If third base is the position you have to worry about most (and if you’ve read my third base strategies, you know it is), shortstop is the position you have to worry about least. That comes with a caveat, but it won’t apply to 90 percent of you.

Granted, shortstop has had a reputation for being the most star-studded position in Fantasy for darn near a decade now, but it hasn’t always been deep to the point that you can’t really mess it up. That’s how it stacks up now, though. In addition to all the early-round standouts remaining more or less in good standing, Mookie Betts and Geraldo Perdomo have unexpectedly joined the ranks of the elite, Zachary Neto and Jeremy Pena have taken a significant step forward, and Bo Bichette and Trevor Story have shaken off past injuries to regain their place of prominence. By my count, there are 15 shortstops who would be satisfactory starters in any format, along with a handful of others with that same sort of upside.

• Position Strategies: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
• Position Tiers: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP

About that caveat, though: The drop-off thereafter is steep. If you look at my shortstop rankings, Nos. 21 and 22 are Carlos Correa and Otto Lopez, who aren’t exactly world beaters and are probably best drafted at the other positions where they’re eligible (third and second base, respectively). After them, I’ve simply clumped together a bunch of prospects with an outside shot at making the opening day roster, reasoning that such a gamble would be better than settling for bottom-of-the-barrel production.

To be fair, most drafts won’t make it that far. Maybe in some 12-team Rotisserie leagues, a couple teams will have to gamble on one those prospects to fill their extra middle infield spot, but they may be eager to do so. Prospects are exciting, after all. In anything deeper, though, the drop-off will come into play, and it’ll hurt all the more because so much of the competition will have a true standout at the position.

Still, you don’t have to try that hard to avoid that fate, even in such a league. You just need to be mindful of it. You also need to be mindful when weighing whether to take a second shortstop that the waiver wire may be lacking in them later on. For as many studs as have accumulated here, it’s a position with a high barrier to entry, so there won’t be as many add-ons over the course of the season.

You see what I’m talking about? The Studs here run far deeper than at any other infield position. If you’re familiar with my Tiers, then you’ve seen me divide this group into smaller ones, but tiers are intended to narrow your focus at each position. These articles, by contrast, are intended to give you the broad strokes, and the fact is that I’d be thrilled to have any of these 11 as my starting shortstop. So if you’re in a 12-team league that uses standard Head-to-Head lineups with no middle infield spot, pretty much everyone gets a stud. And if you’re the one who doesn’t, then you’ll have to settle for Jeremy Pena or Trevor Story, who themselves performed like studs last year. How do you mess that up?

Well, not everything goes right for every player, of course, and as I’ve already mentioned, so many shortstops are draft-worthy that the waiver wire is rarely abounding in them. So who represents the likeliest misses here that would leave you scrambling midseason? They’re mostly accounted for in the cost. Clearly, drafters are wary of Geraldo Perdomo’s out-of-nowhere breakthrough and weary of Corey Seager’s continuous injuries. Would you believe they’re among my favorites to draft, though? I feel like the cost accounts for the risk and then some, recognizing that Perdomo performed more like a second-rounder last year and Seager continually does on a per-game basis. This is by far the latest Seager has ever been drafted, which is more reflective of buyer fatigue than a loss of skill. I have to take advantage of that.

And sometimes it’s as a middle infielder because I already grabbed a shortstop in Round 1 or 2. I’m not afraid to double up like that in a Rotisserie league. But I think it’s also telling that Perdomo and Seager are the two of these 11 who stand out most in a points league, where the penalty for missing isn’t as severe because the shortstop pool isn’t stretched as much. Perhaps my points league sensibilities have helped to shape my perception of them.

So who am I less enthusiastic about drafting? Certainly, Francisco Lindor’s broken hamate bone puts a damper on his draftability. All the first round-caliber bats would need to be gone before I gambled on him having no lingering effects when he returns in April, which puts him more like 24th in my rankings. Meanwhile, I think Zach Neto’s price tag fixates on his home run and stolen base totals while ignoring everything else and doesn’t account for the downside inherent to his poor plate discipline. I don’t mind anyone else’s cost, though. Bo Bichette might be a little underrated, in fact, given that he’s expected to gain third base eligibility about a week into the season.

Lesser, but potentially viable, options: Xander Bogaerts, SD; Otto Lopez, MIA; Anthony Volpe, NYY

Again, Pena and Story basically performed like studs last year, and you could make a compelling case for including them there now. I just think both overachieved, so I’m grouping them more in line with my expectations. Pena could lose about 30 points off his batting average while Story could lose … well, everything. He’s among my bust picks for 2026 — and perhaps the one I’m most confident in. His ADP doesn’t seem to account for the fact that he averaged just 54 games over the previous three years, and even if he manages to stay healthy again, his dreadful plate discipline will make for a wide range of outcomes.

Willy Adames and Danby Swanson are more like floor plays, but they’re still awfully good, with Adames being a near lock for 30 homers and Swanson for a combined 40 homers and steals. Between the two, I’m more attracted to Swanson because of the four rounds’ difference for no reason that I can discern. A year ago, we were drafting him about 40 picks earlier, and two years ago, about 70 picks earlier. He’s the same player now that he was then.

I said at the top that there are 15 shortstops who would be satisfactory starters in any format, but including Wilson would make it 16. The reason I left him out of the initial count is that I think he makes for a far better starter in points leagues, where his microscopic strikeout rate keeps him from losing as many of his hard-earned points as other shortstops, and you can see from his point-per-game average the effect that it has. Whether he can repeat last year’s 13 home runs, even, is fair to wonder given his batted-ball profile. His 5×5 value is mostly riding on his batting average, which is the most difficult category to sustain from one year to the next.

*minor-league stats

I said there were a handful of shortstops beyond the top 15 with the upside to be satisfactory starters in Fantasy. I already covered one in Jacob Wilson. The other two I had in mind were Xavier Edwards and Colson Montgomery, who are both treated more as specialists in a 5×5 context, with Edwards providing stolen bases and Montgomery providing home runs. That may be the most likely outcome for each, but we have seen more from them in the past. Edwards was about twice as prolific on the base paths as a rookie two years ago while also delivering an elite batting average. Montgomery wasn’t just a pretty good source of power as a rookie last year but homered 21 times in 71 games, which prorates to 48 over 162. Edwards is at least recognized as having a high floor (albeit one better suited for second base, perhaps), but Montgomery’s 29 percent strikeout rate makes him a bottom-out case in the minds of many. Fair enough, but at Pick 176, the reward probably outweighs the risk.

Most of this group is comprised of the many prospects who’ve been floated as opening day possibilities, with Konnor Griffin, JJ Wetherholt, Kevin McGonigle, Colt Emerson and Jett Williams being among them. Wetherholt deserves special distinction because I don’t see how the Cardinals deny him a job after trading away both Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan this offseason. He deserved to be up last September, actually. If you’re wondering why he’d replace Arenado or Donovan when neither was playing shortstop for the Cardinals, then that makes now a good time to tell you that a lot of these shortstop prospects won’t actually end up being shortstops in the majors, with the most common transition being to second or third base. For what it’s worth, Griffin, the No. 1 overall prospect, will leapfrog Wetherholt for top priority if it becomes clear he has a job for the Pirates. ADP already puts him there.

I don’t have much interest in Ezequiel Tovar, Carlos Correa or Masyn Winn at this point, but others would disagree. Tovar could be a cheap source of power, I guess, but the overall production would be pretty hollow. Ha-seong Kim makes for a fine stash in deeper leagues as a guy who could perform at a 15-homer, 30-steal pace when he returns from a broken finger in May.

*minor-league stats

Shortstops are base-stealers far more often than not, so it would be quicker to list the ones who don’t factor in the category. Corey Seager is the most notable, which is a second reason why a Rotisserie player may be hesitant to draft him (with the first being injuries). Mookie Betts and Willy Adames contribute only a modest total while Jacob Wilson, Colson Montgomery and Carlos Correa are good for effectively zero.

LISBON — Three weeks after losing 4-2 on a night that will be long remembered at Benfica, Real Madrid were back at the Estadio da Luz. But this wasn’t the same game, the same feeling or the same outcome.

This time, there was no last-gasp headed goal from a goalkeeper, and no celebratory tears from Benfica manager José Mourinho. Instead, Madrid take a deserved 1-0 lead back to the Bernabéu for next week’s playoff second leg.

On their return to Lisbon, this did not look like the same visiting team. “We saw a totally different Real Madrid,” coach Álvaro Arbeloa said afterward. On their side, there was less chaos and more control.

Madrid learned their lessons from the humbling defeat that dropped them out of the Champions League top eight and into these knockout round playoffs, and they came well prepared.

– Connelly: Why every remaining team will, won’t win Champions League
– Ogden: Real Madrid broke Mourinho. Can he break them with Benfica?
– How to improve Champions League: New mini-league? Clubs pick opponents?

But still, this was a night of extreme highs and lows. Nothing exemplified that more than Vinícius Júnior‘s stunning 50th-minute goal and the 10-minute stoppage that followed it, when Vinícius accused Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of racially abusing him and the referee invoked UEFA’s anti-racism protocol.

The incident hung over the rest of the game, and the postmatch discussion. “This can’t happen,” Aurélien Tchouaméni said. Kylian Mbappé said Prestianni “did not deserve to play in the Champions League again.” Arbeloa said the team would have been willing to follow Vinicius off the pitch and abandon the game, if he had asked them to.

This time, Mourinho didn’t end the night hugging a ballboy in celebration. He ended it in the stands, disgruntled, having been shown a red card for protesting a referee’s decision late in the second half. After the match, he criticized Vinicius’ goal celebration. He was praised for his team’s performance on Jan. 28, when he masterminded a victory that ruthlessly exposed a brittle, naive Madrid and their weaknesses in defense and midfield. Now it was Arbeloa’s turn.

The Mourinho disciple learned from that experience, and set his team up accordingly. Here, Madrid lined up in a compact 4-4-2, with Eduardo Camavinga tasked with providing protection for fullback Álvaro Carreras on the left side, and Federico Valverde doing the same for Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right. If there was a sense that night in January that Madrid had badly underestimated Benfica, there was none of that here.

Before the game, Benfica did everything they could to create a feeling that lightning could, in fact, strike twice. As the stadium’s lights dimmed minutes before kickoff, a video shown on the giant screens began with Anatoliy Trubin‘s 98th-minute header three weeks ago, and images of Mourinho’s tears.

A giant banner of an eagle, the club’s symbol, was unveiled along one side of the pitch, with just three words: “Until the end.” Trubin’s goal in the eighth minute of added time had seen Benfica qualify for the knockout rounds. They would need much more of that spirit if they were to overcome Madrid, the kings of Europe, over two playoff legs.

The home side started well, and the crowd was expectant and noisy. But as the first half went on, Madrid’s dominance grew. There were chances for Vinicius, Mbappé and Arda Güler, even if the first half’s standout moment was Thibaut Courtois‘ full-stretch save from Fredrik Aursnes.

At the break, such was the momentum that it felt like a Madrid goal was a matter of time. When it came, the only surprise was just what a special goal it was, as Vinicius stepped in from the left wing and curled a shot over Trubin into the top corner.

Vinicius celebrated, dancing by the corner flag. The Brazilian has had a difficult season, his form inconsistent and talks over a new contract going nowhere. He has now scored in three consecutive appearances this month, and he has shown in big moments — here, and in his similarly breathtaking goal in the Supercopa de España against Barcelona — that he remains one of the world’s most decisive players.

And then with that goal, effectively, the game stopped. Not just for 10 minutes, but almost definitively. The match never found the same momentum, and much of the attention was, inevitably and rightly, on what had happened with Vinicius.

“Until the goal, it was a great game,” Mourinho said afterward. “After that, the game ended.” The former Madrid coach’s red card means that he won’t be on the bench at the Bernabéu next week.

Madrid will go into that game as favorites to progress to the last 16, their sense of superiority greater than Tuesday’s 1-0 scoreline would suggest. What Benfica did last month proved unrepeatable.