The marathon is over, and I hope you walked away a champion. If you did, you did better than me, as I ultimately fell just short in a couple of the leagues where I still had a chance to take down an overall title. I'm planning on writing a bit of a 2024 recap where I go through what I got right, what I got wrong, and where I think the state of Fantasy Baseball stands heading into the offseason, but that won't be a few more weeks. 

Because first, I want to take a look ahead at 2025. Yes, I know it's way too early for rankings, but I do like to establish a baseline set of expectations to begin the offseason that I can compare to as we go on. Scott White has already begun the process of ranking 2025 as well, touching on catcher, first base, and second base here, and he goes deeper on each position and gives his thoughts on each player, so you should make sure to check that out. 

I'm not going as deep yet because I want to get an overview down on digital ink before that. Over the next few weeks, I'll be going through each position myself, reviewing 2024 and looking ahead to 2025, along with offering some way-too-early sleepers, breakouts, and busts right here in your inbox. 

And I'll be here all offseason long, whether you're getting ready to make some moves in your Dynasty league or just getting a head start on the competition for 2025, the FBT Newsletter and podcast will be here to help all offseason.

Now, let's get to those way-too-early rankings: 

Oh, before we start, I guess I should point this out: There are going to be some big-name players you won't see in the below rankings, because I'm not ranking DH-only players yet. They'll be included in top-300s when those come out, but for now, I'm leaving them off to the side. 

But those DH-only players are actually going to be a big storyline in 2025, because around half the league will likely be drafting one next year. Shohei Ohtani is obviously a first-rounder and probably the first overall pick in every league, but we also have to account for  Marcell Ozuna, Kyle Schwarber, and Brent Rooker, who were all top-20 hitters in Fantasy this season. But they'll probably all fall to a point where they will be nice values in drafts next year, and I'm probably going to plan on having one on every one of my teams.

Yeah, it hurts your flexibility at points in the season -- though at least Schwarber and Rooker could conceivably gain eligibility, as both played five or more games in the outfield this season. But if there are roughly six DH-only players worth starting at any given point -- Joc Pederson, Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew McCutchen, Masataka Yoshida, and J.D. Martinez all qualified for "worth starting" status, as did Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Manzardo, while Eloy Jimenez could be a viable bounceback candidate -- that means half of a 12-team league is in the same boat. At this point, how much does it really make sense to discount those DH-only guys?

A little bit, to be certain. But if I can get a hitter like Brent Rooker outside of the top-100 in my drafts next year, I'm certainly not going to pass on it just because he is DH-only. And I think those kinds of discounts could be plentiful for 2025. 

And one other note here that applies to all of these rankings: We're six months out from the start of next season, so don't hold me to any of these. There's a lot of offseason left and a lot of research to do between now and next February when draft season really starts to kick off. So, while I stand by these rankings for now, consider pretty much all of them to be relatively weakly held positions. I reserve the right to change my mind! 

Despite the emergence of guys like Shea Langeliers and the further establishment of William Contreras and Yainier Diaz as legit stars, the catcher remains pretty messy for Fantasy. I would feel pretty good about any of the first six as my starter in a one-catcher league, but after that, there are still a lot of questions here. The biggest one for me might be, "Will Francisco Alvarez ever live up to the hype? 

1. William Contreras, MIL
2. Adley Rutschman, BAL
3. Will Smith, LAD
4. Cal Raleigh, SEA
5. Salvador Perez, KC
6. Yainer Diaz, HOU
7. Shea Langeliers, OAK
8. J.T. Realmuto, PHI
9. Willson Contreras, STL
10. Austin Wells, NYY
11. Francisco Alvarez, NYM
12. Logan O'Hoppe, LAA

No, I don't think you should use Salvador Perez as your first baseman in 2025. Obviously, I don't. But we rank players where they are eligible and would slot in for the overall rankings, hence Perez's inclusion here. And that's fine by me, because I think first base is an 11-man position right now, and I'm really not sure who I would rank if I went beyond the top 12. Rhys Hoskins? Jake Burger? Alec Burleson? Yeah, the pickings outside of that top 11 are pretty slim. 

1. Vladimir Guerrero, TOR
2. Freddie Freeman, LAD
3. Bryce Harper, PHI
4. Matt Olson, ATL
5. Pete Alonso, NYM
6. Josh Naylor, CLE
7. Spencer Steer, CIN
8. Vinnie Pasquantino, KC
9. Christian Walker, ARI
10. Triston Casas, BOS
11. Cody Bellinger, CHC
12. Salvador Perez, KC

And second base might be worse! If we were ranking every position against every other one -- as we will once top-300 rankings are due -- I'm not sure Luis Garcia would definitely be a top-10 option at any other position except catcher. I like him, but it's still not clear he's an everyday player, and this was by far the best season of his career. There's room to grow with him and a few others here, but we'll need several players to step forward (and for the trio of over-30 guys in the top four not to step back) for this not to be the weakest non-catcher position by a mile. 

1. Ketel Marte, ARI
2. Jose Altuve, HOU
3. Ozzie Albies, ATL
4. Marcus Semien, TEX
5. Jordan Westburg, BAL
6. Luis Garcia, WAS
7. Nico Hoerner, CHC
8. Brice Turang, MIL
9. Xander Bogaerts, SD
10. Brandon Lowe, TB
11. Luis Rengifo, LAA
12. Jackson Holliday, BAL

Third base is a bit better, but I don't exactly feel great about players outside of the top seven here. Bregman is an especially tough player to figure out because it seems like his value is dependent on that short porch in Houston, and he's heading into free agency as a soon-to-be 31-year-old. Since 2020, he has a .356 wOBA at home compared to a .335 mark on the road, in large part thanks to more power at home. I'm not saying his production would just collapse away from Minute Maid Park, but it would make what looks like a somewhat fringe-y Fantasy skill set even more precarious. 

1. Jose Ramirez, CLE
2. Rafael Devers, BOS
3. Austin Riley, ATL
4. Manny Machado, SD
5. Jazz Chisholm, NYY
6. Royce Lewis, MIN
7. Jordan Westburg, BAL
8. Alex Bregman, HOU
9. Mark Vientos, NYM
10. Alec Bohm, PHI
11. Eugenio Suarez, ARI
12. Junior Caminero, TB

I struggled with who to put in the final spot here as much as basically any other position. I'm defaulting to the idea of a Bichette bounceback -- he's just 27 next season and was a consistently .800s OPS bat before a completely lost 2024 season. I don't know if we can bet on the steals ever coming back (just 10 over the past two seasons), but I do think it's reasonable to bet on the bat looking a lot better, likely somewhere besides Toronto, as he enters his final year of team control. I'll bet on a contract-year Bichette, sure. Do I have him too low? 

1. Bobby Witt, KC
2. Elly De La Cruz, CIN
3. Gunnar Henderson, BAL
4. Mookie Betts, LAD
5. Francisco Lindor, NYM
6. Trea Turner, PHI
7. Corey Seager, TEX
8. C.J. Abrams, WAS
9. Oneil Cruz, PIT
10. Willy Adames, MIL
11. Zachary Neto, LAA
12. Bo Bichette, TOR

Outside of the top 15 or so, outfield is pretty wide open. We're a long way from it mattering still, but my preference might be to make sure I have three of the top 20 or so here because I'm not sure there's much that separations 25 and 45 at this point. So, if you think someone from that range is ranked too high or too low, fear not: I probably agree!

1. Aaron Judge, NYY
2. Juan Soto, NYY
3. Mookie Betts, LAD
4. Ronald Acuna, ATL
5. Kyle Tucker, HOU
6. Yordan Alvarez, HOU
7. Fernando Tatis, SD
8. Corbin Carroll, ARI
9. Julio Rodriguez, SEA
10. Jarren Duran, BOS
11. Jackson Chourio, MIL
12. Jazz Chisholm, NYY
13. Jackson Merrill, SD
14. Luis Robert, CHW
15. Michael Harris, ATL
16. Christian Yelich, MIL
17. Anthony Santander, BAL
18. Oneil Cruz, PIT
19. Teoscar Hernandez, LAD
20. Bryan Reynolds, PIT
21. Brenton Doyle, COL
22. James Wood, WAS
23. Mike Trout, LAA
24. Wyatt Langford, TEX
25. Riley Greene, DET
26. Jurickson Profar, SD
27. Steven Kwan, CLE
28. Lawrence Butler, OAK
29. Ian Happ, CHC
30. Cody Bellinger, CHC
31. Spencer Steer, CIN
32. Randy Arozarena, SEA
33. Seiya Suzuki, CHC
34. Adolis Garcia, TEX
35. Tyler O'Neill, BOS
36. Brandon Nimmo, NYM
37. Cedric Mullins, BAL
38. Ceddanne Rafaela, BOS
39. Colton Cowser, BAL
40. Pete Crow-Armstrong, CHC
41. Nick Castellanos, PHI
42. Tommy Edman, LAD
43. Heliot Ramos, SF
44. Parker Meadows, DET
45. Kerry Carpenter, DET
46. Evan Carter, TEX
47. Victor Robles, SEA
48. Alec Burleson, STL

I think there's an obvious top five, and I think this order is pretty obvious. I'm sure many folks out there will rank Skenes higher than Wheeler, given his dominant rookie season, but I just can't bring myself to move him ahead of Wheeler, who has a 2.94 ERA and 1.03 WHIP over the past five seasons while cementing himself as arguably the league's pre-eminent workhorse ace. Skenes is incredible, but we don't quite know how he'll hold up to 170-plus innings, and Wheeler's ceiling is pretty high, too!

1. Tarik Skubal, DET
2. Zack Wheeler, PHI
3. Paul Skenes, PIT
4. Corbin Burnes, BAL
5. Chris Sale, ATL
6. Gerrit Cole, NYY
7. Dylan Cease, SD
8. Logan Gilbert, SEA
9. George Kirby, SEA
10. Pablo Lopez, MIN
11. Spencer Strider, ATL
12. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, LAD
13. Framber Valdez, HOU
14. Luis Castillo, SEA
15. Shota Imanaga, CHC
16. Aaron Nola, PHI
17. Zac Gallen, ARI
18. Logan Webb , SF
19. Max Fried, ATL
20. Justin Steele, CHC
21. Bailey Ober, MIN
22. Hunter Greene, CIN
23. Tyler Glasnow, LAD
24. Blake Snell, SF
25. Hunter Brown, HOU
26. Spencer Schwellenbach, ATL
27. Carlos Rodon, NYY
28. Tanner Bibee, CLE
29. Grayson Rodriguez, BAL
30. Bryce Miller, SEA
31. Sandy Alcantara, MIA
32. Freddy Peralta, MIL
33. Sonny Gray, STL
34. Joe Musgrove, SD
35. Luis Gil, NYY
36. Shane McClanahan, TB
37. Jack Flaherty, LAD
38. Kodai Senga, NYM
39. Jared Jones, PIT
40. Bryan Woo, SEA
41. Spencer Arrighetti, HOU
42. Seth Lugo, KC
43. Kevin Gausman, TOR
44. Cristopher Sanchez, PHI
45. Yusei Kikuchi, HOU
46. Nick Lodolo, CIN
47. Jacob deGrom, TEX
48. Jesus Luzardo, MIA

The one you'll notice here is Jobe, who I slotted in at 12 to draw attention to the fact that he is likely to be by far the most interesting SPaRP option for 2025. I wrote about Jobe before his brief, season-ending cup of coffee, but he's the top pitching prospect in baseball and looks like he should have a rotation spot waiting for him in Detroit next spring if he doesn't completely implode this postseason. If he isn't in the rotation, then the top SPaRP for 2025 will probably be Bowden Francis, whose upside is a bit tougher to figure out despite his incredible run to close out the season. 

1. Emmanuel Clase, CLE
2. Edwin Diaz, NYM
3. Josh Hader, HOU
4. Devin Williams, MIL
5. Ryan Helsley, STL
6. Mason Miller, OAK
7. Raisel Iglesias, ATL
8. Jhoan Duran, MIN
9. Andres Munoz, SEA
10. Robert Suarez, SD
11. Kirby Yates, TEX
12. Jackson Jobe, BOS