Sometimes It Just Comes Down to Luck

One thing about fantasy football is that however well you draft, however great you trade and work the waivers, however many points you score, it often just comes down to plain old dumb luck! In my case it is often bad luck!

I am in a league with my brothers and friends. It is a keeper league and this is the 8th year of it. A few years ago I was the highest scoring team in the league and did not make the play-offs. Four teams of the twelve go to the play-offs and even though no team scored more points overall than my team did, I had the fifth best record. Bad teams happened to have their best weeks against me.

The next year, I had the third highest scoring team. Again, I did not make the play-offs.

This year I am in four leagues all together. Three in ESPN and one in CBS. In the CBS league, 6 teams make the play-offs. My team was the third highest scoring team and did not make the play-offs. In an ESPN free public league, I am the 2nd highest scoring team and I need to win this week while two other teams lose for my team to make the play-offs. In the league with my brothers and friends, the opposite might happen. Due to some bad luck, I am the 7th highest scoring team of the 12. Yet if one team loses and I win this week, I will make the play-offs.

My last league is a new and 2nd league that my brothers and different friends created just this year. It is the first year of a keeper league. My team is the highest scoring team and in 1st place with a 10-2 record.

So of my four teams, three of them are in the leaders of scoring points and only one of those are a lock to make the play-offs. The one team that had a bad year has the best chance (outside of the 1st place team) to make the play-offs.

However good your team is, plain old dumb luck still takes a factor. Your one bad week may come against a team you need to beat. The worst teams in the league may have their one great week when they play your team. There is never a guarantee that your team will make the play-offs. All you can do is prepare as much as you can, draft as good as you can, work the waivers as well as you can and then just pray you have half way decent luck.