I still remember my very first year of fantasy basketball.  I dominated the league, talked smack the entire time, and went into the playoffs with a 1st round bye while already thinking about how to celebrate my championship.  I played a team that struggled all year, barely made the playoffs, and had what I thought was an opposing team of nothing but scrubs.  We both streamed where we could and when the dust settled I lost by a large margin.  All my players played well, I couldn’t understand what happened.  When I added the total games played I realized I lost a hidden, yet easily the most important fantasy category there is, and I lost it by double digits: the category of games played.  I ate every word of trash I talked all year and had to watch two other teams vie for what I considered my championship.

If you are like me and play to win, not just play to compete, then maximizing games played in the playoffs is by far the most important way to do it.  JB chimes in, “But you have to make it there first?”  “Au contraire, mon ami”, I say.   Are you really playing for 4th place?  Does anyone remember who lost in the playoffs anymore than they remember who missed them?  Nay I say, we play to win!  So here it is, the most important 3500 words I’ll write all year as far as winning your RCL goes…

H2H playoff dates are: 1st round March 16-22.  Semifinals March 23-29.  Finals March 30-April 5.  Which should be the playoff schedule for everyone.  If your league uses the last week of the year then I would highly recommend you suggest changing it.  It plays very similarly to the last week of fantasy football.