Fantasy Baseball 2025: Auction Strategy Primer (Part 1)

(It’s fantasy baseball draft season! The FTN Fantasy team and a host of helpful guests present our Ultimate 2025 Fantasy Baseball Guide. Check it out and prepare for the 2025 MLB season.)

Without question, my favorite type of fantasy baseball contest is the auction. Unlike snake drafts, where managers’ rosters are impacted heavily by draft slot, auctions allow managers the freedom to build the rosters they want. Every player is available! Rather than waiting for their turn to draft, managers can bid on virtually every player nominated. There is often more strategy involved in auctions; for example, how best to manage your money, when to nominate certain players, and how and when to bid – or not bid – on certain players.

Auctions are also more unpredictable than snake drafts. For instance, even now, I can predict the 10-12 players who will be selected in the first round of every NFBC Main Event league this coming March. In auctions, players can be nominated at any time and in any order – and both the timing and the order of nominations can impact draft prices. This primer provides an overview of strategies that should assist auction novices and, hopefully, more experienced managers. To keep things manageable, the primer is organized into two parts: (1) pre-draft preparations and strategies; and (2) in-draft strategies.

The Basic Rules

Before diving in, let’s quickly summarize basic auction rules. Because I play only in NFBC leagues, I will focus on the rules applicable to its auctions. That noted, many auction rules and strategies are applicable across different formats. As always is the case, managers should make sure they are fully familiar with their league rules prior to the draft.