How Many Divisions Does Your League Have?

[$epphori$ 118]

Asking mainly for 12 team leagues. We used to have 3 divisions of 4 teams. We had switched to 2 divisions for a few years and now the last 2 seasons we only have a single division. I used to like the 3 divisions. But some hate it and I dont even understand why. What are your thoughts on it?

[jimaveli 119]

It depends on how your divisions work. Ie: does it just influence who plays who and when? Or does it determine playoffs to the degree that a 'clearly better' team can miss the playoffs?

 

And regardless, if there's weaker owners who tend to sag off at timec during the season, someone somewhere is gonna end up feeling jobbed.

[Masterminds 5]

4 divisions in a 12 team league. I think the commissioner chose this mainly for scheduling purposes. You play everyone in your division twice and then play everyone else once. The winner of each division makes it to the playoffs and then there are two wild card spots for the next best records.

 

I personally prefer not to have divisions because I think it introduces more dumb luck into fantasy football which already has enough dumb luck as it is. Every year there is always a crappy division that gets to send a crappy team to the playoffs. I want to see the best teams make the playoffs, not some winner of a crappy division.

[cyclone24 1,914]

Three divisions broken up geographically by where people live.

 

You play everyone in your division twice and out of conference once

 

Division winners automatically make the playoffs and then 3 wildcards

[JohnD. 22]

12 teamer with 2 divisions. Top 3 from each division advance to playoffs. Top player from each division gets first round bye.

[Beer22 2]

We got rid of divisions 2 years ago. Top 6 get in to playoffs... Top 2 get a bye. It's so much better now because the best teams make it in. With divisions we always had a crappy team getting in because he's in a bad division and a better team missing the cut.

[weepaws 3,206]

Both of the h to h leagues I'm in are three division leagues.

 

The total points leagues I'm in not have any leagues of course.

[Brutal Brutus 182]

3 divisions. The previous year division winners get to pick the teams in their division. We use a two win a week system. The division winners each get a playoff spot followed by the three teams with the most wins. We never had a division winner not be a normal playoff team. Anyone complaining about a division being easy or hard usually is balanced by the two wins. If not, the person should have just won their division last year and picked theirs this year.

[Captain Goomy Noomy Roo 50]

No divisions. This rarely ends with the 2 best teams in the Championship. I hate to see the number 2 team sitting out of the Championship week.

[WhiteWonder 2,765]

13 divisions. 1 team each with 1 empty division

[thePRO 78]

3 divisions. The division winners and one wildcard advances. It's terrible. I hate it. I need to change it, but my colleagues hate change. They like it to mimic real football with division and wildcards...

 

But I'm finally on the "bad beat" end. I lead the league in points by 150. I'm going to be 7-5 after this week. I've scored 100 every single week but one. And I already lost my division and will be in a must win these next two weeks. If I don't, I miss out on playoffs.

 

Meanwhile there's a division with a 6-6 record and will make playoffs. He can make playoffs going 7-7 and having 200 less points scored than me.

[jimaveli 119]

Two win a week? Two separate head to heads? Or one head to head and one matchup vs the field?

 

I'd love the idea of doing either one in a league but I'm dealing with guys who are occasionally dinosaurs.

[Brutal Brutus 182]

Two win a week? Two separate head to heads? Or one head to head and one matchup vs the field?

 

I'd love the idea of doing either one in a league but I'm dealing with guys who are occasionally dinosaurs.

One head to head, one vs the field. 1 win for head to head, one for being in the top half of scoring. Doesn't dilute the head to head match ups too much, gives a decent consolation prize for the week you're the second highest scoring team playing the first (still hurts a bit though, like it should in ff), and you have some rooting interest in just about ever game most weeks because you're trying to be in the top 6. Usually only a few teams teams have their fate completely determined by Monday night, regardless if they have anyone going. Pretty fun way of doing it imo.

[thePRO 78]

One head to head, one vs the field. 1 win for head to head, one for being in the top half of scoring. Doesn't dilute the head to head match ups too much, gives a decent consolation prize for the week you're the second highest scoring team playing the first (still hurts a bit though, like it should in ff), and you have some rooting interest in just about ever game most weeks because you're trying to be in the top 6. Usually only a few teams teams have their fate completely determined by Monday night, regardless if they have anyone going. Pretty fun way of doing it imo.

 

What site does this?

[$epphori$ 118]

Pretty interesting answers. Thanks, I will be back after work to read some more

[Brutal Brutus 182]

 

What site does this?

Not sure. Our commish just does it on an excel sheet and posts it every week. Someone else posted a site that does it, but I can't remember the site.

[Quickolas1 80]

MyFantasyLeague allows different types of matchups or victory points (top half, double-headers, vs league average, etc.)

There should be an improved mobile-responsive MFL skin/template coming out in 2017 for those that hate the archaic look of MFL.

 

But the answer to this thread for re-draft is to go to 14 teams, no divisions, play each team once in weeks 1-13. Weeks 14-16 playoffs.

[polecatt 478]

In my 12 team league, it's got 3 divisions of 4 teams

3 division champs make the playoffs and 3 wild cards

The team in each change every season due to their finish the previous

It works well, no real concerns in about 14 seasons

[Quickolas1 80]

In my 12 team league, it's got 3 divisions of 4 teams

3 division champs make the playoffs and 3 wild cards

The team in each change every season due to their finish the previous

It works well, no real concerns in about 14 seasons

 

Typically the argument for divisions is rivalry.

What is the point if you're switching the teams in each divisions each year?

[polecatt 478]

 

Typically the argument for divisions is rivalry.

What is the point if you're switching the teams in each divisions each year?

Well it's supposed to be for balance.

The bottom four teams are in one division, the middle four in one, and the top four in one. Plus there is making the playoffs, so if a division is unusually tough the champ still makes it.

We still play every team in the league so it doesn't completely kill the rivalry aspect.

[Quickolas1 80]

Well it's supposed to be for balance.

The bottom four teams are in one division, the middle four in one, and the top four in one. Plus there is making the playoffs, so if a division is unusually tough the champ still makes it.

We still play every team in the league so it doesn't completely kill the rivalry aspect.

 

Sounds completely unbalanced and the rest sounds like an argument to not have divisions.

[Brutal Brutus 182]

Draft divisions each year. It ends up pretty balanced and it's a slap in the face to those picked first.

[Byrdman5 112]

Went from 2 divisions to one this year. Last year the division I was in outscored the other by 700 pts. I like taking out some of the luck factor. Last year I outscored every team in the league by over 150 pts. I was 2nd overall and 2nd in my division for win percentage. I didn't get a bye and lost in the first round.

 

I like the idea of divisions, but it can make the league unbalanced.

[polecatt 478]

 

Sounds completely unbalanced and the rest sounds like an argument to not have divisions.

Well you run your league the way you want to then

We have been doing this one for 14 years and it's still going strong so we must be doing something right

[$epphori$ 118]

We originally had 16 teams when our league was started in 1996. Four divisions of four teams. We went to 14 teams after 3-4 years. Then down to 12 teams. Three divisions of four teams. We tried 2 divisions as well but everyone seems to like one single division now.

 

Do a lot of you reward a first round bye week to the top two seeds in playoffs? We like it, and it basically means you just need to win one game and you're in Superbowl.

[Mike Nice 40]

We have 4 divisions in 12 team league and it's awful. One division has a team that's 5-7 with the second lowest points leading division and will make playoffs over teams with a better record, due to only 6 teams making playoffs.

 

2 Divisons or no divisions is the best way to go imo.

[kwolf68 13]

Three divisions of 4 in my league. Trouble this year is we decided divisions by draw and the biggest idiots got put into the same division so the one good owner over there has waltzed into the playoffs.

 

Meanwhile my division looks like this

Team 1-8-4

Me 7-5

Team 3 6-6

Team 4 6-6

 

 

One division winner in each and then a fourth "wildcard" team, which is decided by Rotisserie record. Me and the 6-6 right below me have two of the three best Rotisserie records but because head to head is a huge game of luck one of us is likely to miss the playoffs, maybe both of us. I beat him twice so if he and I tied then the Rotis record would not matter.

 

We like the 3 division situation for scheduling purposes...you play every team in your division two times and the other divisions 1 time. Playoffs on week 15 and 16, then we do a "winner take all" week 17 shootout for everyone (5 bucks each) which turns into an extra $55 for whoever wins that.

 

Not sure how we're going to do divisions next year, but not sure anyone likes how that one division came about. At this stage of our fantasy lives there shouldn't be total clueless owners who screw up the competitive balance, but alas there are. One jackass started Justin Forsett twice this year, Knile Davis and a few other laughable moves. This is the same guy, a Packers fan, who literally drafts the entire Packers team every year. On Packer bye week this guy scores comically low point totals. Funny though, this joker won our league one year even though he clearly had one of the worst teams. It just seemed every week the team he played just had an off week. One of the most amazing things I've seen. Since then (or 4 or 5 years ago), he has been an absolute bottom feeder.

[thePRO 78]

I hate divisions and I've been running with 3 divisions for 10 years now. It's finally biting me which is kind of a bad way to decide to change it. But overall, we've done it the same way for 10 years now, it's probably time for a change anyway. I don't think I'd mind 3 divisions if we could do 3 wildcards, but 1 wildcard is just insane.

[jimaveli 119]

One head to head, one vs the field. 1 win for head to head, one for being in the top half of scoring. Doesn't dilute the head to head match ups too much, gives a decent consolation prize for the week you're the second highest scoring team playing the first (still hurts a bit though, like it should in ff), and you have some rooting interest in just about ever game most weeks because you're trying to be in the top 6. Usually only a few teams teams have their fate completely determined by Monday night, regardless if they have anyone going. Pretty fun way of doing it imo.

This seems pretty grand. The age old problem with fantasy leagues, especially those with head to head, is the losing teams quitting towards the end or lame owners sagging off randomly throughout the season.

 

I expect that the setup you described provides some level of 'hope' to all reasonably decent teams/owners?

 

Thanks for the input on this post, folks. I want to do something other than pure head to head in any season-long league I join next year. But I don't want to do a 16-week total points contest either because I assume that leads to even more midseason 'quitting'.

[Brutal Brutus 182]

This seems pretty grand. The age old problem with fantasy leagues, especially those with head to head, is the losing teams quitting towards the end or lame owners sagging off randomly throughout the season.

 

I expect that the setup you described provides some level of 'hope' to all reasonably decent teams/owners?

 

Thanks for the input on this post, folks. I want to do something other than pure head to head in any season-long league I join next year. But I don't want to do a 16-week total points contest either because I assume that leads to even more midseason 'quitting'.

We have two weeks left in our regular season, and we have one team that eliminated from playoff contention (it just happened this week) and two on the brink. We have three teams that have clinched and are battling for a first round bye, and the remaining six teams are with in 2 points of the final three spots. So a couple good weeks and they're most likely in and two bad weeks and they're out. We switched to this format after a season long debate of what matters more H2H vs points. Points may take away some of the luck involved, but really seems to kill the intrigue, week to week and season long that H2H creates. This system rewards consistency more so than luck and boom/bust teams, which both H2H and total point are susceptible to favoring.

 

I've been playing fantasy for 10+ years and was hesitant to switch to this format, but it's by the best way I've played.

[jgcrawfish 232]

2 leagues w/ 12 teams. League A is 2 divisions, top team in each division gets 1/2 with bye, next 4 teams make it. League B is 24 teams, 2 conferences, 3 divisions each conference, top team in each gets in automatically with 2 best records getting bye, then next 3 best records get in.

[mgs316 14]

12 teams: 1 division, 8 teams make the playoffs, 1 through 6 in on record, 7 and 8 on total points.

 

We get paid for 1st, 2nd, 3rd regular season record so no bye weeks for 1st and 2nd in first round. Payout for 1st regular season record plus winning the championship ends up being around 1500 or so.

 

We also pay $50 per week for high score, -$5 for low score. This way people stay engaged.

 

We found 2 divisions always rewarded some crap teams. This way you can still reward lucky teams who got a good record but high scoring teams don't get screwed either.

 

Literally has been zero complaints since we went to this system.