As promised Myfantasyleague had the 2020 sites up and running a couple of days after the Super Bowl. Contrary to all common sense I am an ‘early adopter’ in all things fantasy football, so I had our new league site going by dinner time that same day. The new page is available for all to see, just click here and then bookmark it. You can also just use last year’s site url and change the year to 2020.
I’ve spent the time since tinkering and (mostly) adjusting things to reflect the changes that are going into effect this fall. I’ll continue to play around with the appearance (layout, banner etc.) but other than adding back some modules that are only useful ‘in season’, I’m just about where I want to be with this.
The stuff that matters is also 95% in place. Here is a rundown with notes and observations:
-The divisions have been re-aligned as promised. That led immediately to…
–The schedule was re-done from scratch. I was laying it out on a spreadsheet and nudging and tweaking when I decided to look at MFL’s ‘canned’ schedules. Their ‘four divisions of three teams each’ is exactly what I was attempting and I just let the site generate it. Now that we have divisions with an odd number of teams the old ‘division weeks’ concept is out the window. I pushed a few of the schedule weeks around to get most of the division games (and therefore traditional rivalry games) towards the beginning and end of the season but for the most part, MFL’s system had done that already. I may take a closer look as we get into summer to make sure I like how it has played out.
-Links module: The EHFL Links module has had all the various reports and info updated. Spreadsheets of numbers/results are all good through the 2019 season. And now you can find the link there to the Draft Values page. Note that I have yet to double-check the entries in that so some errors may have gotten past me. Last year I had a few that I needed to change. If you have the inclination you could check out your team’s players. The module is right below the league calendar.
-Rules Page: This has been heavily revamped. There is a lot of new stuff there and it’s highlighted in red. You can get to the page either through the link in the EHFL Links module down the left column or by going to Reports->Rules->League Settings in the top menu. They lead to the same page. Significant changes include:
-Post Season Waivers: For now I have them set up as an extension of the regular season system of Blind Bidding with the bids processed each Wednesday evening. I really struggled to get a First Come, First Served period generated for the playoff teams, but I may revisit that. If I can get it going I will revise the rules page to reflect it.
-Waiver cash boost: I have changed the teams’ budget from $300 to $350. I did it for a number of reasons. First I’m hoping it may encourage more competitive bidding. I also think that with Blind Bidding extending into the postseason it would be best to up the available funds.
I have thought about the one downside to postseason waiver bidding and it involves something I’d like to avoid. It’s a situation where a team ‘sells’ off down-roster players to gain postseason cash. I love seeing trades but I don’t want to see shenanigans.
Sort of related to this is the fact that we allow trades to be instantly processed. I’ve ‘thrown the switch’ which changes that to the trade being ‘commish approved’. That sort of seems heavy-handed, and I am 99.99999% sure I’ll never need to overrule a deal, but I’d rather avoid any problems with ‘cash’ trading. I may just put a cap on the amount of cash that can be included in a trade. That would remove any need for me to make a judgment call but I’d leave the approval requirement in place since the cap can’t be built into the system. Just more for me to mull over this summer.
-Lineup Deadline: We’ve moved to what MFL calls the ‘Gametime’ deadline. Players are locked at their kickoffs. This just involved clicking a box on the settings page. If only everything else was that simple!
Tiebreakers: I changed these to reflect the fact that total points will be the second tiebreak behind head-to-head in most cases. I’m still thinking about ways to avoid playoff game ties more elegantly than was the case last season. The current rule of ‘total touchdowns’ as a backup to the designated tiebreak player has a much better chance of NOT breaking the tie as would a second designated player. But I’m not sure that’s fair either. I’ll give this some thought.
Odds and Ends: I wrote a blurb into the rules about a draft timer but I’m still weighing that option. Also, I’ve formalized the Dalvin Cook Rule which outlines the keeping of highly drafted players who end up missing a season after being drafted.
That’s all I can think of for now. I haven’t decided on how (or if) to run a consolation bracket during our playoffs. I’ll work on that and would welcome any ideas.
Enjoy the between-season break. But don’t worry, I’ll have more to post before long! In the meantime, go have an RC Cola.
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