My First Four-Team Season
Overall record: 30-26
Points For: Points Against
7,519.82 : 7,060.73 (+459.09)
Four teams? WTF Zack. In June, I blogged about how screwed I was. Four leagues? Why? Can you even pay attention to that many? What’s your strategy here? I’ll recap each league, but first a few tips for all you psychopaths that love Football and have lots of leagues. (Don’t take my advice I’m bad at fantasy).
- Be Luckier Than Everyone Else
As with all good game designs, your skillful maneuvers and carefully calculated optimizations can be brushed aside by the Gods of Luck and Chance. - Prioritize
For many, this comes naturally. Which league has the biggest buy-in and payout? Which league has the biggest shit talkers? Which require you to shotgun a 24oz beer if you score the lowest points? These variables should weigh into how much time you spend on each week. - Draft the same players whenever possible
Live by your guys, die by your guys. With four leagues almost every possible outcome on every given Sunday can be terrific or terrible. With similar rosters, you can easily remember who to root for. Or blame for your demise. This year my guys were:
Jalen Hurts (3/4 leagues)
Michael Pittman Jr. (3/4 leagues)
D’Andre Swift (2/4 leagues)
Deebo Samuel (2/4 leagues)
DJ Moore (2/4 leagues)
Based on this list you might think I did pretty well. No. - Multiple Check-Ins through the week
You gotta be smart. Always start with priority team 1. It takes time to comb the waiver for your needs. As you get lower on the list, make sure you got a lineup where everyone’s playing. The bar is that low when there are 4 leagues.
As an aside, here’s my ranking of apps:
1. Yahoo
Familiar and easy. Seems the commish has the power to do what needs to be done. I like that it gives stat lines. That said, both app and browser did poop out a few times this year.
2. Sleeper
Had 2 leagues in Sleeper this year and it works. It’s great, in fact. It just hasn’t won me over enough to be more favorable to Yahoo.
3. ESPN
Downright annoying at times. Used to be my favorite. But after working in better systems, this year it just annoyed me. No examples, just the vibe I’ll stand by.
Okay. Here’s what everyone tuned in for. My league recaps in order of most to least important to me.
Also all leagues should be wrapped by now. No one should have anything riding on week 18. That’s dumb. Let’s all enjoy watching teams make or miss the playoffs. Many perennial fantasy power house players won’t even play this week. Dumb.
- The Kraken
My Newest League
Yahoo, 4 Keepers + Snake Draft
Record: 7-7
Final Placement: 8th out of 12
Points For: 1,946.88 (4th Most)
Points Against: 1,825.82 (6th Most)
Times paid out for having the highest score in a week: Once
The Kraken! A historic league. The story of my season was a big trade recieving DJ Moore straight up for Rachaad White. Huge. Also grabbed Cole Kmet off waivers for a couple huge weeks. Losing Kirk Cousins before facing a gauntlet 2nd half schedule was my downfall. Maybe a more seasoned fantasy manager would’ve bought Dak off the lowest place team for any cost. I thought I could get decent service from the waivers, but I was wrong, and it was my downfall.
In our commissioner’s highly anticipated weekly Power Rankings youtube video, I peaked as high as 2nd. Hang the banner. - Jungle Fantasies
The League I’ve Been In The Longest
ESPN, Auction Draft
Record: 6-8
Final Placement: 9th out of 12
Points For: 1,685.75 (5th Most)
Points Against: 1690.9 (2nd Most)
Times I had to shotgun a beer on video for having the lowest score in a week: Once
Ah yes, Jungle Fantasies. For years we’ve maintained that the person who scores the lowest total points every week must send a video of themselves shotgunning to the rest of the group. I didn’t lose this league. I got everyone’s best week even though I put up mid-pack numbers. There’s plenty of luck involved here. I auction drafted fairly well. I didn’t lose so I won’t have to take the SATs. I also only had to send one shotgun video. A very average Fantasy season as they go. - Whose Toes Are Those?
The Most Unhinged League
Sleeper, 2 Keepers + Snake Draft
Record: 7-7
Final Placement: 4th out of 10
Points For: 1,788.74 (2nd Most)
Points Against: 1738.06 (2nd Most)
Times I had to shotgun a 24oz (!) beer on video for having the lowest score in a week: NEVER
Write-ups I had to write because I scored the most points in a week: Two
Christ. Whose Toes. Where to begin.
I was one point one (1.1) points from winning 3rd place. I had the 2nd most points against. My team battled. My keeper Travis Kelce was more concerned with his new love interest than my fantasy team.
I say this league is unhinged because it felt like every other week we were going backwards on our league rules. What will happen to the loser? How do we determine loser? Why don’t we do a new punishment all of a sudden?
I think it was week 2 when we decided the lowest scorer would have to shotgun a 24oz tall boi on video and send it to the group. Maybe you’ve seen I’m already in a shotgun group. I SAID NOTHING. This was ludicrous. I checked in with this league religiously because one 12oz shotgun is bad enough. A tall boi???? Truly devastating. Several repeat offenders had to make more than one video. And (almost) every shotgun looked like hell. Bunch of degenerates. I’ll be back next year to talk shit and post a better result. - dyNASTY
The Quietest League
Sleeper, SuperFlex True Dynasty (multiple backups at every position)
Record: 10-4
Final Placement: 4th out of 12
(I was so close to coming in 3rd)
Points For: 2,098.45 (4th Most)
Points Against: 1805.95 (10th Most)
A true Dynasty. Don’t bother with the waiver wire, EVERYONE is already on a team. The whole league has multiple TEs, DEFs, etc. I plucked CJ Stroud in our rookie draft, which was huge in a SuperFlex league where you can play two QBs. This league is split into divisions, and I was best in mine by a country mile. Unfortunately I got beat up by the other division’s top three.
This league was quiet. I’ll take a decent amount of blame here. I helped recruit to get this league started last year, and unfortunately that means I’m one of the only people that personally knows everyone. The discourse was mainly centered around some rules changes that made defense scores blow up. Other than that, not a lot of shit talking.
The dynasty league needs to some tender loving rivalries (TLRs). The only way to acquire players is through groundbreaking trades and the all-important rookie draft. Maybe I should revive the beat writer Stan Stumbowskavich to inject some weekly talk next year. I love my squad and I’m excited to get back at it next year.
That’s enough fantasy for a few months, don’t ya think?
FAQ’s
Hey Zack, Long time lurker, first time commenting. Cowboys Fan coming in peace.
It looks like the leagues you cared about the most were also the ones you placed lowest in the standings. Do you think your extra focus on those leagues was your downfall?
Fuck off.
Two near misses for 3rd place? Usually 3rd place earns their buy-in back. Looks like only a couple yards here or there was a big money loss for you.
Fuck off.
BigPoops69420: barely over 0.500? Water finds its level, u suck @ fantasy u casual
Fuck. Off.
Z
😂