Method for determining playoff teams

[spodog]

Earlier this week, I talked to the Commish of another H2H league who uses the following system for determining which teams in their league qualify for the playoffs.

- They take 6 of 12 teams to the playoffs
- Seeds #1 and #2 get BYE's in 1st round of playoffs, based upon W-L record
- Seeds #3, #4 and #5 are determined based upon normal W-L records and tiebreakers
- The #6 Seed and final playoff spot is then assigned to whichever team of the remaining teams has the HIGHEST TOTAL STARTING POINTS scored for the season, regardless of W-L record.

What do you think of this method?

Does anyone else use this?

[Dan Lambskin]

i dont like it...it's not fair to have seperate sets of rules like that...and what do you do if you have say the 4,5 and 6 teams all have the same record (or even a 5 and 6), but there is a 7th team with a better point total then some (or all) of them...gotta be a nightmare tiebreaker

i say either go by W-L or use a Victory Point system

[dupree]

That is exactly what my 12 team H2H league does.

The last spot goes to the team that had the highest total points for the season but didn't qualify for one of the traditional 5 playoff spots.

Reason being that last year the team with the highest overall point total in our league finished 8th overall out of 12 teams. While he consistently posted the 2nd highest point total each week more often than not the #1 highest point total of the week was his H2H opponent.

I realize that scheduling is part of the luck of the game (both FF and the real deal) but our league felt that we wanted the strongest teams to make the playoffs and if a team has scored the highest total points over the course of the season that is a pretty good indicator of a strong team. Since it is FF we can do this with the points provisional playoff spot. And for the sixth playoff spot you are normally talking about .500 and below teams anyway so we think it is best to take the cream of this mediocre (record wise) crop based on total points.

It will not always work out that the Points provisional spot will go to a team with a top 3 point total but the they will always be ranked at least 6th in points. really which team deserves the playoffs more:

7-6 / 80pts/week
6-7 / 103pts/week

Our league agreed it should be the 6-7 team who averaged 103pts/week.

In fact this season the two highest scoring teams in the league are ranked 7th and 8th so the points provisional is adding an exciting new twist to the playoff race as the 6th ranked team is scrambling trying to get into that 5th spot as he is way down the list on total points scored and 7th and 8th are still very much alive.

Of course someone will argue that why don't you just go to a points league instead of H2H, well we like to have our cake and eat it to and are very happy with this arrangement so far.

We like it, YMMV.

[dupree]

i dont like it...it's not fair to have seperate sets of rules like that...and what do you do if you have say the 4,5 and 6 teams all have the same record (or even a 5 and 6), but there is a 7th team with a better point total then some (or all) of them...gotta be a nightmare tiebreaker

i say either go by W-L or use a Victory Point system

Spots 4 and 5 use the normal tie breaker (at least in our system) then spot 6 goes to that team of the remaining 7 with the highest point total, there is not nightmare tie breaker because you are not mixing criteria for the same spots.

Spots 1-3 Divisional Winners (we have 3)
Spots 4-5 Best records of out of the remaining 9 teams regardless of divisions
Spot 6 Highest point total of the remaining 7 teams

so A, B, C are all at 7-6 and C at 6-7 has the highest total points then

A,B,C go through normal tie break process for spots 4 and 5 the odd man is out and gets the high seed for ye olde toilet bowl. And C gets the 6th spot.

Of course this is fantasy football so "do watcha like"

[spodog]

It will not always work out that the Points provisional spot will go to a team with a top 3 point total but the they will always be ranked at least 6th in points. really which team deserves the playoffs more:

7-6 / 80pts/week
6-7 / 103pts/week

Our league agreed it should be the 6-7 team who averaged 103pts/week.

You mean last year you just sat around and looked at this after playing 13 games and your owners "decided" what made the most sense in terms of who gets into the playoffs? You did this instead of having a rule set up before the season started?

Geez. Amazed you didn't have a mutiny on your hands if that is the case.

[dupree]

It will not always work out that the Points provisional spot will go to a team with a top 3 point total but the they will always be ranked at least 6th in points. really which team deserves the playoffs more:

7-6 / 80pts/week
6-7 / 103pts/week

Our league agreed it should be the 6-7 team who averaged 103pts/week.

You mean last year you just sat around and looked at this after playing 13 games and your owners "decided" what made the most sense in terms of who gets into the playoffs? You did this instead of having a rule set up before the season started?

Geez. Amazed you didn't have a mutiny on your hands if that is the case.

You obviously have a very low respect for my intelligence...

In the off season we looked at what happened last year, where the highest scoring team was left in the toilet bowl, and changed it for this season to the rules as described above. Documented them clearly along with an OVERLY detailed tie breaker set of rules (as we also had a dust up about how tie breakers for seeding when it involved more than 2 teams).

[flotsamnjetsam]

Earlier this week, I talked to the Commish of another H2H league who uses the following system for determining which teams in their league qualify for the playoffs.

- They take 6 of 12 teams to the playoffs
- Seeds #1 and #2 get BYE's in 1st round of playoffs, based upon W-L record
- Seeds #3, #4 and #5 are determined based upon normal W-L records and tiebreakers
- The #6 Seed and final playoff spot is then assigned to whichever team of the remaining teams has the HIGHEST TOTAL STARTING POINTS scored for the season, regardless of W-L record.

What do you think of this method?

Does anyone else use this?

If the league is all for it than I don't see a problem with it.

With that said, I've never been in a league that does that and I wouldn't want to be. That's the whole purpose of H2H. Sometimes the better team gets unlucky and hits bad matchups and loses. It sucks to be that team but you could have a team go 0-13 and make the playoffs. What's next? Give the last playoff spot to the guy who's bench scored the most points throughout the season? I think it should be one or the other. H2H or points (like Dan said). What if the 6th seed (awarded by points) has the highest point total of anyone in the league? Why not award them the #1 seed and a bye. To me it's just sour grapes over their bad luck. Like I said, I've been there. It sucks. But I've never tried to change the rules of the league in order for that not to happen again. You'll never please everyone no matter how much you fiddle with the rules.

Just my .02.

[latsprewell20002000]

Im assuming that its not the bench included in this right

[flotsamnjetsam]

Im assuming that its not the bench included in this right

[dupree]

In regards to my league, the total points are based on points accumulated by Starters.

The above poster is being overly dramatic about the "slippery slope" that this logic represents, but this is the beauty of FF right, finding a league whose rules suit your approach to the hobby.

It's funny, this same topic is mentioned in the "Commissioner Court" article on FFTODAY.COM http://fftoday.com/articles/shutters/08_cc_wk10.htm

Now that we’ve determined how many teams will participate in your post season, how do we determine who they’ll be? Typically, overall record is used to determine your playoff teams, however many leagues are reserving a playoff spot based on total points. This makes sense when you consider that a team’s won/loss record often has as much to do with luck in scheduling as it does with the actual team’s performance. How many times have you been that team that scored the second highest amount of points in your league for the week and lost the game? Adding a playoff position for a total points champion is a good way to ensure the best teams qualify for the playoffs. My league reserves the final wildcard for the highest scoring team that hasn’t qualified on overall record.