How to level the playing field? Saturday morning thoughts?

I'm commish in 5 traditional 12-team leagues that have been around for years, and occasionally we see the disparities that SWKL had for the 2022 cardset. See comparison of salaries vs. wins at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... =247515018

Sometimes a manager will gather unicorns for short-term gain, as I did this season. At other times, we see the more thoughtful managers picking the pockets of the lesser teams, by trading quantity for quality. The top 20 players can make a huge difference in a Strat 12-team league!

I'm also commish in 3 other leagues which have not seen this type of problem:
- One is a 24-team league with 28-player rosters, which spreads the talent around to a much greater degree
- The other two are 18-team leagues with 25-player rosters, with:
.....$110 mil salary cap, and
.....No trading of future draft picks allowed

I'd be curious if there are other ways to try to level the playing field? What are some rule variations that have been effective in other keepers?

The Keep a dozen league where you only can keep 12 players and redraft after season 1 keeps players circulating...

I am in two leagues where you can keep any number of players...I believe that makes it harder for the poor teams to improve...

in another league that keeps 30 players the evolution has been to draft more flyers as you might hit on one or more and cut the misses... There were some years where I hit on 3 of the flyers and then traded all of them to a bottom team for one of their stars....that kept me near the top and made the weaker teams more competitive...

I think if the roster keeper limits were even lower maybe 25 there would be more player movement.

i am in 8 keepers 12 teams and would prefer 35 man rosters in lieu of 40 man rosters to keep players moving around

I have thoughts, and you won't like the first of them, because it runs counter to your premise. In a keeper league why does the playing field need to be level for all the teams? To me, that just punishes the good managers. Now that said, I set up my keepers to ensure that there are two different playoff teams for every season played. You do that by lumping the playoff teams from the previous season into one division after every season played. Most, if not all keepers, play two seasons per set, (I'm not aware of any that only play one, but they may be out there.) By stacking the divisions having all the playoff teams from a previous season in one division you ensure two new playoff teams for every season run. We all know anything can happen in a short season and have seen 84-win WC teams run the table and knock off 100+ win teams. It happens so often I wonder if HAL does something behind the scenes to get the underdogs championships frankly. If you aren't using this little trick to change your divisions up every season, that's one way to give a chance to the lower rung teams to win.

I've been running keepers for a long time, and the format I decided was best was one that forced team to cut to 15 players and then add promotions for prospects. I also prefer only allowing a two round prospect draft. That seems to keep a steady flow of talent available in the free agent drafts to make those high draft picks worthwhile. Don't allow prospects to be held indefinitely. 2 years max, then it's promote them or cut them. That forces managers to put uncarded men on their 40-man rosters which also helps push more carded players into the pool.
I'd also argue that having a really good team is cyclical. Teams on top can fall off a cliff in one card set if/when most of their good players have an off year. God knows I've had it happen to me.

Just my 2 cents. YMMV

bump

Any Saturday morning thoughts?

What are some of the more unusual rules that have been tried?

I commished a league some years ago and would consider co-commishing again.
40 player draft- no prospects- must have card to be drafted
Two seasons, but here's the difference that makes it competitive for everyone. First season is 60 or 80 mil salary cap, second season is 200 mil- You must use same players to make your 80 and your 200.

Scatter plots! I need to up my Commish game. I think most of the adjustments you could make have been noted here, Terry. Some you are already doing in the 3 "other leagues". The range of salaries ($76M) in the league you linked is higher than the norm that I see in leagues I am in. Perhaps that's why you are bringing up this topic. Typical in my leagues is a range from $95M to $145M.

You could ask the managers of your other 5 leagues if they would like to have a rule change to make things more level.
But I suspect they are in that particular league because of its current rules. If they are unhappy, they could leave and wait for a spot in a league with rules that allow for more rapid advancement (or decline!).

Btw, never say never, but here is a standard KL team managed by blsmith7 with a RV that I doubt will be topped.
Before roster expansion from 26 to 28 the RV was $175.53. Of course it lost in the Finals.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1690620

Scatter plots! I need to up my Commish game. I think most of the adjustments you could make have been noted here, Terry. Some you are already doing in the 3 "other leagues". The range of salaries ($76M) in the league you linked is higher than the norm that I see in leagues I am in. Perhaps that's why you are bringing up this topic. Typical in my leagues is a range from $95M to $145M.

You could ask the managers of your other 5 leagues if they would like to have a rule change to make things more level.
But I suspect they are in that particular league because of its current rules. If they are unhappy, they could leave and wait for a spot in a league with rules that allow for more rapid advancement (or decline!).

Btw, never say never, but here is a standard KL team managed by blsmith7 with a RV that I doubt will be topped.
Before roster expansion from 26 to 28 the RV was $175.53. Of course it lost in the Finals.

https://365.strat-o-matic.com/team/1690620

Wow, thanks, Bob. Smitty had one helluva team there!

I have thoughts, and you won't like the first of them, because it runs counter to your premise. In a keeper league why does the playing field need to be level for all the teams? To me, that just punishes the good managers. Now that said, I set up my keepers to ensure that there are two different playoff teams for every season played. You do that by lumping the playoff teams from the previous season into one division after every season played. Most, if not all keepers, play two seasons per set, (I'm not aware of any that only play one, but they may be out there.) By stacking the divisions having all the playoff teams from a previous season in one division you ensure two new playoff teams for every season run. We all know anything can happen in a short season and have seen 84-win WC teams run the table and knock off 100+ win teams. It happens so often I wonder if HAL does something behind the scenes to get the underdogs championships frankly. If you aren't using this little trick to change your divisions up every season, that's one way to give a chance to the lower rung teams to win.

I've been running keepers for a long time, and the format I decided was best was one that forced team to cut to 15 players and then add promotions for prospects. I also prefer only allowing a two round prospect draft. That seems to keep a steady flow of talent available in the free agent drafts to make those high draft picks worthwhile. Don't allow prospects to be held indefinitely. 2 years max, then it's promote them or cut them. That forces managers to put uncarded men on their 40-man rosters which also helps push more carded players into the pool.
I'd also argue that having a really good team is cyclical. Teams on top can fall off a cliff in one card set if/when most of their good players have an off year. God knows I've had it happen to me.

Just my 2 cents. YMMV

I have to agree with Bill on most of this. Why punish good teams that are able to build “dynasties”. As mentioned though this rarely happens as teams can be derailed quickly.
For example recently I lost Bieber and likely Strider on the same day to TJS.
As I’ve mentioned before I actually like taking over terrible teams and turning them around even if it takes a couple years.

All that said, I guess it’s good to have variety and people can join the type of keeper League they prefer.