Relievers and Going for the OPL/Home League Double

Today, Ottoneu launched the 2023 edition of the Ottoneu Prestige League (OPL), a best-ball, overall competition open only to teams that finished top-six in their league in 2022. It has become one of my favorite aspects of Ottoneu, with unique rules that create a nice challenge for balancing competing in your “home league” and fighting through to the playoffs in OPL.

If you have an eligible team, I recommend joining, but I’m not here to convince you to join (you should join). I am here to complain about trade-offs.

Complain is maybe the wrong word. The reality is, OPL forces you to make trade-offs. It requires depth that isn’t as necessary for a standard league. It puts a premium on multi-position players. It makes prospects, injured players and flyers harder to hold.

I have broken down OPL roster construction in the past, but last year we saw a new approach with a handful of teams ditching relievers entirely. In fact, the teams that eventually met in the final had a combined zero relievers on their rosters.

This an interesting decision-point for an OPL team. Clearly you do not need relievers to win OPL. And while I am not sure I believe having zero RP is an inherently dominant strategy, there is at least circumstantial evidence that it is a good idea. And I want to try it out.

However, relievers are important for competing in your home league. Yes, I know I say I never spend on relievers, but that isn’t because they don’t matter – it is because I think you can build a strong pen inexpensively.

So do I punt RP entirely for OPL or try to build a strong, cheap pen for my home league? Both.

I left my league one auction this weekend without a single relief pitcher. I plan to leave that bullpen empty until later in March. A precise moment later in March, in fact. Right around 9 AM ET on Thursday, March 30.

OPL rosters should lock on Opening Day (Thursday, March 30) and the lock time is 4 AM ET. I typically wake up around 6 AM PT, so on Tuesday, March 28, I can wake up and immediately start auctions for a handful of relievers. Those auctions will end a few hours after the lock, but about four hours before the start of the first games of the season. In those four hours, I’ll find out which relievers I won, make the cuts necessary to make room for them, and slot them into my lineup.

Because I already prefer to work the wire for cheap relievers, this doesn’t change my bullpen strategy so much as delay it. I can still track spring performances, figure out who I want to target, and be ready to act. The cost will come from being a late-mover – all of my leaguemates have the ability to grab relievers before I do – but I think that is a fair risk to take.

I have no idea if this will allow me to effectively compete in my home league and make a deep run in OPL, but it’s the strategy I am using this year.