Head-to-Head leagues are the most popular format for fantasy basketball, but long-time players often end up gravitating towards Roto. Short for “Rotisserie” (like the chicken), in Roto leagues there are no weekly matchups and no playoffs. Instead, you’re awarded standings points for your performance in each of the categories that you’re competing in. The teams are ranked by performance in each, and the sum of their points for each category is their final standings number. The numbers are not banked — whoever is in first at the final buzzer is the winner.

For example, in a 10-team league, if you have the most rebounds, you get 10 points. The team with the second-most gets nine, third-most gets eight, fourth-most gets seven, on and on until the last-place team gets a single point. If your team has the third-most points, you will have a standings score of 18 for your 10 in rebounds and eight in points. Add that up across all nine (or eight, or however many you want) categories, rank your teams and you have your standings.

Why do some players prefer Roto competition? To put it simply, Roto leagues reward consistent excellence and eliminate the variability that comes with Head-to-Head matchups in small samples. In H2H, you could finish in first place in the regular season, 50 games clear of second, but lose in the first round of the playoffs if one or two of your best players gets hurt and misses two or three games. That kind of rug-pull doesn’t happen in Roto, and if you get passed up in the final days of the season it’s likely more the result of careful planning by your opponent than sheer dumb luck. Every team should also end up with the exact same amount of games played, so you can’t stream your way out of problems.

Roto is a marathon rather than a series of short sprints, and typically the cream rises to the top, Macho Man Randy Savage style. When you believe in your heart that you’re better than your opponents, that’s a very appealing proposition.

A Roto league does require a different approach than you see with H2H, however, and that’s what we’re going to get into today.

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