Best 2026 Fantasy Baseball Team

The best 2026 fantasy baseball team is the friends we made along the way. Also, the title is hyperbole. What was I gonna say, “The Mostly Kinda Good Fantasy Baseball Team?” You’ll get over your scoffing, you freakin’ scoffer! This is the best 2026 fantasy baseball team that I can put together when drafting from my top 100 for 2026 fantasy baseball and top 500 for 2026 fantasy baseball. Honestly, I could draft another 25 teams from those lists, and they’d all be different, but equally terrific…Well, one of the twenty-five would only be sorta terrific, but it would be really hard to tell which one that is. If I took Yordan Alvarez in the 2nd round, everything after would change. If I took Trea Turner in the 2nd round, everything after would change. I’ve previously gone over my 2026 fantasy baseball draft prep for the first few rounds and pitchers pairings. For this exercise, I’m taking Juan Soto in the first, because, well, I want to feel alive, and this way I’m not just taking Judge or Ohtani and wiping the floor with the haters.

So, for this best fantasy baseball team exercise, until pick 100, I’m taking one guy somewhere in every fifteen picks. It would be nice if I was in a league where someone drafted Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal in the first two rounds and I was able to take Kyle Schwarber in the 2nd round (which is likely in some leagues), but since Juan Soto and Schwarber are in my first 15 picks, according to the arbitrary rules I’ve set up for myself, I can’t take them both. Then, as we all know, once you get into the 100s, there’s wide gaps between ADP and where players are actually taken. People tend to look at team need over value. So for this exercise, once I get to pick #100, I’m going to pick two players every twenty picks. Finally, because there is so much latitude in the latter rounds, I gave myself free rein to fill up my team after pick 200. Throughout the draft, I also gave myself the ability to reach to a lower draft pick, but not reach forward. Or reach around, if you’re feeling frisky. It should still be my ideal team…or not. Let’s see, shall we? Bee tee dubya, this team is a 12-team, 5×5, one catcher, 5 OFs, MI, CI, 1 UT, 9 P, 3 bench, just like the Razzball Commenter Leagues (go sign up, you Big Chungus). Anyway, here’s the best 2026 fantasy baseball team:

C: Yainer Diaz (18)
1B: Nick Kurtz (2)
2B: Brice Turang (3)
SS: Dansby Swanson (8)
3B: Eugenio Suarez (7)
MI: Ezequiel Tovar (24)
CI: Noelvi Marte (9)
OF: Juan Soto (1)
OF: Cody Bellinger (5)
OF: Daylen Lile (14)
OF: Jakob Marsee (15)
OF: Dominic Canzone (20)
UTIL: Chase DeLauter (25)

P: Kyle Bradish (4)
P: Framber Valdez (6)
P: Carlos Estevez (10)
P: Kenley Jansen (11)
P: Robbie Ray (12)
P: Ryan Pepiot (13)
P: Shane Baz (16)
P: Trevor Megill (17)
P: Logan Henderson (19)
Bench: Bryan Abreu (21), Riley O’Brien (22), Robert Suarez (23)

SO, THIS TEAM WAKES ME UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND SAYS, “YOU JUST WON THE LOTTERY,” BUT IS THERE ANY CHANCE YOU ACTUALLY CAN DRAFT THIS TEAM?

No. Sorry, I don’t mean to be short with you like Jose Altuve. Here, let me explain it to you with a long-form answer:  Noooooooooooo. As I said in the opening, this is an exercise to give you an idea of a team I wouldn’t kick out of bed. With this exercise, I don’t look at ADP, so it’s nice that I think I can draft all of these guys where I have them ranked, but invariably some buster enters the draft room, takes, say Nick Kurtz before I can and this team immediately becomes impossible. Out of 1,000 drafts, maybe you could draft this team once, and, if you’re drafting 1,000 times, make sure to take some Vitamin D, because you’re severely lacking in exposure to the sun. For every pick that might not be there for me to take, there’s other guys like Kyle Bradish who you could wait on a little longer on. So, Grey’s rankings Gwyneth and they taketh away her acting career after the age of 40. Here’s my team from last year that I called the Best Fantasy Baseball Team in February, before injuries, playing time was figured out, etc.

C: Shea Langeliers (22)
1B: Josh Naylor (3)
2B: Luis Garcia Jr. (10)
SS: Gunnar Henderson (1)
3B: Maikel Garcia (17)
MI: Xavier Edwards (14)
CI: Connor Norby (20)
OF: Jarren Duran (2)
OF: Lawrence Butler (5)
OF: Jasson Dominguez (8)
OF: Alec Burleson (11)
OF: JJ Bleday (19)
UTIL: Tommy Edman (21)

P: Cole Ragans (4)
P: Bailey Ober (6)
P: Sonny Gray (7)
P: Raisel Iglesias (9)
P: Tanner Scott (12)
P: Seth Lugo (13)
P: Ranger Suarez (15)
P: Spencer Arrighetti (16)
P: Jordan Romano (18)
Bench: Kirby Yates (23), Calvin Faucher (24), Griffin Jax (25)

THAT TEAM STINKS HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA–[WHEEZING, DEAD].

Mr. Al Capps, are you there?

NO, I DIED FROM LOOKING AT YOUR ‘BEST’ TEAM FROM LAST YEAR. 

So, this is actually instructive. Does this team look good in retrospect?

NO, GOD NO, ARE YOU DUMB?

Right, it’s a gee-dee mess. I’d argue that in an RCL you can challenge to win your league if you punt some of this team quick enough but it would be a challenge.

WINNING THE GOLD IN THE MONOBOB WOULD BE A CHALLENGE, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE.

I said it would be a challenge.

YOU’RE CHALLENGING SOMETHING ALL RIGHT. YOUR CREDIBILITY. 

Okay, putting aside last year’s team, and looking at this year’s again. While doing this exercise, I went through my top 500 first, then went back and entered my team into the War Room, and discovered this is a team I apparently like more than the War Room, especially on pitching:

C’MON, LET’S HEAR SOME EXCUSES!

I wrote a Daylen Lile sleeper; I loved my Noelvi Marte sleeper; I got hornt up during my Dominic Canzone sleeper; I got more hornt up for a Ryan Pepiot sleeper than anyone currently alive; oh, and I’ve been loving Kyle Bradish; the list goes on and on for guys I like way more than Steamer. I don’t think you should look at War Room totals as you have to achieve them or it’s a failure. You should have a clear idea of what you need and why you’re not taking what you need, if you choose to go that way. If you see you’re low on WHIP, then take note of it. You still have to draft a team you want.

YOU ARE SO CHOCKFULL OF EXCUSES IT IS REMARKABLE.

Okay, so I am low on average and I don’t love that. That’s a category that is hard to dig out of a hole. A hole? Yeah, I am for not fake-drafting enough average. That is also because Steamer thinks less of Canzone and DeLauter than me, but still it’s a weakness. It’s good to know your weaknesses. Soup dumplings? That’s a weakness for me. And average, here. I also don’t think WHIP or ERA are a weakness with this team, but it’s worth keeping an eye on, in-season. Ks? Yeah, maybe. The war room does not like Bradish, Framber or Pepiot as much as me. That’s fair, but I do like them, so natch!

Also, anyone who’s played in a Razzball Commenter League knows players are fluid. To illustrate, I like Canzone and DeLauter fine for deeper leagues, but I was so committed to the bit I drafted them here, and then on this fantasy fantasy team, I will drop them if they’re bad in the first two weeks of April. Though, maybe if they have a good April, I will hold them until May, cursing that I should’ve dropped them back in April. Damn, this fictitious fantasy team is already giving me an ulcer!

Last year, Josh Naylor was bringing down my War Room totals, and this year Rudy’s got him in the top 60. Cust kayin’. Also, as mentioned, I drafted, then went back and entered my team into the War Room, which is bassackwards. If I were using the War Room, as it’s intended — while actually drafting — I likely would’ve drafted heavier on average, because I would’ve seen the weakness during the draft. That shows you though, that even someone like me can’t eyeball everything.

So, the War Room totals look janky, but the team, to my eyes, looks like the Best Fantasy Baseball Team–

DO YOU EVER LEAVE YOUR HOUSE WITH SO MUCH SELF HORN TOOTING?

Rarely. For s’s and g’s, go to my top 500 and put your best fantasy baseball team into the comments below, using the rules I set out in the opening — one player every 15 picks until 100, then two every twenty picks, then anyone after 200 overall.