Not in favor at all of playing last week of baseball season

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:10 am

Last night was the best reason I could think of in not cutting short the fantasy season.

Drama on the field as well as the computer.

A wonder of a final day.

Baseball Furies · Post by **Baseball Furies** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:30 am

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

Last night was the best reason I could think of in not cutting short the fantasy season.

Drama on the field as well as the computer.

A wonder of a final day. I could not agree more. I was awestruck by last night's action. As it played out I found myself watching two different t.v. streams while listening on the radio to another game all while on the computer following all of my leagues-a couple of which were hinging on the outcomes of what was transpiring. It has been called the best day of baseball ever all day today in the media, and I can't debate that at least from what I have experienced in my lifetime.

My two cents on this is not to end the season earlier, but simply make an adjustment so that the last three days perhaps you are able to make roster changes daily for all players. I think this handles a lot of what is being debated. Whether you need or want to, everyone would be free to load up equally so that they can field as close to a full squad as possible despite all the crazy roster changes, benchings, pitchers starting on three days rest who were not scheduled to start, etc. Thoughts?

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:50 pm

I hear you Mike (ie daily moves) but it won't fly, not even for the last 3 days. I think the best we'll ever get will be the Monday if the season ends on Wednesday (like this yr). There will be too many people at a disadvantage who can't access their PC's during the day or maybe can't respond fast enough during the day games when the starting lineups come out.

TParsons · Post by **TParsons** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:26 pm

It's really not that much different than football at all. The way the NFFC and other national contests are set up w/ the playoff structure, it would obviously magnify week 17 more if it were to be part of the playoff, but does that mean it would be included even if the playoff structure wasn't set up that way? I don't think so. I've been a part of several non H2H football leagues and none of them included week 17 because many key players were sitting. That's the case here too. You need to look at hitters too, not just pitchers. We're talking over 5% of the entire season here. That 5% could easily make or break virtually every league here. There are a ton of guys shut down because their teams are completely out of it. You have other guys on teams that have clinched and are playing part time or sitting to rest an injury they would otherwise play with (Yankees, Philliies, etc.). To add to that while one of my star hitters, say Ryan Howard for example, is riding the pine because his team has clinched, Matt Kemp is out there playing every day in meaningless games to chase a triple crown against a lot of AAA pitching. Guys that would never be on the active roster if it weren't for the roster expansion. It's really no different than the reason football is cut short at all.

Like I said, I'd love to see it happen, but i don't think it ever will. I don't know if any contest that has ever done it like this and most of the time people are not open to change. With that said, it's not an absurd idea at all. It makes a lot of sense. Sure last night was exciting, but it was exciting because of REAL baseball, not fantasy baseball.

If these games mattered at all to half the teams, Mo would have been in there closing the game out for the Yankees, Arod and Martin wouldn't have been riding the pine, and Betances (although he's probably better than anybody not named CC) would not be starting. If the games don't matter to these teams, should it really matter to our contest?

Gladiators · Post by **Gladiators** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 3:11 am

TParsons- that is some good posting. How many people on here had the league decided on the FINAL NIGHT? I bet quite a few might have...or at least this final week.

There were quite a few MLB teams the last few days that didn't care too much about the final few games....tough to see these final games decide something fantasy wise. Ending the season last week Sunday would have been the way to go IMO.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:11 am

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

Last night was the best reason I could think of in not cutting short the fantasy season.

Drama on the field as well as the computer.

A wonder of a final day. Tom and I were fortunate enough to be in a sports bar together on Wednesday night and watched it all play out with a good group of sports fans. It was an AMAZING night of baseball. It was almost like watching March Madness with Duke (I mean Boston) almost assured a spot in the Sweet Sixteen, only to be upset on a last second shot and eliminated by a Cinderella Team (Tampa Bay) on the biggest comeback in history. The Braves falling apart in extra innings was almost unbelievable.

It was definitely the greatest single regular season day in MLB history. The drama, the number of teams involved in the final playoff spots, the implications for cities that they would be hosting tie-breaker games the next day, then no tie-breaker games, the implications it had on fantasy baseball, city economies, everything just made it the best regular season day of baseball ever. You couldn't have scripted it any better. Dan Johnson hitting .108 and then hitting a home run with two strikes on him? Are you kidding me???

I certainly have my own opinions about this subject and I'm sure you can imagine what they are. Baseball is a marathon, we all agree to that. The distance of a marathon is 26 miles, 385 yards. Now I'm sure most marathon runners would love to have that last 385 yards knocked off, especially coming down to the finish line but it's there for a reason. It's also the toughest part of the race.

This is a season long accumulation of statistics. ALL statistics are measured. Fielder's three home runs on Tuesday mattered. Teixeira's big game on Wednesday mattered. ALL of the statistics mattered this week. And last week, and the week before.

Fantasy baseball's last week is NOT the same as fantasy football's Week 17. It's just not. CONGRATS to all the winners in the NFBC and to Lindy, who persevered through all 2,430 MLB games this season to win by the slimmest of margins. What a great, great, great NFBC season and EVERY DAY was important to our contest.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:18 am

Let me also add, can you imagine the "What If's" for any contest that ended prematurely? Can you imagine the shine that would be taken off a national contest winner if the runner-up had a BIG last week, ran the statistics again and showed how he would have won if the stupid contest had just gone through the end of the season? There are always adjustments to be made to lineups late in the season and there is no way around it. I think we've tried here at the NFBC -- short of what is being called here, to run a contest short of a full season -- and none of it is perfect. The Friday DL rule wasn't perfect, the September DL rule wasn't perfected and the last two weeks of pitcher moves wasn't perfect.

Maybe we as a society just have to realize that not everything is PERFECT. But some things are pretty damn good when played out and left alone. I think I've learned some things about the late season moves and will change our game slightly to reflect those insights going forward. But shortening the season isn't the change that will help this contest. Hearing about folks counting every hit, watching every pitch, playing it out statistically to the very last out and maybe even needing more outs (a tie-breaker game) is what it's all about here.

Again, the way MLB teams run their teams in the last week isn't perfect for fantasy owners. But arbitrarily stating when the season should end isn't perfect either. Far from it in baseball.

NorCalAtlFan · Post by **NorCalAtlFan** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:53 am

As someone who had their fate decided in NFBC Main Events 2 years in a row on literally the last pitch thrown(2009 Tigers-Twins play in game, 2010 SF-SD), I wouldn't change the structure one bit! Play it to the end!

We know the last couple weeks are going to be a grind. We know that we may start someone on a playoff team that only pitches 2 innings just to get loose, we know that we may start a position player that only gets 1 ab the last 2-3 games. And we're all in the same boat! It's why we play this game.

Money · Post by **Money** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:12 am

In baseball the end of the fantasy season should absolutely coincide with the end of the regular season. The last week is a final chance at redemption. We all do our projecting based on a 162 game season. As for some of the other rules that Greg alluded to, many of our opinions are on record and the NFBC will react in what they determine to be in the best interests of their game.

Damn, I needed a TB / Boston playoff to have a shot at catching Sack in a league. Took a shot and started Matt Moore on the basis of an extra game. What a finish to a super fantasy season. Congratulations to all of the league and national winners. You survived the 2011 MLB Regular season.

Now lets gear up for the playoffs. GO TIGERS!!!!

rockitsauce · Post by **rockitsauce** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 7:37 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

Fantasy baseball's last week is NOT the same as fantasy football's Week 17. It's just not. [/QB]ah yes the voice of reason. Thank you so much for saying that Greg...I couldn't agree more.