What Is Waiver Order In Fantasy Baseball?

Waivers in sports are a way for each team to have a fair shot at acquiring a player. In fantasy sports, players land on waivers for the first few days of the season if they are not drafted or if they are dropped at any time during the season. The waiver order is a list of teams that acts as a tiebreaker if two or more teams attempt to claim the same player. The higher on the list a team is, the higher their “claim” is, and thus the higher their chance to claim a player off of waivers.

How Is Waiver Order Determined?

In fantasy baseball, there are two basic styles of waiver order: “move to last; never reset” and “inverse standings.” These names may be a bit misleading because, in both scenarios, a team is put at the bottom of the waiver order after making a claim. The big difference comes at the beginning of each week. In the “inverse standings” setting, the waiver order is reset at the beginning of each week. In this case, the team at the bottom of the standings is given the top waiver spot, and the team in first place has the bottom spot. Once a team makes a waiver claim, they are automatically moved to last on the waiver order. Alternatively, the “move to last; never rest” rule takes out the weekly reordering of the waiver order.

Why Does Waiver Order Matter?

The waiver order is simply a list of the teams in the league detailing who has priority in their waiver claims. If two teams attempt to acquire the same player off of waivers, the team listed higher on the waiver order gets the player. Thus, it is an advantage to be higher on the list.

How Long Are Players on Waivers?

The length of the waivers period varies depending on the league and website you are on. However, a typical waiver period is two to three days. This means every team in the league has a chance to claim the player during that two-to-three-day period. At the end of that period, out of the teams which claimed a specific player, the highest team in the waiver order is given the player.

Can You Claim Multiple Players Off Waivers?

You can claim multiple players off waivers, but it isn’t easy if both players are highly desirable. This is because after you claim one player off waivers, you are moved to the bottom of the waiver order list. If you make two claims on players at the same time, both of those players are subject to separate waiver processes. For example, if the team that is first in the waiver order claimed one player, they would be moved to last in the waiver order. If they also tried to claim another player, they could do so, but because they are now last in the waiver order, they can only acquire this second player if no other team makes a claim on them.

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