Looking to join a fantasy bowling league? Here’s everything you need to know to run your own fantasy PBA auction league during the 2026 season.
Next week the best bowlers in the world will meet in Arlington, Texas for the first stop — and the first major title — of the 2026 PBA Tour season.
As both a PBA fan and someone who likes to enhance the sports watching experience by playing fantasy sports and sports betting, I’ve been a supporter of BetRivers Sportsbook (where you can currently place wagers on the PBA Players Championship, Elite League: Battle of the Brands, USA vs. The World Captains Match, and Player of the Year award), and I’m optimistic about what the PBA’s new partnership with Legendz Social Casino and Sportsbook could bring.
Unfortunately, you’re still not going to find fantasy bowling leagues on ESPN, Yahoo, Fantrax or any of your other go-to fantasy platforms (yet). For now, I’ve outlined the easiest way for the ambitious bowling fan to start up a fantasy PBA league.
Establish Your League Rules
I recommend:
# of teams: 10Player Pool: see players listed below. Refer to tournament rosters on pba.com each week to ensure your players are competing.Schedule: stats begin accumulating February 17th and end on June 13th. Tournaments included for fantasy points include:PBA Players ChampionshipLegendz PBA Pete Weber Missouri ClassicU.S. OpenGroupon PBA Illinois ClassicPBA Indiana ClassicUSBC MastersPilgrim’s PBA Ohio ClassicPBA New York ClassicPBA Tournament of ChampionsPBA WSOB XVII – PBA Cheetah ChampionshipPBA WSOB XVII – PBA Chameleon ChampionshipPBA WSOB XVII – PBA Scorpion Championship PBA WSOB XVII – PBA Shark ChampionshipPBA WSOB XVII – PBA World Championship Rosters: 5 bowlers per teamScoring: Entirely based on Tour points earned. Your goal is to draft the players that finish the season with the most combined Tour points. Your league’s 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 based on the past three seasons, the person with the top pick would have a significant advantage by having the opportunity to draft E.J. Tackett. An auction draft mitigates that problem because it gives everyone an equal chance to pay up to draft the top players. 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 2026. Bid wisely.
Do Your Research and Build Your Cheat Sheet
To get you started, here are my auction values based on historical performance and projections for this season. All values are based on a $100 budget in a 10-team league with 5 bowlers rostered. All stats listed are from the 2025 season, but rankings have been adjusted to reflect my projected rise and fall of certain players. I also took Player of the Year odds at BetRivers into consideration.
If you’re going in with the plan to draft one of the top few players, be prepared to spend big! The past two seasons, EJ Tackett has proven to be a player worth going all-in to acquire. In fact, you may want to consider excluding him from the draft altogether based on his recent dominance, but we’re including him here with the hopes of a more competitive Player of the Year race.
RankTour PointsNameMoneyEventsAverageGamesTitlesCashesAuction Value134,690.00E J Tackett$437,540.0018229.69439415$95215,365.00Jason Belmonte$190,834.6217227.24422115$70313,015.00Anthony Simonsen$111,350.0017220.16379Â 8$70413,440.00Jesper Svensson$271,100.0017224.01381212$60515,181.00Graham Fach$147,925.0018222.12370110$60618,120.00Andrew Anderson$193,520.3119225.03404213$60711,415.00Kyle Troup$101,100.0019223.52368Â 13$50815,020.00Tim Foy Jr.$140,625.0017224.56370Â 13$45914,660.00Chris Via$147,684.6218223.3398112$451012,188.00Ryan Barnes$109,618.7516221.59345Â 11$401113,195.00Ethan Fiore$145,365.0018221.0332017$401212,245.00Jakob Butturff$115,455.0017221.65361Â 12$351310,225.00David Krol$68,610.0016221.17391Â 11$301410,013.00Bill ONeill$90,080.0016222.43334112$30158,515.00Kristopher Prather$57,000.0017220.66331Â 8$25167,720.00A J Johnson$44,630.0015220.17355Â 11$25177,908.00Bailey Mavrick$43,112.5016219.82344Â 11$201810,185.00Kevin McCune$70,338.4615220.06391Â 9$201910,685.00Matthew Ogle$65,362.5016224.41369Â 12$20208,990.00Tom Daugherty$39,840.0015220.12362Â 9$20218,811.00Tom Smallwood$54,675.0015221.58354Â 11$15228,521.00Tomas Kayhko$39,830.0015220.98336Â 10$15238,295.00Dom Barrett$47,825.0015215.91340Â 6$15244,160.00Marshall Kent$24,450.0016213.43303Â 8$15256,428.00Zachary Wilkins$32,730.0014221.93307Â 7$15266,770.00Santtu Tahvanainen$35,670.0016216.9526812$10275,270.00Patrick Hanrahan$45,350.0016216.15325Â 9$10287,648.00B J Moore$52,492.3115221.23332Â 9$10298,148.00Justin Knowles$40,780.7716219.58332Â 7$10307,535.00Francois Lavoie$56,826.9216218.44354Â 9$5317,806.00Mitch Hupe$44,012.5016221.24330Â 8$5327,433.00Alec Keplinger$40,400.0017216.61325Â 6$5337,095.00Nicholas Pate$33,450.0019217.8353Â 6$3346,720.00Shawn Maldonado$46,830.0015218.79338Â 8$3355,760.00Sean Rash$34,732.0315218.23307Â 6$3366,488.00Jason Sterner$35,450.0015217.03347Â 7$3373,111.00Matt Russo$6,885.0015213.92282Â 2$3385,393.00Sam Cooley$21,355.0015216.08306Â 6$3396,355.00Matt Sanders$35,135.0014218.99334Â 9$3406,230.00Patrick Dombrowski$29,765.3815218.69331Â 8$3414,455.00Cameron Crowe$18,625.0014213.74278Â 6$2424,108.00Eric Jones$17,130.0015216.9278Â 5$2436,078.00Thomas Larsen$25,725.0015221306Â 8$2445,655.00Trevor Roberts$24,650.0013220.11265Â 8$2456,133.00Jake Peters$22,110.0016214.89327Â 5$2465,605.00Stuart Williams$19,819.2315216.17322Â 6$2474,203.00Tommy Jones$23,330.0016217.23274Â 6$2483,660.00Nate Purches$13,650.0016214.52294Â 4$2493,985.00Darren Tang$24,265.3816211.45311Â 6$25090.00Spencer Robarge$3,100.002206.7663Â 1$2510.00Julian Salinas$0.000N/AN/AÂ N/A$2525,040.00Sean Lavery-Spahr$33,026.9215215.16281Â 5$1534,095.00Nathan Bohr$14,590.0016215.6309Â 5$1543,750.00Hayden Stippich$22,287.509213.2185Â 6$1553,525.00D J Archer$24,319.2315213.99288Â 6$1562,618.00Christopher Sloan$15,156.2514213.27247Â 5$1572,745.00Richard Teece$12,726.5714217.31242Â 5$1583,508.00Keven Williams$22,900.0016208.19291Â 4$1593,065.00A J Chapman$13,930.0015212.69267Â 3$1602,790.00Chris Barnes$17,995.3116214.72291Â 5$1615,338.00Timmy Tan$18,250.0012214.79262Â 4$1623,275.00Dallas Leong$8,175.0016214.23279Â 3$1637,765.00Gary Haines$100,000.004206.087611$1645,098.00Nate Stubler$17,100.0015215.91283Â 5$1654,175.00Michael Davidson$17,025.0014213.53257Â 4$1662,255.00Deo Benard$7,800.0016212.92275Â 3$1672,190.00Terrance Rock$7,813.0011211.67187Â 2$1684,505.00Zach Weidman$15,300.0011218.35247Â 6$1692,763.00Andrew Hall$11,375.0014214.49258Â 5$1702,685.00Kyle Sherman$4,250.0013212.36240Â 3$1
Recruit Other Owners and Conduct Your Draft
Invite your fellow PBA fans to join your fantasy league. Each of the past two season, I recruited a group from one of my bowling leagues, and we chose a league night to conduct our draft when we were done bowling. If that doesn’t work for your group, use RotoWire’s draft date picker tool to find a date and time that works best for everyone.
In an auction draft, team managers rotate turns nominating PBA players. Once a player is nominated, everyone can place bids, and the highest bidder secures that player. Keep a running record of selections and budgets in a spreadsheet. You can use the same sheet to track scoring updates throughout the season.
Refresh the Scores and Keep the Competition Alive
Make sure to regularly update each player’s total Tour points during the season using the PBA Player Stats page or individual tournament results on PBA.com.
Keep the energy high by gathering your league to catch the action all season long on BowlTV, The CW, Paramount+, and CBS Sports. A little friendly trash talk and a few side bets only add to the fun.
Welcome to the exclusive club of fantasy bowling commissioners!
Follow @RotowireBowling on X for more.