Inning Limits: Time to Stretch the Rules
It is that time of the year when fantasy teams begin to reach their pitching limits. Limits are in place to to mimic the innings thrown by a MLB team’s pitching staff over a season. Owners should dive into the leagues rules to see if a team can get a late point rush by maxing out as many pitching innings as possible.
The basic strategy works like this. A fantasy team is within a few innings of the league maximum. On the day they look to go over, they get as many available starters from the waiver wire and use them that day. Instead of getting the allotted amount of innings, they get possibly 25 more. Depending on how close the league standings are at the time, these extra innings could be huge. Teams will usually try to make this push sometime during the last week of the season.
The first key to implementing or blocking the strategy is to know the league rules. With the IP max already being set, most major online fantasy websites will allow a team to over shoot their innings for the one day. Some league may add in bylaws that once the max is reached, no more points can be accumulated. The league rules need to be known before trying to implement the strategy.
Once an owner finds out that they can max out innings for one day, a day needs to get picked. In my experience, the sooner the better. Most teams, at least the good ones, have been trying to leverage as many IP by relievers (higher K/9, lower WHIP and ERA) and will be edging up IP slowly. These owners will likely try the same strategy of over shooting inning pitched, probably during the last few days of the season.
With several owners trying for the same pitchers over the last few days, it is best to pick a day a week or more before the end of the season. This strategy gives the owner a few advantages. First, they get a nice pick of the litter that day since they aren’t fighting other owners for the probable starters. Second, the first team that makes the push over the limit gets the attention of the other teams in the league and they all will get scrambling. It is best just have it over with instead of trying to find a good day among the rest of the owners. Finally, even though the owner can not accumulate any or innings, they can go ahead and pick up probable pitchers on the waiver wire preventing other from using them.
While this strategy may get some owners riled up and mad, too bad. They are probably not mad at the owner that first exceeded the limit, they are more mad they didn’t do it.
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
I’ve always wondered if I should drop all pitchers once I hit the inning limit and just roster however many hitters I can… it sounds like you would oppose that strategy?
Wouldn’t you want to deny your best SP to your opponents?
“While this strategy may get some owners riled up and mad, too bad. They are probably not mad at the owner that first exceeded the limit, they are more mad they didn’t do it.”
While this may seem so, I’ve always felt this was an unfair exploit of the (yahoo) scoring system. In terms of running a fair league, I’m sure there are plenty of people who would agree that once you hit 0 ip left, that should be it. A championship shouldn’t be determined by how many guys you load your team up on the last day.
Every team in the league has an equal opportunity to use this tactic, so I don’t see how it could be unfair. This tactic can also backfire if some or all of the guys you pick up for that day have crappy outings. When you consider that you’re picking up waiver wire pitchers that are unowned in September, there’s definitely unpredictability there.
I hate this, but I have to do it in the next two weeks in my season long points league.
One issue is that if you “max out” too soon, then you could lose out on a lot of days of valuable saves and holds. Those revlievers that get say 10pts per one inning are the key. Efficient use of innings is everything in an innings limit points league.
My point is this: I can’t agree that it’s “the sooner the better”. There’s a sweet spot there somewhere though. I think I will wait until there are less than 7 days left. For others it may depend on how many competitive managers are left and how many of them are therefore setting up for a “big day”.
I really do hate this, but I must win.
does ottoneu allow for this? (i’m too lazy to read the whole constitution)
I’m planning to do this on Oct 1. I currently have 9 2/3 innings left so I put in O’Flaherty for tomorrow and then a start by Medlen on 9/30 which put put me somewhere in the 8 to 9 IP leaving me with about an inning to work with. On 10/1, I’m going all out with Sabathia, Kyle Kendrick and Joe Saunders with 5 RPs that I will also start (Papelbon, Jim Johnson, O’Flaherty, Thornton, and Dale Thayer). I hope I can pull this off.
I’ve got 29 innings left with Price, Cain and Maholm going tonight and then 8 Starters going on Oct 3.
Hope for some wins to give me a potential 4-5 Roto windfall on the last day of the season. The W category is so tight in my league, the last day stats will determine 1st and 2nd.