I did my time and waited until I played a few seasons before starting my own leagues. I studied the pros in here carefully and asked a lot of questions. I have done a few leagues and they have been successful and fun. I'm still looking to improve to keep them running smoothly. Of late I am looking closer as founders re align their leagues before play begins. It seems that the obvious top goal for this realignment is to give the league some kind of balance

From a cursory crunching of numbers it looks like the top criteria that tells how good an owner is, is the Owner Rating, followed by the Winning Percentage then the number of championships, but with this criteria you need to look at how many seasons it took to win those championships.

In our league I gathered all of the owners information from the profiles. I divided the number of seasons played by the number of championships won to find the average frequency it takes to win a championship. This appears to indicate how good an owner really is. It correlates pretty well with winning percentage too.

In a league I’m in now an owner has a rating of -92k and has won 1 championship in 426 seasons ($5,500)
At the other end of the spectrum is an owner with a rating of +81k who has won 45 championships at a rate of one per every 5.5 leagues he's in. He’s been in 250 seasons so far. At some point all of his playing became free - I think?

So, what are the different ways you can realign a league for balance?

If there are six super star studs (like the one mentioned above) and you spread them out, one in each division, aren’t you dooming the other owners in those divisions? So would you then clump them together, three per division (in the same league along with a couple of lucky owners who are good as well but maybe less overmatched than anyone else would be? I guess it all depends on the variety of owners.

Has this topic been addressed here in the forum before? If so can you point me in the right direction? I could find nothing.

How have you created balance in your leagues through realignment, with mixed levels of owners?

Thanks

bbcc

Random is really the way to go.  Any attempt to level the playing field has its drawbacks; and any attempt to do so will undoubtedly result in one or more owners feeling they've been treated unfairly (at best) or that the Commish manipulated things to his advantage (at worst). 

Frankly, I wouldn't worry about balance.  There's no rule that says the best teams in real life get separated; there are stronger and weaker divisions every year.  Also, for every season you wind up in a killer division with three 100-wine teams, you'll also have seasons that the winner has a sub-500 record.  Play enough, it all evens out.

Yup, totally agree with pinotfan.  I've never seen any commish try to do what you're describing.  In any league I've been, alignment is either completely random OR done according to some characteristics of the teams (as opposed to the owners).  As an example of the latter, if you're doing a theme like "pick a random player and twist his teammates" it's not unusual to align chronologically.

OK, one possibility just occured to me.  schwarze seeds the owners who participate in the WIS Championship every year.  I think he describes the process somewhere in the WISC thread, or you might consider sitemailing him for ideas.

In the bigger picture though, I still think random realignment is the way to go.

How about the leagues with several double owners? In the random generation does/can WIS automatically make sure double owners are in separate leagues? That feels important. How is that managed?

Most commissioners just keep hitting "realign" until it works out. 

At the other end of the spectrum is an owner with a rating of +81k who has won 45 championships at a rate of one per every 5.5 leagues he's in. He’s been in 250 seasons so far. At some point all of his playing became free - I think?

So, what are the different ways you can realign a league for balance?

If there are six super star studs (like the one mentioned above) and you spread them out, one in each division, aren’t you dooming the other owners in those divisions?



This doesn't address your question, but I was just thinking about your above comment.Well, I average a championship every 5.5 seasons, and I SURE AS HELL don't feel like a 'super star stud'. lol

The most popular way s to align a league:
 
     Random
     By a variable element if the league is designed as such.
     Owner Rank

The important part is if alignment isn't random you let the owner know up front.  Personally, I'd be quite hesitant to join a league that penalized me for being a good owner.

Mixtroy, aren't you playing at a fairly high level? Are there owners who win championships with greater frequency than once every 5.5? Maybe they are the "super-star studs" of WIS ( SSSW: it does sound a little silly , I know.)

You did remind me of another question: I was also trying to get to the page where there is a list of the owners with the most championships, the highest winning %, etc.. I have seen it before but do not remember where. Know what I am talking about? I bet that is where the true SSSW can be viewed.=:-p

Thanks Contrarian. Simple is best: random, and random again until dual owners are separated

and Zubinsum for the summation, hierarchy flow chart, and reminder of letting owners know that is what is happening.

and Pinotfan for the reminder to rely on random generation, not on over-thinking it too much, but letting it play itself out.

I think you guys have given me what I need to know. Other than that last question I posed to Mixtroy - or anyone really - I think I have been fed.

thankns, bbcc

Posted by zubinsum on 1/29/2012 4:35:00 PM (view original):
The most popular way s to align a league:
 
     Random
     By a variable element if the league is designed as such.
     Owner Rank

The important part is if alignment isn't random you let the owner know up front.  Personally, I'd be quite hesitant to join a league that penalized me for being a good owner.

I have run nearly 70 leagues so I think I am qualified to weigh in on this.  I agree with the first two.

Random is ALWAYS the way to go if the theme allows.  This prevents any funny business.  If an owner(s) has more than one team I always re-randomize until the teams are separated.  From time to time I get some noob questioning all the randomizations and accusing me of  setting the alignment up to my advantage.  Anyone who has played in my leagues knows that I will always take on all comers.  If I was skewing my leagues guys would not come back and I would not be able to fill leagues.  I guess what I am saying is that reputation of the commish is SUPER important.  I have one my fair share and lost my fair share.  To be honest I never think about who is in my division.  If your team is better (SophieGiants I am talking to you) so be it.  

However you decide to do it you MUST state it up front.  This way if anyone has a gripe, it is on them for not reading the league rules before signing up.
I suggest not joining leagues with a commish that is desperate to win Championships.  Chances are they set the league rules because they think there is an advantage. 

You did remind me of another question: I was also trying to get to the page where there is a list of the owners with the most championships, the highest winning %, etc.. I have seen it before but do not remember where. Know what I am talking about? I bet that is where the true SSSW can be viewed.=:-p

Sure.

In th Team Center, right above your list of active teams, there is a series of links.  Click "Records"

When that page pops up, at the top there will be a link called "Top 25 Users" which I think is what you are looking for.  The link "User Records" will also provide some of this info.

Bilfert is right on the money. If I need multiple re-randomizations to separate one owners two yeams into separate leagues, I will state that in the league message board. Other than that, unless you specify in the league description that owners will be separated based on ratings, You should not do so.

I have always been in and (when I'm commissioner) done random alignment. The only exception is the current season I'm in, which is a franchise league and the divisions were aligned based on the franchises and to make sure two of the same franchise weren't in the same league. It actually worked out pretty well for a 3-division, 24-team league.