Head-To-Head Settings

You may recall that last year the league had a difference of opinion with regards to "Head To Head-One Win" or "Head To Head-Multiple Wins". When we voted on this topic in early 2008, it seemed that everyone voted for what they were used to (East Coast All-Star guys voted for one win, Benchwarmer league members voted for multiple wins). And since there were more guys coming over from ECAS, that's where we got the majority vote from.

Of course, that in itself does not make the setting superior, nor was it fair to the teams coming over from the Benchwarmers league. After taking a recount in April, there were 6 teams who would prefer to play with multiple wins, 3 teams who wanted one win, and 3 teams who were indifferent.

However, I decided not to change the league settings since the season had already begun. Instead, I decided that we would review this setting for the 2009 season and I will go back only to the teams who wanted multiple wins and ask them if that is still their preference. If it is, then we will play 2009 with multiple wins.

Please review the Multiple-Wins Standings (in the right column) and compare them to the One-Win Standings that we had in 2008. I think the reality is that both systems work. Also, if everyone is being honest, each system has its own potential flaws. So this is probably just a matter of personal preference, but it deserves a second look.

If we do play 2009 with Multiple Wins, then by 2010 it will hopefully be more obvious to everyone which system is better as we go forward.

As far as record keeping goes, if we go to Multiple Wins I will manually keep track of everyone's W-L records in BOTH FORMATS for 2009 just as I did in 2008 so that we can have both forms of data (in case anyone is curious). So everyone may want to take note of this now if you care about where your name appears in the record books.

Thanks to everyone for your input.

Commissioner's Note - August 2008

1) During the playoffs, ROSTERS WILL NOT BE LOCKED FOR PLAYOFF TEAMS. When rosters are locked during the playoffs, it's often done to prevent managers from streaming pitchers. I feel that its safe to say that streaming has not proven to be an effective strategy in this scoring system, so I do not see the need to lock the rosters of playoff teams. However, rosters will be locked for the six non-playoff teams.

2) I also wanted to take this opportunity to detail how next year's draft order will be determined. Picks 1-6 will go to the 6 non-playoff teams by means of a WEIGHTED LOTTERY based on this year's final rankings (the #12 team will be most likely to get the #1 pick). We are using a weighted lottery so that there is little incentive to "throw games" during the last week of the regular season. For picks 7-12, the playoff bracket and the consolation games will be used to determine the draft order for next year. The #7 pick will go to the winner of the consolation game between the two teams who lose in the first round of the playoffs (the #8 pick will go to the loser of that game). The #9 pick will go to the winner of the consolation game between the two teams who lose in the 2nd round (the #10 pick will go to the loser). The #11 pick, however, will go to the LOSER of the championship game and the #12 pick will go to the league champ.