The Western League is wide open while team Snukes is starting to pull away in the East.
Standings:
What does this all mean?
Matthew Berry of ESPN loaded a great chart the other day in his post (link to the article below) to show the strength of a good record so early in the year but to also demonstrate that it’s too early to give up now. Below you will see standings from May 1st 2011, in all ESPN fantasy leagues and of where those teams finished up overall. The first place team is currently Snukes, and based on 2011 trends, Snukes has a 34.9% chance to win the league and only a 1% chance to finish in last place. The current last place team, “Team Real” has a .9% chance to win the league and a 31% chance to stay in last place. It’s so bleak for Team Real, he does have a 10.7% chance to finish in the top four. Also, based on these numbers, the top four teams have a 77.3% chance to win the league.
So, is it too late? Should teams start getting ready for fantasy football? NO! All it means is a team needs to address their specific problems pronto, instead of holding their breath and waiting for a miracle. The easiest way to address this is from the pool of available players. The benches in our league are not deep, which means there are a lot of available players to pick up. “Streaming Pitchers” is another easy option. If you go to the available players section, you can click on the link “Probable Starters” to see who is pitching today. Go there, look at the who the pitcher is playing against, and take a chance on someone. It’s rare but the pitcher can put in a negative point day, but more likely you will get a couple point boost to a double digit boost for the day. Do it a couple times during the week and it may be the difference between winning and losing your match-up.
The tougher option is trades. All teams hold different values to their players which makes it difficult to come to a agreement. The best way to start the conversation is look at a teams roster, find their weakness and make a offer that is in the teams interest. As an owner the quickest way for me to shut out a team and any of their offers is if the offer me say a First Baseman when I already have 3 that are producing well. It tells me they are just throwing crap against the wall to see if anything sticks and are not really trying to get a deal done. It’s OK that trades mutually benefit each team, it’s not about just trying to pull a fast one.
With that being said, here is some encouragement for any depressed team owners:
Matthew Berry’s “10 Players to buy low on”
http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=TMR120510
4 comments
NJstuckinTX
5/14/2012-10:40am at 10:40 am (UTC -4)
I snuck out a victory there in the last day. Thank you 3 starting pitchers (Hanson being one of them, thank you trade). 3-2 with less points scored than points against is lucky!
trs86
5/14/2012-10:48am at 10:48 am (UTC -4)
I suck, I am going into rebuilding mode. All offers will be taken seriously. LOL.
SaltyGary
5/14/2012-11:18am at 11:18 am (UTC -4)
Also as a FYI because i know how soul crushing this will be, no post next week and the week after will come after memorial day. I am celebrating my league championship early and going to Disney World.
Ceetar
5/14/2012-12:05pm at 12:05 pm (UTC -4)
I’ve already put in some moves for change, but mainly my slow starters are starting to kick it in gear.
here we come!