What is the correct/best way to do FF playoffs?

[BTL99 34]

Ok, so in one of my leagues they chose to do the 4 team, 2 round playoff option instead of the 6 team, 2 first round byes option. I like the 6 team way better, just curious what is the "standard" fantasy football playoff bracket.

[posty 2,677]

Depends on the league size IMO... Why have 6 playoff spots in a 10-team league...

[TimHauck 2,742]

Depends on the league size IMO... Why have 6 playoff spots in a 10-team league...

 

This is true. I do like the 1st round byes for the top 2 seeds though, actually giving you some incentive for finishing first or second.

[CornKobb 48]

12 man league. 7 make playoffs with the #1seed getting the first round bye week 14 and plays the lowest seed in week 15, then championship is week 16.

 

payout 1st 50% 2nd 25% 3rd 15% 4th 10%

[BTL99 34]

Ok, thanks for the input.

 

I was asking because I am in a 10 team league where only 4 make the playoffs and I have outscored EVERYONE in the league by 200 and about 4 teams I outscored by 350-400 and right now I am not in. I need to win this week and have someone else lose for me to get it. I thought that seemed messed up.

[Riddlen 1]

12 man league. 7 make playoffs with the #1seed getting the first round bye week 14 and plays the lowest seed in week 15, then championship is week 16.

 

payout 1st 50% 2nd 25% 3rd 15% 4th 10%

every 12 team league I have ever been in is 6 teams, 2 byes. 10 teamers have been both 4 or 6. I prefer 4.

[PATSSOX 22]

I play in (3)12 team leagues and 8 make the playoffs in 2 and 6 make the playoffs in one.

 

Personally i like 8 teams in playoffs for a 12 team league. I just dont like being on a bye and not getting to play that week. For 13 weeks im focused on fantasy football and look forward to Sundays. I dont want to take 1 week off. If i lose i lose but id rather be playing.

[FeelingMN 273]

For 13 weeks im focused on fantasy football and look forward to Sundays. I dont want to take 1 week off. If i lose i lose but id rather be playing.

 

Fock that. There's nothing better than having a bye week to relax and watch football without constantly checking your score, and yet, knowing in the back of your head that you'll still be playing FF in the next few weeks. It's like the best of both worlds.

 

 

 

 

I'm in 2 10 teamers, one is the top 4 during weeks 15-16. The other is top 6, 2 byes, weeks 14-16. Those setups just work for those leagues....I don't think I'd like it as much if we switched in either league.

[LunaTick 30]

It depends.

 

10 team league. 6 go to the playoffs and 4 to the toilet bowl (an inverted playoff where loser advances to determine worst team).

 

Toilet Bowl occurs weeks 14 and 15 of the nfl season.

playoffs occur weeks 14-16.

 

Last Place teams will do FA moves towards 13-14 just to avoid being the worst of the worst

[PATSSOX 22]

Fock that. There's nothing better than having a bye week to relax and watch football without constantly checking your score, and yet, knowing in the back of your head that you'll still be playing FF in the next few weeks. It's like the best of both worlds.

 

 

Not me

 

You will have 7 months to relax and can sit back watch NFL games during week 17 and playoffs.

[TimHauck 2,742]

I play in (3)12 team leagues and 8 make the playoffs in 2 and 6 make the playoffs in one.

 

Personally i like 8 teams in playoffs for a 12 team league. I just dont like being on a bye and not getting to play that week. For 13 weeks im focused on fantasy football and look forward to Sundays. I dont want to take 1 week off. If i lose i lose but id rather be playing.

 

What is this, the NBA or NHL? What's the point in even playing the first 13 weeks if you're going to let 2/3 of the league into the playoffs? Especially in FF, where there's a lot of luck involved in the playoffs, that seems pretty stupid.

[bscheibs 8]

I play in a bunch of leagues. This is my favorite format.

3 division, 12 team league.

5 teams make the playoffs- 3 division winners and 2 wild cards

wild card #1 - next best record

wild card #2 - most points scored

Wild cards play week 14. Division winners get a bye.

[PATSSOX 22]

What is this, the NBA or NHL? What's the point in even playing the first 13 weeks if you're going to let 2/3 of the league into the playoffs? Especially in FF, where there's a lot of luck involved in the playoffs, that seems pretty stupid.

 

If your gonna get beat your gonna get beat. I play fantasy football because i love playing and especially in playoffs when you play for 3 straight weeks and one bad lineup decision may get you knocked out. You have to do that for 3 weeks not just 2. Its harder to win a 8 team tourney than a 6 team tourney.

 

What you think is stupid i like. I think having a bye is stupid

 

I also like doing 8 teams because it gives more people the opportunity to win $ and keep hopes alive and more involvement. If i didnt do 8 teams and took 6 i would definetly have it where you paid for each loss and gave out money for high scorer for week.

[TimHauck 2,742]

If your gonna get beat your gonna get beat. I play fantasy football because i love playing and especially in playoffs when you play for 3 straight weeks and one bad lineup decision may get you knocked out. You have to do that for 3 weeks not just 2. Its harder to win a 8 team tourney than a 6 team tourney.

 

What you think is stupid i like. I think having a bye is stupid

 

I also like doing 8 teams because it gives more people the opportunity to win $ and keep hopes alive and more involvement. If i didnt do 8 teams and took 6 i would definetly have it where you paid for each loss and gave out money for high scorer for week.

 

I guess you're placing more emphasis on the playoffs (3 weeks), but you're placing hardly any emphasis on the regular season (13 weeks). For some guys there may not be much motivation to really stay on top of your team during the middle part of the season if you know 2/3 of the league is making the playoffs.

 

Having byes rewards the top teams for finishing with the best records. It gives them a chance to avoid one week of their opposition simply getting lucky. It's not giving them a bye all the way to the finals, just one week, so there's still two weeks that they could get beat (either by getting a dose of bad luck or just flat out getting beat). If I was the #1 seed and lost to the #8 seed in the first round of the playoffs because one of his guys ran for 4 TD's, I'd be pissed.

[LSUtiger 9]

I've been the commish of a 10-team money league for about eight years now. We have always done the top 4 make the playoffs. 6/10 is way too many teams in the playoffs.

 

Over the past few years we have done it to where the highest point scorer wins a percentage of the total pot to compensate for any "bad luck head 2 head matchups." However, I can honestly say we have never encountered a situation where the highest point scorer missed the playoffs.

[PATSSOX 22]

I guess you're placing more emphasis on the playoffs (3 weeks), but you're placing hardly any emphasis on the regular season (13 weeks). For some guys there may not be much motivation to really stay on top of your team during the middle part of the season if you know 2/3 of the league is making the playoffs.

 

Having byes rewards the top teams for finishing with the best records. It gives them a chance to avoid one week of their opposition simply getting lucky. It's not giving them a bye all the way to the finals, just one week, so there's still two weeks that they could get beat (either by getting a dose of bad luck or just flat out getting beat). If I was the #1 seed and lost to the #8 seed in the first round of the playoffs because one of his guys ran for 4 TD's, I'd be pissed.

 

 

No it actually puts alot of emphasis on the regular season. Like you said if your the #1 seed and play the #8 seed in first round and his team goes off your gonna be very very pissed. That can happen at any point in the fantasy playoffs. But instead of getting byes we have the top 3 seeds pick who they want to play. So you get rewarded nicely for finishing high and it helps lower the chance of the top seed getting bounced early.

 

We pay 3 places so if you win your 1st round game you and do lose in semi's you atleast get a chance to play for some $. In any format any team can get lucky and beat the better team. Its harder to win 3 games in a row then just 2.

[KSB2424 3,148]

I hate it when more than 50% of the league makes the playoffs. Why even bother with the regular season?

 

League size / Playoff teams

 

8/4

10/4

12/6

14/6

16/8

 

Leagues can do what they want, but this is the norm; and the norm makes sense.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Whatever number of teams you choose, I like having one playoff spot based on total points instead of record. That avoids problems with bad schedule luck, like BTL99 is experiencing.

[TimHauck 2,742]

Whatever number of teams you choose, I like having one playoff spot based on total points instead of record. That avoids problems with bad schedule luck, like BTL99 is experiencing.

 

Are you able to change that on sites like ESPN?

[cdavidw 0]

chiming in about who gets in:

 

Our league varies between 10 and 12 players each year, so we always do 6 spots. I get the "that's too many in a 10 team league", but it works for us...

 

We do top 4 by record, then the two highest point totals get in regardless of record.

 

About half the league loves it, the other half hates it. And it changes each year, depending who is sitting there with a 5-7 record but has the second highest points scored in the entire league...

[maddog3819 0]

In my 12 team league, everyone makes playoffs with top 4 seeds on a bye. Highest seeded team will play the lowest remaining seed each week. No one loses interest and makes the league more fun.

We don't have problems with BS trades because everyone has hope.

[Matthew's Berry's 0]

Mike -

 

We tried that one year, giving the last playoff spot (#6) to the total points leader no matter record.

 

The problem we ran.into was this ...

 

Team A, 7-6, 1506 points

Team B, 4-9, 1510 points

 

Team B actually finished in 9th place out of 12, but with that rule we gave him the 6th spot. Needless to say, we went back to just record with total points being tiebreaker.

Whatever number of teams you choose, I like having one playoff spot based on total points instead of record. That avoids problems with bad schedule luck, like BTL99 is experiencing.

[uwmalcolm 74]

Mike -

 

We tried that one year, giving the last playoff spot (#6) to the total points leader no matter record.

 

The problem we ran.into was this ...

 

Team A, 7-6, 1506 points

Team B, 4-9, 1510 points

 

Team B actually finished in 9th place out of 12, but with that rule we gave him the 6th spot. Needless to say, we went back to just record with total points being tiebreaker.

 

I don't see anything wrong with Team B making the playoffs in the example you gave.

 

The fact that Team A and Team B's records were so different despite their similar point total is exactly why it is good to give a playoff spot to the points leader of the remaining teams. What if Team A had 1500 points scored "against" it and Team B had 1700 points scored against it and thus you have their different records? Does that mean that Team A really has a better team and deserves to go to the playoffs over Team B? Of course it doesn't, and that's the reason for having the total points playoff spot.

 

Of course there are possible scenarios where this approach doesn't necessarily reward the best remaining team. If the team with the highest remaining point total had a squad that blew up for insane scores 3 or 4 weeks and then just sucked the rest of the season, you might not want to reward that kind of volotility. But much more often than not, the right team will make it in based on the total points slot approach.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Are you able to change that on sites like ESPN?

 

I'm not sure about ESPN Tim, but I'm pretty sure you could do it on a site such as MyFantasyLeague.com which is very flexible. Even if you had to figure out and assign the playoff seeds yourself MFL would allow for that.

[Mike MacGregor 20]

Mike -

 

We tried that one year, giving the last playoff spot (#6) to the total points leader no matter record.

 

The problem we ran.into was this ...

 

Team A, 7-6, 1506 points

Team B, 4-9, 1510 points

 

Team B actually finished in 9th place out of 12, but with that rule we gave him the 6th spot. Needless to say, we went back to just record with total points being tiebreaker.

 

I see what you are saying, and that could happen. I still think one "in by points" spot prevents some inevitable bitching by owners who have a great point total but wrotten luck earning an overall poor record that would keep them out of the playoffs. It doesn't have to be the last seed based on points, but maybe the 2nd seed, or first non-division winner (wild-card).

[chroniciguana 13]

Don't forget the teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs. Rather than kicking the bottom six teams to the curb in our 12-team league, we run a mirror knock-out winner-take-all tournament for the six teams that finished out of the hunt.

 

Same format as the championship tournament, except the only payout goes to the winner of the consolation bracket. As an added incentive, there is a league-funded side bet if the winner of the consolation tournament outscores the super bowl champ in the final game.

 

There are also two weekly high point pots once the playoffs start. One for the championship bracket teams and a second for the consolation bracket teams.

 

By keeping everyone in the game, there is far less temptation to dump or abandon a team, or get cute with late season trades.

[KSB2424 3,148]

Don't forget the teams that didn't qualify for the playoffs. Rather than kicking the bottom six teams to the curb in our 12-team league, we run a mirror knock-out winner-take-all tournament for the six teams that finished out of the hunt.

 

Same format as the championship tournament, except the only payout goes to the winner of the consolation bracket. As an added incentive, there is a league-funded side bet if the winner of the consolation tournament outscores the super bowl champ in the final game.

 

There are also two weekly high point pots once the playoffs start. One for the championship bracket teams and a second for the consolation bracket teams.

 

By keeping everyone in the game, there is far less temptation to dump or abandon a team, or get cute with late season trades.

The league I commish does something similar. The bottom 6 teams that miss the playoffs have their own playoff. The Toilet Bowl Tournament. The winner of the Toilet Bowl wins the #1 pick (or choice of another draft spot if so desired) in the next years draft. It's just enough incentive to keep everyone in the game and not dumping/abandoning their teams late in the season.

 

The only caveat is that Toilet Bowl teams cannot make any add/drops. Only the actual playoff teams fighting for the money and title can do that.

[PATSSOX 22]

The league I commish does something similar. The bottom 6 teams that miss the playoffs have their own playoff. The Toilet Bowl Tournament. The winner of the Toilet Bowl wins the #1 pick (or choice of another draft spot if so desired) in the next years draft. It's just enough incentive to keep everyone in the game and not dumping/abandoning their teams late in the season.

 

The only caveat is that Toilet Bowl teams cannot make any add/drops. Only the actual playoff teams fighting for the money and title can do that.

 

I really like this idea

[ChromeWeasel 0]

Ok, so in one of my leagues they chose to do the 4 team, 2 round playoff option instead of the 6 team, 2 first round byes option. I like the 6 team way better, just curious what is the "standard" fantasy football playoff bracket.

 

We got rid of bye-weeks altogether. Our 12 team league has 8 playoff spots. Teams are seeded by record without regard to division. Tie breaker is most points scored.

 

We add in home field advantage to games for the weeks before the fantasy superbowl. The home team gets bonus points added to its score when it hosts a playoff game. The bonus equals 10% of the average regular season score for each team. So high scoring teams have a high home field advantage than low scoring ones. It usually works out to a free touchdown or two.

 

We also do a Toilet Bowl bracket for the 4 chumps that dont make the playoffs. We have penalties for the TB chump, and we give the winners higher draft positions.

 

This system has several benefits:

 

1) Bye weeks are eliminated. Every team plays every week. We also pay out high score money for every team, every week, including the playoffs.

2) More teams get into the playoffs, which means most teams have playoff hopes right up until the last week of the regular season. This has eliminated bad trades and tanking.

3) Teams strive to score the most points possible every week of the season. The home field advantage is a variable, and it can make a difference. Teams don't sit players or let a bye-week player start to save a roster spot.

4) Any team can win in the playoffs, but you've got a real uphill battle if you're not a home field team. You'll lose any tiebreakers, and you start the game down a touchdown or two.

5) Whoever wins the superbowl really earned it, because he had to win three games in a row.

[PATSSOX 22]

 

 

We add in home field advantage to games for the weeks before the fantasy superbowl. The home team gets bonus points added to its score when it hosts a playoff game. The bonus equals 10% of the average regular season score for each team. So high scoring teams have a high home field advantage than low scoring ones. It usually works out to a free touchdown or two.

 

 

 

I dont like that at all There is no dam home field advantage in fantasy football and why does someone have to out score the other guy by 10%???? that has no business in fantasy football if you ask me

[ChromeWeasel 0]

I dont like that at all There is no dam home field advantage in fantasy football and why does someone have to out score the other guy by 10%???? that has no business in fantasy football if you ask me

 

The home field advantage rule gives the top seeded teams an opponent, who still have a decent chance to win. The standard way is to give the home field team no opponent at all because the 'home team' has a bye week.

 

You really think that it's more fair to hand out a free win to someone than it is to add a touchdown or two to the home team? That's all the bye week is. It's saying Teams #1 and #2 get free wins in week one. Teams #7 and teams #8 get automatic losses.

[PATSSOX 22]

The home field advantage rule gives the top seeded teams an opponent, who still have a decent chance to win. The standard way is to give the home field team no opponent at all because the 'home team' has a bye week.

 

You really think that it's more fair to hand out a free win to someone than it is to add a touchdown or two to the home team? That's all the bye week is. It's saying Teams #1 and #2 get free wins in week one. Teams #7 and teams #8 get automatic losses.

 

I just think it is fantasy football, one fantasy team vs another fantasy team. But one team is getting fantasy points that his or hers team never actually got. Maybe if your playing your little brother in basketball you might spot him a few points to be nice but not fantasy football.

 

My idea of fantasy football is picking players for my lineup and those players getting my team points or in some cases not getting very many points.

[itsbigmoni 1]

6 of 12.

 

15, 16, 17.

 

We vote each year when to start playoffs. With no clear cut favorites yet, we decided to go full 17 weeks. The only teams dominating right now are in the same division so i'm guessing even the pats/jets will have something to play for in week 17. Even teams out of it still have big games. I remember 2 years ago the bucs needed a win against the hapless raiders to get in and the raiders killed them. The longer the season lasts, the better imo.

[TimHauck 2,742]

The home field advantage rule gives the top seeded teams an opponent, who still have a decent chance to win. The standard way is to give the home field team no opponent at all because the 'home team' has a bye week.

 

You really think that it's more fair to hand out a free win to someone than it is to add a touchdown or two to the home team? That's all the bye week is. It's saying Teams #1 and #2 get free wins in week one. Teams #7 and teams #8 get automatic losses.

 

Do you still determine the "home field" by regular season record and not total points?

[wildbluefan 0]

Fock that. There's nothing better than having a bye week to relax and watch football without constantly checking your score, and yet, knowing in the back of your head that you'll still be playing FF in the next few weeks. It's like the best of both worlds.

 

 

 

 

I'm in 2 10 teamers, one is the top 4 during weeks 15-16. The other is top 6, 2 byes, weeks 14-16. Those setups just work for those leagues....I don't think I'd like it as much if we switched in either league.

 

 

Fock THIS...I can't watch a game anymore WITHOUT getting up to watch scores on computer...in fact, I watch scores on computer, and glance over at the current game once in a while !!