Why the CUTLINE needs to become a season long contest

[TRAIN]

I think one of the reasons that there were less signups this year is because of the playoff format. I can envision "new players" to the NFBC last year being completely eliminated at the All-Star break and saying: "I won't be signing up for this next year".

Basically, if your team(s) does not have a good 1st half of the baseball season, you are out of luck. If you lose a couple of high draft picks to injury in the 1st half that are scheduled to come back in the 2nd half, too bad - you don't get to use them because you've been eliminated at the All-Star break.

Although I love the 2nd FAAB where you are forced to use all of your remaining FAAB in one shot, the reality is you only have these new pickups for 1 month. If you are down in the standings, that is not much time to make up ground and you will probably be eliminated at the All-Star break.

Le Grand Orange, one of the NFBC veterans, wrote in another thread:
"I'd say half of my replacements were due to injury and the other half poor performance. However, I was very surprised at how few pickups there were overall".

Could the reason that there were few pickups overall be because a lot of teams didn't even bother to do FAAB because they were down in the standings and thought that 1 month's worth of statistics wouldn't keep them from being eliminated at the All-Star break?

The Cutline is a contest where you can make big moves in a single day as evidenced by what KJ Duke did last year when he went from #134 to #1 in one day. So, why eliminate half of the teams at the All-Star break?

As far as I know, no other NFBC regular season baseball contest has a playoff scenario during the regular season. Why is the Cutline set up this way?

If all of the other NFBC contests had half of the teams being eliminated at the All-Star break, I think you would see a lot less signups for those contests as well.

[Greg Ambrosius]

As far as I know, no other NFBC regular season baseball contest has a playoff scenario during the regular season. Why is the Cutline set up this way?

I can easily answer this, but I'll let others respond to your full post first. I don't want to give it away just yet.

[KJ Duke]

As far as I know, no other NFBC regular season baseball contest has a playoff scenario during the regular season. Why is the Cutline set up this way?

If all of the other NFBC contests had half of the teams being eliminated at the All-Star break, I think you would see a lot less signups for those contests as well.

The cutline concept "is" that teams get cut, which began as a successful football contest and was adapted for baseball. It makes for an exciting finish which traditional roto doesn't necessarily have. Regarding some teams not being active in FAAB, the same thing happens in roto baseball for several months in most leagues, not just one period.

In terms of ending the contest a few weeks early, the final few days and weeks of roto consist of piecing together September callups with veterans who are frequently sitting. Late September baseball is not unlike Week 17 in football which doesn't count because you don't want a fantasy playoff determined largely by backups and rookies.

........ I'd like to have an optimal lineup, season-long no-FAAB contest that used cutline-based points too, but that would be a completely different contest.

[TRAIN]

So change the name from "CUTLINE" to "OPTIMAL SORING CONTEST" if there are to be no cuts and thus keep most people involved for the whole season.

I don't see how the playoffs make for a more exciting finish than any regular NFBC baseball contest when you are in contention.

I could see ending the contest a few weeks early like the CUTLINE does now to avoid the unpredictable lineup changes that happen every year in September. So the "full season" would actually end a few weeks early. No problem.

I have played in full season contests and I know that some people give up in maybe August or September. But to not be active in FAAB in early June with 4 months left in the MLB season tells me that eliminating half of the teams by the All-Star break is not a good idea.

[KJ Duke]

So change the name from "CUTLINE" to "OPTIMAL SORING CONTEST" if there are to be no cuts and thus keep most people involved for the whole season.

I don't see how the playoffs make for a more exciting finish than any regular NFBC baseball contest when you are in contention.

I could see ending the contest a few weeks early like the CUTLINE does now to avoid the unpredictable lineup changes that happen every year in September. So the "full season" would actually end a few weeks early. No problem.

I have played in full season contests and I know that some people give up in maybe August or September. But to not be active in FAAB in early June with 4 months left in the MLB season tells me that eliminating half of the teams by the All-Star break is not a good idea.

It's not just the name, it's the league concept. If you eliminate the playoffs you change the core of the contest. If you don't like the concept but do like the optimal scoring, that's fine, but it makes it a completely different contest. Thus, your headline should be "let's have an optimal scoring season-long contest", rather than "the Cutline" shouldn't have a cutline.

I'm totally on board with that as another contest, and I'd make it faabless as well.

[Top Dawg]

It sounds like The Train would like to see some sort of optimal scoring DC league. That would be a different concept and not what this format is all about. In this format, half the teams have a shot at bigger money and half get "folded" away at the AllStar break. That's when the "cuts" as in "cutline" start.

If anything at all, maybe that 2nd FAAB period could be a week sooner so we get an extra week to catch up to the top 5 teams. But, I am perfectly happy with the way it is.

That said, I did extremely well in last year's football Cutline. If that format had "optimal scoring" for the playoffs I might have gotten a really nice check. Too many good options on my teams and not enough right lineup decision making on my part.

[Tom Kessenich]

So change the name from "CUTLINE" to "OPTIMAL SORING CONTEST" if there are to be no cuts and thus keep most people involved for the whole season.

I don't see how the playoffs make for a more exciting finish than any regular NFBC baseball contest when you are in contention.

I could see ending the contest a few weeks early like the CUTLINE does now to avoid the unpredictable lineup changes that happen every year in September. So the "full season" would actually end a few weeks early. No problem.

I have played in full season contests and I know that some people give up in maybe August or September. But to not be active in FAAB in early June with 4 months left in the MLB season tells me that eliminating half of the teams by the All-Star break is not a good idea.

It's not just the name, it's the league concept. If you eliminate the playoffs you change the core of the contest. If you don't like the concept but do like the optimal scoring, that's fine, but it makes it a completely different contest. Thus, your headline should be "let's have an optimal scoring season-long contest", rather than "the Cutline" shouldn't have a cutline.

I'm totally on board with that as another contest, and I'd make it faabless as well.

That's the Draft Champions albeit changing it to completely optimal scoring. If that was something a lot of people wanted it might make more sense to change the DC format rather than create an almost identical game with one minor difference.

[KJ Duke]

That's the Draft Champions albeit changing it to completely optimal scoring. If that was something a lot of people wanted it might make more sense to change the DC format rather than create an almost identical game with one minor difference.

You don't think there's room for both a managed DC and an optimal-scoring DC? Sure they're similar, but so are FAAB leagues whose only difference is 15 vs 12 teams, and both of those are surviving.

To make optimal-DC different from both the existing DC and cutline, maybe they could be 12-team no-FAAB/no-lineup leagues. That seems sufficiently different to be a unique format compared to existing options.

[Tom Kessenich]

That's the Draft Champions albeit changing it to completely optimal scoring. If that was something a lot of people wanted it might make more sense to change the DC format rather than create an almost identical game with one minor difference.

You don't think there's room for both a managed DC and an optimal-scoring DC? Sure they're similar, but so are FAAB leagues whose only difference is 15 vs 12 teams, and both of those are surviving.

To make optimal-DC different from both the existing DC and cutline, maybe they could be 12-team no-FAAB/no-lineup leagues. That seems sufficiently different to be a unique format compared to existing options.

If the interest in both was there I'd be all for it. On the surface I'd be concerned about doing something to negatively impact one of our strongest formats and one that's growing significantly every year. But if those fears were unsubstantiated I wouldn't want to stand in the way of adding a format our players wanted.

[KJ Duke]

Understandable. If starting with just standalone leagues to see how it plays out and if people like it ...shouldn't impact the overall contest much.

[Greg Ambrosius]

That's the Draft Champions albeit changing it to completely optimal scoring. If that was something a lot of people wanted it might make more sense to change the DC format rather than create an almost identical game with one minor difference.

You don't think there's room for both a managed DC and an optimal-scoring DC? Sure they're similar, but so are FAAB leagues whose only difference is 15 vs 12 teams, and both of those are surviving.

To make optimal-DC different from both the existing DC and cutline, maybe they could be 12-team no-FAAB/no-lineup leagues. That seems sufficiently different to be a unique format compared to existing options.

There's definitely nothing wrong with adding more contests if it has a unique angle to it. I believe that more optimal scoring leagues is a good thing. Everyone likes to draft and to see draft results, so a new optimal scoring contest isn't the worst idea in the world, as long as it doesn't slow growth in other contests.

Would a 12-team, 50-round, optimal scoring league with no playoffs work? Would folks enjoy just watching results every day for 26+ weeks? Hey, it definitely could work and maybe we do start it with just league prizes next year to test the interest. Nothing wrong with a heavy league prize format and if it deserves merit to look at it as an additional national contest. Or just keep it as private leagues.

It may have merit in a slow draft format. Let's see what folks say.

[TRAIN]

Hey, if there are enough people to support 2 optimal scoring contests with different concepts (the Cutline and a full season optimal scoring contest) fine. The reason I proposed changing the Cutline is because that is the only optimal scoring contest being offered now.

However, I do like the 2 FAAB events that are part of the Cutline now and would support a 3rd FAAB event in early August (with additional FAAB money being added for just that 3rd FAAB event) as well if a new optimal were to become a "full season" contest.

So this new optimal scoring contest would have 3 FAAB events each 2 months apart - 1st week in April, 1st week in June, and 1st week in August. The first 2 FAAB events would be limited to $1000 in FAAB money to cover both (this is to preserve the exhilaration of being forced to spend all of your remaining FAAB money in the 2nd FAAB event). In the 3rd FAAB event, each team would be given an additional $500 in FAAB money to spend for just that event. With this type of setup, I believe everybody who entered this contest would stay involved thru most of the season and that it would be appealing to new customers as well

Although the DC, the way it is today, seems to be perfectly setup for optimal scoring, the MLB season is way too long of a season for me to not be able to have any FAAB to replace injured or irrelevant players.

[KJ Duke]

Would a 12-team, 50-round, optimal scoring league with no playoffs work? Would folks enjoy just watching results every day for 26+ weeks? Hey, it definitely could work and maybe we do start it with just league prizes next year to test the interest. Nothing wrong with a heavy league prize format and if it deserves merit to look at it as an additional national contest. Or just keep it as private leagues.

Sign me up for the first $400 optimal-scoring slow draft !

[DOUGHBOYS]

Would a 12-team, 50-round, optimal scoring league with no playoffs work? Would folks enjoy just watching results every day for 26+ weeks? Hey, it definitely could work and maybe we do start it with just league prizes next year to test the interest. Nothing wrong with a heavy league prize format and if it deserves merit to look at it as an additional national contest. Or just keep it as private leagues.

Sign me up for the first $400 optimal-scoring slow draft !

12 teams, 60 rounds to cover the injury trend escalating....
It would also add to the strategies of bench players or prospects...
Still 30 picks less than 15-50's

[KJ Duke]

Would a 12-team, 50-round, optimal scoring league with no playoffs work? Would folks enjoy just watching results every day for 26+ weeks? Hey, it definitely could work and maybe we do start it with just league prizes next year to test the interest. Nothing wrong with a heavy league prize format and if it deserves merit to look at it as an additional national contest. Or just keep it as private leagues.

Sign me up for the first $400 optimal-scoring slow draft !

12 teams, 60 rounds to cover the injury trend escalating....
It would also add to the strategies of bench players or prospects...
Still 30 picks less than 15-50's

Maybe somewhere in the middle Dan? Last few rds in the 15's there are an awful lot of reaches, and a little less shallow to appeal to slightly less hard core wouldn't be bad. Where's the cutoff in 15's seem to be when you reach the point where you're drafting guys who probably won't be up 'til September, at best, or middle relievers just in the case of huge DL numbers? Plus with better quality benches already in a 12-teamer those end of bench guys form the 15s would play even less.

[DOUGHBOYS]

I don't agree.
We are already shaving 30 picks.
Injuries are piling up everywhere.
I've played Leury Garcia, Joe Biagini, Joaquin Benoit, Pat Neshek, and a host of other players grabbed in the 40's rounds of Draft Championships.
Besides, if we kept it at 12-50, We'd have the bad feeling of leaving too many players 'on the table'.

Others should chime in with their thoughts....

[Deadheadz]

I'm happy to try out an Optimal Scoring DC with no FAAB as long as it's 15 or 12 teams.

If the Cutline continues as a 10 team league game I want to see it keep the FAAB twice a season. It can have playoffs to keep it unique.