Monthly Contest "Rigging"

The October Monthly contest is for Most Stolen Bases. If you look at the standings, 9 of the top 10 teams are all from the same league. https://365.strat-o-matic.com/league/471943

Look at the rules of that league and tell me if you think they should be allowed to compete in an above board contest?

Here are the full league rules:

1)Owners must use Forbes 1957 (a high OBP park)
2)Every position player (except catchers) on the team must have minimum A or better steal rating on their real-life SOM card
3)SP only; NO SP/RP .. NO SP salary exceeds 6m (no lights out starters allowed)
4)RP only; NO SP/RP out of the pen ..NO RPO salary exceeds 2m (no lights out relievers allowed)
5)All pitchers must have a +1 or worse hold rating
6)All catchers must be a 4/5 def rating AND +1 or worse arm
7)C only cards only unless they are A steal rating AND 4/5 def AND +1 or worse arm

And Yes, I am the ONLY team in the top 10 who is NOT in that league and Yes, that is why I am complaining, because I made a good team for the contest all things being equal, unfortunately, all things are not equal.

But if Strat is going to run these contests, there needs to be some rules against extreme leagues because they create an unlevel playing field for everyone who makes an "honest effort" at winning the contest, but when the deck is stacked against you, it's simply unfair.

I would like to suggest that Strat only allow leagues between 60-120 Million Salary Cap. 30 & 40 Million cap league could heavily favor pitching contests and 200 Million and higher caps could affect any contest due to the ALL superstar rosters.

They should also disqualify any leagues with special conditions like those shown above.

We have seen this before with a league that only allowed Bomber Parks and Sub $1M pitchers, they were literally every one of the top 12 spots in the Most HR Contest.

Wow! That is very unfair. Clearly, the league was designed to promote SB. With only a couple of prizes though, I guess it doesn't really matter to all the teams in the league who did not make the top spots?

With only a couple of prizes though, I guess it doesn't really matter to all the teams in the league who did not make the top spots?

But, it does matter to literally every other person who is not in that league who thought they had an honest chance to compete in the contest, only to have this league completely nullify their efforts.

I am in agreement with the Sweet Swinger. I have never tried to win one of these monthly contests but if I had attempted to I would have expected that it was limited to auto leagues.

To each his own, laissez-faire, but I never care about these monthly contests. Would never distort my teams to just win credits, happy to pay for them if I have to. Just my 2 cents.

What are the contest prizes?

Three credits for first place, two for second and one for third. One credit for random team in top ten.

I agree with Sweet Swinger as well even though I am a member of the BOS group. Other monthly challenge categories can also be manipulated easily through structured leagues (most Home runs or strikeouts or fewest walks, etc.)

As of this morning, 10 of the top 12 teams in the contest: https://365.strat-o-matic.com/event/challenge/49 are from the aforementioned league.

(the two that aren't in that league are both teams of mine)

Sweet Swinging brings up an interesting point. Here's my take...

I think it's fine to enter a theme league that is designed to maximize home runs, runs, stolen bases, etc., as these leagues are wild and fun. If such a league happens to yield contest winners, perhaps that is okay. However, a league specifically designed to win a contest - that doesn't seem right to me either.

Maybe Strat should change the contest rules to state that contest winners cannot come from any theme leagues?