Streaming Pitchers in World Series...

[KHowe]

Is streaming pitchers (dropping pitchers, picking up new ones on waivers) during the World Series considered cheating, or bad etiquette? I'm the commisioner and never set any rules against it. I'm currently in the World Series, and because of a heavy college workload I completely missed the chance to start Aaron Haraang the other night. I missed 6K's, a win, and a great 2.43 ERA! Maybe it's my own fault for not planning ahead more, but I picked up another starter in place of a Haarang to try and pick up another W. I was thinking, why not do this with the rest of my team? This is my first time in the World Series, and I'm playing the guy who's won the past 3 years.

So...is it cheating or gaining a competitve edge that's perfectly fair?

[Lofunzo]

Streaming in it's true sense is bad no matter when it's done. If you are talking about daily add/drops using spot starters, it's fine as long as it isn't against your league rules. If you have an issue with it, have a rule put in before the season starts.

This reminds me of an issue that I had 2 years ago in my $$ hockey league. We had like 40 moves for the entire season and I used around 20 up until the finals. Well, in the last week of the finals, I used the rest of my moves and won. I might have won without doing that but I wanted to make sure. My opponent was pissed. My opinion was that there was no difference if I burned the 40 during the entire season or all in 1 week. Would anyone have cried if I used all 40 during the first week of the season?? No.

Again, there really isn't anything that you can do about this now if it isn't against the rules.

[Loreti27]

I know this reply is a little on the "late" side, but I just joined the Fantasy Cafe. Streamlining was a "HUGE" method that GMs were utilizing in my Head-to-Head YAHOO! League. The method got so blatantly bad on a consistent weekly basis that one of the GMs re-named their team "The Field & Streamers"! The top 5 GMs all made over 200 waiver wire moves during the course of the season & we even had one GM eclipse the 300 mark. I agree that the "Streaming" method had a negative impact on this particular League because it completely ruined the integrity & "fun" of us even holding a Draft. Most of the teams dismantled the majority of their original rosters in order to compete statistically in hitting & pitching categories. We actually had GMs waking up at 3:00 a.m. in the morning to stake claim to Starting Pitchers! YAHOO! stated that players did not become available for the next day's play until 4:00 a.m., yet the Clever & Devious GMs found a loophole & learned that players actually were available one hour prior to what YAHOO! claimed on their OWN website. During the Fantasy Playoffs, guys were picking up ANY Starting Pitcher that possessed a heartbeat. The fact of the matter is that although the method of "Streaming" is negative, it is totally permissable (within the YAHOO! confines) and the practitioners did not break any rules. Waking up at 3:00 a.m. to pick-up a cache of pitching arms sounds ridiculous, but it showed me the length that some will go to climb the Fantasy Mountain. Hope this helped.

[daniel80111]

I know that Streaming pitchers is bad, but cant it hurt you if you pick the wrong pitchers?? In a 5X5 league cant you lose ERA, WHIP, and Saves if all you are doing is streaming pitchers?? I am not sure if my logic is correct but that is what I thought.

[Loreti27]

Yes... you are correct. GM's who elect to utilize this tactic roll the dice and It is a crapshoot. However, GM's in my League found that it was excellent to increase your total number of WINS, STRIKEOUTS, & SAVES. The only downfalls were that you more often than not Lost the ERA & WHIP categories. Some GM's didn't care, especially if they were already dominating the 5 Hitting categories per that week's match-up.... as long as they won 3 out of 5 Pitching categories they swung additional games in the Standings.

[talan37]

I think its dumb, but you need to make rules to prevent it.

Trade/waiver deadlines work to prevent it during playoffs.

Move limits.

FAAB limits.

Maximum innings.

Etc, there are plenty ways to stop it.