i see that yahoo has added a customizeable schedule this year. Ive been wanting that for a while but now im not sure how to go about it. I wanted to use last years standings but not nessecarily to give the bottom-feeders an easy schedule, more to prevent anybody from playing all the patsies twice and everybody else once. (the bottomfeeders are already given their help in the draft order and will probably already have that advantage going for them).We have a 10 team league and play 13 weeks of regular season, so you end up playing everyone once and 4 teams twice. How can i make sure everybody plays an equally competitive balance in those 4 games?
Also had the idea of matching up league rivals to coincide with rivalry week of college football. not sure if that would mess things up.
It all depends on how many divisions and how many weeks the playoffs runs, but this is a little idea of how we run my 10 team league...
We have two divisions of 5, lottery system done prior to the auction draft (In regular draft you would have to split divisions by draft order, ie div I odd number picks, DII even number picks)
Teams in division play each other x2
Teams out of division play x1
^^^ This takes you to week 13 which is what you run. We have an additional regular season out of division game in week 14 which is picked random (you could also opt for deeper playoffs if you wish)
Week 15 and 16 are playoffs, we take week 17 out of the schedule.
Yes, 4 total make playoffs - 2 division Champs and then 2 best records no matter the division. Every year it always goes down to the wire of who will make it.
the more i think about this the more i like it. teams would compete against teams in the division which all have the same schedule, eliminating the luck of the schedule component. thanks!
what do you think about top 2 teams in each division making playoffs and 2 wildcards, one going to remaining team w/ best record, and the other with highest points? wonder if yahoo would let me do that...i like to factor in seasonal points because you cant really control your opponents points, and wins/losses are not always reflective of team strength imo, but points are.
Wow, after I read your post I went back 5 years and compared some of the stats and what it would result to (let me know if you want some raw data, and I will send)...
Your wildcard idea is GREAT! Especially if you like or must have 6 teams in playoffs. My only downfall is that in fantasy football once you make the playoffs its all up in the air. You could easily get a wildcard spot while in 4th place in the division just from having highest points tally (two of the last 5 years showed that could happen). After that, putting a 3 win streak would grant you the championship With as hard as the playoffs are in fantasy football, I dont like 60% of the league making the playoffs, it takes a lot out of the regular season games.
One more thing I would recommend is to make the tie breaker scenarios of who advances very clear before the start of the season. We currently use head to head records (adds even more value to regular season games, especially interconferance), then points for, then points against.
we've always let 8/10 teams into playoffs, but cutting that to 6 this year. baby steps . For the same reason that you mentioned. last year a 6 or 7 seed snuck in, got hot and won the SB. this year we're cutting to 6 and giving the top 2 teams byes.
i think the division system will equal out the schedule, and probably still get the top 6 records in the playoffs. so should i give the top 2 seeds to division champs or best 2 records?
and how do you divide into divisions? randomly? or odds/evens draft position, since we already have that set.
I believe the top two seeds should go to division champs (hands down, its all about the W's and L's). The way we divide the divisions is done randomly (lottery system) before the draft, BUT we do an auction draft. I believe in a traditional "round robin" draft you have to alternate based on draft position like you said. ie picks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 Division I, picks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 Division II
As far as Yahoo goes I am not sure, but CBS.Sportsline is FULLY customizable. You manually input play off schedules.
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by LegendoftheFall » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:32 pm 
With as hard as the playoffs are in fantasy football, I dont like 60% of the league making the playoffs, it takes a lot out of the regular season games. 
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