Head to head leagues are well into the playoffs now and daily fantasy players have their attention divided between fantasy football and the end of the baseball season. In many ways, it is perfect timing to take advantage of those divided loyalties. We’ve taken a bit of a break in our total point series, but we are ready to resume in earnest as we take a look at the top twenty shortstops.

We cut off the statistics as of Sunday September 17^th while using our own formula that is similar to the others, but just different enough to perhaps through a monkey in the wrench. The categories are included below, but for the sake of room we have condensed walks, stolen bases, and hit by pitches into positives and strikeouts, caught stealings, and grounded into double plays into negatives.

Total Bases= 1 point per total base               SO= -1 point per SO

Runs= 1 point per run                                     CS= -1 point per caught stealing

RBI= 1 point per RBI                                       GDP= -1 point per grounded into double play

SB= 1 point per stolen base

BB= 1 point per walk

HBP= 1 point per HBP

The Elite

A twitter follower earlier in the year inquired whether she should jettison Lindor. Luckily, I said no, but the prevailing wisdom at the time was that he was underperforming. It’s funny how a long season can create multiple views of a player. Now, he is on the verge of surpassing 500 points. No, he is not the best offensive player in the league, but when you combine a premium defensive position (with near elite defensive skills) and you could see an argument for him winning the MVP award.

Yet, that buries the lead on this position. Lindor and Seager are the only players that would have made the top six in the preseason. There are others that are better on a per game basis, but attendance is part of the grade. When you combine fielding, Simmons has to be in that consideration for MVP as well, but defense doesn’t matter in fantasy baseball. Similarly, Andrus has quietly had a career season.

Rank and File

We see two kinds of players here. The first are the studs that just couldn’t stay healthy enough to be elite. Correa, Segura, and Turner each would be among the top six if they could have stayed healthy this season. We will look at points per game in the offseason when doing our 2018 rankings. It has to be a part of the discussion especially when talking about daily fantasy baseball.

This is where the other guys come into play. Each of the other players have had spurts here and there when they look elite. Polanco in particular was worse than mediocre until the second half of the season when he came on like gangbusters. In regular fantasy baseball you are the sum of your parts. In DFS you are what you currently are. Bogaerts and Galvis also have had periods where they looked elite interspersed with periods where they looked ordinary. The sum is mediocrity.

The Rest

The shortstop position is compact in its distribution. This often has to be taken into account especially when looking at setting a DFS lineup. When you see separation you have to take advantage of it. However, some players like Baez and Beckham are better on a per game basis, but neither got enough playing time this season to be elite. That could change in the future with their present performance.

The rest represent the slot machine of fantasy production where you get the occasional jackpot, but the house usually wins. Out of the group, Crawford probably has the best long term prospects because of his power and patience, but 2017 has been a disappointing season for most the Giants.