If you've ever read this blog, you know how I feel about a playoff system: It's like McDonalds or Taco Bell, a necessary evil to get to what the people want (an undisputed winner), but certainly not the highest quality to get there.
Playoffs, while exciting for fans and add a degree of luck into the picture: exactly what "fairists" as I call them don't want. The finals, or championship game of a playoff structure, is often not what it's billed as: the best 2 teams of the league facing off against each other. Certainly TV ratings and drama artists will try to push it as such, but inevitably it's usually just the last 2 teams who happened to last until the final round have a match. The fairest system for determining a winner is truly a round robin, have everyone play each other, tally the results, and whoever beat the most opponents wins. That way everyone gets a chance to play everyone, and the best team wins. The playoffs: sometimes the best team wins, or the best team (usually) wins.
What the complaint about elimination playoffs is that, it's so concentrated on one game, one event, that luck plays a heavy factor. You're not feeling your best at that exact moment, or a ball bounces a weird way, or the weather is not advantageous that day, any number of factors can contribute to a flukey event that allows the inferior team to win, and the eliminated team has no chance at redemption, and despite having an excellent body of work over the course of time, they're judged based on that one mistake or mishap in the playoffs. That's the unforgiving nature of sports, and a playoff system plays right into that.
Quickly, fantasy playoff observations:
1.) Middle relievers (non-closers) often get overlooked in fantasy, but they can be plenty helpful! Last year it was Chris Devenski/ Andrew Miller as the super-reliever who put up elite WHIP and ERA, K's and vulture occasional wins or saves, I'd rather have them than a non-strikeout, high contact closer like Brad Ziegler or Fernando Rodney.
2.) Or even some starters for that matter. Starters can do wonders for a team, but they can also quickly incinerate the ratios, have the highest potential for negative value (ahem, that's you, Bartolo Colon). Use wisely and don't deply if you're going conservative until the late stages of a matchup. High risk, high reward.
3.) Giancarlo Stanton is having an amazing year with 42 homers and possibly will become the first player since 2001 to get to 60 homers, but his .280+ avg. and lack of steals still makes him less valuable than a 5-category guy like say, Elvis Andrus? That's correct. It's better to be well-balanced than elite at one thing.
4.) Kenley Jansen is routinely underrated because he's a closer. (Depending on the format) But he's on a ridiculous Dodgers team that wins in bunches and usually are in low-scoring games due to the comfy confines of their home stadium. Elite player, elite strikeouts, elite team, always predictably good, really a top-30 player in my opinion.
5.) Continue riding talented guys under age 30, no matter how many times they get thrown in the waste basket and derided. Mike Moustakas is the shining example, I remember talking about him before I even got my law degree, he was such a great prospect. Finally, six long years of lawyering (and Moustakas struggling) later, he's finally producing. Up to 34 homers with a .280 average? Wow.
6.) Offense is up (see Moustakas, Stanton). MLB has started juicing their balls instead of juicing their hitters (yea, I said it, it's pretty obvious that MLB manipulates their game from year to year). Makes owning stud pitchers that much more valuable because the replacement value is so high (difference between Chris Sale and average pitcher on the waiver wire like RA Dickey or Mike Foltyniewicz is super high).
Sometimes I wish life had a definite "finals game" for everyone, or a defined event where you win the championship or not. Sure, there are definitely landmarks and significant events like marriages (better get that one right!), tests (to determine your future), job interviews, etc. etc. But winning one of those events doesn't just get you a championship, you live happily ever after knowing you're the best, nor does losing one of those events necessarily mean you're doomed for life (although, from what I've heard about marriages, doomed for life is a possible scenario). That finals game also won't have screaming fans yelling your name, waiting for your autograph, immortalizing you on TV. You have a silent fist pump with yourself, an adrenaline rush hearing your name be called, or some great news relayed, or a large amount of money given out. In essence, every day is a "finals" day, where you win the small battles (getting to the bus stop and subsequently work in time, finishing up that report, being nice to others who care about you, etc.) that allow you to keep living life enjoyably. Life, fortunately, is predominantly a round-robin format that weighs one's complete body of work, and one down day or moment won't cost that person forever. In that sense, life is pretty fair, and the best team (your true self) almost always wins. (Unless it's a fatal mistake, in which you lose on the spot, don't get any chances at redemption, etc., and life is actually very unfair).
I think I won the finals of life because I met MJ!
Fantasize on,
Robert
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