As a commissioner, your primary focus should be on creating a fair and level playing field.  It generates confidence in the league, which is the best way to establish longtime owners.  Secondly, and just as important in my mind, is providing a structure that creates great competition.  If owners feel they don’t have a shot after mid-May (i.e. the Pirates), they will likely be disinterested and fail to manage their teams with any enthusiasm.  Creating a sense of competition deep into the season makes the entire experience a lot more fun for everyone.

In one of my longtime leagues, we made a few adjustments (like we always do) that mainly concern the limiting of acquisitions and games started.  And, if I don’t say so myself, things are looking pretty good.  Instead of the incessant griping about this or that, I often get the response, “I like the way the league is setup this year.”  There’s a reason for that – 80% of the league still has a chance for the money with 7 weeks left in the season.  Like I said, a competitive league is a happy league.

This is how things shape up so far; it’s a pretty tight race.

Standings

1 - 65.5 pts

2 - 64.5 pts

3 - 63.5 pts

4 - 60.5 pts

5 - 60    pts

6 - 55.5 pts

6 - 55.5 pts

8 - 55    pts

9 - 35.5 pts

10 - 34.5 pts