Looking to make my H2H league better.

[seanymac]

I currently run a 14 team- 5x5, H2H league. The league is starting to become stale as some owners are playing with a win at all costs mentality and the same teams seem to be winning every year. I'd like to talk a little bit about the rules and then maybe you guys can chime in a let me know what you think could be changed. I'm open to anything including changing the league to roto, so let me know what you think.

!2 teams, regular draft with a total of 21 rounds. Each team must start a player at every infield position, 4 outfielders, 1 DH(doesn't necessarily have to be a dh), 5 starting pitchers and 2 relievers. 5 bench players of your choice.

Wins and losses are accumulated by winning a category, in other words while it is head to head you still accumulate either 10 wins or losses at the end of each week. Ties are not broken during the regular season, as you go 5-5 for the week. Ties during the post season are broken by the Avg. category, so if you have a 5-5 tie, the series is won by the team with the best batting avg.

There is no waiver wire in this league, so you can add and drop players at anytime. Your lineup is set once a week on Monday morning so we don't run the risk of guys dropping and adding starting pitchers. We charge $1.00 for an add/drop and it's a great source of league revenue for prize money so I'd like to try and keep the transaction total high. This however, creates a problem since some guys are watching more than others, these are the teams that seem to do better.

8 teams make the playoffs, top two in each division as well as two wildcards.

Like I said, I'm open to any changes.

[BoBtheMule]

I don't really see anything wrong w/ some owners trying to win more than others... it's nearly impossible to find a league where 12 guys are all trying equally. They're putting out the most money via transactions, they deserve the better chance to win.

Is your draft a snake or normal draft. A snake draft where the order is determined by some sort of draft lottery (plenty of dice rolling or random number generators out there) may make things more interesting for the worse teams... just don't guarantee them the best pick. Play with the draft possibilities. You could do half snake, half normal draft. Lotteries ect.

A small keeper element, with just 21 rounds maybe let ppl only keep three but they lose the draft pick equivalent in the draft. Maybe make it draft pick +1 round... so no first rounders are kept. This would motivate the worse teams to trade their current productive players for keeper talent that is either superfluous or injured on another team (think of someone trading Zobrist who isn't a top 36 player for a Reyes who may be valuable for next year). There could be a draft pick trading element here or not. Give teams more ways to build up their roster besides just add/drop but don't eliminate that option either. If you want to keep revenue up... maybe charge a discounted rate for trades... .50 cents flat fee or possibily .25 cents for offseason deals?

Just a few ideas...

Bob

[Pogotheostrich]

Seems fine to me. If anything I would say you have too many teams making the playoffs.
Maybe take a part of the pool and payout by position finished in the regular season.