Yes. I know most MLB teams have played over 90 games, so the All-Star break is two weeks after the real halfway point. But it is the time when you have four days with no games to watch, no league standings that change, and when you can really spend a few hours looking at the standings in each category for any/all of your teams.
Your team’s total is not the key this week. Where you stand in each category and how many points you can win – and lose in each category is the way to figure out what moves to make this week to get your team into contention.
If you are already near the top of your league, you should still be doing this to make sure you stay there or improve or protect your position in the standings.
Start by looking at the distribution in each category. How many home runs you need to pick up one point, two points or more is more important than the fact you only have three points right now. You also need to factor in the status of your players. Do you have a player on the DL who is coming back this week or at the end of the month? Look at this HR category:
Splendid Splinter League HR
| Pickpockets | 130 | 11 |
| Church of Baseball | 126 | 10 |
| Red Raiders | 118 | 9 |
| Speed Turtles | 107 | 8 |
| Hopping Corndogs | 105 | 7 |
| Travisties | 100 | 6 |
| Triple Play | 97 | 5 |
| Barking Spiders | 84 | 4 |
| Hook, Line & Sinker | 83 | 2.5 |
| Here Come Da Judge | 83 | 2.5 |
| Dballs | 81 | 1 |
That is through Sunday, July 13, but I have Mark Trumbo coming back from the DL this week, so that automatically adds 1.5 points. More importantly is can I overtake Triple Play and gain two and a half points without making a trade? Just as important is realizing that both Judge and DBalls have traded out already so if based on other categories I needed to consider trading Trumbo or another power hitter I have only one and a half points of downside at the worst and I can likely pick up half a point without him.
Do that with each category and see what you think your potential is. Then if you are in a trading league, you can better see what your options are. If you are not in a trading league – take all the NFBC style leagues, you will still have a better idea as to what type of players to look for on the free agent list or which players you can sit in certain weeks.
The other thing to take a careful look at is your current rate of HR or SB or SV per week. Are you already gaining in certain categories? In one of my NFBC leagues, I drafted Aroldis Chapman, Steve Cishek and Jose Veras as my closers. Obviously, for the first month and a half of the season, I had just Cishek and his seven saves, which put me severely behind in the category. Today, here is what the saves category looks like:
| Team 1 | 71 | 12 |
| Team 2 | 70 | 11 |
| Team 3 | 62 | 10 |
| Team 4 | 57 | 8.5 |
| Team 5 | 57 | 8.5 |
| Team 6 | 49 | 7 |
| Team 7 | 43 | 6 |
| Captains | 42 | 5 |
| Team 9 | 40 | 4 |
| Team 10 | 37 | 3 |
| Team 11 | 30 | 2 |
| Team 12 | 14 | 1 |
Slowly, I have made up ground and starting a few weeks ago the saves each week got me closer to the teams ahead of me or gained a point. This weekend or next week, I will pass the team ahead of me, and next up, the team with 49 has David Robertson and Zach Britton and could start to lose points if Britton were to be replaced. By the same token, I could overtake him if that didn’t happen but the Rangers trade Joakim Soria, as I recently added Neftali Feliz. To get more than two points, I would need the teams tied at 57 to lose a closer. The point in a no-trade league is to find another closer or maybe (given roster space) to add the next in line of one of those teams.
That may seem difficult, but what is the alternative?
You need to put in some real work to improve your chances of cashing. Yes, I need 15 or 20 points to cash in those two leagues.
But that is well worth playing for, and gaining a point or two or more in each category is possible.
But only if you try. {jcomments on}