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: 10
- Player 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 Championship
- Legendz PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic
- U.S. Open
- Groupon PBA Illinois Classic
- PBA Indiana Classic
- USBC Masters
- Pilgrim's PBA Ohio Classic
- PBA New York Classic
- PBA Tournament of Champions
- PBA WSOB XVII - PBA Cheetah Championship
- PBA WSOB XVII - PBA Chameleon Championship
- PBA WSOB XVII - PBA Scorpion Championship
- PBA WSOB XVII - PBA Shark Championship
- PBA WSOB XVII - PBA World Championship
- Rosters: 5 bowlers per team
- Scoring: 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.
| Rank | Tour Points | Name | Money | Events | Average | Games | Titles | Cashes | Auction Value |
| 1 | 34,690.00 | E J Tackett | $437,540.00 | 18 | 229.69 | 439 | 4 | 15 | $95 |
| 2 | 15,365.00 | Jason Belmonte | $190,834.62 | 17 | 227.24 | 422 | 1 | 15 | $70 |
| 3 | 13,015.00 | Anthony Simonsen | $111,350.00 | 17 | 220.16 | 379 | 8 | $70 | |
| 4 | 13,440.00 | Jesper Svensson | $271,100.00 | 17 | 224.01 | 381 | 2 | 12 | $60 |
| 5 | 15,181.00 | Graham Fach | $147,925.00 | 18 | 222.12 | 370 | 1 | 10 | $60 |
| 6 | 18,120.00 | Andrew Anderson | $193,520.31 | 19 | 225.03 | 404 | 2 | 13 | $60 |
| 7 | 11,415.00 | Kyle Troup | $101,100.00 | 19 | 223.52 | 368 | 13 | $50 | |
| 8 | 15,020.00 | Tim Foy Jr. | $140,625.00 | 17 | 224.56 | 370 | 13 | $45 | |
| 9 | 14,660.00 | Chris Via | $147,684.62 | 18 | 223.3 | 398 | 1 | 12 | $45 |
| 10 | 12,188.00 | Ryan Barnes | $109,618.75 | 16 | 221.59 | 345 | 11 | $40 | |
| 11 | 13,195.00 | Ethan Fiore | $145,365.00 | 18 | 221.03 | 320 | 1 | 7 | $40 |
| 12 | 12,245.00 | Jakob Butturff | $115,455.00 | 17 | 221.65 | 361 | 12 | $35 | |
| 13 | 10,225.00 | David Krol | $68,610.00 | 16 | 221.17 | 391 | 11 | $30 | |
| 14 | 10,013.00 | Bill ONeill | $90,080.00 | 16 | 222.43 | 334 | 1 | 12 | $30 |
| 15 | 8,515.00 | Kristopher Prather | $57,000.00 | 17 | 220.66 | 331 | 8 | $25 | |
| 16 | 7,720.00 | A J Johnson | $44,630.00 | 15 | 220.17 | 355 | 11 | $25 | |
| 17 | 7,908.00 | Bailey Mavrick | $43,112.50 | 16 | 219.82 | 344 | 11 | $20 | |
| 18 | 10,185.00 | Kevin McCune | $70,338.46 | 15 | 220.06 | 391 | 9 | $20 | |
| 19 | 10,685.00 | Matthew Ogle | $65,362.50 | 16 | 224.41 | 369 | 12 | $20 | |
| 20 | 8,990.00 | Tom Daugherty | $39,840.00 | 15 | 220.12 | 362 | 9 | $20 | |
| 21 | 8,811.00 | Tom Smallwood | $54,675.00 | 15 | 221.58 | 354 | 11 | $15 | |
| 22 | 8,521.00 | Tomas Kayhko | $39,830.00 | 15 | 220.98 | 336 | 10 | $15 | |
| 23 | 8,295.00 | Dom Barrett | $47,825.00 | 15 | 215.91 | 340 | 6 | $15 | |
| 24 | 4,160.00 | Marshall Kent | $24,450.00 | 16 | 213.43 | 303 | 8 | $15 | |
| 25 | 6,428.00 | Zachary Wilkins | $32,730.00 | 14 | 221.93 | 307 | 7 | $15 | |
| 26 | 6,770.00 | Santtu Tahvanainen | $35,670.00 | 16 | 216.95 | 268 | 1 | 2 | $10 |
| 27 | 5,270.00 | Patrick Hanrahan | $45,350.00 | 16 | 216.15 | 325 | 9 | $10 | |
| 28 | 7,648.00 | B J Moore | $52,492.31 | 15 | 221.23 | 332 | 9 | $10 | |
| 29 | 8,148.00 | Justin Knowles | $40,780.77 | 16 | 219.58 | 332 | 7 | $10 | |
| 30 | 7,535.00 | Francois Lavoie | $56,826.92 | 16 | 218.44 | 354 | 9 | $5 | |
| 31 | 7,806.00 | Mitch Hupe | $44,012.50 | 16 | 221.24 | 330 | 8 | $5 | |
| 32 | 7,433.00 | Alec Keplinger | $40,400.00 | 17 | 216.61 | 325 | 6 | $5 | |
| 33 | 7,095.00 | Nicholas Pate | $33,450.00 | 19 | 217.8 | 353 | 6 | $3 | |
| 34 | 6,720.00 | Shawn Maldonado | $46,830.00 | 15 | 218.79 | 338 | 8 | $3 | |
| 35 | 5,760.00 | Sean Rash | $34,732.03 | 15 | 218.23 | 307 | 6 | $3 | |
| 36 | 6,488.00 | Jason Sterner | $35,450.00 | 15 | 217.03 | 347 | 7 | $3 | |
| 37 | 3,111.00 | Matt Russo | $6,885.00 | 15 | 213.92 | 282 | 2 | $3 | |
| 38 | 5,393.00 | Sam Cooley | $21,355.00 | 15 | 216.08 | 306 | 6 | $3 | |
| 39 | 6,355.00 | Matt Sanders | $35,135.00 | 14 | 218.99 | 334 | 9 | $3 | |
| 40 | 6,230.00 | Patrick Dombrowski | $29,765.38 | 15 | 218.69 | 331 | 8 | $3 | |
| 41 | 4,455.00 | Cameron Crowe | $18,625.00 | 14 | 213.74 | 278 | 6 | $2 | |
| 42 | 4,108.00 | Eric Jones | $17,130.00 | 15 | 216.9 | 278 | 5 | $2 | |
| 43 | 6,078.00 | Thomas Larsen | $25,725.00 | 15 | 221 | 306 | 8 | $2 | |
| 44 | 5,655.00 | Trevor Roberts | $24,650.00 | 13 | 220.11 | 265 | 8 | $2 | |
| 45 | 6,133.00 | Jake Peters | $22,110.00 | 16 | 214.89 | 327 | 5 | $2 | |
| 46 | 5,605.00 | Stuart Williams | $19,819.23 | 15 | 216.17 | 322 | 6 | $2 | |
| 47 | 4,203.00 | Tommy Jones | $23,330.00 | 16 | 217.23 | 274 | 6 | $2 | |
| 48 | 3,660.00 | Nate Purches | $13,650.00 | 16 | 214.52 | 294 | 4 | $2 | |
| 49 | 3,985.00 | Darren Tang | $24,265.38 | 16 | 211.45 | 311 | 6 | $2 | |
| 50 | 90.00 | Spencer Robarge | $3,100.00 | 2 | 206.76 | 63 | 1 | $2 | |
| 51 | 0.00 | Julian Salinas | $0.00 | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | $2 | |
| 52 | 5,040.00 | Sean Lavery-Spahr | $33,026.92 | 15 | 215.16 | 281 | 5 | $1 | |
| 53 | 4,095.00 | Nathan Bohr | $14,590.00 | 16 | 215.6 | 309 | 5 | $1 | |
| 54 | 3,750.00 | Hayden Stippich | $22,287.50 | 9 | 213.2 | 185 | 6 | $1 | |
| 55 | 3,525.00 | D J Archer | $24,319.23 | 15 | 213.99 | 288 | 6 | $1 | |
| 56 | 2,618.00 | Christopher Sloan | $15,156.25 | 14 | 213.27 | 247 | 5 | $1 | |
| 57 | 2,745.00 | Richard Teece | $12,726.57 | 14 | 217.31 | 242 | 5 | $1 | |
| 58 | 3,508.00 | Keven Williams | $22,900.00 | 16 | 208.19 | 291 | 4 | $1 | |
| 59 | 3,065.00 | A J Chapman | $13,930.00 | 15 | 212.69 | 267 | 3 | $1 | |
| 60 | 2,790.00 | Chris Barnes | $17,995.31 | 16 | 214.72 | 291 | 5 | $1 | |
| 61 | 5,338.00 | Timmy Tan | $18,250.00 | 12 | 214.79 | 262 | 4 | $1 | |
| 62 | 3,275.00 | Dallas Leong | $8,175.00 | 16 | 214.23 | 279 | 3 | $1 | |
| 63 | 7,765.00 | Gary Haines | $100,000.00 | 4 | 206.08 | 76 | 1 | 1 | $1 |
| 64 | 5,098.00 | Nate Stubler | $17,100.00 | 15 | 215.91 | 283 | 5 | $1 | |
| 65 | 4,175.00 | Michael Davidson | $17,025.00 | 14 | 213.53 | 257 | 4 | $1 | |
| 66 | 2,255.00 | Deo Benard | $7,800.00 | 16 | 212.92 | 275 | 3 | $1 | |
| 67 | 2,190.00 | Terrance Rock | $7,813.00 | 11 | 211.67 | 187 | 2 | $1 | |
| 68 | 4,505.00 | Zach Weidman | $15,300.00 | 11 | 218.35 | 247 | 6 | $1 | |
| 69 | 2,763.00 | Andrew Hall | $11,375.00 | 14 | 214.49 | 258 | 5 | $1 | |
| 70 | 2,685.00 | Kyle Sherman | $4,250.00 | 13 | 212.36 | 240 | 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!
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