Top Fantasy Players by Team: 2016 Final Edition

The 2016 MLB regular season has come to an end. With that the 2016 Fantasy Baseball season also ends. It's time to take a look at the best fantasy players by team. I have listed the top performer by team and their overall rank this year. The * next to the players are additional players on that team who ranked higher than the worst 'best' player.

Here are the results (rankings are through October 2nd):

Hou Jose Altuve (2)**
LAA Mike Trout (3)*
Oak Khris Davis (102)
Sea Robinson Cano (31)**
Tex Ian Desmond (37)******

Cle Corey Kluber (18)*******
CWS Chris Sale (20)***
Det Justin Verlander (11)****
KC Danny Duffy (85)
Min Brian Dozier (24)

Bal Zach Britton (17)**
Bos Mookie Betts (1)********
NYY Masahiro Tanaka (52)
TB Alex Colome (73)*
Tor Josh Donaldson (29)****

Ari Jean Segura (6)*
Col Charlie Blackmon (12)***
LAD Clayton Kershaw (7)****
SD Wil Myers (35)
SF Madison Bumgarner (10)**

ChC Jon Lester (9)******
Cin Joey Votto (22)*
Mil Jonathan Villar (5)***
Pit Starling Marte (25)*
Stl Seung Hwan Oh (61)*

Atl Freddie Freeman (36)**
Mia Christian Yelich (62)
NYM Noah Syndergaard (40)*
Phi Odubel Herrera (75)
Wsh Max Scherzer (4)*******

Interesting Findings

The past two months, the worst 'best' player award went to Khris Davis. Davis ends the season as the worst ‘best’ player of the year. It is also the 3rd straight month he has accomplished this feat. Davis, who ends the year as the #102 overall player, beats out Danny Duffy for worst ‘best’ player. Duffy came in at #85.

5 teams had a new best player from the previous month. Those teams were: the Rays(Alex Colome), Diamondbacks(Jean Segura), Rockies(Charlie Blackmon), Cubs(Jon Lester), and Marlins(Christian Yelich). Arizona had only 2 players better than #102, Segura and Paul Goldschmidt, both of those players finished inside the top 10!

In addition to the Athletics, the Royals (Duffy), Marlins(Yelich), Yankees (Masahiro Tanaka), Padres (Wil Myers), Phillies (Odubel Herrera) and Twins (Brian Dozier), all only had one player inside the top 102. Last month, this was an issue for 6 teams. San Diego and Minnesota achieves this feat despite both having a top 40 overall player. Dozier finished the season as the #24 overall player. His 28 post All Star break homeruns helped greatly boost his overall value.

The Angels (Mike Trout/Albert Puljos), Rays (Evan Longoria/Alex Colome), Pirates (Starling Marte/Gregory Polanco), Diamondbacks (Paul Goldschmidt/Jean Segura), Reds (Joey Votto/Billy Hamilton), Mets (Noah Syndergaard/Jeurys Familia), and Cardinals (Seung Hwan Oh/Carlos Martinez) have only two players better than #102. A total of 14 teams have 2 or fewer players better than the worst 'best' player. Last month, that number was 17 teams.

The Nationals (8) and Indians (8) tie for 2nd most players better than Khris Davis. Both the Cubs and Rangers are right behind them with 7 players inside the top 102 each.

The top team of the 2016 Fantasy Baseball season is the Boston Red Sox. They finish the year with 9 players better than the worst ‘best’ player, Oakland’s Khris Davis.

Led by Mookie Betts, the #1 overall player, the other 8 Boston players are: Rick Porcello, Xander Bogaerts, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Drew Pomeranz, Hanley Ramirez, Jackie Bradley Jr., and David Price.

The Cubs had a streak of 4 straight months with their ENTIRE ROTATION better than the worst ‘best’ player. Unfortunately, Jason Hammel falls outside the top 102 to end the season. The Cubs end the year with 7 total players and 4 of their 5 SP on this list.

Of the 14 teams who have 2 or fewer players inside the top 102, only 4 teams have a record at .500 or better. The Mets (87-75) have the best record of any team with 2 or fewer top 102 players. They are also the only playoff team that meets this criteria. 10 of the 14 teams with 2 or fewer top players had a losing records. Maybe fantasy baseball does have some correlation with real life baseball after all?

The American League (55) beat out the National League (47) in total players ranked in the top 102.

May Edition
June Edition
July Edition
August Edition

Please leave comments if you have any further questions and feel free to let me know what you found most interesting in this research. Thanks for the read!