highest scoring team not making the playoffs

[Dexter Morgan]

Has this ever happened in any of your leagues?

 

I have a chance to be the top scoring team in mine, currently second in total points but within striking distance of #1. however, if I don't win next week, I'm outta the playoffs.

[DMD]

I have seen the highest scoring team be in last place before. It was the strangest thing I ever saw. Every week, he would have a really high score and his opponent would have his best game of the year. I think he literally ended maybe 3-10 or 4-9. It was his first year playing FF and also his last.

[Papajohn]

It ia happening to me right now in my local league.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Papajohn

[faceplant]

I once finished with the most points in the league and tied for last place at 5-8. I was actually rooting for myself to achieve the feat by the end of the season as I saw it as a rarity with my playoff hopes already out of reach.

 

FF is not necessarily fair across one season. Sorry for the hard luck.

[STL Fan]

We instituted a double-header every week schedule to help minimize the risk of this sort of thing, it has worked pretty well so far (about 5 years.) It preserves the head-to-head format of the league, but does a better job of rewarding the teams that score well consistently.

[rajncajn]

Second highest in my local, behind the leader by only 8 points. I've also been the most consistent team all season scoring in the top 5 in all but two weeks and the top score 3 weeks. Yet I'm 6-6 with the most points against and must win this week to get a wildcard berth.

Edited November 27, 2012 by rajncajn

[cdrudge]

 

FF is not necessarily fair across one season.

It's fair as long as it's nondiscriminitory in applying fate. The NFL team that scores the most points in a season doesn't necessarily win the Superbowl...or even make the playoffs. Just look at TB and NO. They are 7th and 11th in the NFL currently but are the top 2 scoring NFL teams.

[detlef]

Perhaps the most stacked team I ever had did this. It was a 4 player keeper and all 4 of mine were top 15 pre-season in a 12 team league. I also nailed my first two picks and was going off week after week but, of course, was always facing the team who had several random guys score 3 of the 6TDs they were going to score that year or something. I think I went something like 4-10

 

Even traded away two of my 6 studs for future draft picks once I was out of it, so I figured I'd get them back next year, but the league disbanded.

[stevegrab]

As you can see it can and does happen. It does suck. If it happens with any regularility in the same league I'd be surprised. Some leagues allocate one or more playoff spots (wild card) to the top scorers, instead of by record. I think that is a fair solution. Other leagues have some portion of the winnings tied to total poits. (We do that with our roster move pot, $2 each, usually around $200. Top 3 in points split that, which can lessen the sting of not making the playoffs.)

 

Right now in my league the points leader is last in his division, at 5-7 and needs a win and some help to make the playoffs.

[Geo33]

I believe the key to fantasy football is consistency. My team is 11-1 and I'm second in scoring. The person ahead of me had a week of 190 points(standard scoring!) and also a few weeks in the sixties. My team has never had below 75 all year and that's why I haven't really lost. It's unfortunate when a team with a lot of points doesn't make the playoffs but hey, life isn't fair sometimes right?

[Thews40]

Happened to me last year. It's why I think total points is a better way to dish out the $$$, with a playoff scenario used for about 35% of the pot. How many times have you seen a killer team with a great record get knocked out in the first round? The objective is to score points, but in a H2H playoff you need luck.

[detlef]

Happened to me last year. It's why I think total points is a better way to dish out the $$$, with a playoff scenario used for about 35% of the pot. How many times have you seen a killer team with a great record get knocked out in the first round? The objective is to score points, but in a H2H playoff you need luck.

 

But it's also about fun and it's way more interesting to have the season broken up into a bunch of small but very meaningful battles. Also, total points rewards teams that may not be all that consistent.

 

I've tried to get the following system implemented in leagues but have failed thus far. I think it addresses most of the problems with other formats.

 

Basically, you score it like a track meet. Everyone is "racing" against everyone each week and you get points based on how you finish, with the difference between the top places higher than that of the bottom. Say a 12 team league is as follows: 20, 16, 13, 11, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You do this for the first 13 weeks and run a 3 week version of the same thing with the top 6 seeds advancing into a similar 3 week deal, giving each seed a bonus at start, not unlike how NASCAR runs its "chase". Each week is scored, 10, 7, 5, 3, 2, 1 and each seed starts with 6,5,4,3,2, and 1 pt respectively.

 

Advantages:

Teams that consistently put up good numbers rise to the top

 

There's always something to root for/against. Think about it. As it stands, there are plenty of weeks where Monday, and maybe Sunday night's game don't matter. You're either too far ahead or behind your opponent. With this, since you're racing everyone for weekly finish points, that will almost never be the case because either you or the people right around you in the weekly points deal will have some action in the game. So, depending on what happens on Monday, you could go from 6th to 3rd or vice-versa.

 

Higher play-off seeds are actually rewarded. I've been on both ends of the deal, putting up huge numbers every week and then have some team who barely sneaks in, go wild and beat me in the play-offs. I've also been that team that got hot. There should be some reward for being a high seed.

 

The entire season doesn't come down to one week. Regardless of how "fairly" you establish who makes the play-offs, you've just gone right back to the same luck-ridden format. With the play-offs being the collection of 3 week's scores, you can salvage a mediocre week 16 if you go off in 14 and 15. And, maybe, there's like 3-4 guys all with a really good shot at the money on the final week. Which would be exciting.

[stevegrab]

detlef,

 

Very interesting formula, the closest I've seen is a simple top X (half of league) gets a win each week based on weekly points. Not H2H, but also wasn't giving any advantage to the top scoring teams (your 20 points for 1st vs. 16 for 2nd). Also like the rewarding of higher playoff seeds, most leagues only do that with a bye for the top few teams (and possibly better chance at larger payout).

[XFlash]

It has happened in our league, at least twice over the past 16 years.

 

The high scoring team those seasons got their points in bunches. They beat teams on the high weeks by a landslide, but when they lost, they lost by minimal points (say the two highest scoring teams that week played each other).

 

It is rare, but it happens.

[bones1979]

This may happen to me this year. Most points, but if i lose next two weeks, im out.

 

To be fair though, i've had teams that were only average in scoring, but lucky in record too. You take what you get. It's mostly luck.

[SheikYerbuti]

Inversely, last year I was 1 win away from winning the regular season with the fewest total points in the entire league. Every team I played against crapped the bed that particular week. But then I got blown out in the last game of the year and finished 4th.

[delusions of grandeur]

In my local, we put in a points leader wildcard for just this reason, and it's worked out very well.

 

Basically, after we seed the 3 division winners, then go to the total points leader among remaining teams and then 2 wildcards.

 

However, I think next year we'll change it to the #6 seed instead of #4 seed, to better help a higher-scoring team who wouldn't be a playoff team otherwise (the points leader wildcard tends to be a playoff team anyway). But the current system has still made the playoff race very interesting, and has kept some teams in it who would otherwise be all but eliminated right now.

[rajncajn]

I'm considering proposing that the highest point getter from each conference that are not a conference champion get the two wildcard spots rather than the traditional tiebreakers.

[kcmast]

I have about 20% more points than 2nd highest score and I'm now in a 3-way tie for last 2 playoff spots.

[kcmast]

In my local, we put in a points leader wildcard for just this reason, and it's worked out very well.

 

Basically, after we seed the 3 division winners, then go to the total points leader among remaining teams and then 2 wildcards.

 

However, I think next year we'll change it to the #6 seed instead of #4 seed, to better help a higher-scoring team who wouldn't be a playoff team otherwise (the points leader wildcard tends to be a playoff team anyway). But the current system has still made the playoff race very interesting, and has kept some teams in it who would otherwise be all but eliminated right now.

 

I'm in a league that does this too. Good idea.

[MnLefty]

I've tried to get the following system implemented in leagues but have failed thus far. I think it addresses most of the problems with other formats.

 

 

I like the concept of this, and have seen but not been a part of leagues that run similar. In those leagues you played everybody each week... So the high score of the week in a 10 man was 9-0 for the week, 2nd was 8-1, down to low score being 0-9. Kept the records that way all the way through to playoffs then ran the playoffs similar for 3 weeks, but only records against playoff teams.

 

The old Fanball actually used to show these records in their 'power rankings' section. Like Detlef's Nascar/track system, it rewarded those who scored high consistently.

[detlef]

I like the concept of this, and have seen but not been a part of leagues that run similar. In those leagues you played everybody each week... So the high score of the week in a 10 man was 9-0 for the week, 2nd was 8-1, down to low score being 0-9. Kept the records that way all the way through to playoffs then ran the playoffs similar for 3 weeks, but only records against playoff teams.

 

The old Fanball actually used to show these records in their 'power rankings' section. Like Detlef's Nascar/track system, it rewarded those who scored high consistently.

 

It seems like the only difference between mine and that way is that that the high placed teams each week aren't given an extra bonus. Not saying one way or the other is better. You'd have to run a few scenarios and decide what you liked.

 

In mine, a team who finished among the top every other week and near the bottom on the others would fare better than someone who finished middle of the pack every week. I guess I think it should be graduated, but not for any really compelling reason.