Why can teams go over positional game caps?

Hi Niv,

How is it possible this tam has 61 games played in utility spot?

Games Played and Innings Pitched
South Bay 60 59 58 56 57 58 282 59 557.0
3-0 Swingers 59 60 60 60 59 60 293 58 577.1
Jeters Never Prosper 60 60 60 55 58 59 287 60 557.0
Opossum Field 60 52 35 49 44 60 248 60 374.1
Can of Corn 60 57 53 58 48 55 279 60 411.2
DandyBallHogs 54 55 49 60 53 46 275 53 390.1
October Blizzard 59 59 59 58 59 59 292 58 522.1
Sons of the Harper 23 41 52 56 61 60 230 52 424.2
Shep 59 53 59 48 61 50 257 57 357.2
THE :baseball: GAME!! 50 60 60 60 60 52 299 60 497.0
Fairhaven Bulldogs 60 56 58 54 53 57 296 58 560.0
:oil_drum:SOCONY​:oil_drum: 56 60 60 58 48 59 287 61 553.2
Projected Games Played and Innings Pitched

https://ottoneu.fangraphs.com/977/setlineups?team=6996

thanks

lawrence

If the guy you start for game 60 has a doubleheader that day, then stats from both games count so you can exceed the 60 game cap. I did it with Goldschmidt at both 1B and Util in one league.

1 Like

Confirming

. the rules say it is a hardcap

1 Like

It’s … mostly hard. I will write up a full explanation, which I gave in slack yesterday, when I can.

ok thanks

A fundamental premise of Ottoneu Fantasy Sports is that stat lines for players don’t differ per league or per team. Meaning: Mike Trout in league 1 has the exact same stat line on a given day as Mike Trout in league 13 or league 649. Same games played, games ABs, etc.

As a result, if Mike Trout plays 2 games in a given day, that stat line is used across all leagues and all situations, even for teams that only have one game played remaining at OF. This allows Ottoneu teams to use their final “game” at a position on a player playing a doubleheader and get credit for both those games in the doubleheader.

Ottoneu cannot store every permutation of a stat line for a player; it is not feasible. This is basically why the innings cap is soft, and it allows positional caps to be soft in a very specific way.

However, if you are on your last game at C or OF and try to play multiple players who are not playing in doubleheaders, you will only get one of those games. There are systems in place to ensure that the only way to go over a positional game cap is by playing a player in a doubleheader on your final game, and teams cannot exploit positions that have multiple slots to go over game caps.

Hopefully this makes some sense and explains why you will occasionally see a team over the positional game cap. These caps are mostly hard, but with the extreme number of doubleheaders in 2020 they are behaving a little softer than normal.

It says hard cap. Mostly hard is not the same. Sorry. A a doubleheader a 560 cap but teams that are keeper leagues to just get a win has to think about dropping foundational keepers to drop and pick some random milb players that happen to pitch on the Last day of year to strategize going over the “hard cap” seems sketchy and can ruin your dynasty by dropping great guys. It’s sad and has happened in this format and to people like me getting 4th place losing to hardcap written in policy but now considered a soft cap and the real strategy to win is sacrifice your dyanasty to auction guys who pitch on last day to get you those extra stealing points over the 560 and then scramble next year to replace those keepers you just dropped to get over the “hard cap”. Is that reply what you want this league to be. Spend daily time GM but when it really matters are you willing to drop Bieber for Velazquez just because he is starting the last day of season. Please let me know why I shouldn’t be upset finishing 4th 3 years straight And 5th year before that because over the “Hardcap” softcap was and is allowed. Thanks for your help. Great season love the sight. Just frustrated with this rule.

IP has always been a soft cap (and says so in the rules). What you’re describing in terms of teams loading up on mediocre SP for the final day of the season is an old (and tired) strategy.

The position players should be an actual hard cap (per the rules), but because of the weird season, there were a lot of doubleheaders that were played in the final week of the season. That doesn’t usually happen in a normal season and, as Niv said, it would be non-trivial to address this (likely) non-recurring issues.

2 Likes

Everything @walt526 said here is correct, and I’ll make sure the rules are updated to reflect the reality of the positional game caps.

thank you

1 Like

I think Otto is great and you do a fantastic job Niv. I also think the linked double headers is a problem that should be addressed. Intuitively, it make no sense that it is either all or none. Therefore, I would imagine it is a programing issue. You always figure out a ways to improve the game, I think this issue should be one of focus. Thanks again for a great season.

Lawrence

1 Like

Given that it isn’t a guaranteed advantage to go over caps and that doubleheaders are (outside of 2020) increasingly rare, I’m not sure the amount of effort required would be worth the benefit compared to the other things I’d like to work on. I’ll continue to track this and see if in a season length closer to 162 if this is a big issue.

Hi Niv,

It is not about going over as much as it is about daily line-ups and double headers. You have a better sense of priorities, but I am sure most people are bummed with the lack of flexibility of double headers. Thanks

I believe we’ve already had this conversation on the related wishlist forums thread: