The Chase

My fantasy baseball keeper league is going strong in year 7. Before last season we we decided that we needed to mix things up to keep people interested. By September many years the leader was so far ahead that no one had much to play for. The league is straight points, not head-to-head. It makes you pay attention for the entire year and you can make roster/lineup changes every day.

Our solution to the problem was The Chase. We assume it’s similar to the NASCAR Chase, but no one really knows what that is. Here is how our version works: On September 1st, the top 6 teams make The Chase. The standings are adjusted as follows: The team in 6th place is reset to 0 points. Everyone else’s point total is set to half the amount they are ahead of the 6th place team. Points earned in September are earned at their regular level. It just makes the amount needed to be made up smaller.

The pitcher innings limit is not changed. This season, Talk to me Goose decided to go all in to make The Chase. This past weekend he averaged 7 starters a game. When he had both Tommy Hanson and Pedro going on Friday night and they both left after 2 innings because of the rain delays he was in bad shape. He wound up heading into The Chase in 4th place but only has 69.2 innings to work with.

This year’s lead up to the chase was especially exciting with Talk to me Goose being one of 5 teams within 50 points of each other with a week to go. They were shooting for 3 spots.

My team jumped from 7th to 5th last night. I thought I was out of it with only a small Monday schedule to make up the 20 points I was behind. Luckily Roy Oswalt threw a gem and Vlad and Carlos Guillen both hit 2 HRs. I head into The Chase with 305.1 innings to go. My team made a big push in September last year and put a real scare into the teams at the top.

The Chase Standings
384 Tuition Stables
245 The Sleepers
117.5 The A-Team
48.5 Talk to me Goose
7 Monkeys (My Team)
0 Strictly Ninjas