I would love to see a H2H option and I think it would greatly expand the ottoneu experience. I’ve been running H2H versions of FGPTS on both ESPN and Yahoo for the past five seasons, and I have some thoughts on this…
I agree with @DSpracale above that the biggest issue is in limiting Pitching output; the services I use have a “loophole” that allow teams to surpass a matchup’s IP or GS limit by allowing for all of the stats to count on the day that the limit is reached. But a major problem with setting a strict limit instead would be in planning out your rosters- say it’s a Sunday and you only have enough IP’s left to start one player, but your preferred SP is playing later in the day and in a city with rain in the forecast, so then you’re forced to choose between taking a chance with a lesser SP rather than risk coming up short when your ACE’s start gets bumped.
One idea I’ve heard that would be intriguing and very unique for any fantasy service (if it could be developed) is a version of a ‘depth chart’ for your Pitchers, where guys who play earlier in the day on which you meet your limit but are further down your depth chart would have their innings count ‘temporarily’ and potentially replaced at the end of the day by better pitchers at the top of your depth chart who end up pitching later that day.
Another alternative that I’ve found to work well (with Yahoo, which has no options to limit P’s in H2H points leagues) is to dramatically limit the number of SP’s that can be played on any given day (for my leagues, I prefer to have only 2 active SP slots with no P slots)- not only does it make for a natural limit on SP output, but it also forces owners to make tougher gameday decisions as they have to manage an actual rotation of pitchers.
I also like the idea above of having multiple matchups simultaneously; right now I can’t do this with my ESPN/Yahoo leagues, but I’ve seen that FanTrax has an option where you can play all teams in a division at the same time. This could also help to reduce the ‘luck factor’ by allowing for two-week matchups/‘scoring periods’ while still having enough Games Played to have a meaningful record.
On the point of Division play, one thing I’ve started doing recently to help encourage full-year competition/engagement is re-drawing divisions each year based on the prior season’s Total Points standings and then set a schedule so that teams play their divisional opponents 3- or 5-times-to-1 compared to inter-divisional teams. Playoffs are then seeded by overall record, so owners who maybe aren’t as high up on the Points standings can still play deep into the year while the owners who are usually the top scorers each year have a more competitive schedule from start to finish.
I’d also suggest incorporating some sort of ‘reward’ system for Total Points standings- for my pay league, the majority of payouts are according to Total Points with bonuses for the best H2H record and Playoff finishes, but this idea could be transferred over to free leagues as well with something like arbitration coupons/allocation dollars or something along those lines. This way there’s still incentive and meaning to playing out the year regardless of H2H record.
I definitely agree with @DSpracale on limiting the number of FA pickups per matchup. In a H2H league it can just be way too easy to stream players (Hitters and Pitchers alike), even with a salary system like ottoneu- as long as you have the bullets, you can always try to steamroll an opponent in a late-season/playoff matchup (especially if there’s a loophole with P limits).
One other thing I’ll mention is with the balance in Rosters/Scoring between Hitters/Pitchers; if the number of active Hitting spots isn’t in balance with whatever the P limits might be, the league can seem “skewed” toward one side of the game over the other.
Generally I think people approach H2H leagues with the notion that you can build a team to compensate for any shortcomings on one side of the game with extra strength on the opposite side- but if (say) there aren’t enough Hitting spots relative to how much P output you can have in a matchup, then it’s easier for teams to win with sub-par pitchers while better hitters sit on the bench or waiver wire (and vice-versa if there are too many hitting spots relative to pitching). So I try to get my leagues closer to 50/50 in terms of total league Hitting points to Pitching points.
Similarly, I’ve also looked to balance RP output relative to SP’s in order to reflect MLB’s usage (as generally one-third of IP’s are by relievers). This has meant increasing the “leverage factor” for RP’s in my leagues (increasing the value of SV’s and HLD’s, but also including Blown Saves). The result is fewer sub-par (#4/5) SP’s being used in favor of a full 5- or 6-man bullpen, which isn’t a major issue in ottoneu Total Points leagues as the strict IP limit makes Pts/IP the equalizer rather than the ‘leverage’ formula.
Anyway thanks for the eyeballs- just some thoughts I’ve picked up in my experience with this type of setup. I definitely hope H2H is an option for ottoneu in the future!