2019 Baseball Playoff Options

[blakestreetbombers]

Hi @nivshah

Is this post the best spot to understand 2019 playoff options, or is there a better location? Our league is thinking about implementing playoffs, and we are seeking a thorough rundown of how it works. I think our unfamiliarity with head-to-head is also hampering us (note, I’ve also read through Head-to-Head scoring coming to Ottoneu Fantasy Baseball in 2018)

I think our core question is this: do we re-draft lineups before each playoff series? game? week?

[nivshah]

I split this off to a new topic.

Development Update, December 2018

Today we’ve released two features promised in this update: Commissioners now have more flexible playoff options, including number of playoff teams (4, 6 or 8) and the ability to avoid the last week of the MLB regular season by shortening the championship game to 1 week. Visit your league’s commissioner tools -> League Settings to check this out. Watchlists now allow removing multiple players at a time. This should make the process of managing your team’s watchlist much, much simpler.

If you visit your Commissioner Tools → League Settings, you can see the full set of playoff options for 2019. These have been improved from 2018 for flexibility. If you have any specific questions about a playoff setting, let me know!

Playoffs are daily lineup games. I’m not sure if the term “re-draft” is what you meant to use, but you set your lineups every day in the playoffs.

[blakestreetbombers]

Thanks, and yes by “re-draft” I really meant daily lineups.

No rush here, but I’m going to lay out my understanding and see if I have it all correct. Please correct me where needed (again, no rush).

I think our league would reward the top 4 with playoffs. With that in mind:

My first big question is: does Sept essentially become the playoffs? So, the last month of regular season becomes the “post-season?”

1. As a league, we could determine 2-week semi-finals & 2-week championship or just the 2-week championship
2. The 4 teams are seeded as described in other posts
3. It is Head to Head competition with daily lineups, we simply choose the Fangraphs or SABR points
4. There are start caps teams need to keep in mind, described in other posts
5. Post-season teams compete. After 2 weeks, 2 winners advance and continue. After 2 more weeks, an ultimate post-season winner is awarded.

Couple Questions:
A. In daily lineups, can multiple teams choose the same player? I’m under the impression it is Yes.
B. If a team forgets to fill out a roster for a particular day, I’m under the impression the previous day’s roster rolls over. Correct?

Again - apologies upfront, we have never dabbled in H2H stuff nor playoffs. So, I want to be able to describe the process well to the other owners so we can make an informed decision. Thanks as always.

[nivshah]

@blakestreetbombers

A. In daily lineups, can multiple teams choose the same player? I’m under the impression it is Yes.

I am super unclear as to what the question is. Whoever owns a player can play that player. Playoffs aren’t a DFS-type game on top of the regular season or anything like that.

@blakestreetbombers

B. If a team forgets to fill out a roster for a particular day, I’m under the impression the previous day’s roster rolls over. Correct?

Yes this is correct.

It sounds like you are confusing daily lineups with a DFS game, and there is no DFS game associated with Ottoneu playoffs…

[blakestreetbombers]

Thanks @nivshah Yep, I’m getting things confused concerning the lineups. I wasn’t quite sure about the implication of moving from a rotisserie format to a H2H format for playoffs, and I understand now. Thanks again.

[nivshah]

Yeah nothing to overthink - lineups are the same, your team is the same, just the scoring mode changes. Like a sprint at the end of a marathon.

[blakestreetbombers]

Thanks again. One more question, do the non-playoff teams (in our case, 5th and below) still play through the end of the year, or are they done when playoffs begin?

[nivshah]

Correct, the teams that did not make the playoffs have their season end once the playoffs start, on the first Monday in September.

[blakestreetbombers]

Hi @nivshah. We are a 4x4 rotisserie league. With that comes the 1250 - 1500 IP range.

If we opted to include H2H playoffs in Sept…does that change anything with the IP range? For example, in a linear fashion, by the beginning of Sept your team should have at least 1057 IP in order to hit the minimum by the end of the season.

Would a team be allowed into the playoffs if they only had, say 900 IP by Sept 1? Or, is the IP minimum not considered during post-season seeding?

[nivshah]

Adding playoffs basically neuters 4x4 IP caps and minimums. Any team can make the playoffs and the maximum doesn’t change.

[pallenikje]

Hey @nivshah, we’re in a 12-team FGpoints league. This is our first year doing a hybrid structure (points during regular season transitioning to H2H playoffs). Just wanted to clarify the above:

Are the 1500 IP max and 162-game max retained under this format? Do they remain for the regular season? If so, what’s to stop owners from streaming SPs without a true innings max during the regular season?

[nivshah]

@pallenikje

Are the 1500 IP max and 162-game max retained under this format?

Yes for the regular season only.

@pallenikje

If so, what’s to stop owners from streaming SPs without a true innings max during the regular season?

I don’t know, you guys should try it! I imagine if more than 3 owners are trying to stream in a single league, in-season auctions will become pretty competitive and it’ll be hard to actually pull off this strategy. I received no feedback in 2018 that streaming was an issue in hybrid regular-season / playoff formats, but maybe that will change this season.