The Unwritten Rules
I didn’t grow up a fan of baseball. I was born and raised in Washington DC; an area that was devoid of a professional team until after I moved away. However, just like many kids, I played it growing up, but because I didn’t watch much of it growing up, I didn’t know about many of baseball’s unwritten rules until later in life.
I do remember the first time I saw a pitcher intentionally hit someone. I was watching an Orioles game with my father. The pitcher threw a pitch into the side of an opposing hitter. The batter was none too happy about it as he made his trip to first.
I looked up at my father and asked, “Why did he do that?”
Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.
Given your answers in this column, I am not surprised that you were not invited back to your league.
A player should absolutely not be allowed to bench players in order to improve his draft position for the upcoming year. Give me one example of a professional sports team fielding less than a full roster in order to drop in the standings. Trading veteran players for young prospects to “tank” is one thing, not fielding a team is another.
Similarly, throwing a game in order to get a better playoff matchup is definitely against the unwritten rules of the game in my opinion. If playing against the 7th seed instead of the 6th is worth losing a friend, then there are more serious issues in your life.
If a team is determined to lose, I’d much rather they bench their players than have to field a bad team. Having to field a bad team would force them to drop what good players they have in order to replace them with bad players. The #1 unwritten of fantasy is that you don’t dump your team when you’re not in it anymore. The safeguards that Justin recommends for this situation are the way to go.
“Give me one example of a professional sports team fielding less than a full roster in order to drop in the standings.”
The 76ers have been doing this for years.
They still play 5 everynight
I believe everyone should field a full lineup. However, what you do with that lineup should be lift to each owners discretion.
Not surprised either, a lot of these answers border on the preposterous. Its a game, not life and death, be a man, not a d’bag. Fantasy Baseball is a lot more fun when the league behaves in a civil manner instead of trying every trick in the book to win at all costs. That environment leads to a dead league real fast.
I think there is a misunderstanding here. I am not a propenent of fielding empty roster spots. I am a propenent of tanking if your league allows it. At the same time, I do believes leagues should set up safeguards to discourage tanking. Hopefully this clarifies this.
You’re comparing fantasy directly to managing a real team, and that’s not totally accurate. On a real team, you can field a whole roster while still tanking, since players can adjust their efforts so as to maximize their chances of losing the game without outright throwing it. In fantasy, this is impossible. I can’t phone up Trout and tell him I’m trying to tank, so he should stop trying so hard. The only option is to bench the roster. A bit shady? Sure. Wrong? Only if it’s against the rules. I think Justin’s overarching emphasis is simply everything is ok unless it’s explicitly against the rules, and things shouldn’t be against the rules if they hinder manager innovation and gameplay. If you have a problem with something you can make it against the rules, but you can’t fault someone for operating within the rules to do something that gives them an advantage, even if it may seem a little shady or arguable.
Agree with a lot of these, Justin. Ottoneu actually lends itself to a lot of discussion on these types of issues. Given the salary structures, arbitration, loans, etc. that many standard fantasy baseball formats don’t have. I tend to believe that there are no unwritten rules. There are written rules (a league constitution for example, and this constitution can include definition of acceptable behavior of any sort), but if it’s not written, it’s not a rule. It’s just a social construct that is generally accepted. Certainly we choose to play by said constructs most of the time – often not consciously as we tend to view it as “normal behavior”. However, if someone chooses not to abide by normal behavior, I can’t say anything about it that doesn’t boil down to “I value my opinion on this specific issue more than yours.” Personally, I’d rather avoid saying that and instead defer to “anything goes if it’s not defined in the written rules.”
Re Question 4: If we play to win the game, then isn’t deliberately losing a game, even to give yourself a better future match up, the wrong decision?
Seems inconsistent to say we’re playing to win and then say deliberately losing is a good idea. Something similar happened to me a couple years ago and I was not impressed. Same deal with people deliberately benching players (or not getting anywhere near their innings max) to get a better pick next year.
“Playing to win” is multifaceted. I personally haven’t seen the “throw the last week for better playoff seeding/matchup”, but I’d totally call genius on it. It’s not playing to win in the immediate, correct–but it’s playing to maximize chances of winning everything. Same with tanking/benching, but ONLY when you know you’re totally burnt to a crisp on the current season, and don’t have a core from which to improve via trade (only applies in dynasty leagues).
no, his ultimate goal is to win. It would be completely different if the last place team said, “hey, I want Friend #7 to get into the playoffs instead of Friend #6”
In a poker tournament when someone is all in, it is generally best not to bet out the other players. The reasoning being that it is best to win the whole tournament than an individual hand. Same logic applies here. I want to win my league more than an individual matchup.
we had the same situation with the first place guy throwing his last game to get an easier playoff matchup.
although as commish i did not stop it, and i don’t regret that, he did lose friends and face over it. integrity was questioned. it caused a major riff in the league. a 9 year keeper league nearly dismantled. you can run your team how you like, but at the end of the day, esp w a league of friends, these things aren’t worth it. its a huge dbag move, and you deserve what you get.
he ended up losing in the championship, then quit over the offseason.
I think if you lose a friendship over a fantasy league then you probably weren’t really friends to begin with.
The competition of a fantasy league can show a player’s true character though and expose a person as less than worthy of continued friendship.
“Fair or Foul?”
It comes down to the competitive level of the league generally, and of the individual players. When there’s a mismatch, people get upset.
That being said, if you’re playing to win then by all means scratch and claw for every advantage you can find.
And if you’re NOT playing to win, then you shouldn’t get upset when you don’t. If you’re primary complaint boils down to the winner putting forth more effort and thought than you did, then you guys shouldn’t be in the same league.