Week 18 Real Rankings

 

Three weeks to go and its tight at the top. Mike and I benefited from Jason and Pierce playing eachother, as they were first and second in real rankings, but had to settle for 4-6 and 6-4. Mike had a tough week, finishing just below last placer Lars in the real ranking and ending in a split. Shomphe's bad week helped me get to 7-3 for the week and increase my lead over Mike to 5.5 games.

There's 30 games to go, so anything could happen in terms of the regular season championship. The top 5 all have a mathematical shot at the regular season championship and most go head-to-head at some point.  In Week 20, we have a S. Napalm vs. One Nut matchup that could be crucial. This sets up the final week. And, just as the fantasy gods drew it up, the current top four teams all play eachother: Montezumas vs. One Nut and S. Napalm vs. Keepin.

Shomphe has the easiest road, facing three teams that are in the process of selling off -- Anal, Angry, and MET. But he's also got the largest hill to climb, sitting at 19.5 games out.

Remember, payouts go to playoff champion (50%), regular season champ (25%), playoff runner-up (25%), regular season runner-up ($100), and best second half record ($40).

At this point, the Real Rankings are more or less useless when it comes to predicting how things will finish. There has been so much roster turnover in the past week, stats from previous weeks mean very little. There has been an incredible 18 trades involving 68 players and 48 draft picks. (Side note: I may take Dave's suggestion and do a recap when its all done rather than do 20+ reviews.)

At this point, its pretty clear who is selling and who is not. One of the sellers will make it in as Cowhide, Moose, Munchkins, Keepin, One Nut, Napalm, and Montezumas are the only team's looking like they're going to play this thing out.

I could be mistaken, but I believe the only teams that haven't made a move during the restricted trading period are Lars and Brian.

As the final week of trading ensues, try to take a moment and assess the format of the league. Is it too difficult for teams to rebuild? Has the goal of parity been achieved? Are teams staying involved who otherwise may have given up? Are the trade restrictions to limiting? How might it be improved?

My two cents:  I've found the past week to be very exciting. It's a lot of fun seeing proposal and announcements show up in my inbox on almost an hourly basis. While the side emails with various owners has been most enlightening. I also think the format serves its purpose of incentivizing teams to wait until later in the season to sell-off assets and has improved the integrity of the league by limiting dead teams and making each week competitive. While I'm sure sellers would like to do it sooner, its hard to argue against the format when a team is going to be done drafting by the 15th round (two others by the 20th, one done at 17th with one pick in the 20th). And while I also understand its difficult to acquire keepers, the offseason trading period is a great opportunity to add, look no further than my deal with Kyle (McCutchen for Kimbrel, JUpton, and Bautista). That said, I am looking for ways to improve.  I just ask you take some time to think about it and leave a post or email so we don't forget when January comes around and its time to discuss it again. The NA slot and more DL slots always seem to come up as well.