2024 Fantasy Baseball Cheatsheets for Drafts and Auctions

Welcome back to another installment of Mr. Cheatsheet. For a few short weeks every March, this site puts out content that is designed to put you in a position to win your fantasy baseball leagues by dominating your fantasy drafts and auctions. The crown jewels of that annual content are the cheatsheets that give this site its name and this is the post to introduce them.

For those not aware of what you’re stepping into, these are spreadsheets designed for Microsoft Excel on your desktops and laptops (mobile/web spreadsheet apps do not work). They are highly customizable because fantasy baseball leagues all seem to have very specific and unique rules that can completely alter the value and rankings of the available players in your league. Once you open up these spreadsheets, you’ll input data about your league and then you’ll get customized rankings that show the projected value of each player for your league. The fun doesn’t stop there though. You’ll input your draft results into the spreadsheet during the draft and you’ll see live standings and charts catered to your league during the draft (admittedly this is much harder if you have a draft with a short pick clock).

To sum it up, these are pretty good spreadsheets and will help you with fantasy baseball.

Beyond that, there are four cheatsheets. They’re first broken into whether you’re conducting a standard fantasy draft or holding a fantasy baseball auction. From there, there are two sheets to choose from depending on whether you are in a roto league (a league where you get ranked in categories) or a points-based league (for leagues that score more like fantasy football).

Really, the fun of these spreadsheets is when you just open them up and start playing around. I recommend testing them out before your actual drafts so you can get a feel for them. All in all, I think the spreadsheets are neat and I hope you all like them.

Fantasy Baseball Draft Cheatsheets

There are four types of cheatsheets that you can download here so let’s figure out which cheatsheet is for you first.

The first question to answer is about your draft type. Your league is either conducting a standard fantasy draft or they’re having an auction. A standard draft contains multiple draft rounds and you make a pick each round. An auction would be where each player is put up for bidding and you can use fictional dollars to get the players you want.

Below are two cheatsheets that are for the standard drafts. If you’re in an auction, skip past these.

The second question you need to answer is about what type of scoring your league uses. The two common formats are either roto or points-based. A roto league is where you are ranked from first to last in various statistical categories, either each week or for the whole year. A points league is more like fantasy football where each player on your team accumulates weekly points based on your scoring system and you try to get more points than your fantasy opponent.

So, if you’re in a roto league that’s conducting a fantasy draft then here is the spreadsheet that you want to download:

Download the Excel file
Current version: 1.20
March 23 at 7:20 PM EST

If you didn’t download that file but you’re still here then that likely means that you’re in a points league. The points league is where you get individual points for each statistic and try to get the most points each week.

If that’s your league type and your league is holding a standard draft then download this spreadsheet to win your league:

Download the Excel file
Current version: 1.20
March 23 at 7:20 PM EST

Perfect! If you’re in a fantasy baseball draft then you should be good to go now. You can skip to the end if you want to read any final thoughts. Now, for the rest of you…

Fantasy Baseball Auction Cheatsheets

If your league is not conducting a standard multi-round draft and you are bidding on players to put onto your team then, yes, you need a different spreadsheet than what I have above. You need my auction spreadsheets.

You just need to ask yourself which type of league you’re in before you download one of these two sheets.

To quote myself from just a minute ago, “the two common formats are either roto or points-based. A roto league is where you are ranked from first to last in various statistical categories, either each week or for the whole year. A points league is more like fantasy football where you get X number of points for each thing a player does and you try to get more points than your fantasy opponent.”

If you’re in a roto league that is holding an auction-style draft then here is the spreadsheet that you want to download:

Download the Excel file
Current version: 1.20
March 23 at 7:20 PM EST

That leaves one final cheatsheet. The points league is closer to fantasy football as each player’s stat is assigned a specific point value and you try to get the most points each week. If that’s your league and it’s holding an auction-style draft then download this spreadsheet:

Download the Excel file
Current version: 1.20
March 23 at 7:20 PM EST

There you have it! Now you can win your fantasy leagues.

Need Help Using These?

You may open these up and find yourself asking a lot of questions. First, I’d check out this FAQ-style post to see if your issue is mentioned in the post. Secondly, I’d search the site to see if the issue has been mentioned before. Thirdly, I’d ask the question in the comments below here and I’ll get back to ya. One of those methods should get you to a solution but I’d start by checking out that post I linked to first.

Found A Bug?

Yeah, that’s going to happen. I’m just one person making these and there are four different spreadsheets to maintain so there may be human error at times. If your cheatsheet is acting strange and you think there’s a bug, contact me or post in the comments below so I can fix it.

Cheatsheet Updates

There will be at least one or two updates to the cheatsheets before the season starts. When a new version comes out, you can copy your league’s data to the new sheet by using the Save & Load tab.


Donations

When I made this site a long time ago, I decided I wanted these spreadsheets to be free so they could help the most people. I stand by that choice after 15 years of doing this site. It’s a great joy to be able to help so many people and that’s the main reason I continue to do this year in and year out.

BUT… this isn’t free for me to run and it also costs me lots of time and energy. There’s money to run the site but there’s really just the time of creating these and maintaining these that is most draining each year. That’s why it means so much to me when people donate to this site and it’s the reason I’m able to keep coming back to this each year.

If you are in a position to do so, you can submit donations through Venmo or PayPal, or you can buy me coffees.

If you can’t afford to donate then just enjoy the sheets and have a happy baseball season.

Good Luck!

Look at you! You should be proud of yourself. You took the initiative to try to win your fantasy baseball league this year and you found this hidden corner of the internet with a great tool for you. Use this spreadsheet to have your best draft ever, but always keep in mind that there’s always a matter of luck involved in this game. There will be unexpected injuries and weird things throughout the season so you just have to roll with the punches. At least you know you’ll have a good draft to start the season though.

Peace and love!

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163 Comments

  • Reply
    OriginalT
    03/20/2024 at 2:38 PM

    Luke, on the roto draft worksheet, if you sort by pos adj. werth, michael grove shoots to the top of the list above everyone. Not that big a deal because i can ignore it, but there is nothing in the columns that would indicate a reason he is above everyone else. Other than he doesn’t have a “main postion”. Minor detail. Is there a way to adjust the sheet so this doesn’t happen? It says its a protected sheet so not sure how to proceed.

    • Reply
      OriginalT
      03/20/2024 at 2:48 PM

      Also Ohtani doesn’t have a adp or a round as a dh?

      • Reply
        Luke
        03/20/2024 at 4:01 PM

        No clue why you wouldn’t see Ohtani’s ADP but I’ll look this evening when I look at the other issue you brought up.

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/20/2024 at 4:01 PM

      When people notify me about minor bugs like that, I check it out, make the fix and upload an updated version of the sheet. I’ll check it out this evening.

      • Reply
        Keith Allums
        03/20/2024 at 4:49 PM

        I’m a dummy and replied to the wrong thread, so putting it where it belongs…lol

        It’s the same for the points sheet when you sort by points above average. Grove jumps to the top of the rankings.

        Love your work as always. This is an amazing draft tool.

        • Reply
          Luke
          03/20/2024 at 7:09 PM

          Got it fixed in a version I just uploaded to the site!

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/20/2024 at 7:09 PM

      Got it fixed in a version I just uploaded to the site!

  • Reply
    Codelogic
    03/20/2024 at 4:11 PM

    Thank you so much for putting this data and analysis together. It has helped me crush it in my cousins league multiple years in a row. Just wanted to point out a small data anomaly I detected. Luis Garcia (2B) has “POS” 2B and “Other Elig Pos” SP. Probably not a huge deal but wanted to let you know since I noticed it.

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/20/2024 at 4:19 PM

      Ah, man, good catch. The fact that there are three active players named Luis Garcia at the moment causes some weird data issues so I’m not shocked I missed something with him. I’ll check it out this evening.

    • Reply
      Keith Allums
      03/20/2024 at 4:48 PM

      It’s the same for the points sheet when you sort by points above average. Grove jumps to the top of the rankings.

      Love your work as always. This is an amazing draft tool.

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/20/2024 at 7:09 PM

      Got it fixed in a version I just uploaded to the site!

  • Reply
    Donald McQuiston Jr
    03/20/2024 at 11:29 PM

    For some reason my sheet shows Nolan Schanuel as qualified for C? I’m using the Roto-Draft sheet.

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/20/2024 at 11:38 PM

      Are you using version 1.11? I uploaded it to the site earlier today to fix a few minor bugs, including that Schanuel thing.

      • Reply
        Donald McQuiston Jr
        03/22/2024 at 2:56 AM

        Cool. hadn’t downloaded the new sheet yet. Thank you for being on top of it!!!

  • Reply
    Hank
    03/21/2024 at 12:30 AM

    It may be by design because of how well Steamer has done in your evaluations on the pitching side, but I noticed on the save or load tab with projections set to Special Blend that it is set to SB for batters and Steamer for pitchers. If I switch to custom and change to 100 for SB and switch back to SB it resolves it. Just wanted to let you know in case it isn’t intentional. Thanks for all of the hard work!

  • Reply
    Luke
    03/21/2024 at 10:10 AM

    I may not be following so could you give more information? Which sheet is this? You’re saying that you open the sheet, have it set to Special Blend projections but it is not displaying Special Blend projections?

    • Reply
      Hank
      03/21/2024 at 11:55 AM

      I am using Roto Draft 1.11 now, but noticed it first on 1.10 yesterday. On the Setting tab I have projections set to Special Blend initially. When I click over to the save or load tab, E62 is 100 and F59 is 100, which indicated to me that different projection sources might be being used. When I go back to settings and change projections to custom combo, it defaults to Special Blend 100 for hitting and Steamer 100 for pitching. I changed pitching to Special Blend 100 and switched the projection source back to Special Blend and clicked back over to save or load and now it has E62 and F62 100, so that seems to fix it, but out of the box it appears pitching might be set to Steamer. Does that make sense? I love nerding out on this every year. Thanks for the hard work

      • Reply
        Luke
        03/21/2024 at 3:02 PM

        Ooooh, I see what you’re saying. Yeah, okay, you’re digging into the sheet but I think it’s just a misunderstanding about what those things are doing. So, those 100 values you are seeing are for when somebody chooses “Your Own Custom Combination”. There are always values there for those fields because, if someone chooses that option, it needs to know how to combine the projections. It’s a way for users to make their own “blends” essentially.

        When you choose the “Special Blend” projection option, it isn’t looking at those values though. The pre-made Special Blend is already in there and it will reference that. Sorry if I added more confusion but I hope that helps!

  • Reply
    Sean Brinkmeier
    03/21/2024 at 12:50 PM

    The Roto Auction sheet, in the settings I have AL only selected yet in the positions tab all the NL players still show. Not with a dollar amount or WTH. They are at the bottom kinda mixed in with the “unworthy” AL players. I have used your sheet for a few years now and I want to thank you so much for making this awesome tool!! I have won back to back championships with this 🙂

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/23/2024 at 10:20 AM

      I’m glad the tool has been helpful! Thanks for letting me know. I’ll look into that issue with the values when I am making some sheet updates later today.

  • Reply
    Jeff
    03/21/2024 at 8:37 PM

    I’d just like to say thanks (in addition to the tip). I can only imagine how much work goes into these. Thank you, very, very much.

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/23/2024 at 10:19 AM

      And thank YOU for saying so. It’s indeed a lot of work and I often am so busy responding to the questions/issues/bugs that I often forget that some folks are just thankful for the work, so it means a lot to hear that. Thanks for taking the time to comment!

  • Reply
    Hank
    03/23/2024 at 12:17 AM

    Do you anticipate any updates this weekend?

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/23/2024 at 10:18 AM

      Yup, I was hoping I’d have one this morning but it will likely be later today. Just mostly a data update.

      • Reply
        Hank
        03/23/2024 at 11:38 AM

        Perfect, thanks!

  • Reply
    Gary
    03/23/2024 at 1:34 PM

    Awesome cheatsheet! In my league points draft league, keepers take up a draft slot so the first round of the draft may only have say 2 picks and then others enter as they run out of keepers. Could I just modify the column B – Rnd values on the Draft log sheet to line this up or is there another way to do it? If yes, how do I unprotect the sheet to make that change?

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/23/2024 at 5:06 PM

      You enter the keepers directly into the Draft Log page instead of the keeper page for those leagues. It should direct you how to do that within the info text on the sheet but let me know if you have trouble.

  • Reply
    Tony
    03/23/2024 at 2:48 PM

    Hi – great tool! Is there a way to add players? My NL league is aggressive about drafting minor league players and there are a couple not on your list. I can’t figure out how to add players though. Thanks!

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/23/2024 at 5:08 PM

      The Unlisted Player options at the bottom of the main page are the easiest way to fill a team’s roster spot in those situations.

  • Reply
    Ben
    03/24/2024 at 2:22 AM

    This has been a great tool to use preparing for drafts – a little tough to keep up with during a draft itself, but still useful there too. I’m running on a MacBook, and I found that using the “Make Pick” button had a bit of a delay, but typing names into the Draft Log worksheet works great. I love that you can type any part of a player’s name and it quickly comes up.

    One quirk I noticed today during a Points draft. For some reason, the league I’m in specifies a LF, CF, RF, and 2 OF slots. For my first pick I got Ronald Acuna, and the Cheatsheet placed him into an OF slot. Once I got to the end of the draft, it turns out I didn’t take another player qualified at RF, so I have a blank space in my active roster, throwing off the projected standings. It seems like the sheet should have adjusted my roster to place Acuna in RF and then one of my bench players could have gone into the OF slot.

    I don’t say this to complain at all, because it’s not a big deal and didn’t affect anything about the dynamics of my draft. I only point it out because I noticed someone else asked about if there’s a way for users to manipulate player positions, and I think your response was that the Cheatsheet was designed to optimize the lineup while taking into account the players’ secondary positions, but at least in this case it didn’t work. Still, awesome creation as always.

    • Reply
      Luke
      03/24/2024 at 8:28 AM

      Thanks. There are some complexities when you use LF, CF, RF that cause it to sometimes not fully match up player positions because they may have eligibility this year that is not based on their playing time from last year and that’s harder to 100% match up in those leagues. I’m sorry to hear that this didn’t work out in the way that you wanted when you downloaded it, including how tough it was to use during a draft. I appreciate you trying to use the cheatsheets and thanks for giving me this feedback about what’s not working well with them. Good luck this year!

  • Reply
    Chad
    03/24/2024 at 2:14 PM

    Hello,
    First, this she is very helpful. I appreciate the time you put into it. I need to ask for your help. I’m trying to search player to add, whether its in draft log, keeper section, or the draft tab. No matter which tab, it seems macros isn’t active or working. Am I doing something wrong or is there an error?

    • Reply
      CHAD
      03/24/2024 at 2:24 PM

      Disregard. I figured it out on my end. 🙂

      • Reply
        Nick
        03/29/2024 at 11:56 AM

        Chad
        What did you figure out on this, I get the same error and need to get it worked out asap.

  • Reply
    Wah Chan
    03/26/2024 at 10:29 AM

    Hey Luke, I’ve been using your sheets but actually get confused as the way to sort to target players according to your rank/projections in the Draft tab. The default is ADP but should I be changing it to Werth or Pos Adj Werth so I can best see your rankings. Thanks.

  • Reply
    Dave
    03/28/2024 at 5:01 PM

    Hi! Huge fan of these and look forward to using them every year. My question is about auction values – what’s the difference between Proj $ Value, Inflated $ Value, Site $ Value and Inflated Site $, and which of those should I pay the most attention to during my Auction Rota draft?

    • Reply
      Ben
      03/29/2024 at 1:45 AM

      Projected Value is how the cheatsheet values each player, based on the projected stats and your league specifications. Site value varies depending on which Site Auction Value you have selected on the setting worksheet (Rotochamp, ESPN, CBS, etc). If you set this to the platform on which you are drafting, you will get an idea of which players the cheatsheet values more or less relative to the site.

      In both cases, the inflated values will change as you proceed through the draft and depend on how much money is being spent. If owners are overpaying early, there will be less money to purchase the remaining players relative to their valuation, and you will see the Inflated $ columns decrease. In contrast, if a lot of players are going for less than the predicted valuations early on, there will be lots of $$$ chasing fewer remaining players. In these conditions of inflation you can expect to have to pay several dollars more than what players are “worth” later in the draft, and the Inflated $ column numbers will increase.

  • Reply
    John
    04/04/2024 at 10:28 PM

    This is a wonderful tool and thank you for all your hard work and effort to prepare this tool! But I do have one question:

    I have a draft coming up on Sunday and was wondering if there is a way to quickly/easily change the team info for a player. I will be in a NL only auction draft and Jordan Montgomery is still listed as a TEX player and is not showing up as an NL player. Is there an easy way to change him over to ARI? I tried to make the team change to the player notes page and the spreadsheet would not allow me to make the change.
    Thank you for any guidance.

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