Consolation Playoffs?

[Ft. Myers Conquistadors]

**After a few seasons of steady ownership, we lost four owners this year. Maybe we need to shake up the league a little bit, maybe we don't, but I'm going to throw out a few polls for possible changes (nothing drastic) that will attempt to keep owners more engaged during the season and offseason**

I brought this to a vote a few years ago; it was close but voted down. I'd like to see if sentiment has changed at all. We each pay 120 bucks, yet 60% of our owner's seasons are over in mid-August, that seems like a waste to me.

Draft pick positioning is the only prize that seems both worth playing for and not too important. We do this in our other league and it keep some people engaged. I'm open for other ideas on prizes for this though.

We currently use a 4-team consolation bracket system in the other league where teams 17-20 play for picks 1-4; 13-16 play for picks 5-8; 9-12 play for picks 9-12. This has lead to a decent amount of tanking to enter the picks 1-4 bracket. I'm currently polling there for a change to a system where teams 17-20 are locked into picks 8-5 respectively. This leaves teams 9-16 to play for picks 1-4 and 9-12. That is the system I propose here.

[San Fran Earthquakes]

I'm against the prize being draft pick positioning. Obviously the worst few teams have the least likely chance of getting the winning and getting the top pick. While only losing one or maybe two positions may not be a huge deal in some years, in other years (i.e., the Bryce Harper years), it can be. Even if it's not my team, I'd much rather a generational talent go to the team the needs it the most. Plus, when you do have one of the worst teams, it's like a kick in the gut to lose out on draft position because your team lets you down once again. There can be ways to keep people engaged, but don't kick them while their down.

What we do in some of my other leagues is play for a consolation pick at the end of the 1st round of the draft, so like add a pick #21. Now in most other leagues, we only have one draft in the spring that includes the recent draftees. But here we'd have to choose whether to do that in the spring draft or summer draft. What could be interesting is giving the winner the option to get an extra pick in the draft of their choice.

[Pittsburgh Lollygaggers]

Everything you said about the team finishing 20th would most likely apply in equal measure to the teams finishing 17th, 18th, and 19th. So I still think an end-of-the-season playoff among those teams would accomplish the objective of giving them incentive to keep their teams somewhat competitive for the playoff. And it's not like the 20th place team is going to be completely overmatched by the 17th place team.

EDIT:  My bad, I was misreading the proposed rule change, and was instead thinking of the commish's statement of what they do in his "other" league.  I realize now that here the proposal is that teams 17-20 get locked into picks 8-5.  So let me take back what I said.  You have a good point --- I'll consider changing my vote.

[Ft. Myers Conquistadors]

Dec 1, 2018 15:22:46 GMT San Fran Earthquakes said:

I'm against the prize being draft pick positioning. Obviously the worst few teams have the least likely chance of getting the winning and getting the top pick. While only losing one or maybe two positions may not be a huge deal in some years, in other years (i.e., the Bryce Harper years), it can be. Even if it's not my team, I'd much rather a generational talent go to the team the needs it the most. Plus, when you do have one of the worst teams, it's like a kick in the gut to lose out on draft position because your team lets you down once again. There can be ways to keep people engaged, but don't kick them while their down.

What we do in some of my other leagues is play for a consolation pick at the end of the 1st round of the draft, so like add a pick #21. Now in most other leagues, we only have one draft in the spring that includes the recent draftees. But here we'd have to choose whether to do that in the spring draft or summer draft. What could be interesting is giving the winner the option to get an extra pick in the draft of their choice.

Unfortunately, the reality is that the 20th placed team is probably not paying attention throughout the season. You can sell off assets and still reasonably compete if your using free agency properly. I don't think we should reward teams for selling and tanking. I would rather reward teams that sell off and continue to compete. This is a competition, right? The 9th placed team is usually around .500, so if you think they are unfairly superior, I think that's just competitive laziness.

[San Fran Earthquakes]

Well, my team ended up as the #20th place team. Are you suggesting I wasn't paying attention? Not setting my lineups? You think I was being lazy?

You (and many others) confuse tanking and rebuilding. I certainly wasn't purposely trying to lose. I'm not against having a "loser" bracket, it's just the incentive that needs adjusting. Either reward with an extra draft pick (if you really are interested in helping the bad teams rebuild) or offer a cash reward. But to basically make the top of a draft a lottery in which the worst team likely has the worst odds at winning is wrong.

[Ft. Myers Conquistadors]

You're an exception to the 20th place statement I made. We've been playing together for a decade, I know you're no slouch.

I do disagree with the final statement you made. You as the 20th team last year had a .417 win%. Chalfont at 9th had a .482. Is he that much better than you to the point it's unfair?

Let's compete to not be bottom of the table during the season and let's compete to earn top picks. Both can be done even while rebuilding. I think it's a win-win all around.

[San Fran Earthquakes]

All playoffs are a crapshoot, particularly when you're talking about a random week (or two) during the season with injuries, slumps, etc. Why leave draft positions up to mere chance. When rebuilding, draft picks are the one of the best ways to do that and something that we all get excited about. When my team sucks, the worst thing to do is tell me now I don't even get the benefit of my team sucking that poorly.

I'm all for competitiveness and providing an incentive for that. But I'm against using the top draft choices as collateral. Like I said, use a monetary incentive or even better (at least in my opinion) is providing the opportunity for the chance to earn an additional draft pick.

[Phoenix Rising]

Someone has to finish in 20th place, even if we all compete.

[Ft. Myers Conquistadors]

Consolation playoff proposition has passed