barterer2002 wrote:So I guess the question is which is worse. Setting up a league so 12 teams are competing for prizes or joining an auto league where one team sets up to win these prizes? In the first the players best suited to win get distributed amongst the teams as everyone has the same goals. In the second the best players for the contest are consolidated on one team where the other teams may not even know the contest is occurring.
Stack a league or stack one team. Does it really matter? Why is one bad and the other is fine?
EDITING MY RESPONSE TO MAKE IT LESS CONFUSING ...
The issue that I am highlighting is when a league is built to give EVERYONE IN THE LEAGUE an advantage (see the parameters of the league in question) that is the situation. When a league is specifically constructing to sabotage the contest or at the very least circumvent the "spirit" of the contest, that is where I see a problem.
Several points I'd like to bring up relative to your counterpoint (which is a reasonable counterpoint by the way):
1) When vying to win one of these contests, it is not at all uncommon to have multiple teams "going for it". I see it all the time where multiple teams all go for the same players that fit the mold of the contest.
2) There are typically dozens of teams that are clearly trying to win the freebies based on the construction of the team and/or the actual name of the team.
3) Granted there might be less people trying to draft the same players in a standard league, BUT what you are not considering is that in a standard league, your divisional opponents can easily game plan for your team. Example: If I'm going for the Stolen Base Contest, all my divisional opponents need to do is load up on good hold pitchers and strong
armed catchers and they will totally negate your chances and you have no control over it.
4) Now let's say your trying to win the HR Contest and you draft the perfect Polo '41 team, if you end up in a small ball heavy division and/or league, it doesn't matter how good your team is, you're screwed.
5) In the fewest pitcher walks contest several months back, every pitcher on my staff had ZERO WALKS on their card. But, I didn't even place in the top 25, why? Because a team in my division built a super high OBP team with tons of walks on their hitters cards. A single team ruined my chances of competing in the contest, not intentionally, it was just the way it worked out.
The key point is that I do not believe there is an inherent advantage to a Standard League
Conversely, in a League with specific rules such as the league referenced in this post, there is no way to negate it because all teams are bound by the same BENEFICIAL rules. Such as bad hold ratings and bad catcher throwing arms.
And you are 100% correct when you say it's not against the rules, but it is against the spirit of the contest.
That being said, I think that Strat NEEDS TO PUT RULES IN PLACE MOVING FORWARD. As has been mentioned, the simplest solution is probably to only allow auto leagues and perhaps to not allow extreme salary caps.