The majority of High Score fantasy basketball leagues start the playoffs next week. You’ve either clinched a berth or need a win in the final week of the regular season to solidify your spot in the postseason. If you picked up a win in Week 19, there’s good chance one of these star players helped you on your way. Let’s go over the perfect lineup from last week and what it means moving forward into the playoffs.

Taylor Wilhelm

More on the top performers

Luka Dončić, guard: The real life story coming out of L.A. is the Lakers taking down the Knicks in a dominating 110-97 victory. But prior to that contest, Luka went off for 44 points on 14 of 25 shooting from the floor with nine rebounds, five assists and five stocks for the high score of the week. Fantasy managers are always going to lock Dončić into their lineups but may need to monitor the standings. The Lakers are still fighting for position in the middle of the West and need to avoid the play-in. As long as the Suns are threatening, the Lakers shouldn’t be resting Dončić.

Anthony Edwards, guard: We rarely see scoring guards like Edwards in this story. He’s a high volume scorer but doesn’t give us enough in the other categories to really break that ceiling. Ant Man got to 69 points thanks to points (41) and steals (5) in a win over the Grizzlies, who have had 26 different players play minutes for them this season. Like the Lakers, the T-Wolves have a solid lead among teams jockeying to stay out of the play-in but aren’t entirely clear yet (3.0 games up on Phoenix). Edwards has also stayed healthy lately, missing just one game since Jan. 17.

Victor Wembanyama, frontcourt: Wemby and the Spurs have won four in a row and continue to keep pace with the Thunder atop the West. Blocks (of course) have kept Wembanyama’s fantasy totals in the green with at least four in five straight games, and in nine of the past 10. The Spurs only have a three-game week coming up but Wemby has been matchup proof for fantasy with at least 53 points in five straight games.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]

Nikola Jokić, frontcourt: Managers may not be too happy with Jokić not hitting his ceiling lately. Since his 94-point outburst, the Joker has scored 75 and 72 fantasy points the past two weeks, respectively in High Score. That’s a drop by his standards, but still easily among the best. A dip in assists could be the reason why we aren’t seeing even bigger numbers from Jokić. He’s only averaging 8.0 assists over the past four games and has failed to reach double-digit dimes in six of the past nine games since the All-Star break.

OG Anunoby, froncourt: We almost always have a newcomer in this story each week and that honor belongs to the Knicks swingman. OG seems to always have a rare ceiling game every couple of weeks; he had 63 fantasy points in a revenge spot against the Raptors on Jan. 28. Perhaps its narrative-based. New York demolished the Nuggets over the weekend on Friday, Anunoby leading the way with 34 points, 7 boards, 5 assists and 5 stocks. That helped him just sneak past Hawks SF Jalen Johnson to make it in here.

Jamal Murray, utility: Murray had a big game against the Jazz to open last week to make this list, but only played 18 minutes against the Knicks on Friday with the team trailing big at halftime. The Nuggets guard is also dealing with an ankle injury that has him listed as questionable to start Week 20. Denver has a four-game week but Murray could miss some time with the Wednesday-Thursday back-to-back looming. It’s not the best spot for fantasy managers who are fighting to get into the playoffs. The schedule is brutal as well, all four games against top teams in the West: the Thunder, Rockets, Spurs and Lakers.

The 2026 MLB season is almost here and that means you’re likely prepping for your fantasy baseball draft. One of the best ways to prepare is to do as many mock drafts as possible. Of course, sometimes it’s tough to find an accurate representation of your league settings by using the public mock draft lobby.

Not to fear! If you’re a Yahoo Fantasy+ subscriber, you have access to the Instant Mock Draft tool, allowing you to practice your draft in seconds. You can test different strategies, pick from various draft slots and experiment with roster construction as many times as you want, anytime, instantly. Now is a great time to subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy+, so you can use the wealth of tools for your draft prep

[Yahoo Fantasy+ unlocks premium draft tools, player projections and more]

In this series, we’re going to be using the Instant Mock Draft tool to pick from each of the 12 slots in a 12-team fantasy baseball league. Up next is drafting from the No. 2 overall pick.

Note: We’re using Yahoo’s default points league settings for these mock drafts.

Full Roster

C: William Contreras, Brewers
1B: Willson Contreras, Red Sox
2B: Luke Keaschall, Twins
SS: Trea Turner, Phillies
3B: Junior Caminero, Rays
OF: Aaron Judge, Yankees
OF: Yordan Alvarez, Astros
OF: Byron Buxton, Twins
UTIL: Colson Montgomery, White Sox
UTIL: Alec Burleson, Cardinals
SP: George Kirby, Mariners
SP: Framber Valdez, Tigers
RP: Jeff Hoffman, Blue Jays
RP: Abner Uribe, Brewers
P: Nolan McLean, Mets
P: Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers
P: Sandy Alcantara, Marlins
P: Edward Cabrera, Cubs
Bench: JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals
Bench: Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees
Bench: Andres Gimenez, Blue Jays
Bench: Samuel Basallo, Orioles
Bench: Brayan Bello, Red Sox

Roster Analysis

All Rise! … Again: We went with Judge with the No. 1 pick in the first instant mock, but Yahoo’s Draft Scout tool (another benefit of Fantasy+) projects Shohei Ohtani as the top overall player. So with Ohtani going No. 1 this time around, we’re still feeling great about taking Judge second. You can read a bit more about my debate when I picked first in the previous mock.

Building blocks: At the turn with picks 2-3, we had Caminero drop down to us. I’m not sure this will happen often, but this is the great thing about draft simulations with the Instant Mock tool. You can repeatedly practice and get a range of outcomes, so you’re ready as different things happen during your real draft. The move back to Tropicana Field this season for the Rays could nerf some offensive stats; Caminero had 45 HRs and 110 RBI last season, though he had pretty even home vs. road splits. Projections believe he’ll regress a bit but if he doesn’t, Caminero has the potential to be a league-winner. When it comes to Turner, he gives us a reliable pick with good speed.

Betting on a comeback: I decided to wait on starting pitching and lean into offense. The next pick I pulled from an idea about recency bias from Yahoo analyst Fred Zinkie, who offers a lot of great draft strategies here. Many drafters may shy away from taking a chance on Astros OF/DH Yordan Alvarez after being burned last season. He only played 48 games in 2025 as one of the bigger busts in fantasy baseball. Alvarez appears healthy and made his spring debut this week. Prior to last season, Alvarez had at least 31 HRs and 86 RBI in each of the previous four seasons. If we can get back to that type of production in 2026, Alvarez will be one of the steals of your draft.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]

Turning to the mound: My strategy at starting pitcher was to grab a few steady options. Kirby missed some starts last season but has made at least 23 in all four of his MLB campaigns. He’s also on what should be a very good Mariners club. Same goes for Valdez, who was signed by the Tigers after eight seasons in Houston. He has started at least 28 games in each of the past four seasons. After those two, things get a little wild …

We leaned into some young, high-upside starters in McLean and Misiorowski. Both have a ton of potential but could end up blowing up in my face. If nothing else, Miz should be a great source of strikeouts and should get to double-digit wins. McLean is a little less proven with just 48 IP last season. But he also has top-of-the-rotation stuff and is on a Mets team that should provide a ton of run support.

Youth movement continues: Both Basallo and Wetherholt are top-10 prospects who are expected to crack into the majors in 2026. The O’s gave Basallo a look late last season and he’s hit well so far in spring training. He only has catcher eligibility to start out but could get 1B and 3B if Baltimore moves him around. Wetherholt, a WVU product (like myself), already has tri-eligibility, which is always a plus. He should get plenty of ABs atop a St. Louis lineup that desperately needs something to get excited about. Wetherholt hit .306 with 17 HRs and a .931 OPS in over 100 minor-league games last season.

Takeaways with drafting No. 2: This exercise didn’t feel all that different from drafting No. 1 overall as you’ll need to still reach in some spots to get players you really like being close to the turn. It does feel like leaning into offense vs. pitching early in the draft in this slot makes a lot of sense. With Judge, Caminero and Turner up top, if some of my riskier picks later in the draft pay off, I should be competitive all season.