Fantasy sports software programs use a variety of draft and scoring models and every fantasy team owner has their favorite way to play.
Drafts and leagues are classified several different ways. We looked at the exact definitions for these as well as possible advantages or disadvantages of each.
Standard Draft Leagues
- Head-to-head: Each week during the season you play a game against a different team. There are 10 categories (on ESPN Fantasy Hockey for example: goals, assists, +/-, penalty minutes, average ice time, powerplay goals, shots on goal, wins, gaa and save percentage). Whichever fantasy team does better in each category gets a win in that category. At the end of the week you have a record of 10 games (one for each stat category). Each week your wins and losses are added on to your record. There can be ties in head-to-head leagues.
- Rotisserie: Also abbreviated as roto, points are based on the standings for each category. In a 10-team league, 1st place in any category nets you 10 points, 2nd place is 9 points, etc. so you win points for every category depending on your placement. However, points are not cumulative so even if you do well one week and gain points, the next week you could lose points if your players dont play or perform as well as the previous week.
- Total points: Total points means total points. Wins and losses are not tracked. Teams build up points on a cumulative basis. Team standings are dictated by the points count. The teams with the highest point totals at the end of the season advance to the playoffs.
Specialized Draft Leagues
- Auction: In an auction draft league, you have a budget and its up to you how the money gets spent. During the draft, teams take turns nominating players to be auctioned off. Everybody bids up on that one name until one team is left standing, poised to devote the largest chunk of their predetermined budget to that player. The bid then proceeds to the next team/manager to nominate the next name and so on.
- Dynasty: Dynasty leagues demand a long-term commitment from team owners/managers over multiple seasons. After the first draft of a dynasty league, players remain on the roster season after season unless they are traded or released. Subsequent season drafts features only rookies so team owners/managers also find themselves invested in paying attention to the up-and-coming college talent when adding new players.
- Keeper: A keeper league is aptly described as a cross between a standard draft and dynasty style leagues. As a team owner you keep the same players you drafted in your original season, only drafting in rookies with each new season. This requires a band of friends willing to commit to many years and consecutive seasons.
- Survivor in a survivor style of game play you can use any draft style you like, unless confined by the fantasy sports software. Scoring models can also vary but what adds the element of difficulty to a survivor league is that at the end of each week's game play, whichever contestant scored the fewest amount of points is dropped from the league and prohibited from competing for the rest of the season.
- IDP Individual Defensive Player: This style of league play includes drafting and playing individual defensive players as well as the standard offensive positions. A standard league considers defense as an entire unit. This model requires a lot more work and research into drafting which defensive players and when.
- Salary Cap - A salary cap league just means your draft and roster is limited by a pre-determined amount. Individual pro players' salaries are determined within the game by the software using calculations from past and current performances. Some programs change player salaries daily - others change them weekly.
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