Sumo Stables: Managing a Fantasy Sumo Team
In my previous posts [Sumo Stats 1] & [Sumo Stats 2], I shared how I used AI to build a dashboard and why I wanted to dive deeper into Sumo statistics before our trip to Fukuoka. But data is only half the fun. The real goal was to create Sumo Stables—our own version of Fantasy Sumo.
If you’ve played Fantasy Football, you know the drill: you draft a team, track their performance, and pray for no injuries. But Sumo brings its own unique flavor. In our league, we aren’t just fans; we are Oyakata (親方 – Stablemasters) managing a portfolio of six rikishi (力士 – wrestlers). We generally use a name selector [wheelofnames] and the order will be 1,2,3,3,2,1,1,2,3,3,2,1,etc.
The Draft: Building Your Stable and Choosing your Captain
Every tournament, the stables reset. Each player drafts a team of six rikishi, split evenly to reflect the traditional Banzuke (番付 – official ranking):
- 3 East (東 – Higashi) Rikishi
- 3 West (西 – Nishi) Rikishi
Once the picking is finished, you must nominate one Captain. There is a strategic catch: your Captain must be a Maegashira (前頭 – the rank-and-file wrestlers). You cannot choose a top-tier champion (like an Ozeki or Yokozuna) to lead; you have to find the value in the mid-ranks.
How to Win: The Two-Fold Point Scoring System
Unlike traditional fantasy sports where you just aggregate points at the end, Sumo Stables is about consistency and daily performance. We use a layered scoring system.
1. Match Scoring
Each day, your rikishi enter the ring. A win by a regular stable member earns 1 point. However, your Captain is your “power player”—a win from them earns 2 points. All losses count as 0.
2. Day Points
At the end of each day, we compare our match scores. The player with the most wins for that day earns Bonus Day Points that add to their tournament total:
- 1st Place: 3 Points
- Tied 1st Place: 2 Points
- 2nd Place: 1 Point
- Tied 2nd Place: 1 Point
- 3rd Place: 0 Points
3. Barnstorming (Handicapped)
A Barnstorm (全勝 – Zenshō) is when all six of your rikishi win their matches on a single day. To prevent the leader from running away with the tournament, this bonus is handicapped based on your current ranking:
- If you are in 3rd place: +3 Points
- If you are in 2nd place: +2 Points
- If you are in 1st place: +1 Point
Note: If two rikishi from your own stable are scheduled to fight each other, that match is excluded from the Barnstorm calculation.
4. Tournament Bonuses
On the final day (Day 15), extra Bonus Day Points are awarded to stables holding the top achievers:
- Tournament Winner: +3 Points
- Prize Winner (Technique, Fighting Spirit, etc.): +1 Point
- Kinboshi (金星 – A Maegashira defeating a Yokozuna): +1 Point
- Winning Record (Kachi-koshi) per rikishi: +1 Point
Jan 2026 - Sumo Stable Google Sheet
Trading: The High-Stakes Marketplace
Trading can occur regardless of whether a rikishi is injured. Our league allows for two types of movement:
- Free Agent Trades: On Day 6 and Day 11, players can drop a wrestler and pick up any “Free Agent” (a rikishi not currently in any other player’s stable). This is also the only time you can change your Captain.
- Player-to-Player Trades: You can negotiate trades between stables at any time before the start of a day’s bouts.
Replacements: Handling Kyūjō (休場)
Sumo is a physical sport, and injuries—or Kyūjō (休場 – absence)—happen. If your rikishi is injured, the rules are automatic:
- You take the loss for that day (unless it is a fusenshō victory).
- You then automatically take on the “Replacement Rikishi” (usually the highest-ranked wrestler in the division below, such as Juryo #1).
- Once you have the replacement, you can trade them for a Free Agent on any day following the injury.
Part 2: The Fukuoka Forecast; Using Data for Stable Strategy
With the Sumo Stats dashboard in hand, our draft wasn’t just about picking names we recognized—it was about portfolio management. The data allowed us to spot the “Back-end Bandits” (rikishi who dominate the final week) versus those who start strong but burn out quickly. This insight is crucial for our trade windows on Days 6 and 11; if a wrestler’s performance trend is dipping, we swap them for a fresh Free Agent.
Another strategic layer was managing “In-fighting.” Because matches between your own stable members don’t count toward a Barnstorm bonus, we used the dashboard to ensure a varied draft. By picking rikishi across different rank clusters, we minimized the chances of our own team knocking each other out of bonus contention, ensuring maximum consistency across the 15 days.
Part 3: Showdown in Fukuoka; Who Won?
The competition wasn’t just digital. We headed to Fukuoka to witness the action live, managing to secure tickets for Days 6 and 7. There is nothing like the atmosphere of a live Basho, and we even managed to snag some shots with the “big dogs” like Takerufuji.
In the end, the inaugural Sumo Stables title came down to a nail-biting final day between Leighlan and me. Leighlan had been the model of consistency, racking up Day Points throughout the tournament. On the final Sunday, Aonishiki and Yoshinofuji secured me a mountain of bonuses, bringing the score within a hair’s breadth. But alas, no Chanpon (the celebratory feast) for me this time—Leighlan held on for the win.
Poor Joe, on the other hand, picked such a disastrous draft that he became the inspiration for our new Handicap Barnstorm rule. We realized that if someone falls as far behind as Joe did, they need a serious “catch-up” mechanic to keep the group chat interesting!
Conclusion: Refined in the Ring
Since this was our first official Sumo Stables match, we were essentially building the plane while flying it, making several rule changes on the fly. However, the experiment was a massive success. The combination of Python-driven data, a custom Google Sheets engine, and the raw energy of the Fukuoka tournament transformed us from casual observers into obsessed Oyakata (even the tour guide didn’t have the knowledge we had!). We’ll be back for the next tournament—sharper, data-richer, and ready for the draft.
