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It's awards season for the fantasy sports industry, and RotoBaller is honored to be recognized by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) with various award nominations from our writing and media team in 2024.
The RotoBaller brand continues to shine among the many talented companies and analysts throughout the fantasy sports industry for their editorial and broadcasting content. For the fifth consecutive year, RotoBaller writers and analysts have totaled double-digit award nominations as finalists in the annual Fantasy Sports Writers Association Awards. For 2024, RotoBaller totaled 13 award nominations across its writing and media team from 11 different contributors.
The FSWA announced the nominees on social media and its site homepage in early February. Per the FSWA, over 1,000 entries were received in 23 writing and media categories. The entries are reviewed by an independent panel of judges in a “blind” process where the names of sites, writers and broadcasters/podcasters are removed. The award winners will be announced on a show on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio later in February.
"It's an incredible honor to be recognized by FSWA for these award nominations, and it truly means a lot to everyone at RotoBaller. We are so very proud of our hard-working and talented team to be recognized among all the talented people in the fantasy sports writing, broadcasting, and podcasting world,” said RotoBaller co-founder Alex Roberts.
“We all work very hard here at RotoBaller, hoping to inform and entertain readers and listeners. These FSWA nominations are a huge win for all of us -- from the writers, broadcasters, and podcasters themselves, to the editors, producers, and those who maintain the site on a daily basis. We wish all the nominees the best of luck, both at RotoBaller and across the industry!”
RotoBaller FSWA Writing and Media Award Finalists
Here is the rundown of the RotoBaller 2024 FSWA Award finalists, and the category for which they received the nomination:
1. Dan Palyo - Baseball Writer of the Year
2. Michael F. Florio - Baseball Writer of the Year
3. Nick Mariano - Best Baseball Ongoing Series
4. Robert Lorge - Best Football Ongoing Series
5. Dan Palyo - DFS Writer of the Year
6. Jordan McAbee - DFS Writer of the Year
7. Spencer Aguiar - Golf Writer of the Year
8. Scott Engel - Racing Writer of the Year
9. Jamie Steed - Soccer Writer of the Year
10. Jarod Rupp - Player Notes Writer of the Year
11. Euan Leith, F1 Fantasy Pole Position - Best Video Long Form
12. Ariel Cohen / Reuven Guy, Beat The Shift (Fangraphs) - Best Baseball Podcast
13. RotoBaller Radio, SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio - Best Radio Show
RotoBallers Shining On The Diamond
Baseball Writer Of The Year
Two RotoBaller writers have been nominated in 2024 for the highly prestigious Fantasy Baseball Writer of the Year Award. Dan Palyo and Michael F. Florio were both named as finalists for the award!
Finalists, Baseball Writer of the Year
Jason Collette
Michael Florio
John Laghezza
Dan Palyo
Eric Samulski
Adam Young— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
Other recent RotoBaller finalists in the category include Ariel Cohen (2023, 2022), Scott Engel (2021), Nicklaus Gaut (2020), Sam Chinitz (2020), and David Emerick (2019) -- continuing a strong tradition of baseball writing at RotoBaller, which was originally founded as a baseball site.
Dan Palyo is a Lead Fantasy Baseball, Football and Basketball analyst for RotoBaller and is the site’s Senior DFS/Betting Editor and Content Manager. He also won the 2021 FSWA Basketball Writer of the Year Award. One of the most versatile writers on the site, Dan is a multi-sport expert who covers various angles on fantasy baseball throughout the season.
Dan is a prime example of how RotoBaller intends to deliver high-quality fantasy sports content. While he provides many advanced statistics to illustrate his points and recommendations, he explains his approaches and strategies in easily readable form. Here are the articles he was nominated for:
- League-Winning Starting Pitchers: Draft Targets
- Notable Starting Pitcher Improvements in K%, BB% and GB%
- The New Strikeout Kings: Which Pitchers Are The Real Deal?
Baseball Writer Of The Year
Michael Florio is a Lead Fantasy Baseball and Football analyst at RotoBaller, and a host on RotoBaller's SiriusXM radio show. He's well-known to the fantasy masses as a football analyst, appearing regularly on TV on NFL Network -- yet he has long been honing his craft as a fantasy baseball authority. This is his fourth FSWA award nomination in the last four years. He is also a past winner of the FSWA Baseball Article of the Year Award in 2019.
Florio’s Bullpen Report is a weekly staple on RotoBaller.com during the regular season. His reports are not just updates on who is closing for each team, they are comprehensive in-depth breakdowns of every available fireman you should target, fully backed up with trend analysis and advanced statistical indicators. He also compliments that series with a variety of pre-season and in-season analysis on various topics. Here are the articles he was nominated for:
- 13 Breakout Hitters For Fantasy Baseball Drafts
- 11 Starting Pitcher Breakouts for Fantasy Baseball Drafts
- Juan Soto is the Second Best Player for 2024 Fantasy Baseball
Best Baseball Ongoing Series
Nick Mariano is well known to RotoBaller readers and followers as one of the top annual rankers in the industry, winning the top-accuracy award for MLB in 2018 and being a top-5 ranker for NFL over many years. He is RotoBaller's Lead Forecaster and Senior Fantasy Analyst, managing rankings and projections for both baseball and football (amongst many other things).
Nick is also one of the sharpest minds in the industry, writing various articles and topics throughout the year including draft content, in-season content, research articles and more. In 2020, he was nominated for FSWA's Research Article Of The Year for his article Introducing EDV - Expected Draft Values.
This year, Nick has been nominated for Best Fantasy Baseball Ongoing Series:
Finalists, Best Baseball Ongoing Series
Jason Collette
Nick Mariano
Greg Pyron
Chris Towers
Adam Young
Todd Zola— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
He is now the seventh RotoBaller nominee in the last six years for this baseball category -- including Ariel Cohen (2022, 2019), Elliott Baas (2022, 2021), Eric Samulski (2021), and Mike Kurland (2019).
Every week of the fantasy baseball season Nick provides the deepest list of starting pitcher rankings available, ranking his top 101 starting pitchers for the rest-of-season (from that point forward), complete with key notes that highlight recent trends and include player recommendations. You can read the series he was nominated for here:
Best Baseball Podcast
Ariel Cohen and Dr. Reuven Guy are both RotoBaller contributors, providing pre-season and in-season analysis on various topics. Dr. Reuven Guy provides his comprehensive and in-depth injury report on a weekly basis throughout the entire season, bringing his medical background to analyze injured players.
Ariel is the founder of the ATC Projections system, the most accurate projections system for five consecutive years from 2019 through 2023. He also writes various articles about ATC, risk analysis, and draft strategies. He has an illustrious FSWA resume, being nominated for 10 FSWA awards, and winning FSWA Baseball awards in consecutive years in 2019 (Baseball Writer Of The Year) and 2020 (Baseball Article Of The Year).
This year, Ariel and Reuven have been nominated for Best Baseball Podcast for their “Beat The Shift” show, which is featured on Fangraphs:
Finalists, Best Baseball Podcast
Beat the Shift
FantasyPros Fantasy Baseball
Pitcher List Fantasy Baseball
RotoWire Prospect Podcast
SportsEthos Fantasy MLB Today— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
The Beat The Shift show features regular standout guests across the industry who get into the finer points of fantasy baseball strategies, statistics, and player and positional outlooks throughout the season. Ariel has now been nominated/awarded for the "triple crown" of baseball -- projections, writing and podcasting.
RotoBaller’s Finest Nominated In Key Categories
Two of the most important and highly-regarded awards categories are for fantasy football and Daily Fantasy Sports. RotoBaller placed three nominees among the 2024 finalists:
Best Football Ongoing Series
Robert Lorge, nominated for Best Football Ongoing Series, is a Lead Fantasy Football Analyst at RotoBaller -- a fantasy football player with close to two decades of experience, and he expertly works essential numerical factors into his analysis.
Finalists, Best Football Ongoing Series
Joe Dolan
Adam Harstad
Rob Lorge
Doug Orth
Eric Samulski
Pat Thorman— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
Rob covers a variety of football areas throughout the pre-season and in-season, ranging from draft outlooks, Waiver Wire, Cut List, Tight End Streamers and much more. He often breaks the mold, and isn't afraid to go with his gut when writing his extensive deep-dives on various topics.
In 2024, his preseason fantasy football team preview series examined every NFL roster with the precision of a scout -- and supplied highly-detailed outlooks on players at all positions. The series was the ultimate draft resource for serious and studious fantasy football players. You can read the series he was nominated for here:
DFS Writer Of The Year
Dan Palyo and Jordan McAbee were both nominated for DFS Writer of the Year:
Finalists, DFS Writer of the Year
Alex Blickle
Adam Levitan
Dan Marcus
Jordan McAbee
Dan Palyo— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
Dan is a Lead DFS Analyst for the NBA, NFL and MLB teams at RotoBaller. He's also the site's Senior DFS/Betting Editor for all sports, helping to plan and manage DFS writers and content across numerous sports. Palyo is an industry veteran, and an ultra-reliable source of DFS analysis including core, values, cash and tournament plays. You can read the DFS articles he was nominated for here:
- MLB DFS Stacks: GPP Tournaments
- NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays, Pivots, Values, Stacks
- Correlations and DFS Stacks for Super Bowl LVIII
DFS Writer Of The Year
Jordan McAbee is RotoBaller's Lead NASCAR Analyst, and a standout in the NASCAR DFS and betting world. Jordan won last year's 2023 FSWA Racing Writer of the Year Award, and has now been nominated for DFS Writer Of The Year in 2024.
His NASCAR analysis is unrivaled for the winning results produced through his uniquely generated algorithms. He features distinctive DFS race previews and projections, and also issues predictions for finishing positions of Cup Series races.
Aside from writing, Jordan also produces his regular Stacking Denny's podcast/video, anchors RotoBaller's NASCAR news desk, and constantly puts out content on X and Discord -- interacting with readers, and providing commentary and analysis. You can read the articles he was nominated for here:
- Daytona 500: NASCAR DFS Picks and Projections
- Phoenix: NASCAR DFS Picks and Projections
- Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray: NASCAR DFS Picks and Projections
More RotoBaller Fabulous Finalists
Player Notes Writer Of The Year
Player Notes are the heartbeat of the RotoBaller content suite, providing timely player news coverage around-the-clock coverage for six different sports. Jarod Rupp is the fourth RotoBaller writer -- and seventh RotoBaller nomination in the last six years -- to be nominated as a finalist for the FSWA Player Notes Writer of the Year award. Jarod has over 20 years of fantasy experience, and doubles up on both fantasy football and baseball player news updates and recaps:
Finalists, Player Notes Writer of the Year
Daniel Dobish
Zachary Hanshew
Paul Martinez
Noah Rubin
Jarod Rupp— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
Keith Hernandez won the award in 2021, and has been nominated four times (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). Brad Camara (2023) and Alex Fischbein (2023) were also both nominated for this category.
RotoBaller is widely known as a trusted source of Fantasy Sports player news analysis, and syndicated by many sites across the industry to help power their platforms with timely news and trusted information. The player news desk content is featured across RotoBaller platforms, and also on industry-leading partner sites such as Sleeper, FFPC, RealTime Fantasy Sports, Fleaflicker and many more.
Golf Writer Of The Year
Spencer Aguiar is looking to notch his second FSWA Golf Writer of the Year Award with this year's nomination, having previously won the award in 2021.
Finalists, Golf Writer of the Year
Spencer Aguiar
Len Hochberg
Ryan Pohle— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
Spencer is a Golf DFS and betting authority in the industry -- a proven winner with a long track record of success in the PGA space. He provides numerous weekly Golf articles, podcasts, and tools -- powering the RotoBaller PGA team with resources like his unique PGA Rankings Wizard article and data model, Vegas report, in-tournament model, One-And-Done picks, expert DFS advice, and much more.
This is the fourth year in a row that a RotoBaller writer has been nominated for the Golf Writer Of The Year award. You can read the articles Spencer was nominated for here:
- How To Get Into The Writing Industry: My Story
- The Seven Deadly Sins At Augusta - The Masters
- PGA DFS Picks - The Sentry
Racing Writer Of The Year
Scott Engel is a 2024 finalist for Racing Writer of the Year -- the third time he has been nominated for this category in the last four years, and his fifth time overall. Scott is an inaugural member of the FSWA Hall of Fame in 2010, and has now been nominated as an FSWA finalist for the 14th time across various categories and sports:
Finalists, Racing Writer of the Year
Scott Engel
Seth Woolcock
Stephen Young— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
Scott anchors RotoBaller's NASCAR writing team with DFS strategy articles, advanced stats deep-dives on Loop Data, and more. You can read the articles he was nominated for here:
- NASCAR Primer: Tips for DFS Success
- NASCAR Advanced Stats: Toyota Owners 400
- Fantasy NASCAR Victory Lane Review: AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas
RotoBaller writers have now been nominated as award finalists six times in the last six years for the Racing category.
Soccer Writer Of The Year
RotoBaller veteran Jamie Steed was nominated for Soccer Writer of the Year, a category which he was also a finalist for in 2021:
Finalists, Soccer Writer of the Year
Jack Burkart
Ethan Sexton
Jamie Steed— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
Jamie is an anchor of RotoBaller's soccer team, providing expert advice and analysis for FPL (Fantasy Premier League), EPL (English Premier League), DFS, betting and more. He's also a core contributor to RotoBaller's MLB team, focusing on various pre-season draft topics and his in-season Cut List series. You can read the soccer articles he was nominated for here:
- Arsenal FPL Team Preview - Fantasy Premier League
- EPL Game Previews and Picks: Matchday 11
- EPL Game Previews and Picks: Matchday 35
RotoBaller has now had a finalist in the Soccer Writer Of The Year category for four consecutive years.
Best Video: Long Form
Euan Leith was nominated this year for his F1 Fantasy Pole Position Youtube series, as a finalist for the category Best Video, Long Form:
Finalists, Best Video, Long Form
Becoming a Best Ball Bro
F1 Fantasy Pole Position
Fantasy Points Film vs. Analytics
NFL Fantasy Football Show
Yahoo Fantasy Football Live— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
Euan is now a three-time FSWA award nominee, having been nominated three years in a row for an award (Soccer Writer Of The Year in both 2022 and 2023). He is also the anchor of the F1 (Formula 1) writing team at RotoBaller, providing expert tips, strategies, and DFS analysis for both season-long F1 Fantasy leagues and DFS contests.
Euan's nomination adds further to the RotoBaller motorsports tradition. RotoBaller writers have now been nominated as award finalists six times in the last six years for the Racing category.
The Sweet Sounds of RotoBaller Radio
Best Radio Show
Last but not least, RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio was nominated for the FSWA’s Best Radio Show award:
Finalists, Best Radio Show
BetMGM Tonight
Fantasy Alarm
Fantasy Life
The Jeff Ratcliffe Show
RotoBaller Radio
RotoWire Fantasy Sports Today— FSWA (@FSWA) February 8, 2025
This is the second time the show has received this nomination, in addition to 2017. The nationally-airing program on SiriusXM channel 87 airs daily from 6-7 am ET on weekdays, and also airs at various times on weekend afternoons (normally Saturdays from 1-3 pm ET). During the NFL season, RotoBaller Radio can also be heard on Sunday GameDay in the mornings.
RotoBaller co-founder Raphael Rabe, also known as “RealTalk Raph”, anchors the weekday show along with Josh Hayes and Anthony Aniano -- batting leadoff every morning on the station with a full-on blitz of fantasy information and creative entertainment across numerous sports. On the weekends, Scott Engel, Michael F. Florio and Anthony Aniano deliver more analysis and humorous banter.
RotoBaller Radio is an "all sports" show, mixing in data and analysis along with entertaining and humorous segments such as "Homie Don't Play That", thanks to the incredible production team including Tim Riordan, Eddie Gardner, Rob Touzet and Jacob Stevens-Kittner. The team specializes in fantasy baseball and fantasy football, but also covers NBA, PGA, NASCAR and more.
By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.
