Theme league ideas kicking around Topic

crazystengel
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If you're like me, you lie away at nights thinking of new theme league ideas. I was wondering if anyone else here had some ideas kicking around that never quite got off the ground. Here are a couple of mine. Feel free to post yours below.

1. BOO YOUR OWN BARRY BONDS

Cap at around 100M. Every owner has to draft the 2001 (73 home run) Bonds. And every owner has to get him at least 664 PAs (his RL #) to qualify for the playoffs. Beyond that, there are no restrictions -- draft whomever you like.

Here's the twist. You "lose" a win for every home run Bonds hits for you. If you win 90 games and Bonds hits 50 homers, you have 40 "official" wins. This would set up some wacky scenarios. You beat your division rival in a game, but your Bonds hits 3 home runs, so you actually lose two net wins from your total, while your opponent, whose Bonds was homerless, stays at the same total.

There would also be interesting decisions to make with regards to pitching staffs. Do you want a staff with a good or bad HR/9? And against whom do you rest your Bonds -- against which teams, specific pitchers, specific parks? What about the other 7 batters you draft -- do you go for big boppers in anticipation of some crappy HR/9 staffs?

2. RANDOM OWNERS ALLIANCE

Cap not important. A fairly simple concept, versions of which have probably already been used in other themes. 24 owners enter a league. After a random alignment, we go to each division and pair up the owners by ratings points: #1 and #4, #2 and #3. Now you have your "teammate" owner. The 4 owners who make the playoffs in each league will the be the two pairs of teammates with the most combined wins. You and your partner could develop some interesting strategies (eg. what do to in your 14 games against each other, which other "teammates" do you target, etc.). And just so you don't have to play your teammate right away in the playoffs, each teammate will face one of the owners from the other successful partnership in round 1.
12/11/2008 10:32 AM
jfranco77
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I always have a few going around my head as well.

Saves Challenge

Each team has to have one guy for their closer. The 4 teams in each league whose closers have the most saves make the playoffs. How you get there is up to you. I'd like to see if anyone can break K-Rod's record.

Mediocrity

Everyone has to draft a whole team of hitters whose OPS+ is exactly 100 (or 99-101 if you want to be nice). And pitchers would have to have some stat right at 100 as well (probably ERC+). I do worry that a lot of teams would have the same players though.

Crappy HOF Seasons

Someone else tried to start this one and it never got off the ground. Something like a 60mil cap where all of the players must be Hall of Famers. Get to use some of their less worthy seasons.

PS> I really like the Bonds idea.
12/11/2008 10:58 AM
biglenr
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Quote: Originally Posted By jfranco77 on 12/11/2008
Mediocrity

Everyone has to draft a whole team of hitters whose OPS+ is exactly 100 (or 99-101 if you want to be nice). And pitchers would have to have some stat right at 100 as well (probably ERC+). I do worry that a lot of teams would have the same players though.

We just finished a league similar to this... It was called Average Pitching.

You had to pick only pitchers with an ERC+ of between 98 and 102, a HR/9+ of 95-105, and oav+ of 95 - 105, and a minimum of 2.5 bb/9. There was a DH, because you didn't want some pitchers to be above average in hitting.

Very interesting... Regular season finished yesterday, and the Cy Young winners were 1971 Bill Parsons and 1968 Bill Singer

12/11/2008 11:06 AM
Cheno5
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A Boy Named Sue

I'm probably going to do this, I just haven't had time lately. This is dedicated to all the boys out there who have names that are used for girls too, like me (Lee).

All your players must have first names that could also be girls' names. Lots of possibilities. Joe, Sammy, Kelly, etc. Could do this theme at different caps and have some fun.

I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one who has lost sleep over new ideas!
12/11/2008 12:34 PM
DoctorKz
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Jose can u c and I will bring back the Silent Auction League sometime in January. You pick, then bid on a block of 3 players, starting 10% over their actual salaries. Each owner is allowed to participate in the creation of the player blocks, and is alot of fun.
12/11/2008 1:29 PM
jfranco77
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Here's another couple ideas:

Matching Hits

Whoever comes the closest to matching their hitters' real life AVG/OBP/SLG numbers makes the playoffs. Alternatively, you pick the AVG/OBP/SLG line you expect to put up and whoever comes closest makes the playoffs.

Iron Gloves

No hitters rated at ANY position are allowed on your team. You'd have an entire defense of DHs.
12/11/2008 1:31 PM
willsauve
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1. BOO YOUR OWN BARRY BONDS

Cap at around 100M. Every owner has to draft the 2001 (73 home run) Bonds. And every owner has to get him at least 664 PAs (his RL #) to qualify for the playoffs. Beyond that, there are no restrictions -- draft whomever you like.

Here's the twist. You "lose" a win for every home run Bonds hits for you. If you win 90 games and Bonds hits 50 homers, you have 40 "official" wins. This would set up some wacky scenarios. You beat your division rival in a game, but your Bonds hits 3 home runs, so you actually lose two net wins from your total, while your opponent, whose Bonds was homerless, stays at the same total.

There would also be interesting decisions to make with regards to pitching staffs. Do you want a staff with a good or bad HR/9? And against whom do you rest your Bonds -- against which teams, specific pitchers, specific parks? What about the other 7 batters you draft -- do you go for big boppers in anticipation of some crappy HR/9 staffs?



***** I'll join if stadiums are exclusive and I get Petco :) *********
12/11/2008 1:45 PM
SpotSell
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I would like to see a league with open auction bidding, like fantasy/rostisserie baseball.

Everyone would start with a budget, let's say 100m, and then bid on players to fill out their roster. Their WIS salary would not be factored in. You'd have to figure out a way so that we were not bidding, one player at a time - that would take forever. Perhaps each day, bid on players for a specific position. The bids would be open for 24 hours on a message board, before moving onto the next position - high bid gets the guy. You could bid on multiple players of a given position, but could only win one.

It would have to be fleshed out more, but could be fun.
12/11/2008 1:51 PM
truemen
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Quote: Originally Posted By SpotSell on 12/11/2008
I would like to see a league with open auction bidding, like fantasy/rostisserie baseball.

Everyone would start with a budget, let's say 100m, and then bid on players to fill out their roster. Their WIS salary would not be factored in. You'd have to figure out a way so that we were not bidding, one player at a time - that would take forever. Perhaps each day, bid on players for a specific position. The bids would be open for 24 hours on a message board, before moving onto the next position - high bid gets the guy. You could bid on multiple players of a given position, but could only win one.

It would have to be fleshed out more, but could be fun.

I really like this idea. I played 15 years of Roto Baseball and auction day was the best day of the year.

I agree the idea needs to be fleshed out, but if it gets nailed down it could be a whole new part of the SIM experience - even have its own message board.

One problem, besides the length of the draft, is the incredibly large amount of players available in the data base.

If enough people like this idea, Spotsell you should start its own Topic. Anybody else up for it?
12/11/2008 2:07 PM
DoctorKz
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We've done one where you get a certain amount for the auction, say a dollar. You only get to spend that dollar on the entire auction, you can bid as little or as much on a particular player. The silent auction works too. I'm waiting to hear back from Jose, but it'll happen in January...
12/11/2008 2:24 PM
Donburgh
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Quote: Originally Posted By truemen on 12/11/2008
Quote: Originally Posted By SpotSell on 12/11/2008

I would like to see a league with open auction bidding, like fantasy/rostisserie baseball.

Everyone would start with a budget, let's say 100m, and then bid on players to fill out their roster. Their WIS salary would not be factored in. You'd have to figure out a way so that we were not bidding, one player at a time - that would take forever. Perhaps each day, bid on players for a specific position. The bids would be open for 24 hours on a message board, before moving onto the next position - high bid gets the guy. You could bid on multiple players of a given position, but could only win one.

It would have to be fleshed out more, but could be fun.

I really like this idea. I played 15 years of Roto Baseball and auction day was the best day of the year.

I agree the idea needs to be fleshed out, but if it gets nailed down it could be a whole new part of the SIM experience - even have its own message board.

One problem, besides the length of the draft, is the incredibly large amount of players available in the data base.

If enough people like this idea, Spotsell you should start its own Topic. Anybody else up for it?

There was a league along these lines a few years ago. Can't remember who the commish was. We used the 1992 season and had $260 to use for players and ballpark. Deadline was 10pm et each day. It took about 45 days to go through all the players. It was like crack.
12/11/2008 2:26 PM
biglenr
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It's been done....

Here's how to do it...

1 - Limit the player pool. Pick 24 player/seasons for each position with 550 PA or more. (72 for OF of course). 2-3 outstanding seasons, 5-6 above average seasons, 5-6 average seasons, 5-6 a bit below par seasons that feature some skill (speed, defense, HR...) and 3-4 horrid seasons you want to avoid.

2 - Similar with pitchers. Limit the player pool to 192 pitchers. Take the time to ensure that each team can get 4-5 200-250 IP SP's, and 3-4 relief pitchers. (8 x 24 = 192)

Require each owner to fill 8 hitting and 8 pitching slots. Say a $200 budget.

The other 9 slots are players with a maximum of $500k salary. WIS salary does not fit in at all. Call it a $255m cap if you want, it doesn't matter.

Then everyone uses Microsoft net meeting to have a conference. Every PC with windows (since at least windows 98 ) has this free. Try your computer before hand. The commish has a spreadsheet showing each team, and the rosters, and shares them. You bid on the players online.

For 16 positions x 24 owners, you're talking about less than 400 players. You can probably do it online in 2 4 hours sessions. About 120 in the first session, and 280 in the second (best players usually go first with more spirited bidding)

You need to agree before hand what day time those sessions will be
12/11/2008 2:30 PM
sheller
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Quote: Originally Posted By SpotSell on 12/11/2008

I would like to see a league with open auction bidding, like fantasy/rostisserie baseball.

Everyone would start with a budget, let's say 100m, and then bid on players to fill out their roster. Their WIS salary would not be factored in. You'd have to figure out a way so that we were not bidding, one player at a time - that would take forever. Perhaps each day, bid on players for a specific position. The bids would be open for 24 hours on a message board, before moving onto the next position - high bid gets the guy. You could bid on multiple players of a given position, but could only win one.

It would have to be fleshed out more, but could be fun.




I've kicked that idea too, as a way to hold an inaugural draft in a progressive. It could work just as well for a one-and-done theme league, too.

I would bid on the player, not the season. If you win the bid, you win whatever player season you want, and nobody else is allowed to use that player.

Assume everyone gets a dollar pot. Every bid on a player must open for at least a penny, must go up in penny increments, and you're never allowed to bid if you wouldn't have enough pennies to pay the minimum for however many players you need to fill your roster. Say you have 8 players on your roster and 20 pennies . Your bid for that 9th player could not exceed 4 pennies, because you'll need at least 16 pennies to pay for the 16 players you need to fill your roster if you pay 4 pennies for a 9th player.

Randomly sequence those 24 owners and allow them to introduce players according to that random sequence.

e-bay style - bids that aren't topped after 24 hours win. If you really wanted a guy, of course, you could open the bid on him for 76 pennies and get him automatically. Nobody could go up to 77 pennies on the players because it wouldn't leave them enough pennies to afford the 24 other players they need.

I think the opening week of the auction would move relatively slow, but after that most of the owners would probably have pretty much spent themselves out of things.
12/11/2008 2:59 PM
SpotSell
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Quote: Originally Posted By Donburgh on 12/11/2008
Quote: Originally Posted By truemen on 12/11/2008

Quote: Originally Posted By SpotSell on 12/11/2008

I would like to see a league with open auction bidding, like fantasy/rostisserie baseball.

Everyone would start with a budget, let's say 100m, and then bid on players to fill out their roster. Their WIS salary would not be factored in. You'd have to figure out a way so that we were not bidding, one player at a time - that would take forever. Perhaps each day, bid on players for a specific position. The bids would be open for 24 hours on a message board, before moving onto the next position - high bid gets the guy. You could bid on multiple players of a given position, but could only win one.

It would have to be fleshed out more, but could be fun.

I really like this idea. I played 15 years of Roto Baseball and auction day was the best day of the year.

I agree the idea needs to be fleshed out, but if it gets nailed down it could be a whole new part of the SIM experience - even have its own message board.

One problem, besides the length of the draft, is the incredibly large amount of players available in the data base.

If enough people like this idea, Spotsell you should start its own Topic. Anybody else up for it?

There was a league along these lines a few years ago. Can't remember who the commish was. We used the 1992 season and had $260 to use for players and ballpark. Deadline was 10pm et each day. It took about 45 days to go through all the players. It was like crack


I will set one up, let's see if it has any interest
12/11/2008 3:55 PM
eastvanmungo
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We are nearing the half way point of the War of the Themes (MLB80116), where every owner got to give another owner a theme.

We got some great owners, and it's been a competitive league. As commissioner I tried to make sure that all the themes were playable, but I only had to ask for adjustments to a couple of them. It would be hard to fill a whole league with some of the themes, but they are great as a one off.

I'll probably try another War when this one is done.

12/11/2008 4:02 PM
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