I play in a 10-team Yahoo Sports league with fellow members of a casino collectibles club. Under this 10-team format, the regular season is the first 13 weeks of the NFL season. Playoffs begin in week 14 with the top 6 teams in the league playing a single elimination bracket. The first and second place teams get a bye in week 14 while the 6th place team plays the 3rd place team and the 5th place team plays the 4th place team to narrow the semifinals down to 4 teams. Last year I had the league won pretty much from box to wire - I only lost one weekend during the regular season, and that loss was by less than 2 points. This year I started out okay but took some hard hits to my players' roster due to injuries. Payton Manning, Julian Edelman and Marshawn Lynch were in my starting line up in week one. I had a chance to put Cam Newton on my roster between weeks nine and ten. I kept Manning, and he scored negative points in week ten. I grabbed Joe Flacco off of wavers for week 11...he was placed on injured reserve after that game. I was trying to stay in the hunt just to make the playoffs, and I found Seattle QB Russell Wilson and Arizona RB David Johnson available for week 12. Week 14, the first playoff weekend, Seattle WR Doug Baldwin was available. With his help, my 5th place team beat the 4th place team. That weekend, the 6th place team beat the 3rd place team. That meant that last weekend, the 5th place team (me) had to play the 1st place team, and the 6th place team had to play the 2nd place team. Seattle WR Tyler Lockett happened to be available so I added him to my roster for week 15. My team scored the highest point total of the season in our league, beating the 1st place team by a huge margin. The 6th place team also managed to beat the 2nd place team. That means this weekend, the 5th and 6th place teams will be playing each other for 1st and 2nd in the playoffs (kinda like Kyle Busch winning NASCAR this year) and the 1st and 2nd place teams will be playing for 3rd and 4th.
Winning one of these leagues is not easy. It makes me smile that I might win this league two years in a row.
Winning one of these leagues is not easy. It makes me smile that I might win this league two years in a row.
