The 2025 Preseason Plan

Hey all … time to stretch!

Stretch out those baseball-brain muscles, if you haven't already. Whether you're a returning subscriber or just checking out the options, this is the place to get a head-start on what to expect over the next 6+ weeks before Opening Day. There are many aspects of what we do here at BaseballHQ of which we are proud, and we're going to attempt to describe the biggies here adequately. 

What follows is a high-level roadmap for what to expect from our award-winning team over the next 6+ weeks until Opening Day. Take in the outline below and even if you're not a current subscribers, check out the free samples. Both will give you a window into the type of analysis you'll find on these digital pages that have been helping to fuel winning teams for the past quarter of a century. We think we’ve got a pretty great setup here—and hope you do, too.

What's underneath all this? Let us show you …

 

MLB NEWS AND FANTASY IMPACT

PT TODAY (or PLAYING TIME TODAY) serves as our transaction analysis headquarters, where BHQ analysts translate what MLB transactions and team news mean for MLB playing time, and how that affects our rest-of-season projections. It’s a second-level analysis of “why” and “how” the news affects MLB playing time—perhaps the most crucial piece of projecting player performance. Out PT TODAY writers, each assigned to at least one MLB team, are also responsible for maintaining accurate rest-of-year playing time that drive our projections. PT TODAY is your daily dose of what happened, what it means in a fantasy context, and their judgement of how the items affect MLB AB and IP totals. 
Schedule: Currently on an as-needed basis—in other words, as much as the news dictates. Likely showing up two or three times a week to start spring training, PT TODAY will grow into a six-times-per-week column by late March.
Sample article: PT TODAY from early January

While PT TODAY spins the current comings and goings, PT TOMORROW looks to the future. With one column per MLB division, PT TOMORROW takes a broader view of each MLB roster and tries to extrapolate what could happen before it does. The impetus? That you can take preemptive steps instead of reacting with the masses. So questions like "Who's the backup closer?", "How would Swingman Y perform in the rotation if Starter X's minor elbow pain persists?", and "Can we trust the manager's assertion that LF is an open competition?" are customary in this space. It's some of our best work on the site; a result of our writers' commitment to knowing individual team situations and applying BHQ tools and metrics to project the future so that subscribers can glean hidden fantasy value.
Schedule: Starting February 17, PT TOMORROW will publish five divisions per week.
Sample article: PT TOMORROW from late January

 

PLAYER PERFORMANCE

FACTS & FLUKES is the robust kernel of performance analysis at BaseballHQ.com. It’s where our analysts take the long view of a player's skill set, including a host of factors such as age and historical trends, and attempt to answer one basic question: Is the player's current statistical performance sustainable? During the offseason, this target is static, as we have complete years of data to compare. Using traditional stats as well as BHQ and other established metrics, Facts & Flukes examines the whole player pool—from the aging veteran to the prime slugger to the rookie fireballer—in five-player chunks. Each analysis ends with some implication of what to expect from the player from this point forward. Which—let's face it—is what really matters.
Schedule: These have been running several times a week since January and starting February 17, will be up to four times per week through Opening Day.     
Sample: FACTS & FLUKES from late January

BUYERS GUIDES are the place to look for hidden value from a contextual perspective. Three weekly columns—Starters, Relievers, and Batters—examine the player pool, looking for impending breakouts on a skill-based level. Here, player performance analysis happens over a shorter term than Facts & Flukes but reading the skills for a key of upcoming season performance is the goal. So you might get a quick-hit list of starters who saw an increase in strikeout rate over the past month. Or setup relievers who have the skills to handle the closer role. These are must-read columns as you prepare for your draft.
Schedule: Starting next week, most weeks have three columns: Starters on Saturdays, Relievers on Sundays, Batters on Mondays. 
Sample: Starting Pitchers BUYERS GUIDE from last week

 

PLAYER VALUE

MARKET PULSE is where BHQ subscribers get to see their potential profit pockets, position-by-position (say that five times fast). The premise is simple: to compare current Average Draft Position (ADP) from the National Fantasy Baseball Championship to our BaseballHQ rankings. And who doesn't want to go into their draft knowing that the traditional wisdom values Ozzie Albies four rounds higher than his BHQ value?  One of our most practical columns this time of year.
Schedule: Market Pulse started in January and runs weekly throughout the pre-season. Its popular All-Value Team will publish on March 14, followed by the All-Avoid Team on March 21.
Sample: MARKET PULSE on the 2025 second base pool

SPECULATOR is our contrarian column, "designed solely to open readers' eyes to possibilities they may not have previously entertained, and in doing so, provide a different perspective on the future," as the disclaimer reads each week. Though the assertions are founded on some element of fact, these are our "20% percentage plays," and an excellent reminder of the importance of the process over results in player evaluation. You want some sleepers/longshots? Speculator brings ‘em in droves.
Schedule: Weekly columns began on January and will run each Wednesday throughout the preseason.
Sample: From last Spring, a SPECULATOR column nominated for “Article of the Year” award by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. 

 

PROSPECTS

ORGANIZATION REPORTS is where our minor league analysts examine each MLB club, ranking and reporting on the top 15 fantasy prospects. While the Org Reports are fascinating reading during the winter months, they also are an invaluable resource throughout the season—for mid-season call-ups and fantasy trade discussions, especially. Those in dynasty and keeper leagues will especially find these reports essential as they build their squads for the future.
Schedule: The Org Reports began in late November and were published through mid-January. 
Sample: 2025 ORGANIZATION REPORT for the Mets

PROSPECT LISTS/DATATABLES is an exciting new way to slice the prospect coverage, from presenting the top 100 prospects in baseball (HQ100) to our brand-new Org Report Datatable. For each, the in-article tables allow you to filter, sort, and even download details on prospects to help you prepare for your reserve lists or minor-league draft. Find the best SS prospects; get a starter list for your dynasty FYPD—there are tons of uses for this data. Subscribers; go to it!

 

GAMING/STRATEGY

STRATEGY articles rotate through the many different specific game formats—Rotisserie, Head to Head, Scoresheet and Simulations, NFBC—and strive to give game-specific advice tailored to that format. While specific players may be mentioned, in these columns the players serve as examples of how to employ a strategic edge. Game theory, auction dynamics, and the many different draft philosophies and strategies will be examined with the goal of giving you another edge in addition to player performance. And brand-new this year: Ron Shandler's Broad Assessment Balance Sheet tool is now an official part of the BHQ family!
Schedule: These pieces are ramping up to three times per week now through Opening Day.
Sample: STRATEGY article from January on finding SP targets in a Head-to-Head format. 

 

Whew. And those are just the formal articles and doesn't mention things like the award-winning BaseballHQ Radio as well as our prospect podcast, The Eyes Have It; our exclusive projections and extensive, flexible toolset. They all provide infinite ways to slice and dice the numbers as you prepare for your fantasy drafts. PlayerLink is our massive player database, where you can search a player’s BHQ essay and stat archive, dig into his splits, view his historical stats and 2025 projection, and more. The Custom Draft Guide (CDG) is an interactive draft tool powered by BHQ projections. Plug in and save multiple league formats, and CDG will provide you with customized cheat sheets using our projections. All of these are updated daily to reflect the constant shifting of playing time on each MLB club, so that you know you have all the most recent information to take with you into your drafts. 

Baseball's back, and we're still exploring the ins and outs of this brand-new platform. We couldn’t be more ready to share the things we have planned for subscribers in 2025. You can trust the tradition of BHQ to provide clear insight on the season ahead and put you in the best place to end 2025 at the top of the standings. If you need to get on board, visit our subscription page for all the details on how to become a part.

Let’s get to it; 2025 is going to be great!

More From GM's Office