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Fantasy Football Playoff Seeding and Standings

DataForce's playoff qualification is a little different from other sites, where only the top teams in the standings make the playoffs. Instead, six teams qualify based on both winning percentage and points scored.

How Playoff Qualification Works

Six teams in each head-to-head league qualify for the playoffs (weeks 15-17), and two of them receive a bye in the first playoff week. Qualifiers are chosen in this order:

1. The division winner with the better win-loss record is seeded #1 and receives a first-round bye
2. The winner of the other division is seeded #2 and receives a first-round bye
3. The remaining team that scored the most points during the season
4. The remaining team that scored the next most points
5. The remaining team with the best win-loss record
6. The remaining team with the next best win-loss record

Once the six teams are chosen, the four non-bye teams are re-seeded #3 through #6 by win-loss record, so the brackets follow the standings: the best team plays the worst team in each of the first two playoff rounds.

Why We Do It This Way

Our customers want a system that minimizes luck. This method guarantees that the top four teams in the standings (with at least one from each division) make the playoffs, and that the two highest-scoring teams make it too.

The bane of fantasy football is abandoned teams. It's painful to score a ton of points and still miss the playoffs because a rival got an easy matchup against an owner who didn't bother to set a lineup. Reducing the luck factor and rewarding the better teams seems obvious to many. But there's more.

Because high scorers can still qualify, you're rarely out of the playoff race. Even after a bad start you have something to play for, which keeps leagues competitive and reduces abandoned teams. Combined with our toilet bowls, almost everyone has a meaningful game almost every week of the 17-week fantasy season.

Doesn't Selecting Points First Give Points More Emphasis Than Standings?

No. It does the opposite. Consider this simple example:

• Team A: 10-3 record, 1000 points
• Team B: 9-4 record, 800 points
• Team C: 8-5 record, 900 points

If we need two teams, one by standings and one by points, which two should make it?

Select by points first, then standings, and we get teams A and B.

Select by standings first, then points, and we get teams A and C.

So choosing points first actually puts more weight on the standings, which most people feel is intuitively correct.

What About Victory Points?

Some owners prefer victory points, and we offer Victory Points leagues for them. These leagues have no divisions. Each week you earn 2 points for winning your head-to-head game, 2 points for scoring in the top third of the league, and 1 point for scoring in the middle third, so 0 to 4 points a week. The six teams with the most victory points make the playoffs. See the rules for details.

Why Have Divisions At All?

Mostly to cater to the larger crowd that likes standings emphasized. Winning your division matters because it earns a coveted first-round bye.

We're aware that divisions increase the luck factor, since the draw can put you in a soft or a tough division, and you don't play many more division games anyway. People still enjoy the divisional competition.

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