Cal Raleigh was the big story at catcher last year. Sixty homers, 125 RBI, a runner-up finish in the AL MVP voting, it was a monstrous year, probably the second-best catcher season of all-time (Mike Piazza, 1997). Raleigh is an early second-round pick in Yahoo fantasy baseball leagues this year, and even with some reasonable regression baked into the story, I can’t say that pick is wrong.
But let’s not lose the global picture at catcher. The position as a whole was tremendous last year. Sixteen different catcher-eligible players collected offensive WAR of 2.0 or better, and 17 different players got to 400 at-bats. It’s a mild bump over 2024, but a significant lift over what we saw in the previous decade. Compare last year’s haul to that of 2019, when a modest 12 backstops made it to 2.0 oWAR and just nine collected 400 at-bats.
Advertisement
The position is getting younger. If we look at the 24 catchers with the most at-bats last year, only Salvador Perez (age 35, and a whopping 597 at-bats) and J.T. Realmuto (age 34, 502 at-bats) were past the age of 30. Career/breakout seasons from Raleigh, Shea Langeliers, Hunter Goodman and Ben Rice all made sense — their seasonal ages were 28, 27, 25 and 26, respectively.
Modern managers understand load management better, and often a hitting catcher gets a partial day off through a DH assignment. The 22 busiest catchers last year all saw DH time. This feels like a win-win for everybody — the MLB clubs get to exercise some load management with players at a physically-demanding position, but fantasy managers still get exposure to the offensive stats.
Because of the depth at the position, I’ll probably take my time assembling my catchers this year. In leagues that require multiple backstops, I might choose to be the last manager to fill the C1 slot, but early to the C2 requirement. As always, any strategy can work if you pick the right players.
More positional previews
Proactive Picks
Agustín Ramírez, Marlins
His Yahoo ADP of 126 is 50 picks cheaper than his global ADP, so appreciate the discount for now. Ramírez showed plus power and surprising speed (16 steals in 19 attempts) as a rookie, and his batting average should rise as his plate discipline matures. Miami’s roster is still fairly anonymous, which often leads to a discount on draft day.
Advertisement
Hunter Goodman, Rockies
The batting average crashed by 59 points on the road, but Goodman also conked 18 road homers and had similar slugging percentages in both columns. The Rockies prioritize him in the lineup, giving him 39 starts at DH. Although the Colorado lineup lacks the depth of past seasons, Goodman at least will be in the top half of the order, where the production is. He’s still a decent value in the mid-80s for Yahoo ADP.
Possible Fades
Adley Rutschman, Orioles
He was a god as a rookie, very good his second year, tailed off in Year 3 and collapsed last season. Okay, oblique injuries were part of the story, but what especially concerns me is that Rutschman’s career arc closely tracks to Matt Wieters; same team, same position. Wieters had his best WAR seasons at age 25 and 26 but was hurt and/or ineffective the rest of his career. I’ll allow my heart to root for a Rutschman turnaround, but I can’t spend fantasy capital on him.
Advertisement
J.T. Realmuto, Phillies
Realmuto still bats for a credible average, but the power continues to fade — he slugged just .384 last year. He also had a 91 OPS+ in 2025, the first time in a decade he’s been a below-average offensive player. Stepping into his age-35 season, it’s a good time to eschew Realmuto, even with an inexpensive ADP. Player development is not always linear, but player decline almost always is.
Potential Sleepers
Francisco Alvarez, Mets
It feels like he’s been around forever but this is just his age-24 season. Hand and thumb problems — and eventual surgery — held Alvarez back in 2025, but when he could play, the bat was solid (122 OPS+, .447 slugging percentage). He’s a lock to hit 20 homers in a full season and he could hit for a plus average, too. The Mets probably have a top-five offense, and Alvarez is an affordable way (ADP: 196) to grab a share of it.
Advertisement
Kyle Teel, White Sox
Chicago needs this kid to make it, as he was the key player acquired in the Garrett Crochet trade. Teel looked the part in his first MLB lap, batting for a .273 average and showing more pop than initially expected. Teel already has a keen eye at the plate, ranking well above league average in chase rate and walk rate. He might be athletic and resourceful enough to mix in 6-10 steals.
Although we still haven’t returned to the heyday of first base, the position is starting to look up. The arrival of Nick Kurtz has given the position another superstar, as the youngster still hasn’t played a full season and is already the top first baseman on many draft lists. And the longstanding group of veterans, including the likes of Pete Alonso and Matt Olson, is still going strong.
But as strong as the first base position is at the top, it drops off just as quickly. Depending on format, there are about a dozen appealing options. Unfortunately, the next tier leaves much to be desired, which is especially a problem in Roto leagues, where many managers will need to secure their corner infielder from the pool of first basemen. Here are some players to target and avoid.
More positional previews
Proactive picks
Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves (Yahoo ADP 33.6)
A second-tier first baseman by ADP, Olson is closer to those in the tier ahead of him than those who trail him on the list. In four years with the Braves, the 31-year-old has hit .261 with an average of 37 homers, 109 RBI and 97 runs scored. Those numbers look an awful lot like the ones that are expected from Kurtz and Alonso, who are both being drafted roughly 15 picks earlier. Olson is boring, productive and the perfect third-round pick for those who have started their draft with a couple of speedy players.
Advertisement
Ben Rice, New York Yankees (Yahoo ADP 84.7)
Let’s start with the obvious — the best part about drafting Rice is that he is eligible at the catcher position but will not have the physical demands of working behind the plate. And managers who come for the expanded workload will find that they get much more. Rice is an emerging star who last season logged a 95th percentile average exit velocity and 92nd percentile barrel rate. His expected stats were far ahead of his actual marks, which indicates that he could enjoy better batted-ball luck and a major uptick in performance. More volume and better on a per-game basis? Sign me up.
Willson Contreras, Boston Red Sox (Yahoo ADP 105.9)
The ceiling was raised for Contreras as soon as he was traded from the Cardinals to the Red Sox. Fenway Park will be the best venue he has called home in his career, and Boston has a lineup that is vastly superior to the one Contreras left behind in St. Louis. Expected to hit out of the cleanup spot with his new team, the 33-year-old could produce 25 homers and 90 RBI across 150 games.
Advertisement
Fades
Josh Naylor, Seattle Mariners (Yahoo ADP 58.5)
No one truly knows what to make of a player with third percentile sprint speed who surprisingly stole 30 bases last season. The guess here is that Naylor’s steals total comes crashing back to Earth now that he is in possession of a long-term contract, and he finishes closer to 10 steals than 20. And when we take away the swipes, Naylor doesn’t look so special as a career .269 hitter who has hit more than 20 homers just once.
Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers (Yahoo ADP 52.7)
Let’s take away the name value of Freeman and look at his stats from the past two seasons. Over 2024-25, the Dodgers’ star has averaged 147 games, 23 homers, 81 runs, 89.5 RBI, 7.5 steals and a .289 average. Those are excellent numbers, but they aren’t much better than the production that can be expected from a group of first basemen who have an ADP that is 30-40 picks later than Freeman. Add in his advanced age (36), and there are reasons to let someone else use a premium pick on him.
Advertisement
Spencer Torkelson, Detroit Tigers (Yahoo ADP 185.4)
Torkelson was one of the biggest busts of 2024, and after getting off to a hot start last season, he compiled just 17 homers and 36 RBI over the final four months of the campaign. The career .227 hitter needs to be a premium home-run hitter to have value in standard leagues. So far, his power stroke has been too inconsistent.
Sleepers
Kazuma Okamoto, Toronto Blue Jays (Yahoo ADP 179.6)
A quick look at Okamoto’s stats from Japan will make fantasy managers excited. The 29-year-old has strong contact skills and posted six 30-homer seasons overseas. He may play multiple positions (which would be great for his fantasy value) and will be a full-time member of Toronto’s lineup. He could also earn a premium lineup spot by getting off to a good start. Late-round picks are best used on players with upside, and Okamoto fits that profile.
Advertisement
Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals (Yahoo ADP: 184.1)
Burleson improved in several areas last season, including walk rate (7.1%), average exit velocity (91.0 mph) and fly ball rate (42.1%). On a rebuilding Cardinals team, he has virtually no competition to play every day and bat out of a premium lineup spot. He should post a batting average similar to his .290 mark from 2025, while also hitting more than 20 homers and chipping in a few steals.
Andrew Vaughn, Milwaukee Brewers (Yahoo ADP 219.0)
Vaughn was terrific after joining the Brewers, hitting .308 with nine homers and 46 RBI in 64 games. One of the smartest organizations must be confident in the sustainability of his contributions, as they did not pursue other first-base options in the offseason. Vaughn is going undrafted in most leagues despite his potential to provide a helpful batting average and solid counting stats while playing regularly in one of baseball’s best lineups.
The first thing to recognize about second base this year is that it’s not deep at the top. A modest six players at the keystone currently have Yahoo ADPs in the top 100, and that’s if we graciously include Jose Altuve and Nico Hoerner, who are percentage points over the cutoff. This makes second base the least bountiful infield slot of the four positions. Third base is the next position of concern, first base is on the upswing, and there are fun shortstops everywhere you look.
If you don’t land one of the top six at second base, you’ll have to accept some flags from your later picks. Some players are clearly missing a skill or two. Some are talented players coming off poor years or injury-wrecked ones. There are players changing teams. And a few candidates are on the back-nine of their careers, when decline is obviously a risk.
Advertisement
On the plus side, a lot of these players are versatile, too. Two-thirds of the top-30 second basemen offer multiple positions of eligibility, and several of these players can cover three positions or more. I always prefer being as flexible as possible with my roster builds (allowing me to be positionless when I need fill-ins), and several of these players can help with that goal.
More positional previews
Proactive Picks
Brice Turang, Brewers (Yahoo ADP 54.3)
Bill James told us moons ago that versatile players tend to be underrated, and Turang is one of those guys. He quietly led all second basemen in oWAR last year and yet is just the third keystoner off the board, 2-3 rounds after Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ketel Marte. Even if Turang doesn’t keep last year’s power spike, his plate-discipline skills point to a plus average, and he could easily swipe more than the 24 bags he collected last year (he stole 50 in 2024). Turang also holds a good batting slot, hitting second for a plus Milwaukee offense. The Brewers are a quietly-efficient team (they’ve become the NL’s version of the Rays), and Turang is an eat-your-veggies type of pick.
Advertisement
Xavier Edwards, Marlins (Yahoo ADP 181.7)
Okay, you’ll have to make up the power elsewhere. But Edwards has a .298 average and .343 OBP since hitting the majors, which marks his territory in the leadoff spot. And with a glittering success rate of 85.1% on steals, Edwards probably has the upside to swipe 40-60 if so inclined. Remember, he stole 31 bags in just 70 games two years ago.
Possible Fades
Jose Altuve, Astros (Yahoo ADP 100.6)
Altuve’s 26 homers last year obscured some leakage elsewhere — he lost 30 points in his batting average and his steals dropped from 22 to 10. And his bat speed has been well under league average ever since Baseball Savant started tracking it. Altuve is a guess hitter at this point in his career, and he’s stepping into his age-36 season. I’d rather be a year early than a year late with a player holding this career arc.
Advertisement
Ozzie Albies, Braves (Yahoo ADP 124.7)
Albies has been a below-average offensive player (by OPS+) in three of the past four seasons. He continues to swing at too many pitches out of the strike zone, and his batted-ball metrics have been below code for two straight years. The Braves have caught on; Albies will probably open the year in the bottom third of the order.
Marcus Semien, Mets (Yahoo ADP 181)
Semien has long been one of my favorite players, but I can’t ignore that his OPS+ has been merely 100 — that’s exactly league average — for two straight years. He’s now in his age-35 season, and he’ll lose some volume with the Mets, who won’t need him batting first like the Rangers did.
Advertisement
Sleepers
JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals (Yahoo ADP 200.7)
The Cardinals have openings at second base and third base with Brendan Donovan and Nolan Arenado gone, so Wetherholt should settle in somewhere, assuming he has a decent camp. The team’s No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft (seventh overall), Wetherholt posted a snappy .306/.421/.510 slash between Double-A and Triple-A last year, with 17 homers and 23 steals through just 109 games. He’s already receiving some Rookie of the Year buzz.
Luis García Jr., Nationals (Yahoo ADP 193.2)
It’s encouraging that García had 16 homers and 14 steals in what could fairly be termed an off year — that’s probably his floor. He’s still just 26 and a year removed from a .282 average and .444 slugging percentage. It’s possible García will shift to first base this year and he could fall into a platoon as well — at least it would be the heavier side of the platoon. There’s no reason to jump the line with García’s ADP. But he’s affordably priced for a player who’s already shown the ability to be a top-100 fantasy asset.
The third base position is going to give fantasy managers plenty of headaches this season. Outside of catcher, this is the weakest positional group, as there are no more than seven players who managers should be excited to have in their lineup.
Drafters will need to make tough choices when handling third base. Some managers may insist on filling the position early, even if that means that they need to reach a few picks during the initial rounds. The opposite approach is also viable — a manager could wait until the final rounds of their draft, knowing that there is plenty of risk in every third baseman who is ranked eighth or lower at the position.
Advertisement
There is also a lack of diversity within the skill sets at third base, which will be an issue for Roto managers. Aside from José Caballero, every third baseman who is being selected in the majority of leagues past pick 100 has limited speed and therefore draws all of his value from the power and/or batting average categories.
Optimists will see an opportunity to gain an advantage at third base. After all, the weak depth among this group means that managers who correctly determine a late-round sleeper will gain a massive advantage over their competitors.
Here are a few players to either target or avoid.
More positional previews
Proactive picks
Maikel Garcia, Kansas City Royals (Yahoo ADP 83.0)
Garcia’s 2025 breakout season was well-supported by skill improvements. His strikeout rate (12.6%) and walk rate (9.3%) were career-best marks by a wide margin. Both his average exit velocity (91.3 mph) and barrel rate (5.6%) improved as well. By keeping most of his skill gains, the native Venezuelan could be even more effective this year, thanks to the changes to the outfield walls at Kauffman Stadium. And there is room for his steals total to rebound after it dropped by 14 last year.
Advertisement
Colson Montgomery, Chicago White Sox (Yahoo ADP 160.4)
Montgomery showed exciting power potential when he homered 21 times in 71 games during his rookie year. Sure, he isn’t likely to maintain a 45-homer pace during his first full season in the Majors, but he could regress significantly and still justify his current ADP. Montgomery produces oodles of pulled fly balls, which should keep the homers coming while he works on lowering the 29.2% strikeout rate from his rookie year.
Fades
José Ramírez, Cleveland Guardians (Yahoo ADP 7.2)
This pick is controversial, as Ramírez is being selected as early as fifth overall in some drafts. I want to be clear that I have no issues with the 33-year-old’s skill set. He’s a legitimate superstar, although I expect some pullback after two consecutive 40-steal seasons. My main issue with drafting Ramírez is my massive distaste for a Guardians lineup that finished 28th in runs scored last year and failed to add significant help in the offseason. I want my Round 1 hitter to be part of an above-average offense.
Advertisement
Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants (Yahoo ADP 144.5)
While Chapman can be a solid accumulator at his position, he offers little more than the third basemen who rank behind him in ADP. The career .240 hitter will likely be a drain on the batting average category. His homer and RBI totals are more likely to be respectable than great, as he tries to overcome the power-suppressing nature of his home park. And although Chapman has swiped 24 bases in the past two seasons, he tallied 11 swipes in his previous seven campaigns and therefore cannot be considered a reliable base stealer for his age-33 season. There are more exciting options at other positions in his ADP range.
Addison Barger, Toronto Blue Jays (Yahoo ADP 190.7)
Barger was one of October’s best stories when he hit .367 with a 1.025 OPS during Toronto’s run to the brink of a World Series title. Unfortunately, the longer sample size from the regular season paints a less-exciting picture. Barger slumped in the second half (.679 OPS), and the lefty slugger struggled against southpaws (.607 OPS) throughout the season. On a deep Toronto roster, he’s likely to be a platoon player who leaves fantasy managers disappointed.
Advertisement
Sleepers
Jorge Polanco, New York Mets (Yahoo ADP 191.8)
Want to wait for a third baseman? This is your guy. Polanco finally stayed healthy, which allowed him to rejuvenate his plate skills and hit .265 with 26 homers and 78 RBI last year. But a bounce-back season isn’t the biggest reason that the 32-year-old tops my sleepers list. By signing a two-year deal with the Mets, Polanco is suddenly locked into one of the best lineup spots in baseball, as his cleanup role behind Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Bo Bichette could lead to a 100-RBI season.
JJ Wetherholt, St. Louis Cardinals (Yahoo ADP 200.0)
One of baseball’s most exciting prospects, Wetherholt has an excellent chance to make the Opening Day roster for the rebuilding Cardinals. And after hitting .306 with 17 homers and 23 steals in 109 minor league games last season, the seventh overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft has proven to have the versatile skill set that fantasy managers covet. Wetherholt is already a favorite for the NL Rookie of the Year award and could be one of this year’s best value picks by producing a 20-20 debut season.
Advertisement
José Caballero, New York Yankees (Yahoo ADP 201.5)
Caballero is an especially good pick in standard Yahoo Roto leagues. After all, the waiver wire is usually fruitful in these contests, which means that managers can finish their drafts with players who have significant immediate value. Such is the case with Caballero, who should be the Yankees starting shortstop until Anthony Volpe returns from a season-opening IL stint. The speedster needed just 314 at-bats to lead the Majors with 49 steals last season, and he could single-handedly put fantasy teams ahead of the pack in swipes while holding a starting role in April.
Carlos Correa, Houston Astros (Yahoo ADP 198.4)
During his best seasons, Correa was often on my “fades” list. After all, he was highly coveted in drafts despite spending significant time on the IL, stealing zero bases and having good-but-not-great contributions in other categories. But the hate for the 31-year-old has gone too far, as he is now going undrafted in most leagues despite having similar plate skills to his prime years and holding a premium spot in a solid lineup. As a last-round pick at a weak position, Correa could hold down the fort early in the season while his manager looks for breakout players on the waiver wire.
Shortstop is the fun zone of fantasy baseball, the donut shop with endless variety. Everything you want is here, just choose your own adventure. A whopping 16 players with shortstop eligibility finished in the top 100 fantasy players last season, assuming a 5×5 scoring system.
In an earlier era, the shortstop position was seen as “glove first, hitting a bonus” situation, but that’s gone the way of the dinosaur now. MLB clubs understand you need offense and defense at this critical spot.
Because the position has so many good options, you don’t really need a specific strategy for filling the shortstop spot. You’re going to draft these guys by accident because you’re focused on getting the offensive stats you need. Take note that if your league requires starting a utility middle in addition to a second baseman and shortstop, that UM player will probably be a shortstop because that position is considerably deeper.
More positional previews
Proactive Picks
Zach Neto, Angels (Yahoo ADP 39.0)
Neto won’t be a screaming bargain, but he’s likely undervalued simply because he missed 36 games last year and it slightly muted his counting stats. Neto has improved his average every season and already has the category juice you demand in the early rounds. Even with a pedestrian Anaheim lineup supporting him, I’ll consider Neto in the second round and pounce on him in the third. You want players on the escalator, and Neto steps into his age-25 season.
Advertisement
Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks (ADP 62.9)
Perdomo was the No. 11 player in 5×5 value last year but his ADP is nowhere near that for the fresh season. This presents an attractive “regress and win” opportunity where Perdomo can actually give back a significant amount of last year’s stats and still be a fantasy profit. Perdomo is a high-percentage base stealer, just entering his age-26 season, so I’m not worried about that column. And he’s the rare player who had more walks than strikeouts last year, and those players are always attractive targets. Maybe the 20 homers won’t come back, but there’s enough broad profile here to make Perdomo a cornerstone player.
Colson Montgomery, White Sox (ADP 160.9)
It’s fair to worry about the average, which was .239 with the White Sox last year and just .246 during 376 games in the minors. But Montgomery at least does exciting things when he does make contact, conking 21 homers in just 255 at-bats with Chicago. His Baseball Savant page is full of validation, with plus marks in expected slugging, hard-hit rate, barrel rate and bat speed. Montgomery feels like a cinch for 30-plus homers and he’ll get extra volume as the No. 3 hitter in Chicago. Picking him might require some batting average care later, but we can manage that.
I’ve often stated that you never lose money on a player like Betts, but maybe the loss years are here. It’s his age-33 season. The steals have all but evaporated. He’s playing a more demanding defensive position. His OPS+ last year was merely 104, slightly above the league mean. He’s also coming off his worst season in all three slash columns. Player ascension isn’t always linear, but player decline almost always is. I take no joy in writing any of this, because Betts himself is a joy.
Advertisement
Corey Seager, Rangers (ADP 65.9)
It hurt me to fade Betts above and the same applies to Seager, one of the best hitters in baseball. Seager’s plate discipline is so perfect that there’s a popular zone-judgment metric that’s named after him. But the reality is that Seager has played just one full season out of the last seven (ignoring the 2020 truncated year) and that’s not a trend to swim against as he turns 32. Seager’s average has dropped into the .270s the last two years and he’s never been interested in stealing bases. I’ll stay open-minded if his price slips in my rooms, but I can’t consider him at current ADP.
Carlos Correa, Astros (ADP 200)
Esteemed colleague Fred Zinkie listed Correa as one of his third base sleepers, and I know from experience that disagreeing with Fred is not a +EV strategy. But I’d like to point out that Correa’s Yahoo ADP is about 60 spots higher than his global ADP, and he’s always going to carry batting-average and injury risk, in addition to the zero you’ll get in the stolen base column. This is also the weakest Houston lineup we’ve seen in a while; the Astros were 21st in runs scored last season.
Advertisement
Sleepers
Otto Lopez, Marlins (ADP 213.1)
Lopez already showed us category juice last year (15 homers, 15 steals), and his .246 average is somewhat misleading. Lopez gets plus marks for his contact rate and zone discipline, and his expected average based on contact data was a solid .269. The typical Miami discount applies, too; it’s a fairly pedestrian roster, which often makes players like Lopez a few rounds cheaper in drafts than is justified.
Ezequiel Tovar, Rockies (ADP 197.7)
Let’s play some Occam’s Razor with the Tovar case. He plays in Colorado. He was a 26-homer guy two years ago. The 2025 mess is mostly excused by injury. Tovar will swing at just about anything but he’s maintained a career .258 average despite that approach. He also has a reasonable chance at double-digit steals over a full season.
Simple math shows that having a productive outfield group is essential to a winning fantasy lineup. After all, outfielders comprise 30-50% of the hitter lineup spots in a standard Yahoo leagues, depending on how each manager chooses to use their utility spots.
The number of outfield spots is just part of the equation, as the variety of skill sets available from this group provides an appealing amount of flexibility. Fantasy managers who need to make up for skill deficiencies at other positions — whether power, speed or batting average — can find what they need in the outfield at all points in the draft.
Advertisement
Wise managers will spread out their outfield selections, hitting the position at various points throughout the draft. Getting a couple stars will be hard to resist, especially since there are eight outfielders who have an ADP within the initial 20 picks. But it also makes sense to save a couple outfield spots for the later rounds, especially in head-to-head category and rotisserie leagues, where managers can finish off their active lineup by using the depth at the position to find the exact type of player they need.
More positional previews
Proactive Picks
Kyle Tucker, Dodgers (Yahoo ADP 17.1)
The draft market has not yet adjusted to Tucker’s choice to sign with the Dodgers. Sure, he struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness last summer, but Tucker has a long track record of excellence that should override any recent results. The 29-year-old now calls home to a park that maximizes power and will be surrounded by talented hitters. He belongs in the first round and could produce career-best marks in every standard category.
Advertisement
Cody Bellinger, Yankees (Yahoo ADP 66.1)
Staying with the Yankees on a five-year contract was the best possible outcome for Bellinger. The homer-happy nature of Yankee Stadium raises both his power ceiling and floor, as is evidenced by the fact that he produced 18 of his 29 long balls at home in 2025. And beyond the pure power numbers, his membership in a lineup that led MLB in runs scored last year increases his odds of producing a substantial R+RBI total. His sneaky speed (six seasons with double-digit steals) makes Bellinger a top-50 asset for 2026 drafts.
Yelich isn’t being given enough credit for his terrific 2025 season. The 34-year-old was a major contributor in homers (29), runs (88) and RBI (103) last year, while also stealing more than 15 bases for the fourth straight season. Working almost exclusively as the DH has reduced his injury risk, and he is well-supported by a strong lineup that ranked third in runs scored last year. Currently being selected in the range of pick 100, Yelich should be drafted at least two rounds earlier.
Advertisement
Possible Fades
Byron Buxton, Twins (Yahoo ADP 95.2)
Can lightning strike twice? That’s what needs to happen for Buxton to be a major fantasy contributor for a second straight year. There is no doubt that the 32-year-old can excel on a per-game basis. But even in a relatively healthy 2025 season, Buxton still managed to play in just 126 games. Most of his games played totals are two-digit numbers, which means that managers who are expecting another healthy season are probably setting themselves up for disappointment.
Ceddanne Rafaela, Red Sox (Yahoo ADP 159.6)
An excellent fielder, Rafaela has tremendous value to the Red Sox. Unfortunately, fantasy managers can’t extract value from his fielding acumen, and his offensive numbers leave something to be desired. Rafaela’s respectable 2025 season was mostly spurred by two good months in June and July, as he logged a sub-.700 OPS in each of the other four months and a lowly .587 OPS in the second half. The Red Sox have a crowded outfield and could reduce the 25-year-old’s playing time if he gets off to a poor start.
Advertisement
Mike Trout, Angels (Yahoo ADP 167.8)
Trout has some similarities to Buxton, as even though he played in 130 games last year, he is likely to miss significant time in any given season. And with Trout, the ceiling is much lower than that of Buxton. After all, Trout has hit .230 across the past two seasons, and he offers minimal steals contributions. Unfortunately, the reward is no longer worth the risk in standard-sized leagues.
Sleepers
Konnor Griffin, Pirates (Yahoo ADP 207.1)
The consensus best prospect in baseball, Griffin could debut as soon as Opening Day. After all, while the Pirates are traditionally slow to promote their prospects, they are starting to turn the corner in a long rebuild and have a limited window to maximize the talent that surrounds ace right-hander Paul Skenes. Griffin has a fantasy-friendly skill set (.333 BA, 21 HR, 65 SB in 2025) and could be a top-50 player this season. He’s worth stashing in every league.
Advertisement
Ramón Laureano, Padres (Yahoo ADP 217.3)
Fantasy managers aren’t recognizing Laureano’s terrific 2025 season in which he hit .281 with 24 homers in 132 games. Sure, the memorable campaign mostly came out of nowhere, but this isn’t the 31-year-old’s first strong season, as he hit .288 with 24 long balls and 13 steals way back in 2019. Some regression on a per-game basis will be offset by logging a heavier workload on a Padres team that has some stars but lacks depth.
Daylen Lile, Nationals (Yahoo ADP 216.3)
At the exact moment when most fantasy managers turned their attention to football, Lile decided to break out. He hit .391 with six homers and a 1.212 OPS in September and ranked among the top-10 players in both runs (20) and RBI (19). The memorable finish ensures the 23-year-old a heavy workload and premium lineup spot on the rebuilding Nats, and his Yahoo roster rate should be much higher than its current mark of 54%.
Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.
🚨 Headlines
🎿 Vonn speaks: In her first public statement since Sunday’s devastating crash, Lindsey Vonn said she has “no regrets” about racing on her torn ACL, which “had nothing to do with my crash.” Regardless, her father hopes she never races again.
Advertisement
🏀 Perfect no more: No. 9 Kansas handed top-ranked Arizona its first loss of the season, rallying in the second half for an 82-78 victory at home that marked the Jayhawks’ first win over a No. 1 team since 2003. With that, No. 23 Miami (Ohio) is now the last undefeated men’s team in the nation.
🏈 Pearce arrested: Falcons rookie James Pearce Jr. was arrested Saturday on domestic violence-related charges following a dispute with WNBA player Rickea Jackson. Pearce fled the scene before crashing his car at the end of a police chase.
🏀 Benches clear in Charlotte: Four players and Charlotte’s head coach were ejected in the second half of the Pistons’ win over the Hornets after a heated exchange following a shooting foul led to an all-out brawl.
The Olympic rings surrounded by fireworks are displayed during the Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Interest in the Winter Olympics has declined precipitously after three straight editions in locales cursed by authoritarian regimes, COVID, a lack of real snow, and more.
Flipping the script: Milan Cortina 2026 offers a return to normalcy; a much-needed respite from the cynicism. And if the response to Paris 2024 was any indication, we could be in for the most enjoyable Winter Games in quite some time.
On one hand, the Olympics are compelling no matter where you put them. For the athletes, who are mostly globetrotting anyway for big competitions, a gold medal won in Milan is no different than a gold medal won in Beijing. And for most of the world it’s all just a TV show anyway. Who cares where you put the hockey rink?
Advertisement
But if you rewind to the summer of 2024, Paris was different. From the racy, bizarre and very French take on the Opening Ceremony to iconic Paris landmarks being used as the backdrop for competition venues, something clicked in the zeitgeist.
After several cycles of audience decline for its Olympic broadcasts, NBC rebounded with a whopping 30.6 million viewers per day across its platforms — an 80 percent increase over Tokyo three years earlier.
It felt like the Olympics as a big, galvanizing cultural force were truly back. Can Italy deliver the same irresistible experience?
The 2024 Paris Olympics saw a major viewership bump after 2021’s COVID-induced decline. Will Milan Cortina experience something similar? (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
Don’t discount the possibility, albeit with one big caveat: The Winter Games are not the Summer Games. There are fewer sports, fewer athletes, fewer countries involved and most importantly fewer mainstream superstars.
Advertisement
But relative to the last three Winter Games held in Sochi, PyeongChang and Beijing, these Olympics are going to visually present like a storybook Alpine adventure in a way that you simply could not pull off at a Russian Black Sea resort or on the Korean peninsula or in a smog-filled megalopolis where it almost never snows.
Another difference: NHL players are back for the first time since 2014. With all due respect to the minor-leaguers who stepped in and put on a good show in PyeongChang and Beijing, the Winter Olympics were significantly diminished by not having the elite of the elite competing in one of its marquee events.
Fresh pow. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Milan is also going to be different because of what we don’t have to talk about. We are not in a host country rife with human rights abuses like China. We are not in a host country getting ready to invade a neighbor. And, perhaps of utmost relevance from an audience perspective, we are not in the middle of an Olympics defined by COVID infections and empty stands.
Advertisement
Of course, these Games are not taking place at a perfect moment for the world either. Russia will not be recognized as the war in Ukraine rages on. Tensions in the Middle East are simmering. And if the recent Australian Open is any indication, American athletes should expect to be asked about ICE raids and Venezuela and other actions by the Trump Administration generating international headlines.
There will never be an Olympics without political tension. But all in all, it has been since Vancouver 16 years ago that a Winter Games was hosted by a Western country, in a true winter wonderland, without being served on a platter of cynicism.
Instead, this one comes on a big plate of pasta. Eat up.
💯 Big numbers
(Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
🏈 1 of 9
Drake Maye is one of nine QBs to start in a Super Bowl as an NFL sophomore, joining Dan Marino, Kurt Warner, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Joe Burrow, Brock Purdy and Colin Kaepernick.
Advertisement
The long road back: “That group is an interesting mashup, showcasing that while some QBs are destined for more Super Bowl opportunities (Brady, Warner, Roethlisberger and Wilson), others either never again stepped on the biggest stage (Marino and Kaepernick) or are still trying to find their way back (Burrow and Purdy),” writes Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson.
🏀 183 triple-doubles
Nikola Jokić (183) has moved past Oscar Robertson (181) for second on the NBA’s all-time triple-doubles list. He now trails only former teammate Russell Westbrook (207), who has added four to his tally so far this season with the Kings.
Rounding out the top 10: Magic Johnson is fourth on the list (138), followed by LeBron James (122), Jason Kidd (107), Luke Donćić (88), James Harden (82), Wilt Chamberlain (78) and Domantas Sabonis (68).
(Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
🏀 61 straight home wins
Kansas loves Mondays. With their victory over top-ranked Arizona, the Jayhawks have now won 61 consecutive home games played on Mondays over a 25-year span.
Advertisement
Their last home loss on a Monday? That came all the way back on Feb. 5, 2001, when the Drew Gooden-led Jayhawks fell 79-77 to Jamaal Tinsley and Iowa State.
📺 $65 per month
YouTube TV is introducing lower-priced bundles to allow subscribers to better tailor their plans to their interests. The Sports Plan will begin rolling out this week at $65 per month, which is $18 cheaper than the main YouTube TV plan.
What you get: The Sports Plan includes “all the major broadcast networks,” including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, as well as TBS, TNT, FS1, USA, NBCSN, CBSSN, NBA TV, NFL Network, all of the ESPN networks. Premium channels like NFL RedZone will continue to be sold as add-ons.
(Rich Gagnon/Getty Images)
🏒 10 years
Boston College are Beanpot champions for the first time in a decade after dominating Boston University, 6-2, in Monday’s championship game, which was also the 300th meeting between the rival programs.
Advertisement
The Battle of Comm Ave: BU still leads the all-time series, but it’s incredibly close. 141 wins for the Terriers, 138 wins for the Eagles, 21 games ended in a tie.
✈️ 13 hours
Roughly 13 hours after departing California where he called Super Bowl LX, Mike Tirico stepped into Studio A at the International Broadcast Center in Milan, Italy, on Monday night to host “Primetime in Milan.”
The man behind the mic: “For an only child, raised by a single mom in Queens, growing up dreaming of being the next Marv Albert, Tirico is a sportscaster’s sportscaster, with a rare dual ability to lead a studio and call play-by-play at the highest level. Headlining a portfolio of sports’ biggest events now puts him on the path to be considered among the all-time greats in sports TV.” (Andrew Marchand, The Athletic)
Advertisement
🇺🇸 Spotlight: Ilia Malinin
(Amber Matsumoto/Yahoo Sports)
After helping Team USA defend its championship in the team event over the weekend, young figure skating sensation Ilia Malinin begins his quest today to win individual Olympic gold as the men’s singles program gets underway in Milan.
Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia
Fun fact: His parents were also Olympic figure skaters, competing for Uzbekistan in the 1998 and 2002 Games.
College: George Mason University
The Quad God: The two-time defending world champion, undefeated in his last 15 competitions, dominates figure skating to an astonishing degree thanks to his singular ability to pull off the hardest move in the sport: a quadruple axel.
In 2022, at age 17, the teenager who’d already nicknamed himself the “Quad God” became the first skater ever to land a quad axel in competition. And while he’s repeated the move more than a dozen times since, he remains the only skater who’s ever landed one.
Similar to Simone Biles, Malinin is difficult to beat not only due to his immense skill but because the base values of his routines are so high. A few minor errors won’t sink him like they would someone else.
What they’re saying: “It’s not a shoo-in. Ilia still has to skate well to win. His competitors are good,” 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano told AP. “But yeah, as far as the advantage of being the favorite, it’s him and — well, you know, he’s far ahead.”
🛷 Ashley Farquharson: The Utah native sits in fifth entering today’s final two luge runs. If she can make up the 0.113-second deficit separating her from the podium, she’ll become just the second American woman ever to medal in the event (Erin Hamlin, 2014).
We’ll be spotlighting America’s best athletes throughout the Games. Follow Team USA’s progress on their homepage, and for in-depth Olympics coverage, go to ours.
An American and Canadian player fight for the puck during 2022’s gold-medal match. (Meng Yongmin/Xinhua via Getty Images)
🏒 Women’s Hockey, Canada vs. USA
The world’s top two teams square off in their group stage finale (2:10pm ET, USA) before likely meeting again in next week’s gold-medal game.
Head-to-head: Canada leads the all-time series, 106-86-2, and has a 5-2 edge in Olympic golds. But the Americans are riding a six-game winning streak against them that includes last year’s World Championship final and a sweep in their annual Rivalry Series.
Advertisement
🎿 Alpine Skiing, Women’s Team Combined
Childhood friends and USA teammates Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson go for gold in the Olympic debut of this event that, ahem, combines two disciplines. Downhill began while you were sleeping, and slalom gets underway soon (8am, USA).
Heavy favorites: Johnson already won downhill gold on Sunday, Shiffrin is the most decorated slalom skier of all-time (by a mile) and the duo took the title last year in the event’s World Championship debut.
🥌 Curling, Mixed Doubles Finals
Team USA upset Italy to reach the championship(12pm, USA), where Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin will face Sweden as they seek America’s third curling medal ever — and first since 2018.
Advertisement
Third-place matchup: Italy and Great Britain will meet in the bronze-medal match earlier in the day (8am, Peacock).
⛸️ Figure Skating, Men’s Short Program
American sensation Ilia Malinin headlines the men’s singles, which kicks off today with the short program(12:15pm, USA). The top 24 skaters will advance to Friday’s free skate, and the combined scores will determine the medalists.
🥇 Medal events
🎿 Cross-Country Skiing: Sprint Classic Finals (6:10am, USA)
🎿 Freeskiing: Men’s Slopestyle Final (6:30am, USA)
Wemby and the Spurs are rolling. (Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
More to watch:
🏀 NBA: Clippers at Rockets (8pm, NBA); Spurs at Lakers (10:30pm, NBA) … San Antonio (36-16) has won four straight to climb within four games of the league-leading Thunder.
🏀 NCAAM: No. 13 Purdue at No. 7 Nebraska (7pm, FS1) … Boilermakers All-American Braden Smith ranks second nationally with 8.7 assists per game.
⚽️ Premier League: West Ham vs. Manchester United (3:15pm, Peacock) … The Red Devils are 4-0-0 under interim manager Michael Carrick.
Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. Get tickets now!
🌎 Olympics trivia
Team USA flagbearer Erin Jackson walks in the athlete parade with her teammates. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
The United States has the largest delegation (232 athletes) at the Milan Cortina Games.
Advertisement
Question: Which country has the second-largest delegation (211 athletes)?
Hint: Host nation Italy is third (195) and Germany is fourth (189), so you can rule them both out.
Answer at the bottom.
📸 Photo finish
Athletes compete in the Mixed Relay at Anterselva Biathlon Arena. (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
Biathlon (cross-country skiing + rifle shooting) is one of those sports that sounds fake until you watch it for five minutes and go, “Oh wow, this rules.”
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
The High Score 100 — the top-100 players in Yahoo’s newest fantasy basketball format — is a running reflection of year-to-date performance and trending production. Each weekly update captures who’s actually delivering value and who’s fading.
Here’s a breakdown of the biggest risers and fallers through the 16th week of fantasy basketball, right before the All-Star break — with the complete High Score 100 at the bottom of the article. I’ll be updating my rankings every Tuesday throughout the fantasy basketball season.
Clingan’s having a moment. The second-year big man is ranked 48th over the last 14 days and smashed in Week 16, averaging 41.5 fantasy points per game while rattling off three straight double-doubles through Feb. 7. Over a stretch of seven games, his numbers rose to 12 points, 15 boards, 2 assists and 2 blocks per game. That’s exactly the kind of production that moves you up in High Score rankings.
Clingan’s been a force on the glass all season, but with rebounds devalued in High Score, fantasy managers needed to see more from him as a scoring threat and shot blocker — and that’s where he’s been steadily improving as the All-Star break approaches. While I don’t expect his minutes to clear 30 a night, if he keeps this up, he’ll comfortably remain inside the top 100.
With Stephen Curry out through the All-Star break, Brooks could earn his first All-Star Game selection in 2026. He’s in the midst of a career year, being one of the primary drivers of the Suns’ success thus far.
Over the past seven games, though, his numbers have spiked to an average of 37.8 fantasy points per game, good for 50th overall in High Score. On Jan. 29, he scored a season-best 62 fantasy points by way of his first 40-point game against one of the best defenses in the league (Detroit Pistons).
Brooks continues to shine as a scorer without being penalized for his inefficiency or poor assist-to-turnover ratio, making him a strong player for this format.
Brandon Ingram — G/FC, Toronto Raptors: 41st overall (⬆️ 5)
BI’s averaging 42 fantasy points per game over the last 14 days, ranking inside the top 35 in High Score during that stretch. For the year, he sits 47th, but the trend is clearly upward — exactly what you want to see heading into the second half.
Over his last six games, he’s putting up around 25 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and over 1.5 stocks per game. The five-spot climb is modest, but it reflects his consistent performance as a top-50 player this season.
Advertisement
📉 Fallers — The tank is on
Player
Team
Previous Rank
Current Rank
Rank Change
Trae Young
WAS
75
100
-25
Ja Morant
MEM
55
75
-20
Lauri Markkanen
UTA
34
53
-19
Trae Young — G, Washington Wizards: 100th overall (⬇️ 25)
Trae’s on the verge of falling off the rankings entirely. He’ll be re-evaluated after the All-Star break, but with Anthony Davis done for the season, it’s increasingly unlikely we’ll see Young again this year. The Wizards are tanking hard for a top pick, leaving little incentive to rush him back.
I’m keeping him at 100 for now — barely hanging on — but if we don’t get anything concrete post-break, he’s gone. Fantasy managers holding should be preparing to move on.
Ja Morant — G, Memphis Grizzlies: 75th overall (⬇️ 20)
Ja’s situation is looking just as murky as Trae’s. He’ll also be re-evaluated after the break, but Grizzlies GM Zach Kleiman said it’ll take a medical determination for Morant to return. Don’t count on that coming.
Advertisement
Memphis traded Jaren Jackson Jr., lost nine of its last 11 games and clearly doesn’t care about winning. The Grizz put Ja on the trade block, but received minimal interest. There’s no reason to bring him back now that Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippen Jr. are back, plus Cam Spencer is still in the rotation.
The 20-spot drop reflects reality — Morant’s probably done. And without more clarity, he could find himself off the list by Week 18.
Lauri Markkanen — FC, Utah Jazz: 53rd overall (⬇️ 19)
Tank season is here, and Lauri’s getting benched in third quarters. He’s played under 30 minutes in four of his last five games, and the Jazz are clearly managing his workload with an eye toward the lottery. It’s ridiculous.
Advertisement
I’m getting ahead of this now because post-All-Star break, expect more rest days and “load management” games. Utah has no incentive to play Lauri heavy minutes, which directly hurts his fantasy value. The 19-spot slide is just the beginning if this continues.
Complete High Score 100 rankings
The High Score 100 is a running reflection of year-to-date performance and trending production.
MILAN — Halfway through Tuesday’s women’s team combined event, the American power duo of Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin could not have been in a stronger position.
Johnson posted the fastest time in the downhill portion of the competition, providing the greatest slalom skier of all time a cushion of six-hundredths of a second.
Advertisement
What happened next was another all-too-familiar Shiffrin collapse on an Olympic stage, one that will surely evoke memories of her nightmarish Winter Games in Beijing four years ago. It wasn’t just that the 30-year-old American failed to hold the lead. She wasn’t even able to keep herself and Johnson on the podium.
Shiffrin’s time in the slalom was just the 15th fastest among the 18 women who were able to complete the course. As a result, she and Johnson plummeted to fourth place, more than three-tenths of a second behind gold medalists Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber of Austria. Emma Aicher and Kira Weidle-Winkelmann of Germany took silver, while Americans Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan secured bronze.
The disappointing performance from Shiffrin denied Johnson what would have been her second medal of these Olympics. Only two days after she won Olympic gold in the women’s downhill, Johnson once again was in the form of her life on Tuesday, identifying the most direct line down the mountain and attacking it fearlessly.
Between the downhill and slalom portion of the competitions, Johnson tried to ease the mental burden on Shiffrin by reminding her lifelong friend that she already would be returning home with some hardware.
Advertisement
“Listen, there’s no pressure on my side,” Johnson told Shiffrin. “I already have my Olympic gold.”
Judging by the way Shiffrin skied, it looked like the pressure affected her. Shiffrin appeared uncharacteristically hesitant on the course, taking turns rounder than she normally does and quickly losing the cushion she had over Raedler and Huber.
After lunging across the finish line, Shiffrin stared at her time in disbelief when she realized it was not enough to keep her and Johnson on the medal stand. TV cameras captured Shiffrin embracing Johnson and apologizing at the finish line.
“Didn’t quite nail it,” she said after her run. “I didn’t quite find a comfort level that allowed me to produce full speed.
Advertisement
“So, I’m going to have to learn what to do, what to adjust in the short time we have before the other tech races.”
For Shiffrin, Tuesday’s race is a rocky start to what she hopes will be a redemptive Winter Games for her. Shiffrin was the favorite to win gold in a minimum of three of the six events she entered in Beijing four years ago, but the most accomplished World Cup skier of all time unfathomably came home with three DNFs and without a single medal.
Mere seconds into her defense of her 2018 Olympic gold medal in the giant slalom, Shiffrin lost her edge making a turn, skidded across the snow and missed the fifth gate. She made a similar error at the top of the slalom course in Beijing. It was the skiing equivalent of watching LeBron James go scoreless in an NBA Finals or Tom Brady throw six interceptions in a Super Bowl.
Shiffrin endured more hard times in November 2024 when a horrific crash in Killington, Vermont, sent her somersaulting over her skis and left her with a puncture wound in the abdomen. She expected to power through her recovery in time to return to competition in a couple months, but the post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the crash was far more debilitating than she expected.
Advertisement
In a first-person account of the ordeal in The Players Tribune last May, Shiffrin described involuntarily stopping in the middle of training runs and not being able to get her body to move like it needed to.
“It was almost as though I was no longer in control of my body,” she wrote.
Shiffrin eventually fought her way back from those setbacks and returned to her previous level. On Feb. 23, 2025, she became the first skier to win 100 career World Cup races. She has continued to stack up victories this season ahead of the Olympics.
Anywhere else, Shiffrin is the greatest slalom skier of all-time, a master of technique who excels at making the tightest possible turns to save precious nanoseconds.
On the Olympic stage, she’s still struggling to recapture that form.
Curling, which first became an organized sport in Scotland, traces its roots to the 1500s. Historians say paintings from the time depict people sliding rocks across frozen ponds. It took a few centuries for the world to appreciate all that feverish sweeping, though: Curling made its Olympic debut in 1924 — but didn’t return as an official competitive event until the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
Nearly three decades, the United States is guaranteed of winning its first medal ever in mixed doubles curling as Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin takes on Sweden for the gold medal on Tuesday.
Advertisement
Chances are if you didn’t grow up in Canada (where curling is most popular), you may think of the sport as people in funny pants — we’re lookin’ at you, Norwegians — pushing an oversized puck across a skating rink. Au contraire. Curling requires finesse, strategy and serious athleticism — the sweeping can burn up to 500 calories per hour. And because players use their brains as much as their bodies, people call it “chess on ice.”
The curling competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics begins on Feb. 4. (Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)
(Andrew Milligan – PA Images via Getty Images)
Rules
For starters, players aim to guide heavy, granite stones across a sheet of textured ice toward a target area called the house that is split into four rings. (Consider curling a distant cousin of shuffleboard.) Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding the stones — also called “rocks” — toward the target. Each team has eight stones per end (five in mixed doubles), which is curling’s version of, say, a baseball inning. There are 10 ends in a tournament-style game (eight in mixed doubles).
Advertisement
This video shows the skill involved, from the movement the thrower uses to deliver the stone, to the sweepers trying to guide it where it needs to go in the target, aka the house.
The stone weighs 38 to 44 pounds. Players use brooms to smooth the ice and ease the stone’s path toward the house. If a player breaks a rule — like nudging the stone with their shoe — they should be “the first to divulge the breach,” according to the WCF. This sportsmanship expectation is part of what players call “the spirit of curling.”
Scoring
The objective is simple: The team that lands the most stones closest to the bulls-eye wins. Players win a point for every stone that 1) lands in the house and 2) is closer to the “button” — or center of the house — than the closest opponent stone. (For example, if Team A has the closest stone and Team B has the second closest stone, Team A can only earn one point, even if the rest of Team B’s stones somehow ended up outside of the curling arena.) Teams can knock an opponent’s stone away from the house — and, through some vigorous sweeping, strategically place some stones as makeshift shields (guards) to protect others.
Advertisement
It is impossible, however, for both teams to score in an end, which last the amount of time it takes to throw all of the stones. Points are awarded only to the team that did better in each end. (Should a team tie, there are tie-breaker rounds.) The best possible score in an end is 8-0, which happens when one team gets all eight stones closer to the button than its opponent. This is called a “snowman” — curling slang for a perfect game.
Olympic curling stones all come from a tiny island off the coast of Scotland. (Lillian Suwanrumpha/ AFP via Getty Images)
(LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA via Getty Images)
Fun fact: Curling may be the nicest sport of all
Objectively. After each game, the winners traditionally buy the other team a round of drinks. From the WCF website: “Curlers play to win, but never to humble their opponents. A true curler never attempts to distract opponents, nor to prevent them from playing their best, and would prefer to lose rather than to win unfairly.”
Advertisement
Quick terminology
Bonspiel: A curling tournament. Circles: The round scoring area, 12 feet in diameter, with concentric circles 1, 4 and 8 feet in diameter. Curl: The rotating movement of a stone caused by turning the handle. Delivery: The act of throwing a rock. End: Similar to an inning in baseball; in an end, each team throws eight rocks, two per player in alternating fashion. Tournament-style games run for 10 ends. Front End: The lead and second player on a curling team. Heavy: A stone that is delivered with more than the desired amount of weight or force. House: The round scoring area, 12 feet in diameter, with concentric circles 1, 4, and 8 feet in diameter. Light: A stone that is delivered with less than the desired weight or force. Rink: A curling team that consists of four players: the skip, third (vice-skip), second, and lead. Also refers to the place where curling is played. Rock: Stone. Sheet: The 146-foot-long area of the ice on which the game is played. Skip: The player who calls the ice and determines the strategy. Almost always plays the last two rocks for his team (but may throw in a different order in some games.) Sweeping: Using a brush to polish the ice in an effort to alter the action of the rock.
