Why do we need playoffs?

[Cult of Dionysus]

One of the posts in my "Forum Turnover" thread got me thinking, why do we need playoffs in our fantasy football? Week to week fantasy football outcomes are so unpredictable. Yet we predicate the outcome of an entire season of fantasy football, and the championship belt, on the outcome of two match-ups, in December. Great teams regularly lose out to weaker squads that squeak into the playoffs. One or two key injuries can derail a #1 or #2 seed. Bad weather, a bad match-up, a bad call can all mean the difference between bringing home the hardware and nothing.

I think one way to cut out the unpredictability of the playoffs is to cut out the playoffs altogether. Run a 17 week tourney in a single conference league, with the team atop the standings taking the championship. An 18 team league would be ideal, as it allows for a perfectly balanced schedule. You could also run a 17 or 16 team league over the course of 16 or 15 weeks, respectively.

[honcho55]

I can see the allure of this. Heck I’d even try it maybe. A league I’m in at one time was mulling over a setting where every team plays every team every week. To eliminate a bad team getting a win because they happened to score a handlful more than a complete dud.

I get it, I don’t hate it. But I’d never vote for it. Part of the game to me is that unpredictability, and that sense of having a single opponent every week.

Also I’d comment too, when there’s playoff slots you have a shot maybe all year. If you’re chasinh total points, maybe be out and disinterested by week 8. Having that chance to sneak in and win is important, imo.

[Orenthal Shames]

I've tried something similiar in redraft leagues. We ran an all-play once running 16 weeks. While I think it was the best system of decreasing random luck and awarding the best team at the end of the season, the majority voted to return to head to head.

[lukkynumber13]

I can see the allure of this. Heck I’d even try it maybe. A league I’m in at one time was mulling over a setting where every team plays every team every week. To eliminate a bad team getting a win because they happened to score a handlful more than a complete dud.

I get it, I don’t hate it. But I’d never vote for it. Part of the game to me is that unpredictability, and that sense of having a single opponent every week.

Also I’d comment too, when there’s playoff slots you have a shot maybe all year. If you’re chasing total points, maybe be out and disinterested by week 8. Having that chance to sneak in and win is important, imo.

Ultimately, this is the answer

[Jak]

Why not just evaluate the teams at the beginning of the year and vote on a winner. Everyone has lost when they should have won, or won when they should have lost. Playing the game is what makes it fun.

[Lotto4Life]

I played in a league where half the pot went to regular season and half to the playoffs. Really liked it a lot. Rewards having a really good team as well as giving people a chance to cash in if somebody is running away with it.

Have an all play league like somebody mentioned above. Don't like it.

[grooner]

If you want to eliminate luck, just do a total points roto style, and forget about head to head. In the head to head matchups there will still be lots of volatility. Part of what makes FF fun for me, is the unpredictability as others have stated. If the "best" teams always won, the weaker teams would drop out much faster.

[Phaded]

This is just another way to bring up the "Any Given Sunday" part of FF which has been discussed a million times as you should know.

Some owners like it - some do not. I prefer the unpredictability, keeps things interesting. Others do not.

[hockeyBjj]

Because it's more fun

Want it 100% fair? Just go by total points through week 16 and award the trophy. Find a league of guys who would also prefer that and have at it

FF to me is about having fun, and the wild ride of a Sunday matchup, even in playoffs, is part of that fun

[Vcize]

Because it's more fun

Want it 100% fair? Just go by total points through week 16 and award the trophy. Find a league of guys who would also prefer that and have at it

FF to me is about having fun, and the wild ride of a Sunday matchup, even in playoffs, is part of that fun

Beat me to it. This is what I was going to post almost word for word.

[DLF3000]

This is basically the rotisserie vs. head to head matchups question.

They both have very different feels in other fantasy sports (I've played both styles in hoops, for example).

Roto gives you a "truer" picture of GM and player skill/talent/production imo. And like at least one person already said, head to head always leaves a bigger, longer window open for the number of teams that are still in the championship hunt, just like the real NFL.

With fantasy sports originally meant to be a game sim of real sports, the most accurate mirror for fantasy football is head to head. That doesn't mean it's the fairest or best, fantasy-wise though - or in real life, for that matter.

You're bound to have a lot more "lucky" and "got hot" types of variance and outliers in head-to-head leagues, real or fake.

[Cult of Dionysus]

Well we can always structure the playoffs to favor division winners and top seeds. Limit the number of wildcards, etc.

[Generic Username]

I fart in the general direction of your participation trophy!

The only time the "unpredictability" of fantasy football becomes an issue is when people lose when they feel they shouldn't have (cuz, yaknow, on paper and projected points said blowout!). Certainly there's skill involved in amassing a roster full of talent capable of providing top level points week in and week out. But in the end, optimal lineup submission week to week, even season long, is a gamble in the sense that we (the team owner) have absolutely no control on a player's production; they could have a worse game than expected, a better game than expected, an injury, a horrible call against them, anything! All of that adds up to unpredictability that simply cannot be fully erased or mitigated. And, honestly, if you take out the variance and embedded chance factor, aren't you just watching football and tracking stats at that point?

[Ghosted]

That is the roto style and it's been around since the creation of the first fantasy league. It fell to the extreme minority because most like the variance and chance of h2h.

[GridironGuerilla]

Yeah I prefer the random unpredictability and the idea that everyone has a "shot" to win it. Just like the NFL.