Welcome To Best Ball Summer 2022: The Time Is Now
We love to play best ball fantasy football. We love to draft. That’s why it’s so special to see more and more fantasy players get into the lobbies on Underdog Fantasy, our favorite place to do best ball drafts.
They’re clearly doing something right, because this year they’re offering a $25 best ball tournament with $10 million in guaranteed prizes, with a $2 million payout to first place.
This is why we draft. This is why we exist.
Actually, that’s not exactly true. Really, it’s not true at all and I don’t know why I wrote it, yet I’m too lazy to erase it. We draft because we love to draft. We draft because we love the off-season grind of staying on top of average draft position (ADP) and riding the changes in ADP to adjust our player exposure. It’s a fantasy football marketplace, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
This Is Best Ball’s Moment
We are in peak best ball season right now. I’m not just saying that for this year of our lord 2022, but for all of history.
This is the year best ball is exploding. Tons of new data is hitting the fantasy space. Grown men and women are spending hours and hours of their lives figuring out how to properly correlate their rosters for NFL week 17, the championship week for Underdog’s best ball tournaments.
This is the way it should be. This is life in its purest form. What is even more beautiful about this is that it’s clear that even with this influx of data, no one has any idea what actually works in best ball, what’s sound strategy vs good old-fashioned content filler, like this dipshit blog post.
Many will try to argue with you about the optimal roster construction for best ball, but do not let them fool you. They are as lost as you are, as we are. But sometimes you need to get lost before you are found. Why? I have no idea.
All I do know is that the moment is now.
Confusion is swirling, numbers are floating, spreadsheets are growing, and through it all, we draft.
We draft. And we will keep drafting until we have answers.
Best Ball Strategy?
We do know a few things, though.
We know that after Underdog releases its first big best ball tournament of the off-season that the ADP for wide receivers will begin to shoot higher.
This is what is known as the “Puppy Effect.”
The Puppy Effect: A phenomenon in Underdog best ball drafts where WR ADPs rapidly rise around the time of the first puppy tournament.
We have seen the puppy effect in both 2021 and 2022, and we will almost surely see it again in the future. In 2021, 90% of WRs in the first 7 rounds saw their ADPs rise after the Puppy launched, and in 2022 it was 78% WRs.
We now know that handcuffing running backs can actually work. Sort of. It may hurt your chances of getting a super team. Or something, maybe.
We may know that drafting in early May is sharp, or just waiting til August. Unless that data is wrong. Draft when you can. Always be drafting. Do not draft and drive.
We know that week 17 totals are trash. Unless that was just a one year sample size that’s misleading. Maybe this year they’ll be better. Or maybe they’ll be worse.
We know that drafting only one tight end works. Or it’s at least good enough to get you to the finals. If that one tight end absolutely dominates. But drafting three tight ends works too.
We don’t do rankings. They’re not for us. Best ball rankings probably aren’t for you. Unless they are.
Best Ball, The Only Truth
Maybe we know these things…
… or maybe we truly know nothing.
Nothing beyond the feeling that a massive ADP slip brings us.
That moment when the draft fills and you await your draft position.
When you check the team names to see if there’s any you recognize.
When you land that perfect stack without breaking ADP…
And you can share your team on Twitter to look sharper than you are.
That feeling when you can kick your feet up and draft the team you heart desires, the team you were meant to draft. The team of your destiny.
Tonight, maybe you only want to draft three running backs on your best ball team.
You have that right.
And it could work.
It could be good.
No one knows.
The data is coming in…
We know more than we did…
But we still know nothing.
Nothing except that we love to draft. And that best ball has made the world a better place.
This is our team. This is the time to draft. This is the time for correlation.
Put your feet up, put your deposit in (for the 6th time this week), and check that exposure.
Put on Mike Dimes. Breathe it in.
This is Best Ball Summer.
May it never die.
If you love best ball, if you love Underdog, if you love fantasy in general, if you love drinking forties with your besties, follow FantasyUnleashd on Twitter, follow Cash, follow me, listen to our podcast, let your soul be free. Let ADP guide you on your journey. Love you, Australia.
