Aaron Jones Wins 2023 NFBC Best Ball Championship & $10,000

[Greg Ambrosius]

It seems appropriate that Aaron Jones of Lumberton, New Jersey would win the debut NFBC Best Ball Championship and the $10,000 grand prize. Aaron has been playing in our Cutline and Best Ball formats for years and has often been among the league leaders. This year in our debut Best Ball National Championship, he won three Best Ball league titles and the overall title.

Aaron began drafting his championship team on December 28th and that team bested a field of 720 teams as we sold out this debut contest. The 35-year-old finished with 15,658 points to edge Eric Albright by 222 points for the overall title. Eric earned $3,500 for his runner-up finish. Rounding out the Top 5 were David Gacioch ($3,000), Kris Carroll ($2,500) and Phil Dussault ($2,000). The Top 23 teams in the overall competition won prize money, while we paid the Top 2 teams in each league, including $600 to the league champion.

This was the first year for our Best Ball National Championship, which uses a point-scoring system over all 27 weeks of the MLB regular season. Leagues consisted of 12 teams and 46-round drafts. The computer picked a team's optimal scoring lineup each week and points were accumulated each week and added up over the 27 weeks of the season. The teams with the most points won their leagues and the overall prize money. Entry fee was $150 per team.

Aaron has been playing in the NFBC since 2016 and he has multiple Top 3 overall finishes in the NFBC Cutline Championship and he won the overall Cutline title in 2021 and he also won the NFFC Draft Champions National Championship in 2021. He can now add this national championship to his impressive resume in high-stakes fantasy sports.

Aaron won three NFBC Best Ball Championship league titles and also finished 16th overall and 84th overall. He also won two NFBC $100 Double Up league titles and doubled his prize money in 11 of 13 leagues that he entered in that format. He also won one Rotowire Online league title in 2023 and one NFBC Draft Champions league title. Congrats Champ.

Ronald Acuna, Jr. was the main man on Aaron's championship team as he got him with the 5th overall pick. Well done, well done.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this debut contest and congrats to all of the prize winners. We will return with the NFBC Best Ball Championship in 2024 with an even bigger prize pool. Enjoy.

Here's the final standings:

2023 NFBC Best Ball National Championship
Top 100 Teams Overall:
1 Aaron Jones Jones BB6 15,658
2 Eric Albright EA Sports BB 7 15,436
3 DAVID GACIOCH GShockers4 15,403
4 Kristopher Carroll DBL B Champ2 15,377
5 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB17 15,371
6 Rick Ashton Ashton 15,362
7 Andrew Liesch Andrew BB 6 15,352
8 Bryan Royce Royce 15,335
9 Stephen Paul SP BB2 15,307
9 Zachary Waxman Waxman 15,307
11 Bryan Bevis Schonfish BB1 15,295
12 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB7 15,288
13 David Miller Miller 15,264
14 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB14 15,259
15 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB6 15,231
16 Aaron Jones Jones BB22 15,202
17 Brian Kreklau Brew Crew 2023 15,186
18 Mike Ballschmiede optiBall - the Cinco 15,182
19 Bob Catsiroumpas bestest baller2_s 15,148
20 Porter S Goose for 3 15,143
21 Eric Albright EA Sports BB 8 15,138
22 David Hinkel Jackboys 15,122
23 Porter S The Original Cinderella 15,111
24 Jose Parapar Three Amigos BB 15,105
25 Charles Holleman Holleman 15,079
26 Andrew Liesch Andrew BB 2 15,068
27 BENJAMIN DOLVEN DOLVEN-BB 15,050
28 Wesley Nelson Lion BB 1 15,047
29 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB1 15,039
30 CHRISTOPHER MIERZWA MIERZWA 15,026
31 Tim Sansome Sansome BB4 15,022
32 david marcus marcus 14,993
32 Andrew Viglietti Viglietti 14,993
34 Jeffrey Rubenstein Rubenstein 14,980
35 Eric Albright EA Sports BB 5 14,973
36 Kristopher Carroll DBL B Champ6 14,955
37 Stephen Ruschak Billy Martin at the Lindell AC 14,951
38 DARREN MATUSEN WM-BB2 14,950
38 Stephen Ruschak Just A Bit Outside 14,950
40 Zachary Waxman Waxman 14,946
40 Andrew Liesch Andrew BB 5 14,946
42 Mike Ballschmiede optiBall - the Dos 14,935
43 Bryan Bevis Schonfish BB9 14,930
44 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB12 14,927
45 Jonathan Fox Fox BB3 14,920
46 Mike Ballschmiede optiBall - the Tres 14,916
47 Zachary Waxman Waxman 14,900
48 Zachary Waxman Waxman 14,899
49 Scott Feschuk FeschukBB6 14,888
50 Bob Catsiroumpas bestest baller6_s 14,879
51 Bob Catsiroumpas bestest baller4 14,875
52 justin audia audia 14,850
53 Mike Ballschmiede optiBall - the Ocho 14,848
54 Michael O'Brien WAR Games BB4 14,835
55 kenney bochniak KB BB Champ 3 14,831
56 David Hinkel Freak Week 14,822
57 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB11 14,813
58 Aaron Jones Jones BB18 14,789
59 Bryan Bevis Schonfish BB7 14,770
60 Marin Garcia GEM 14,765
61 Daniel Smith Smith 14,763
62 Bob Catsiroumpas bestest baller5 14,760
63 Jack Kitchen Lets Go Brandon! 14,756
64 Brian Bellinger Hoss BB2 14,755
65 Jeffrey Rubenstein Rubenstein 14,752
66 Aaron Jones Jones BB12 14,740
67 Zachary Waxman Waxman 14,724
68 Joel Gullo Gullo 14,719
69 Jonathan Kish Pitchers With Glasses 14,716
70 Bryan Bevis Schonfish BB4 14,711
71 Eric Albright EA Sports BB 2 14,710
72 Ross Berg VCFS BB1 14,708
73 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB3 14,701
74 Derrek Smith Smith 14,693
75 Chris Sandberg BBoys 14,688
76 P McD Big Mac Attack BB 14,677
77 Bob Catsiroumpas bestest baller8 14,669
78 Michael Alexander Alexander 14,665
79 DOUGLAS RICH dmanrico 14,664
80 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB16 14,635
81 Shawn Childs CCs Desperados 14,630
82 Michael Alexander Alexander 14,627
83 Aaron Jones Jones BB17 14,625
84 Aaron Jones Jones BB9 14,614
85 James Beatty SeaFire 14,612
86 Rick Ashton Ashton 14,611
86 Michael Tollefson TallFsun 14,611
88 Usman Ahmad Ahmad3 14,606
89 Bryan Bevis Schonfish BB3 14,605
89 Andrew Liesch Andrew BB 8 14,605
91 Joel Gullo Gullo 14,603
92 nicholas durrell RutaBB-6 14,595
93 winston guest M&M and PotatoHead Agitprop 14,585
94 Charles Holleman Holleman 14,581
95 Eric Albright EA Sports BB 4 14,570
96 Daniel Lombardi Lombardi Cohen & Sons 14,568
97 Philippe Dussault The Robot BB9 14,566
97 MICHAEL GAVIN BESTBALL2 14,566
99 Richard Barry Barry's Bums 14,560
100 lawrence cirullo cirullo 14,550

[Greg Ambrosius]

Aaron Jones drafted from the 5th spot in this December 28th Best Ball Championship League. Here were his draft results:

JonesBB6:
1 5 Acuna Jr., Ronald OF Jones BB6
2 20 Trout, Mike OF Jones BB6
3 29 Varsho, Daulton C Jones BB6
4 44 Robert Jr., Luis OF Jones BB6
5 53 Seager, Corey SS Jones BB6
6 68 Clase, Emmanuel P Jones BB6
7 77 Gausman, Kevin P Jones BB6
8 92 Contreras, William C Jones BB6
9 101 Hoskins, Rhys 1B Jones BB6
10 116 Glasnow, Tyler P Jones BB6
11 125 Cronenworth, Jake CI Jones BB6
12 140 Lowe, Brandon 2B Jones BB6
13 149 Baez, Javier MI Jones BB6
14 164 Hayes, Ke'Bryan 3B Jones BB6
15 173 Iglesias, Raisel P Jones BB6
16 188 Jung, Josh UT Jones BB6
17 197 Stott, Bryson 2B Jones BB6
18 212 Morton, Charlie P Jones BB6
19 221 Turner, Justin 3B Jones BB6
20 236 Hays, Austin OF Jones BB6
21 245 Winker, Jesse OF Jones BB6
22 260 Soler, Jorge OF Jones BB6
23 269 Eovaldi, Nathan P Jones BB6
24 284 Gray, Sonny P Jones BB6
25 293 Kepler, Max OF Jones BB6
26 308 Farmer, Kyle 3B Jones BB6
27 317 Diaz, Elias C Jones BB6
28 332 Manaea, Sean P Jones BB6
29 341 Marquez, German P Jones BB6
30 356 Hernandez, Enrique OF Jones BB6
31 365 Frazier, Adam 2B Jones BB6
32 380 Irvin, Cole P Jones BB6
33 389 Gibson, Kyle P Jones BB6
34 404 Santana, Carlos 1B Jones BB6
35 413 Rosario, Eddie OF Jones BB6
36 428 Donaldson, Josh 3B Jones BB6
37 437 Hendricks, Kyle P Jones BB6
38 452 Boyd, Matthew P Jones BB6
39 461 Thompson, Trayce OF Jones BB6
40 476 Bumgarner, Madison P Jones BB6
41 485 Corbin, Patrick P Jones BB6
42 500 Williams, Trevor P Jones BB6
43 509 Kikuchi, Yusei P Jones BB6
44 524 Hill, Rich P Jones BB6
45 533 Rucinski, Drew P Jones BB6
46 548 Gomber, Austin P Jones BB6

[Greg Ambrosius]

The debut NFBC Best Ball Championship finished with 720 teams and paid the Top 23 overall. Here were the prizes for this contest:

2023 NFBC Best Ball Championship
Overall Prizes:
1 - $10,000
2 - $3,500
3 - $3,000
4 - $2,500
5 - $2,000
6 - $1,750
7 - $1,500
8 - $1,250
9 - $1,200
10 - $1,000
11 - $850
12 - $750
13 - $700
14 - $600
15 - $500
16 - $450
17 - $400
18 - $350
19 - $300
20 - $250
21 - $200
22 - $150
23 - $100

League Prizes:
1 - $600
2 - $300

[Greg Ambrosius]

Aaron Jones is the first champion of our NFBC Best Ball National Championship, but he won't be the last as this contest has room for even more growth. Let's keep tally of the national champions here:

NFBC Best Ball National Championship
Overall Champions:
2023 - Aaron Jones