour timers) are also popular for best ball leagues.
The following will look at specifics for some of the most popular best ball platforms.
Dive Deeper: How Winners Draft QBs in Best Ball Mania | How Winners Draft RBs in Best Ball Mania
Why Play Best Ball?
Best ball is a great fit for fantasy managers who enjoy drafting but don’t want to get too bogged down with the day-to-day management of multiple leagues. Once the draft is over, your roster is locked, and the platform automatically selects your highest-scoring lineup each week.
That makes it different from traditional fantasy football, where in-season management can matter just as much as the draft itself. In best ball, roster construction does most of the heavy lifting. You can’t fix a thin position group later or replace an injured player through waivers, so every pick has to serve a purpose from the start. This also makes best ball a strong offseason format. You can enter drafts throughout the spring and summer, build exposure to different players, and test different roster builds without creating dozens of teams that need weekly attention once the season begins.
Best Ball Rosters and Leagues
| Site | QB | RB | WR | TE | Flex | DEF | K | Bench | Total Roster Spots | Scoring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DraftKings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | N/A | N/A | 12 | 20 | PPR |
| Underdog | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | N/A | N/A | 10 | 18 | Half-PPR |
| FFPC | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 28 | PPR/TE-Premium |
| FFPC Slim | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | N/A | N/A | 12 | 20 | PPR/TE-Premium |
| Yahoo! | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | N/A | N/A | 9 | 17 | Half-PPR |
| BestBall10s | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | N/A | 11 | 20 | PPR |
| Drafters | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | N/A | N/A | 11 | 20 | PPR |
| Site | League Sizes | Buy-in Options | Pick Clocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| DraftKings | 3, 6, 12, Tournaments | $1–$5,300 | 30 Sec, 8 Hrs |
| Underdog | 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 12, Tournaments | $3–$500 | 30 Sec, 8 Hrs |
| FFPC | 12 | $35–$1,250 | 60 Sec, 2 Hrs, 6 Hrs |
| FFPC Slim | 12, Tournaments | $5–$1,250 | 30 Sec, 60 Sec, 2 Hrs, 6 Hrs |
| Yahoo! | 10 | $1–$500 | 30 Sec |
| BestBall10s | 3, 6, 12 | $5–$100 | 1 Min, 1 Hr, 2 Hrs, 4 Hrs, 8 Hrs |
| Drafters | 3, 6, 10, 12, Tournaments | $1.10–$1,060 | 30 sec, 8 Hrs |
| FastDraft | Tournaments | $5-$10 | 20 Sec |
This is not a comprehensive list of all leagues available, but these are the most popular offerings, with limited-time tournaments also available throughout the summer. Payouts vary by site and league type and are not consistent enough across all platforms to list here. View each site for details on different league payouts. Note that there are variations in scoring across sites for yardage, points allowed, etc.
General Strategy to Get Started
Specific strategy for each site varies but, in general, you should go into a draft with the aim to draft the following number of players at each position in hopes of maintaining enough active players through all 17 weeks:
- 2–3 QB
- 4–6 RB
- 6–9 WR
- 2–3 TE
- 2–3 Defenses
- 2–3 Kickers
In a traditional league, a bad weekly lineup decision can cost you a matchup. In best ball, the lineup decision is handled for you, which means your job is to build a roster with enough weekly spike-week potential to take advantage of the format. This is especially important at wide receiver and flex, where volatile players who can post occasional 20-point weeks are often more useful than low-ceiling options who simply offer steady but replaceable production.
League type also matters. In smaller league-style contests, building the strongest overall roster for the full season is usually enough. In large-field tournaments, you need to think more about upside and correlation, because simply building a solid team may not be enough to beat thousands of entries. That doesn’t mean beginners need to overcomplicate every pick, but it does mean drafting teammates from the same offense, or pairing a quarterback with one or two of his pass-catchers, can make sense when the price is right.
Beginner Best Ball Tips
The easiest mistake new best ball players make is treating the format exactly like a managed redraft league. Since there are no waivers, trades, or lineup decisions after the draft, balance matters. You don’t need to draft scared, but you do need enough depth at every position to survive bye weeks, injuries, and weekly volatility.
- Draft for roster balance. You don’t need to hit exact position counts every time, but leaving yourself thin at quarterback, tight end, or running back can become a problem quickly.
- Chase spike weeks. Best ball rewards players who can post occasional big games, even if they are less predictable week-to-week.
- Do not draft like you can fix it later. There are no waiver claims or trades, so every bench spot has to serve a purpose.
- Stack when it makes sense. Pairing a quarterback with one or two (or even more) of his pass-catchers can raise your weekly ceiling, especially in tournament-style contests.
- Pay attention to bye weeks, but do not overcorrect. You want enough active players every week, but passing on strong values just to avoid a bye-week overlap can hurt more than it helps.
- Know the platform rules. Roster size, scoring, tight end premiums, kickers/defenses (where applicable), and playoff structures can all change how you should draft.
