http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/mlb/news?slug=ab-h2hstrategy_032707

http://busersports.com/2009/07/21/strategy-head-to-head-leagues/

http://www.emptythebench.com/2008/03/26/nba-fantasy-hoops-the-case-for-streaming/

I’m relatively new to fantasy hockey, and have witnessed what you refer to as “streaming,” but wasn’t really sure how it was done until about midway through the season. I admit, it bothered me slightly, but mainly because I thought it was clever and not because I thought it was cheating. I’m curious how you can consider IR stashing a “legit strategy” and not this. I play mostly roto leagues so I don’t make much use of it anyways, but it seems to me if the actions someone is taking are within the parameters of the public league, it is not cheating. It is a strategy biased to those with more time, I completely agree, but it is a strategy nonetheless, and a legitimate one as long as the rules and boundaries of the league are such. You can call it every bad name under the sun when it comes to the fairness of the rules, but it is still within the rules. As long as the parameters of the public league indicate that managers are allowed to make unlimited transactions on a given day, then it is NOT cheating. It is certainly a questionable practice, but you can not call it cheating as long as it is within the rules. Now, if you were to say that Yahoo and the like should change the RULES to avoid these practices, then that is certainly a valid point, but it bothers me to see everyone rant and call something cheating when it is within the rules.

We’ve got 14 managers and 22 players per team, with 10 players being keepers. If you were to drop a quality player there is no way you would get him back. You would be left with a very marginal team within a month. Streaming would be “suicidal”.

Also in most Rotisserie leagues there is a maximum number of games played per position which effectively negates streaming.

I’m a huge fan of stashing players on IR. It’s a legit strategy that benefits those managers who have patience and the management skills to take advantage of a player that might go unnoticed because of his injury.

This past season, I traded for Marian Gaborik halfway through the season and stashed him until the last month of play. It paid off huge. I also did the same thing with Joe Sakic, however, that didn’t quite pan out the way I would have hoped.

I would love nothing more than to upend a manager in a finals matchup who has streamed all season. Fantasy hockey bliss right there.

A strategy like IR stashing is one that is a bit closer to the line. It’s using the league rules to establish a marked advantage but I’m not sure I fully agree with the tactic. As a result in the leagues I have been in we’ve set limits on the IR slots that are available to managers. It’s a much trickier one to handle compared to streaming though.

I think you give good advice to people who have had the misfortune of joining a public league against a streamer though!

Thanks for the comment. It certainly is a controversial topic in the fantasy sports community.

I agree with you 100% that it is the job of the commissioner in custom leagues to make sure the rules don’t allow for a manager in the league to stream players.

However, if you do public leagues, a lot of default settings in bigger services don’t take streaming into account. That’s why the manager I talk about in this article (http://saucerpass.com/2009/06/an-example-of-streaming-in-fantasy-hockey/)
was able to take advantage of the Yahoo! system and completely dominate.

I’m curious what you think about managers who stream in public leagues?