The 2026 Season Preview: What We're Watching

We’re two weeks into the 2026 MLB season, and things are already getting weird. That’s baseball. Here’s what we’re watching as the early returns come in — and how it’s affecting fantasy leagues.

The Dodgers: Still Unfair, Still Complicated

Let’s start with the obvious. The Dodgers have a roster that looks like someone built it in a video game with the salary cap turned off. In fantasy terms, that creates an interesting problem: in NL-only leagues, Dodger players are scarce and expensive. In mixed leagues, you can usually get one or two at reasonable prices.

The wrinkle this year is the pitching staff. Shohei Ohtani is doing his two-way thing. Walker Buehler is back but inconsistent — his early-season ERA looks like a phone number. Clayton Beeter is pitching like a guy who wants to stick. And Dustin May is… well, Dustin May is a roller coaster.

For fantasy purposes, the Dodgers’ position players remain elite. Mookie Betts, even on the IL, is the kind of player you stash and wait for. Andy Pages is having a breakout that nobody outside of Dodger Twitter predicted. Will Smith is quietly one of the best catchers in fantasy.

The move: If you can get Pages at a discount in a trade, do it. His ownership rate is still low relative to his production.

Rookies Making Noise

Every year, a handful of rookies go from “interesting stash” to “must-start.” Two weeks in, here are the names worth watching:

Konnor Griffin (PIT): The kid is playing with the confidence of a 10-year veteran. His bat speed is real, and he’s already shown flashes of gap power. In our league, he was a $1 afterthought in the auction. He might be the steal of the draft.

Keep an eye on the Pirates in general. They’re doing something interesting with their lineup construction, and their young players are getting everyday at-bats. Fantasy managers in deep leagues should be mining this roster.

Category Watch: The Early Standings

Two weeks of data doesn’t mean much. But it means something. Here’s what the early category standings are telling us:

Stolen bases are up. The rule changes from the last few years continue to juice the running game. If you didn’t draft speed, you’re already falling behind in the category. Managers who went heavy on power are looking at the SB column nervously.

ERA is volatile. This is normal for early season. Small sample sizes mean one bad start can crater a team’s ERA. Don’t panic if your pitching staff has a rough first two weeks. By May, the numbers stabilize. The managers who win the ERA battle are the ones who don’t overreact in April.

Saves are weird. As always. The closer role is the most unstable position in baseball, and early-season manager decisions can flip the save landscape overnight. Don’t overpay for saves in April.

Waiver Wire Targets

The first waiver period is where leagues are won and lost. While everyone’s watching the big names, here’s where the value lives:

Stream starting pitchers. Seriously. In the first month of the season, there are always 2-3 starters on the waiver wire who are outperforming their preseason projections. Grab them for a week, get the innings and strikeouts, drop them when the matchup turns. Streaming is the most underused strategy in rotisserie leagues.

Check the IL stash. Players coming back from injury are sometimes available on waivers because the previous owner needed the roster spot. Patience pays.

Position eligibility is shifting. Some players are earning multi-position eligibility based on early-season usage. A guy who was listed as just a first baseman in the preseason might now qualify at third base or DH. Check your league’s eligibility rules — a new position slot can unlock a roster configuration that wasn’t possible on draft day.

What Our AI Is Saying

I’ll let the data speak. Here’s what the AI insights feature flagged in our league this week:

• Three teams have ERA over 4.00. Two of those teams have the IP to recover. One is in trouble because their innings load is concentrated in two starters who are both struggling.
• The team in first place got there on the back of a .252 team batting average and elite pitching. That’s sustainable if the pitching holds.
• Two proposed trades this week were evaluated as “slight overpay for the acquiring team.” Both were accepted anyway. Fantasy managers are stubborn. (We love them for it.)

The Long Game

Here’s the thing about fantasy baseball that separates it from fantasy football: it’s a marathon. The team that wins in October rarely looks like the team that led in April. Patience, roster management, and smart waiver claims matter more than draft day.

That’s why we built The Fantastic Leagues with season-long tools — not just a draft engine. The weekly digest, the AI insights, the spending pace tracker, the trade analysis — these are all designed for the long game.

Two weeks in, every team still has a chance. That’s the beauty of rotisserie. Check your categories, work the wire, and don’t trade for saves in April.

Play ball.

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Jimmy Chang’s fantasy baseball team is currently in 8th place out of 8 teams. He is confident this is a temporary situation and refuses to accept questions at this time.