Congratulations to all for making it through the season! And thanks to everyone who reached out to congratulate me on the Revenge’s second championship! Congratulations to Kyle on second place and Chad & Adam on third place! You should have received the payouts ($433.50 & $144.50, respectively) in your PayPal this morning.
Despite a season full of blah action thanks to the roto format, the championship was full of suspense as the universal 3 pm start times on Sunday meant the point totals were all getting finalized around the same time, including key categories of W and SH after the games were complete. First place bounced between Montezuma’s and Angry Pirates dozens of times in the final two hours. While the categories accumulated over the course of the season, in the final hours a rogue SB by Jurickson Profar on Sexual Napalm, a 4 ER 5 IP win by Austin Voth on Ring of Fire, and 1 more K by Montezuma’s over Ex-Presidents ultimately made up the difference. Kyle also lost starts by Matt Shoemaker (last minute change by TOR) and Dylan Bundy (last minute finger cut) on Saturday, which didn’t help. The game and innings limits played a key role in restricting roster structures, but it did effectively level the playing field so the stats were more fueled by quality than quantity (Sunday's influx of pickups for any probable starter with a pulse notwithstanding). Kyle’s squad was in the lead most of the season and one more day might’ve changed the standings again, but it was a great final battle between two deserving squads (even if they were actually playing everybody).
In the meantime, Tomohawk Chop came from the middle of the pack mid week and surprised everyone by jumping to third in the final day. A very strong week fueled the ascent, but it was ultimately the failures of Ring of Fire’s pitching that caused the final change in standings, specifically the surprising and disruptive 8 ER pummeling of Aaron Civale on Saturday and 6 ER (in 1.1 IP) outing by Seth Lugo on Sunday (which also awarded an unexpected point to Montezuma’s).
Overall, the season went smoothly from a structure standpoint - despite the challenges MIA and STL Covid issues caused. While the games were ultimately largely made up, people who were counting on pitchers for these teams got the short end of the stick, specifically Jack Flaherty (Jeff), Sandy Alcantara (Dave) and CMart (Chris). But thankfully any other real world disruptions were shortlived.
Roto was boring and required a bit different strategy than most were used to, but it did allow us to avoid having a six week regular season and three week H2H playoff. The lack of H2H action only accentuated the lack of trades thanks to the restrictions established prior to the season to eliminate draft pick trades. In any case, the teams that were at the top of the standings clearly had the best rosters, so in that way it was at least representative of the actual production – even if it was less exciting to most. As much as I appreciate representative champions, I haven’t heard anyone say they prefer Roto over H2H.
One regret for me is that we switched to W instead of QS. It didn’t end up taking SPs very long to ramp up and is still the superior statistic in my mind. The fact that Austin Voth’s “win” impacted the standings is regrettable. QS isn’t perfect, but at least it’s consistent.
And with that, the offseason begins and you are welcome to start trading at any time! I will try to get an offseason guide ready a little earlier this year for reference, but if you’re wondering what your pick situation is, the 2020 Offseason Guide is accurate from a pick perspective. It can be reached here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IvXqaIlOIVgxwdmQIEZvWnw59bSeDIeNd1Tghx1nTR8/edit?usp=sharing
Just a reminder that you will need to keep at least four players in 2021 that were kept for the 2020 season (by any team). So keep that in mind while you’re dealing.
If you have anything you want to discuss about structural changes to the league while it’s fresh in mind, please feel free to post here or message me directly. Nothing stands out from my perspective (other than to change everything back to the way it was haha). We always toss around rostering more minors spots, but it always falls short on votes. Perhaps we can think more about ways to build up that side of it (a minors keeper spot?).
If anyone is deciding to leave the league, please let me know with as much notice as possible. If you’re thinking about it and haven’t decided, that’s good to know as well. Gibby has announced that 2021 will be his final season, but I’m bound and determined to convince him otherwise over the course of next season.
Thank you all for participating in another season of High & Tight Fantasy Baseball. The 15th year was a weird one for sure, but I hope the presence of fantasy baseball at least helped a bit during these challenging times. I know it did for me. I look forward to the offseason chatter – let’s get dealing.
Adam
