Dynasty Fantasy MLS

[sbrylski]

For the last decade, I ran a contract-based fantasy American-football league. Veteran players were auctioned off each year and could be signed for multi-year deals. Rookie players were drafted and received cheap multi-year contracts and had special rules once they entered fantasy free agency. It was a ton of fun.

But I don't watch NFL anymore.

I would like to find a way to set up a similar style of league for MLS. Each team would have a simple budget, sign players to multi-year deals, and to make it soccer-specific, pay transfer fees to other teams. At full scale, I could even envision three tiers of fantasy pro-rel using the USL player pool as well, earning discounted points (e.g. 1 USL goal = 0.5 MLS goals). Fantasy teams at any tier could sign players from MLS or USL player pools, but obviously MLS players would be more valuable with potential to earn more points.

Stopping there for a second, would there be interest around here to participate in something like that?

If so, the biggest challenge a league like this would face getting off the ground is the poor fantasy MLS infrastructure out there. This is the only service provider I am aware of and I can barely tell if it's operational this year: https://draftmls.com/

An early thought I had to keep things simplistic at the outset and to accommodate for the weak fantasy infrastructure is to run it manually and have a massively simple scoring system:

MLS Goal = 2 points
MLS Assist = 1 point

Without a system to track rosters, starting lineups, and stats, my thought is that each team would simply be made up of about 11 players and all players would contribute to weekly scores. Or, the scoring system is just rotisserie-style like fantasy baseball.

The drawback to this is it could cause great complications when trying to scale the league at some point in the future to include defensive stats, for example. League economics would massively shift with the additions of whole new point categories. On the other hand, it could be quite fun to just stick with the simplistic scoring for the life of the league.

There would be more second-tier rules around things like budgets and transfers (both fantasy and real life), but I'm firstly interested in hearing thoughts on the above.

 

[SoupInNYC]

For the last decade, I ran a contract-based fantasy American-football league. Veteran players were auctioned off each year and could be signed for multi-year deals. Rookie players were drafted and received cheap multi-year contracts and had special rules once they entered fantasy free agency. It was a ton of fun.

But I don't watch NFL anymore.

I would like to find a way to set up a similar style of league for MLS. Each team would have a simple budget, sign players to multi-year deals, and to make it soccer-specific, pay transfer fees to other teams. At full scale, I could even envision three tiers of fantasy pro-rel using the USL player pool as well, earning discounted points (e.g. 1 USL goal = 0.5 MLS goals). Fantasy teams at any tier could sign players from MLS or USL player pools, but obviously MLS players would be more valuable with potential to earn more points.

Stopping there for a second, would there be interest around here to participate in something like that?

If so, the biggest challenge a league like this would face getting off the ground is the poor fantasy MLS infrastructure out there. This is the only service provider I am aware of and I can barely tell if it's operational this year: https://draftmls.com/

An early thought I had to keep things simplistic at the outset and to accommodate for the weak fantasy infrastructure is to run it manually and have a massively simple scoring system:

MLS Goal = 2 points
MLS Assist = 1 point

Without a system to track rosters, starting lineups, and stats, my thought is that each team would simply be made up of about 11 players and all players would contribute to weekly scores. Or, the scoring system is just rotisserie-style like fantasy baseball.

The drawback to this is it could cause great complications when trying to scale the league at some point in the future to include defensive stats, for example. League economics would massively shift with the additions of whole new point categories. On the other hand, it could be quite fun to just stick with the simplistic scoring for the life of the league.

There would be more second-tier rules around things like budgets and transfers (both fantasy and real life), but I'm firstly interested in hearing thoughts on the above.

I'd be interested in something like this. Additionally, I've been doing a MLS fantasy league with three other guys that has been outside of the MLS site, but we still kinda rely on it. A few things logistically that we do:

• We each have a roster of 25 and no players can be on multiple teams
• This is all tracked via a googlesheet
• We use MLS scoring based on results. Basically, just go into the MLS site afterwards and grab the points off of there, but we also did two items:
  • If your player played in a match and their team won, you get a 3 point bonus (no point adjustments for draws or losses)
  • If your player was selected as a nominee for GOTW, they got an extra 3 points

We realized that tracking soccer stats for fantasy purposes was a ton of work, so why not use the MLS site baseline, and then add in what else we want.

If you put together a decent googlesheet to track it all, it's doable (and I would likely be willing to help with that, schedule permitting)

 

[Ulrich]

For the last decade, I ran a contract-based fantasy American-football league. Veteran players were auctioned off each year and could be signed for multi-year deals. Rookie players were drafted and received cheap multi-year contracts and had special rules once they entered fantasy free agency. It was a ton of fun.

But I don't watch NFL anymore.

I would like to find a way to set up a similar style of league for MLS. Each team would have a simple budget, sign players to multi-year deals, and to make it soccer-specific, pay transfer fees to other teams. At full scale, I could even envision three tiers of fantasy pro-rel using the USL player pool as well, earning discounted points (e.g. 1 USL goal = 0.5 MLS goals). Fantasy teams at any tier could sign players from MLS or USL player pools, but obviously MLS players would be more valuable with potential to earn more points.

Stopping there for a second, would there be interest around here to participate in something like that?

If so, the biggest challenge a league like this would face getting off the ground is the poor fantasy MLS infrastructure out there. This is the only service provider I am aware of and I can barely tell if it's operational this year: https://draftmls.com/

An early thought I had to keep things simplistic at the outset and to accommodate for the weak fantasy infrastructure is to run it manually and have a massively simple scoring system:

MLS Goal = 2 points
MLS Assist = 1 point

Without a system to track rosters, starting lineups, and stats, my thought is that each team would simply be made up of about 11 players and all players would contribute to weekly scores. Or, the scoring system is just rotisserie-style like fantasy baseball.

The drawback to this is it could cause great complications when trying to scale the league at some point in the future to include defensive stats, for example. League economics would massively shift with the additions of whole new point categories. On the other hand, it could be quite fun to just stick with the simplistic scoring for the life of the league.

There would be more second-tier rules around things like budgets and transfers (both fantasy and real life), but I'm firstly interested in hearing thoughts on the above.

You’re obviously not married, are you?

 

[Schwallacus]

I'd be interested in something like this. Additionally, I've been doing a MLS fantasy league with three other guys that has been outside of the MLS site, but we still kinda rely on it. A few things logistically that we do:

• We each have a roster of 25 and no players can be on multiple teams
• This is all tracked via a googlesheet
• We use MLS scoring based on results. Basically, just go into the MLS site afterwards and grab the points off of there, but we also did two items:
  • If your player played in a match and their team won, you get a 3 point bonus (no point adjustments for draws or losses)
  • If your player was selected as a nominee for GOTW, they got an extra 3 points

We realized that tracking soccer stats for fantasy purposes was a ton of work, so why not use the MLS site baseline, and then add in what else we want.

If you put together a decent googlesheet to track it all, it's doable (and I would likely be willing to help with that, schedule permitting)

I'd be interested if it were split based off of solid stats, with an idea like;

-Goals = 10 pts
-Passes Completed = .25 pts (maybe even .1 due to amount)
-Shots = 1 pts
-Successful Dribbles = 2 pts
-Assists = 5 pts
-Tackles = 2 pts
-Clearances = 1 pts
-Yellow Cards = -3 pts
-Red Cards = -10 pts

Have a 4-4-2 formation for everyone to follow. No goalies. Two or three bench players in case of injury. No auto sub, if you fucked up, you fucked up. Better for risk/reward.

I hate add-ons like if the players team won or not. Not always on the player, and seems bullshit in my opinion. Just take what each person did, devise a point system, and insert it into a Google Doc.

Just my two cents. I don't have the time today, but I could start to look at point totals for different players, even the points system based off potentially unfair point allocation (someone with 400 passes getting 40 points??) and try to iron out potential kinks, show an example.

 

[sbrylski]

You’re obviously not married, are you?

Lol it's funny because I'm quitting the football league because I don't have time available.

But then I jump straight to this.

For maximum simplicity and operational efficiency, I'm thinking this:

Scoring
Goals - 2 pts
Assists - 1 pt

Rosters
Any 11 players

Prizes
Fantasy Shield - Total Overall Points
Spring Shield - Total Points March-June
Fall Shield - Total Points July-October
Playoff Cup - A mini-competition during the MLS playoffs where your overall points rollover to give an advantage

Transfer Windows
Primary - February
Secondary - July

In this way, manual labor is extremely minimal. Just downloading stats every week or two and using some Excel skills to spit out updated point totals. The split season prizes get bad teams a reset button during the July window, and the postseason mini-game keep people interested all year even if out of the running.

 

[sbrylski]

I'd be interested if it were split based off of solid stats, with an idea like;

-Goals = 10 pts
-Passes Completed = .25 pts (maybe even .1 due to amount)
-Shots = 1 pts
-Successful Dribbles = 2 pts
-Assists = 5 pts
-Tackles = 2 pts
-Clearances = 1 pts
-Yellow Cards = -3 pts
-Red Cards = -10 pts

Have a 4-4-2 formation for everyone to follow. No goalies. Two or three bench players in case of injury. No auto sub, if you fucked up, you fucked up. Better for risk/reward.

I hate add-ons like if the players team won or not. Not always on the player, and seems bullshit in my opinion. Just take what each person did, devise a point system, and insert it into a Google Doc.

Just my two cents. I don't have the time today, but I could start to look at point totals for different players, even the points system based off potentially unfair point allocation (someone with 400 passes getting 40 points??) and try to iron out potential kinks, show an example.

Maybe could come up with some reasonablely concise scoring system beyond goals and assists, but only if it matches a downloadable format from somewhere so it can all be automated in Excel. I would also like the same data available for USL players which present a challenge.

 

[sbrylski]

The best stat repository I can find is on RotoWire: https://www.rotowire.com/soccer/stats.php?league=MLS

Tons of stats and sortable by week or range of weeks. Definitely would be the go-to if I launch this league.

 

[sbrylski]

I'd be interested if it were split based off of solid stats, with an idea like;

-Goals = 10 pts
-Passes Completed = .25 pts (maybe even .1 due to amount)
-Shots = 1 pts
-Successful Dribbles = 2 pts
-Assists = 5 pts
-Tackles = 2 pts
-Clearances = 1 pts
-Yellow Cards = -3 pts
-Red Cards = -10 pts

Have a 4-4-2 formation for everyone to follow. No goalies. Two or three bench players in case of injury. No auto sub, if you fucked up, you fucked up. Better for risk/reward.

I hate add-ons like if the players team won or not. Not always on the player, and seems bullshit in my opinion. Just take what each person did, devise a point system, and insert it into a Google Doc.

Just my two cents. I don't have the time today, but I could start to look at point totals for different players, even the points system based off potentially unfair point allocation (someone with 400 passes getting 40 points??) and try to iron out potential kinks, show an example.

Here's what I'm thinking:

• ROSTERS
  • 18 Total Players
    • 11 Starters
      • 1-3 Forwards
      • 3-5 Midfielders
      • 3-5 Defenders
      • 1 Keeper
    • 7 Reserves
      • Any Positions
• SEASON STRUCTURE
  • Overview
    • February: Primary Transfer Window / Free Agency
    • March-June: Spring Season
    • July: Secondary Transfer Window
    • July-October: Fall Season
    • November: MLS Playoffs Mini-Game
  • During Transfer Windows:
    • Teams may trade or purchase/sell players from other teams
    • Teams may sign free agents via auction process
  • During Spring/Fall Season:
    • Starters accrue stats in each of the scoring categories defined below
    • Teams are awarded points in correpsondence with their overall rank in each scoring category (e.g. the team with the most goals in a 16-team league scores 16 points, the least goals scored 1 point, etc. for all categories)
    • Teams are ranked by total points across all scoring categories for the Spring Season period, the Fall Season period, and the Entire Season to determine winners for each of the three periods.
    • During each of the Spring and Fall Seasons, each team is allowed to substitute up to three reserve players for starters. A starter that is removed may not be subbed back in during the same half-season period.
  • During Playoff Mini-Game:
    • TBD, but generally, the whole league participates in a fanatsy game during the MLS postseason, with teams somehow handicapped using the Entire Season Points for each team.
• SCORING CATEGORIES
  • Offense
    • Goals
    • Assists
    • Chances Created
  • Possession
    • Passes Completed / Passes Attempted
  • Defense
    • Tackles
    • Interceptions
    • Clearances
  • Keeper
    • Saves - 2 * Goals Surrendered

Would still need to design rules around contracts and budgeting, but thoughts on this general structure?

 

[Sabo]

Bold to try to come up with a system from scratch. Whatever you decide I would do this.

 

[sbrylski]

Bold to try to come up with a system from scratch. Whatever you decide I would do this.

Can't tell if that makes me a creative or a control freak.