Draft Strategy for a 24 Team 80s League

I will not do it again. Although there were more trades, there is very limited ability to improve your team once the season begins. My team is the worst in the league at 56-79. 16-35 in one run games doesn't help. It has been a very frustrating season.

Mike

Just to reiterate what I said earlier. 24 team 60 mil cap works for the 90s game, I've done it before and it went pretty well.

I would not ever try 24 team leagues regardless of cap for either the 70s or 80s game unless more players are infused into the sets. This league here confirms what I suspected was going to be the case.

I agree with voovits that it has to be a $60 million cap. But I disagree and would play a 70's or 80's 24 team league with a $60 million cap.

I am surprised by the parity in the league. I think we are 133 games into it and my team has played 56 one run games. Another team in my division is 15-37 in one run games. They would be in the playoff hunt if they had won even half of those games. Maybe this a fluke, but I thought the lack of moves would create dominant 110 win teams and others with 50 some wins. It didn't happen in this league.

I agree with voovits that it has to be a $60 million cap. But I disagree and would play a 70's or 80's 24 team league with a $60 million cap.

I am surprised by the parity in the league. I think we are 133 games into it and my team has played 56 one run games. Another team in my division is 15-37 in one run games. They would be in the playoff hunt if they had won even half of those games. Maybe this a fluke, but I thought the lack of moves would create dominant 110 win teams and others with 50 some wins. It didn't happen in this league.

I agree with this, and in hindsight I agree that $60 mill for now would be the best option, although $80 mill might work for the 90s set. Actually, this was a lot of fun in many respects: it's a challenge to manipulate your rosters and not to have a ton of free agency choices, and its more believable to not have good fielding "2"s and "3"s at every position for many teams. Hopefully, we get some more players in the 70s and 80s sets down the road, and also that people decided to give 60m 24 team leagues a go.

I would be up for a 24 team 60 mil 90s league.
I tried creating one earlier and it didn't work out.
I would definitely create a team if it got enough support.

I think a 24 team 80 mil 80s league is doomed for disaster.

The 80s has a very small player pool as is so 24 teams trying to fill out a 80 million roster is just asking for trouble. I guarantee there will be teams with no chance of winning anything before the season even starts.

The only way 24 teams will work in mystery card is with a 60 million roster, and even then there will be problems in the 80s game.

He is correct. Wish I saw the post before I joined.

I'm not sure I agree, completely. I think it creates a little different game.

This is my second season, so I realize I don't have a lot of experience to talk from. But, for what it's worth, I was surprised in my first season (12 teams), that a number of teams ran thru 30, 40 or 50 free agents during the season.

I don't think that mindset will work in a 24 team league. Going in you know:

1) You will need to work with what you get, there is no large pool of players out there, many of whom could be much better than your middling players. This seems more realistic to me.

2) You will need to be more cognizant of the consequences of drafting a consistent player (3+ good years) compared with drafting an inconsistent player (1 or 2 great years and the rest poor). I would be curious to find out if those who drew lots of bad years did so on consistent or inconsistent cards.

3) You will need to be creative in putting together a lineup to make the most of what you have. This includes making trades based on filling gaps rather than looking for underperformers.

Bottom line for me is I like 24 the team league format and the small pool of free agents. It makes the draft more strategic and I don't think it hurt the parity of the league. 6 games to go, not a single division is locked up and about 12 teams still in the hunt.

Regards,
Steve

I played in the 24 team 80's League and thought it was awesome!!!! My favorite of the 7 leagues I've been in. It seemed more like a real baseball league, with 24 teams and less drop/adds. Forced teams to stick with players and win with who they had or trade.

I just created a new team with the intention of creating another 24 team back to the 80's league, but with a $60M cap and using the DH. I think that type of league should increase the free agent player pool a little bit.

VERY DISAPPOINTED though to find out after creating a team that it's no longer an option to have a 24 team 80's league.

Any chance that SOM will put the Back to the 80's 24 team league option back in place?

I much prefer the 24 team league with less add/drops than the 12 team league, and I'm only interested in playing Back to the 80's right now.

I love the mystery card format and would like to see the option added to limit the number of drop/adds a team can make during a season.

For example, something like:
5 drops max over the first 25 games
10 drops max over the first 50 games
15 drops max for the season