The 2024 PBA Tour begins with the first PBA Elite League matches on January 9th, followed by qualifying rounds for the PBA Players Championship starting on the 10th. The timing corresponds nicely with the end of the NFL regular season. That also means that your fantasy football season has ended, and you're probably considering how you're going to scratch your fantasy sports itch for the next several months.
There are plenty of options. We're almost midway through the NBA and NHL seasons, but you can still start up a new league or get in the action anytime by playing Pick 'Em games like PrizePicks or DFS contests. Fantasy Draft Kits for the PGA and NASCAR just launched in anticipation of the 2024 season. And if you've read this far, then I'm assuming you'd like to take your PBA fandom to the next level by participating in a fantasy bowling league.
Unfortunately, you're not going to find fantasy bowling leagues on ESPN, Yahoo, Fantrax or any of your other go-to fantasy platforms. Maybe someday. But for now, it is my duty to outline the easiest way for the ambitious bowling fan to start up a fantasy PBA league.
Establish Your League Rules
We recommend:
- # of teams: 8
- Player Pool: refer to the PBA Player Stats page on pba.com
- Schedule: stats begin accumulating January 10th with the PBA Players Championship qualifying round and end on April 28th with the PBA Tournament of Champions finals
- Rosters: 6 bowlers
- Scoring: Entirely based on Tour points earned. Your goal is to draft the players that finish the season with the most combined Tour points. The commissioner should provide updated standings after each event.
- Lineups: all players are "starting" each week. No bench, but allow one "IR" spot so that if a player is not participating in a tournament for any reason, you can grab a replacement off waivers for that week.
- Transactions: trades and waiver wire pickups must be done before qualifying rounds start.
- Draft: Live auction style with a $100 budget.
You can certainly make modifications like adjusting the number of teams or the number of rostered bowlers. The key to any fair fantasy bowling league has to be the draft format. You can't have a snake draft, because anyone with a top-three pick would have a significant advantage by having the opportunity to draft E.J. Tackett, Anthony Simonsen or Jason Belmonte. An auction draft solves that problem because it gives everyone a chance to pay up to draft one of the big 3. But spend big on one of them, and you won't have the budget left to invest in the next tier of players who could potentially take a step forward in 2024.
Do Your Research and Build Your Cheat Sheet
To get you started, here are our auction values based entirely on 2023 Tour points and a $100 budget in an 8-team league with 6 bowlers rostered. (To take your valuation to the next level, you can refer to the PBA Player Stats page, which breaks down tour points, money earned, average, cashes and more from 2021-2023.) Be sure to look out for injured players like Santtu Tahvanainen, who is one of the rising stars but will miss an unknown amount of time.
Should you use a max bid on E.J. Tackett? It's unprecedented in fantasy sports, but if you believe he can repeat his 2023 season, there's a case for it.
Follow @RotowireBowling on X for sleepers, busts and more.
| Rank | 2023 Tour Points | Player | Earnings | Tournaments | Average | Games | Titles | Cashes | Auction Value |
| 1 | 41,200.00 | E J Tackett | $458,450.00 | 21 | 227.12 | 446 | 5 | 13 | $63 |
| 2 | 36,265.00 | Anthony Simonsen | $347,500.00 | 21 | 225.08 | 488 | 2 | 16 | $55 |
| 3 | 23,180.00 | Jason Belmonte | $338,825.00 | 20 | 220.63 | 437 | 1 | 12 | $36 |
| 4 | 20,450.00 | Jakob Butturff | $175,125.00 | 19 | 223.92 | 404 | 1 | 12 | $31 |
| 5 | 16,995.00 | Matthew Ogle | $114,200.00 | 16 | 218.75 | 393 | 1 | 9 | $26 |
| 6 | 16,060.00 | Patrick Hanrahan | $98,100.00 | 19 | 218.12 | 390 | 2 | 10 | $25 |
| 7 | 14,685.00 | Chris Via | $93,300.00 | 17 | 219.35 | 406 | 9 | $23 | |
| 8 | 14,357.00 | Kevin McCune | $141,300.00 | 17 | 213.22 | 377 | 1 | 5 | $22 |
| 9 | 14,230.00 | Dom Barrett | $98,975.00 | 19 | 217.07 | 372 | 9 | $22 | |
| 10 | 14,200.00 | Sam Cooley | $80,925.00 | 16 | 216.99 | 352 | 1 | 8 | $22 |
| 11 | 14,060.00 | Bill ONeill | $69,905.00 | 14 | 219.92 | 384 | 12 | $22 | |
| 12 | 13,820.00 | Kyle Troup | $145,400.00 | 20 | 216.38 | 367 | 1 | 11 | $21 |
| 13 | 13,140.00 | Jesper Svensson | $83,850.00 | 18 | 217.18 | 416 | 12 | $20 | |
| 14 | 12,570.00 | Marshall Kent | $57,950.00 | 16 | 217.45 | 403 | 9 | $20 | |
| 15 | 11,830.00 | Santtu Tahvanainen | $77,350.00 | 14 | 220.78 | 342 | 9 | $18 | |
| 16 | 10,682.00 | Kristopher Prather | $66,650.00 | 18 | 215.22 | 398 | 9 | $17 | |
| 17 | 10,410.00 | Stuart Williams | $42,325.00 | 16 | 214.36 | 380 | 7 | $16 | |
| 18 | 10,330.00 | Keven Williams | $47,400.00 | 16 | 214.31 | 368 | 7 | $16 | |
| 19 | 10,255.00 | Tomas Kayhko | $59,150.00 | 19 | 217.04 | 378 | 7 | $16 | |
| 20 | 9,965.00 | Jake Peters | $38,700.00 | 16 | 214.94 | 362 | 8 | $15 | |
| 21 | 9,810.00 | Tom Daugherty | $36,550.00 | 15 | 213.45 | 388 | 8 | $15 | |
| 22 | 9,725.00 | Sean Lavery-Spahr | $47,300.00 | 16 | 212.56 | 349 | 8 | $15 | |
| 23 | 9,445.00 | A J Johnson | $58,520.00 | 16 | 216.14 | 338 | 9 | $14 | |
| 24 | 9,045.00 | Matt Russo | $43,525.00 | 16 | 216.71 | 357 | 6 | $14 | |
| 25 | 8,708.00 | Jason Sterner | $49,500.00 | 15 | 214.38 | 356 | 6 | $13 | |
| 26 | 8,700.00 | Tommy Jones | $52,350.00 | 18 | 213.02 | 326 | 7 | $13 | |
| 27 | 8,555.00 | Shawn Maldonado | $39,140.00 | 15 | 214.62 | 345 | 8 | $13 | |
| 28 | 8,070.00 | A J Chapman | $27,375.00 | 16 | 214 | 369 | 5 | $12 | |
| 29 | 7,870.00 | Justin Knowles | $23,400.00 | 21 | 213.29 | 415 | 5 | $12 | |
| 30 | 7,585.00 | Sean Rash | $32,200.00 | 15 | 211.97 | 307 | 3 | $12 | |
| 31 | 7,475.00 | Kyle Sherman | $42,150.00 | 12 | 212.91 | 265 | 4 | $11 | |
| 32 | 7,445.00 | Tom Smallwood | $22,000.00 | 13 | 214.46 | 280 | 3 | $11 | |
| 33 | 7,130.00 | D J Archer | $35,050.00 | 15 | 212.35 | 327 | 6 | $11 | |
| 34 | 6,952.00 | Andrew Anderson | $34,400.00 | 16 | 212.44 | 327 | 5 | $11 | |
| 35 | 6,927.00 | Matt Sanders | $19,340.00 | 14 | 212.32 | 343 | 7 | $11 | |
| 36 | 6,925.00 | Mitch Hupe | $26,800.00 | 12 | 214.57 | 256 | 1 | 5 | $11 |
| 37 | 6,375.00 | Francois Lavoie | $29,550.00 | 16 | 211.43 | 370 | 4 | $10 | |
| 38 | 6,322.50 | Dick Allen | $22,570.00 | 15 | 212.13 | 343 | 5 | $10 | |
| 39 | 6,283.00 | Richard Teece | $29,655.00 | 13 | 212.94 | 304 | 5 | $10 | |
| 40 | 6,235.00 | Darren Tang | $22,700.00 | 15 | 212.23 | 331 | 5 | $10 | |
| 41 | 6,128.00 | Nicholas Pate | $17,950.00 | 16 | 212.09 | 354 | 5 | $9 | |
| 42 | 6,050.00 | Michael Martell | $53,400.00 | 8 | 211.84 | 153 | 2 | $9 | |
| 43 | 5,777.50 | Nathan Bohr | $38,975.00 | 16 | 216.36 | 261 | 6 | $9 | |
| 44 | 5,585.00 | Bj Moore | $41,950.00 | 12 | 215.5 | 241 | 5 | $8 | |
| 45 | 5,225.00 | Graham Fach | $31,700.00 | 10 | 214.01 | 256 | 4 | $8 | |
| 46 | 5,065.00 | (S) Tom Hess | $13,500.00 | 15 | 207.76 | 343 | 4 | $8 | |
| 47 | 5,055.00 | Kim Bolleby | $10,050.00 | 18 | 213.39 | 317 | 4 | $8 | |
| 48 | 4,960.00 | (S) Chris Barnes | $22,860.00 | 16 | 210.71 | 340 | 4 | $7 | |
| 49 | 4,820.00 | Zac Tackett | $17,550.00 | 19 | 213.51 | 316 | 3 | $6 | |
| 50 | 4,785.00 | Zachary Wilkins | $13,900.00 | 15 | 214.75 | 289 | 5 | $6 | |
| 51 | 4,560.00 | Frank Snodgrass | $29,925.00 | 20 | 207.71 | 354 | 2 | $5 | |
| 52 | 4,483.00 | Cody Shoemaker | $14,400.00 | 15 | 214.11 | 221 | 4 | $5 | |
| 53 | 4,462.00 | Brandon Runk | $11,538.00 | 15 | 211.26 | 309 | 4 | $5 | |
| 54 | 4,360.00 | Cristian Azcona | $12,550.00 | 14 | 208.11 | 307 | 5 | $5 | |
| 55 | 4,265.00 | Anthony Lavery-Spahr | $16,505.00 | 15 | 210.01 | 315 | 3 | $5 | |
| 56 | 4,187.00 | Wesley Low Jr. | $6,400.00 | 14 | 210.63 | 312 | 3 | $4 | |
| 57 | 4,117.50 | Joseph Grondin | $20,000.00 | 19 | 210.47 | 318 | 2 | $4 | |
| 58 | 4,085.00 | Ronnie Russell | $7,700.00 | 14 | 207.56 | 319 | 3 | $4 | |
| 59 | 3,945.00 | Anthony Neuer | $16,750.00 | 13 | 211.11 | 206 | 5 | $3 | |
| 60 | 3,920.00 | Thomas Larsen | $17,325.00 | 6 | 213.71 | 101 | 3 | $3 | |
| 61 | 3,837.00 | Brad Miller | $1,850.00 | 16 | 209.42 | 309 | 1 | $3 | |
| 62 | 3,830.00 | Ildemaro Ruiz Jr. | $21,080.00 | 20 | 209.94 | 331 | 3 | $3 | |
| 63 | 3,585.00 | Matt Kuba | $11,675.00 | 17 | 212.77 | 271 | 4 | $3 | |
| 64 | 3,465.00 | Cortez Schenck | $11,800.00 | 17 | 215.02 | 279 | 4 | $3 | |
| 65 | 3,425.00 | Arturo Quintero | $17,350.00 | 15 | 208.8 | 283 | 1 | $2 | |
| 66 | 3,135.00 | Trevor Roberts | $7,425.00 | 16 | 209.41 | 277 | 1 | $2 | |
| 67 | 3,072.00 | Ryan Ciminelli | $23,300.00 | 15 | 207.62 | 286 | 1 | $2 | |
| 68 | 3,025.00 | (SS) Parker Bohn III | $26,000.00 | 7 | 201.97 | 133 | 1 | $2 | |
| 69 | 2,585.00 | David Krol | $8,000.00 | 13 | 209.92 | 237 | 3 | $1 | |
| 70 | 2,480.00 | Wes Malott | $21,500.00 | 10 | 204.67 | 192 | 1 | $1 |
Recruit Other Owners and Conduct Your Draft
Invite your fellow PBA fans to join your fantasy league. If you're a bowler yourself, a good place to start is with other members of your bowling league. In fact, why not stick around after league play and host the draft at your bowling center? If that doesn't work, use RotoWire's draft date picker tool to find a date and time that works best for everyone.
Again, this should be an auction draft, so team managers will take turns nominating PBA players. Everyone has the opportunity to bid, and highest bidder wins that player. Track picks and spending in a spreadsheet, which you can also use for updating scores throughout the season.
Update Scoring and Keep Your League Engaged
Be sure to update total Tour points for each player throughout the season (referring again to the PBA Player Stats page or individual tournament results on pba.com). Your league mates will appreciate it.
For the most enjoyable experience, get together to watch the action on BowlTV, FS1 and FOX throughout the season, trash talk and make side bets.
Congratulations! You are ready to join an exclusive group of fantasy bowling commissioners.
