Thank you all for participating in another great year of Sultans of Stats! Congratulations to funkyquasar for winning the D1 title, despite my best efforts. And special congratulations to onegaishimasu, LeelaOne (the overall leaderboard winner), and Kj17 who, as the respective overall leaders of D2, D3, and D4, will have the honour of naming all leagues in their former divisions in 2025, if they so choose.

Normally this is the part where I'd say that you'll find a list of all managers who have automatially qualified for a 2025 promotion, along with how they secured that promotion. However I'm a bit short on time this week but will update this post soon to list all of those names! If your name is not listed below (once I update the post), you did not qualify for automatic promotion next year. And remember, all 2024 results can be found on the sultansofstats.com leaderboard, with the coloured lights beside each team's name signifying their status for 2025 (green = promotion, yellow = same division, red = relegation, blue = double promotion)

As well, if you did not fill out our Midseason Survey it's not too late! The mods will consider the results of this survey when setting up leagues next year and determining if any changes are required. Click here to participate in the survey

#D1: 1 x 16 teams (16) D1 1st-6th (6)

• funkyquasar
• kjohnm
• Hurtya
• Dothager
• Nfeuerer
• hayzer13

D2 1st-2nd (6)

• onegaishimasu
• ephyzephy
• tgmills
• BigSexyTolo
• bruceitup2
• rpsullivan

D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)

• marcram
• HarperWallbanger
• adroitninja

D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

• LeelaOne

#D2: 3 x 14 teams (42) D1 7th-16th (10)

• sterling
• phucknut
• Zolak
• ndjolt02
• Darthkling
• nickfrompitt
• TheTinDoor
• BustHerPosey_
• hholysheet
• notgradylittle

D2 3rd-7th (12)

• pharaohwizard
• PlainGuy1018
• kevinjcb
• evensonn
• PunkinDonuts
• dwfelty
• Prosner
• Browncoat237
• topheroc
• timerfry
• vb5215
• SHTTNwTHINKIN

D3 1st-2nd (13)

• breakfishclub
• CostcoStan
• jaywilly
• Beetley
• Trevorstelmach
• NDZ1
• obiwan088
• mrfudda
• ourmanhero
• mmmbogy
• derekjohnp
• ajtucker16
• Dmaraim

D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)

• TheRealNumberNine

D3 leaderboard, next 4 best (4)

• PrimusPilus
• murrayn
• JoeJackson1919
• jpickham

D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

• Kj17
• leddy89

#D3: 7x12 teams (84) D2 8th-14th (20)

• LordAlfredHayes
• Khaki_Scout
• KKFC
• SpartanLew
• bigwilbert
• boombohn
• lcdurrell
• xacex
• BoogieZXZ
• shakester
• Mb97
• [left league]
• Unorthodox3
• cobright
• xzaerx
• bolognasausage
• GatorDave15
• [midseason callup]
• VanBurenBoys_8
• Tcryden

D3 3rd-7th (31)

• kristusv
• Stfoley8
• Drewalah
• Sickboy1965
• mkultra3
• ilin
• mattcahill
• WMason
• msummey
• OrangeBandit
• c_braun
• SteepDowngrade
• BluntForce
• KobraCola
• ebit157
• colsrobe
• ckroyal92
• thatguychris_
• driftintime
• symptym11
• Scooterkid
• IndistinctCheddar
• sabbottk
• rpcallahan10
• ckschutz
• PLuckSword
• JReyes811
• Mikesglove
• chizzle
• YesImCocky
• frmrpreztaft

D4 1st-2nd (20)

• Statoshi
• SGrimmie
• jflo1015
• ericmlord
• shorv
• hiquetjt
• DuckDuck11
• KitchenTaco
• FCLymond
• bakedtowel
• JBooWins5
• Wilk
• Carey3037
• Jott
• jules_lc
• JSayer
• guanacosine
• CTFOX85
• lcEnt
• phiq

D4 leaderboard, next 13 best (13)

• Jackpintavalle
• NarWil
• ThePensive
• KMGBond2
• NotClarkKent95
• vermont_morgan
• Yankeeblues21
• ksteadsrus
• Relik9r
• 198valor
• Jeffhotto
• Steelfox77
• BillsHead

Hello all and happy (near!) end of the season.

As displayed in a banner at the top of the Fantrax website, please note that as a result of the Mets-Braves having a doubleheader scheduled for Monday, September 30th (the day after the original last day of the season), the fantasy baseball season has been extended to include these games as well.

We will be in touch next week for the end-of-season wrap-up; good luck with the final weekend!

Below text from Fantrax regarding the change:

"The Mets and Braves have been officially rescheduled to play a doubleheader on Monday, Sep 30. This will be the day AFTER the current MLB regular season was previously scheduled to end.

Any league that had a Sep 29 season end date has been changed to Sep 30. If your league ended prior to Sep 29, you are not affected.

For all other formats (Roto, Points) where lineup changes are permitted, you will be able to make lineup changes prior to any player's team's first game of next week. Sep 30 will be a stand-alone Lineup Period. Daily Points and Roto leagues leagues may continue to make lineup changes as normal."

Edit: Follow along with everybody's picks and the overall standings by clicking here. Updates to these results will be made regularly throughout the All-Star Break

Hello all, and happy almost All-Star Break!

We have two surveys with varying levels of fun to keep you preoccupied and thinking about baseball over the upcoming All-Star Break.

First is the Midseason Survey - help the mod team determine the future of SoS by providing your feedback on what to change for future seasons. There is no deadline to complete the midseason survey

Second is the All-Star Break Challenge - answer questions about the All-Star game and associated weekend activites for your chance to win bragging rights and a special Discord role. You must complete the All-Star Break Challenge form by Saturday, July 13 at 4pm ET / 1pm PT in order to participate. This post will be updated once the deadline is reached to include a link to the leaderboard so you can follow along with the actions as points accumulate

Hello all,

Ahead of this year's All-Star Break (which will feature the return of our popular All-Star Break Challenge and the annual midseason survey - you'll hear more about these later this week!) I wanted to take a look at how the addition of the new K/9 pitching category has been going; specifically to determine how much it's been "double counting" with Ks.

Double Counting

What is the double counting effect? Prior to the introduction of K/9, there was some discussion on Discord and in survey responses that adding K/9 would be redundant as we already have Ks as a pitching category. Since both categories are rooted in the same stat, pitcher strikeouts, it is likely that if you do well in one, you'll do well in the other, and vice versa - therefore, strikeouts are effectively being "double counted" in our pitching categories. Similarly, SoS critics have long maligned the inclusion of both OBP and OPS as hitting categories; since OPS is equal OBP + SLG, we are "double counting" OBP on the hitting side.

Analysis - Introduction

To determine if this double counting effect actually exists, and to what extent, I pulled the leaderboard stats of all 274 SoS teams competing this season and ran a simple correlation analysis between all of the hitting stats and all of the pitching stats to determine each stat pair's correlation coefficient (unfamiliar with correlation analyses? Read more here). I did not determine the correlation coefficients between any hitting vs pitching stat, since in 2024 there are no players contributing on both sides; therefore, any correlations between the two sides would likely be coincidental.

The summary table of correlation coefficients can be found in the image embedded in this post, while the full dataset and results can be found here. Note that the findings in the photo & text below are based on SoS leaderboard data before games started on Monday, July 8, and reflect each team's stat totals (not league ranks). The correlation analysis was also run for league ranks, and produced similar results (albeit all with positive correlations) which can be found in the full dataset linked above.

Interpretation of Results

Through just over three months of fantasy baseball play in 2024, there has been a weak positive correlation between Ks and K/9, with a correlation of 0.220 - this indicates that there is a limited relationship between the two stats, and it is not true that teams with a high number of Ks will have high K/9, or vice-versa. In fact, of the 15 unique correlation coefficients for pitching categories, K & K/9 was the 8th strongest correlation, and fell far below the strong positive correlations between both W+QS & K and ERA & WHIP. In fact, K/9 has stronger correlations with SV+HD, ERA, and WHIP than it does with Ks.

It is apparent that there is significantly more correlation between the hitting stats than what we see with the pitching stats, which makes sense - given that a player hitting a home run will also contribute a run, at least one RBI, and is the best possible result for OBP and OPS, we would expect many of the hitting stats to be heavily correlated. And indeed they are - of the total dataset's 30 unique correlation coefficients across both hitting and pitching categories, 10 of the 12 coefficients that are stronger than 0.5 / -0.5 are from hitting categories. This includes the single strongest correlation coefficient of the bunch, with OBP and OPS having a 0.889 coefficient - indicating a very strong positive correlation between the two stats. Stolen bases is the only major outlier across the hitting categories, having a 0.411 coefficient with Runs, and no other relationship of notable strength in either direction. When excluding SBs, every single other hitting category had a unique coefficient stronger than 0.5 / -0.5 with another hitting category except HR & OBP, which is 0.450.

Caveats

Given that this dataset only represents a half season's worth of data, it is possible that teams aren't done tinkering and competing - some managers may have intentionally strategized to load up on one or two categories early on, and then improve in other categories later in the season. Additionally, a correlation analysis isn't perfect and can't tell us about any other variables outside the two being examined; nor does it describe the cause and effect (correlation does not necessarily mean causation). Correlation analyses also cannot properly quantify non-linear relationships, which could limit the accuracy of the results seen here.

Please feel free to add onto this analysis if you have any additional insights or ideas to take this research further that you feel could help shape the discussion!

https://preview.redd.it/profbrjhvhbd1.png?width=613&format=png&auto=webp&s=ecdd90e494793be50c56b053e6846f96ec1e0291

Hello SoS! Below is how divisional assignments will be decided for 2025, based on the results of the 2024 SoS fantasy baseball season. There are no major changes compared to last year, other than to adjust some numbers to account for the variable number of D4 leagues we have each year (11 in 2024).

Note: the official SoS leaderboard is not officially released yet - we hope to have it up and working soon. Apologies for the delay! We will make an announcement once it is live.

#D1 - 1 x 16 teams (16)

• D1 1st-6th (6)
• D2 1st-2nd (6)
• D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)
• D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

Next in line: D1 7th place, D2 leaderboard

#D2 - 3 x 14 teams (42)

• D1 7th-16th (10)
• D2 3rd-7th (12)
• D3 1st-2nd (13)
• D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)
• D3 leaderboard, next 4 best (4)
• D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

Next in line: D3 3rd-4th placed teams, D2 8th placed teams, D3 leaderboard

#D3 - 7 x 12 teams (84)

• D2 8th-14th (20)
• D3 3rd-7th (31)
• D4 1st-2nd (20)
• D4 leaderboard, next 13 best (13)

Next in line (based on divisional leaderboard rankings): D4 3rd-4th placed teams, D3 8th placed teams, D4 5th-6th placed teams, D3 9th-10th placed teams, D4 7th-10th placed teams, remaining D3 teams, remaining D4 teams

#D4 - ? x 12 teams

• Dependent on registration; 2024 had 11 leagues x 12 managers per league; 2023 had 14 leagues
• D4 includes any new SoS managers, previous D4 managers who didn't earn a promotion, and any returning would-be D1-D3 manager who don't respond in time to claim their spot
• Registration opens in early February - register early for your best chance to get a team!

Happy Opening Day everybody! All SoS drafts are now complete, and the full 2024 SoS ADP is available for your viewing pleasure. Below I've included some observations I made in combing through this data

##Top of the Board

• For the first time since I've been keeping track (2019), there was one player selected first overall in every single SoS league. Congratulations to Ronald Acuna, who is unlikely to have a more meaningful achievement this year /s.
• There was much less consensus with regards to the second overall pick, with seven different players receiving the honour. Bobby Witt Jr and Shohei Ohtani were the only two of this group to also be selected in the 2nd round, with both of them making it around the bend in two SoS leagues.
• Unlikely last year, there were no major reaches with first round picks - Trea Turner (picked in the first round in D2 Flicker) had the highest ADP (18.5) of any SoS first rounder this year, and went as late as 28th overall.
• There were 17 unique players selected across the first rounds of 2024 SoS leagues, with 14 unique top 10 picks.
• Austin Riley had the lowest ADP (17.5) of any non-first round pick.

##The Reaches

• As occurs every March, players get hurt, and 2024 was no exception! Gerrit Cole's elbow issues were announced hours before slow drafts started on March 11, which (coupled with a slow-to-update Fantrax autodraft ADP) caused wild swings in his value. Cole had a min pick of 18th overall (one of multiple 2nd round Cole picks in D4) and a max pick of 201st - a difference of 183 picks. Amazingly, this was only the tenth largest min/max pick disparity across all SoS leagues!
• Other injury-induced value swings included TJ Friedl (min 128, max 329); Devin Williams (min 76, max 289), and Kyle Bradish (min 127, max 350).
• Outside of the injury ward, there were a few notable major reaches. Jordan Westburg went 164th overall in D4 Dunning compared to a 267.6 SoS ADP (to be fair, this pick was made in a live draft league that happened after Westburg had made the Opening Day roster).
• More puzzlingly, two players garnered top-100 selections despite an overall ADP above 200 - Jeremy Pena went 86th overall in D4 Zunino (ADP: 262.1), and this year's min/max disparity winner, Gabriel Moreno, went 44th (!) overall in D4 Snead against a 251.3 ADP and 360th overall max pick. 44th overall is the exact position where Jordan Lawlar was accidentally picked in D4 Browning last year - truly a cursed draft slot.

##Best of the Rest

• A total of 213 unique players were selected in every single SoS league, with Kyle Bradish having the highest ADP (247.0) of the group.
• The players with the lowest ADPs who were selected in all but one of the 22 SoS leagues were Matt McLain (68.3 ADP, not selected in D4 Snead), Eduardo Rodriguez (187.4, D3 Bartman), and TJ Friedl (201.9, D4 Snead). All three of these players were selected in leagues that live drafted on Opening Day Eve.
• Among non-injured players, the lowest ADPs drafted in 21/22 leagues were Francisco Alvarez (202.8 ADP, not selected in D3 Bartman), Charlie Morton (203.1, D3 Santo), and A.J. Minter (215.5, D4 Zunino).
• There were 54 different players selected in only a single SoS league, 21 of whom were selected in D1 or D2, which have larger league sizes. Miles Mikolas was the earliest drafted onesie, going 200th overall in D4 Zunino.
• This year's biggest steals (which I define as players drafted in 75%+ of SoS leagues, aren't injured, and had the biggest disparity between their ADP and max pick) were Taylor Ward in D4 Snead (283rd overall vs 198.1 ADP - 85 pick difference), Cal Raleigh in D2 Flicker (252nd overall vs 157.9 ADP - 94 pick difference), and Bryan Abreu in D4 Waldrep (291st overall vs 186.9 ADP - 104 pick difference).
• 23 unique players were drafted in one of the three SoS mocks (which occurred from late January - early March) and weren't selected in a single SoS league. There were various reasons for this happening, with names such as Lucas Giolito (injury), Tommy Pham (unsigned), Pete Crow-Armstrong (sent to minors), and Pablo Sandoval (Pablo Sandoval) long forgotten by the time slow drafts rolled around.

Hello all,

Hope that you are having fun with your slow drafts, getting prepped for your live draft, or (if you're in D3 Maddux) like twiddling your thumbs.

While the majority of teams will have their first game of the MLB season on March 28, there is a two game series in Seoul, South Korea on March 20-21 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. Unfortunately, Fantrax did not include this series in the fantasy schedule by default, and you may note that we have a number of slow drafts ongoing that will not finish before that series is played. However, we still intend of having stats from the Korea series count in all SoS leagues. Here's how we expect things to work...

If you are in a slow draft league that is still drafting while the Korea series is being played: Fantrax does not allow for the commissioner to edit the league's schedule while the draft is underway. As such, the mods will adjust the schedule to include the Korea series as soon as possible once the draft is complete (please continue to notify us in Discord when slow drafts finish!). Once the schedule has been updated, we believe that all LAD/SD players in active roster slots will immediately get their Korea series stats retroactively. We believe that any LAD/SD in bench slots will not receive any stats from the Korea series.

If you are in a live draft league: The schedule has already been fixed in Fantrax to include the Korea series; we believe that retroactive stats will be applied to active roster players / not applied to bench players as described above once your live draft is finished

If you are in a slow draft league that finishes drafting before the Korea series starts (such as D3 Maddux): congrats! you get to play like normal with the season starting when the Korea series starts. D3 Maddux's schedule has already been updated, and any other slow drafts finishing before March 20 6:00am ET will have their schedules updated to avoid retroactive stat application.

This is our best understanding of how Fantrax will handle the changing of the league's schedule and retroactive stat appliaction; however, we will not know the definitive answer under the Korea series has been played. If Fantrax differs from the above in applying stats for the Korea series retroactively - sorry!, and we will proceed with however Fantrax dealt with it.

Note for all managers: you can adjust your active/bench players in the live draft room on Fantrax while the draft is ongoing

D1 - SOS

D2 - Flea Clifton

D2 - Alex Flicker

D2 - Mortiz Seider

D3 - Ron Santo

D3 - Sammy Sosa

D3 - Greg Maddux

D3 - Moises Alou

D3 - Kyle Hendricks

D3 - Bryzzo Souvenir Co.

D3 - Steve Bartman Live Draft - Wednesday, March 27 8:00pm ET

D4 - Pete Alonso

D4 - Jonathan India

D4 - A.J. Puk

D4 - Brady Singer

D4 - Harrison Bader

D4 - Wyatt Langford

D4 - Hurston Waldrep Live Draft - Saturday, March 23 5:30pm ET

D4 - Mike Zunino Live Draft - Friday, March 22 8:00pm ET

D4 - Anthony DeSclafani Live Draft - Sunday, March 24 10:00pm ET

D4 - Dane Dunning Live Draft - Tuesday, March 26 7:00pm ET

D4 - Kirby Snead Live Draft - Wednesday, March 27 8:30pm ET

Hi all, your old pal Ace is filling in with a quick post on 2024 draft order.

D1-D2 Draft Order has been set based on KDS Rankings and Randomized prioritization. before anyone asks... kjohnm ran randomization for Clifton and Flicker, I ran randomization on D1 and Seider, to maintain independence :) . KDS results will be posted to Discord at a later date, and draft orders will be configured before the draft begins tomorrow at noon. With that being said, draft orders are below:

D1 Sultans of Stats Draft Order

1 phucknut

2 nickfrompitt

3 Nfeuerer

4 sterling

5 Darthkling

6 kjohnm

7 Dothager

8 BustHerPosey_

9 hholysheet

10 TheTinDoor

11 Hurtya

12 ndjolt02

13 hayzer13

14 funkyquasar

15 chaopw2010

16 Zolak

D2 Flea Clifton Draft Order

1 xacex

2 evensonn

3 notgradylittle

4 Mb97

5 Unorthodox3

6 PlainGuy1018

7 PunkinDonuts

8 bigwilbert

9 bolognasausage

10 onegaishimasu

11 Khaki_Scout

12 pharaohwizard

13 bruceitup2

14 kevinjcb

D2 Alex Flicker Draft Order

1 HarperWallbanger

2 xzaerx

3 boombohn

4 shakester

5 rpsullivan

6 vb5215

7 adroitninja

8 ephyzephy

9 cobright

10 VanBurenBoys_8

11 KKFC

12 TheRealNumberNine

13 timerfry

14 SHTTNwTHINKIN

D2 Moritz Seider Draft Order (did he play baseball??)

1 Tcryden

2 SpartanLew

3 topheroc

4 BigSexyTolo

5 lcdurrell

6 tgmills

7 LordAlfredHayes

8 dwfelty

9 IAmaABulldozer

10 BoogieZXZ

11 marcram

12 GatorDave15

13 Prosner

14 Browncoat237

###Draft order

While we expected Fantrax to automatically randomize each league's draft order once the league filled, that did not happen! Instead we have gone into D3 and D4 slow draft leagues and forced a randomization of the draft order. This means that, if you are in a D3 or D4 slow draft, your draft order can now be considered final.

If you are in a D3 or D4 live draft, your draft order will be randomized later in March once the league fills. The sos mod account will send a message to each league individually once their draft order has been randomized and finalized

###Draft pick trading

As a reminder, a new rule change for 2024 is that we will be permitting individual draft pick trading for the first time. This draft pick trading is being implemented for D1 and D2 only in 2024.

Due to the trade processing timing on fantrax, please notify the mods (preferably by tagging @mods on discord) if you make a draft pick trade so that we can go in and commish execute the trade. This is particularly important if you are trading for/away a pick that is currently on the clock - we will do our best to execute trades as soon as possible, but please do not accept trades with just minutes left on the draft clock, or you will run the risk of the trade not going through in time and having the system auto draft this pick. We will not undo picks that are auto drafted in this situation.

If a pick that is currently on the clock gets traded, the mods will adjust the clock back up to the full clock allotment (6 hours) once the trade is executed

#Joining deadline

Multiple managers have not accepted their invites and/or (for D1 & D2) filled out their KDS yet! The deadline to do so is end of day tomorrow. If you do not join your league by end of day tomorrow, you are not guaranteed a place and next-in-line managers will be contacted.

If you have not joined a league and/or filled out KDS yet, please be sure to do so before the end of day tomorrow - check your spam folder if you think you haven't received an invite yet!

Hello all,

D3 and D4 league invites have been sent out this morning. All D1-D3 managers have until end of day Friday, March 8 to join their leagues or they risk getting replaced by a spotfill manager.

If you are a new manager or returning manager who missed the registration deadline, you can still register throughout March and within a few days you will receive an invite email to remaining slow/live D4 leagues that we still have available.

All SoS slow drafts will start at noon ET on Monday, March 11

Hello all!

Quick update on SoS registration - D1 and D2 invites were sent this morning, along with a poll for their KDS selection. Only D1 and D2 use KDS to determine draft order.

D3 and D4 invites will be sent early next week.

Any returning D1/D2/D3 managers have until end of day tomorrow to register or they risk losing their upper-division spot

###March 22 edit: All spots for SoS 2024 have been filled! You are still welcome to register and you will be contacted in case we need mid-season replacement managers, and this will also ensure you get an email when registration opens next year

Welcome to Sultans of Stats - now in our 12th year as reddit's preeminent fantasy baseball superleague.

#Click here to register for 2024

What's new for SoS in 2024? Take a look at our recent rule changes post to find out

You must have a Fantrax account to play in SoS. Returning managers must register every year, and must register by end of day Sunday, March 3 to guarantee their earned spot in D1/D2/D3. Everybody else can sign up anytime throughout the year - sign up in February to guarantee a spot, sign up during March to hit the wait list, or sign up any other time before February 2025 to be put on the next-in-line list to replace inactive managers/to be notified when registration opens for 2025.

SoS in brief

• 4 division fantasy baseball league, 12-16 teamers with Premier League-style relegation - start in D4 and work your way up to D1 based on the promotion/relegation rules
• 6x6 daily roto league with Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, Stolen Bases, OBP, and OPS for batting | W+QS, SV+HD, ERA, WHIP, Ks, and K/9 for pitching
• 25 man rosters with C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, INF, 4x OF, UT | 3x SP, 2x RP, 4x P | 5 Bench | 5 IL
• 100 add season long maximum | 7 add weekly maximum | no games played or innings pitched limits
• Majority of leagues are slow drafts with a handful of live draft leagues for D4
• Leagues hosted on Fantrax with an overall leaderboard on sultansofstats.com
• Join the SoS Discord for the latest MLB and fantasy baseball news, discussion, and preseason mock drafts

Hello everybody, welcome back to baseball season!

While I'm sure you're excited to register for 2024, you'll have to wait just a bit longer for that... key your eyes peeled for registration to open very soon.

In the meantime, the mod team has spent some time this offseason discussing and finalizing rule changes for SoS leagues for the upcoming fantasy baseball season. These rule changes were determined by a combination of results from our 2023 mid-season survey, recent trends in MLB, and the mod team's own discretion in wanting to creative a competitive, fun superleague. Without further ado...

##2024 Rule Changes

###1) Combine saves + holds into a single scoring category; add K/9 as a new pitching category

This is the single biggest change we'll be making for 2024. Our initial reason for looking into this change was that nearly 2/3 of respondent to the mid-season survey were in favour of combining these categories. Some don't like having to know dozens of middle relief pitchers just to be competitive in the holds category; some don't like how SPs could only contribute to four total scoring categories; and some felt that RPs were overpowered compared to more traditional fantasy baseball setups. Whatever the case, SV+HD will now be a single category.

While many supported combining SV+HD into one category in the survey, there was a strong preference (more than 75%) for keeping SoS as a 6x6 setup. As such, we've decided on adding K/9 as a new pitching category, in order to keep the pitcher/batter split equal at six categories each.

K/9 was chosen for multiple reasons: firstly, it will soften the blow to RPs from losing two dedicated scoring categories as RP can strongly continbute to K/9 with the majority of league leaders in K/9 being RPs. Secondly, this will increase SP value (especially at the top end) relative to the overall player pool as SPs can now contribute to a fifth scoring category, moving SPs closer to parity with batters (and higher up the ADP board, which has become more and more dominated by early-round bats each year). Finally, K/9 more accurately reflects what is valued by actual MLB teams in 2024, with high strikeout pitchers being heavily in demand, and reduces SoS managers' need to rely on the unpredictable and somewhat arbitrary Holds stat (the same is true for Saves, to a lesser extent).

###2) Change quality starts to QS+W

There is no perfect answer in the "bulk" pitching category. While SoS has long had QS as a scoring category, there has been debate since SoS was founded on whether to use QS, W, or IP. While ideally we would move to the "Quality Appearances" stat, that category is a premium feature on Fantrax. We felt our next best option was to combine QS and W.

While we recognize that neither of these stats are ideal, it simply isn't tenable for QS to remain as an independent scoring category any longer: in SoS's second year of 2014, there were 2,623 quality starts across MLB; in 2023, that dropped to 1,683 - a 36% decrease. Excluding 2020, the number of league-wide QS has decreased year-over-year all but one year since 2014. We are getting to the point where if you don't draft QS on draft day, you won't be able to catch up in the category at all from the waiver wire.

As such, we've decided to add QS+W to preserve the good that is left of QS, while also providing an additional opportunity to accumulate stats by accruing wins on top of it. As with K/9, adding wins will also soften the blow for RPs as a result of combining SV+HD.

###3) Implement an official tiebreaker

We have never had an official tiebreaker - now we do! For breaking both ties within a given league and on the overall leaderboard, the winner will be the team that is leading in the most categories against the team they tied. In the event this is still a tie (i.e. 6 vs 6), the winner will be the team that is #1 overall in their league in the most scoring categories.

###4) Allow draft pick trading in D1 & D2

There has been some bellyaching (from one manager in particular) that we should allow draft pick trades. Previously, we have allowed managers to fully exchange draft pick slots, but we will now allow individual draft pick trading as well. This means you can now trade any draft picks for other draft picks before or during the draft! Trading draft picks for future years is not allowed as SoS is a redraft league, and any trade involving future picks will be immediately reversed.

We believe this will lead to more preseason banter and engagement from managers, and reduce the amount of Nick whining, which is important since I have to play in his league this year. For 2024, we are implementing this in D1 and D2 only to see how it goes (and to reduce the administrative burden on mods needs to check trades for fairness) and we will consider expanding to D3/D4 in future years.

###5) Remove ability to put suspended players on IL

Fleaflicker did not have to option to not allow SUS players on IL, but Fantrax does have this option! Unfortunately we overlooked flicking the switch when we moved to Fantrax last year. There was much discussion and anguish in the SoS Discord last year about this being allowed, so we are now rectifying it, albeit a year late.

If you've read this far, congratulations, and see you back on this subreddit sometime next week for registration to open.

Thank you all for participating in another great year of Sultans of Stats and making our first year on Fantrax flow as seemlessly as possible! Congratulations to Nfeuerer for winning the D1 title for the second time, having also claimed the shortened 2020 season's D1 crown. And special congratulations to nickfrompitt, Dothager, and GatorDave15 who, as the respective overall leaders of D2, D3, and D4, will have the honour of naming all leagues in their former divisions in 2024.

Below you'll find a list of all managers who have automatially qualified for a 2024 promotion, along with how they secured that promotion. If your name is not listed below, you did not qualify for automatic promotion next year. All 2023 results can be found on the sultansofstats.com leaderboard!

As well, if you did not fill out our Midseason Survey it's not too late! The mods will consider the results of this survey when setting up leagues next year and determining if any changes are required. Click here to participate in the survey

#D1: 1 x 16 teams (16) D1 1st-6th

• Nfeuerer
• phucknut
• Hurtya
• hholysheet
• hayzer13
• Darthkling

D2 1st-2nd

• nickfrompitt
• ndjolt02
• TheTinDoor
• kjohnm
• BustHerPosey_
• sterling

D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)

• Zolak
• funkyquasar
• chaopw2010

D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

• Dothager

#D2: 3 x 14 teams (42)

D1 7th-16th (10)

• notgradylittle
• cobright
• topheroc
• Prosner
• SHTTNwTHINKIN
• xacex
• pharaohwizard
• adroitninja
• BoogieZXZ
• TheRealNumberNine

D2 3rd-7th (12)

• evensonn
• IAmaABulldozer
• bigwilbert
• PunkinDonuts
• xzaerx
• dwfelty
• Tcryden
• HarperWallbanger
• bruceitup2
• onegaishimasu
• ephyzephy
• Browncoat237

D3 1st-2nd (11)

• KKFC
• Mb97
• LordAlfredHayes
• SpartanLew
• shakester
• kevinjcb
• bolognasausage
• boombohn
• timerfry
• lcdurrell
• tgmills

D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)

• Khaki_Scout

D3 leaderboard, next 6 best (6)

• marcram
• rpsullivan
• PlainGuy1018
• Unorthodox3
• VanBurenBoys_8
• BigSexyTolo

D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

• GatorDave15
• vb5215

#D3: 7x12 teams (84)

D2 8th-14th (20)

• BelowTheBenthic
• Jdthep
• ponch101
• CultivatorOfMass
• kfillette
• Ralik
• jaywilly
• kristusv
• Freakyouttie
• mikeo24
• c_braun
• WMason
• Untgt51
• benzene962
• derekjohnp
• obiwan088
• mkultra3
• Tkor
• mattksenate
• Doggy14

D3 3rd-7th (24)

• ShowBizKitten25
• zigzagmaru
• Dunnre
• mrfudda
• DaRebel10000
• KobraCola
• mmmbogy
• mgeorgescu
• _jonfisher
• arrazorback1
• ckroyal92
• NDZ1
• Stfoley8
• Trevorstelmach
• Wherethewhitewomenat
• YesImCocky
• thatguychris_
• Bretticus
• Andy6789
• ajtucker16
• Jdballa
• SteepDowngrade
• breakfishclub
• Shaddam

D4 1st-2nd (26)

• sabbottk
• ebit157
• PLuckSword
• saucekings
• OrangeBandit
• Scooterkid
• TV025
• BluntForce
• PrimusPilus
• driftintime
• GunnerGunnarson
• jpickham
• Ljc910
• ourmanhero
• colsrobe
• CostcoStan
• ckschutz
• murtha
• YinzerSloth
• Mikesglove
• quison03
• RynoXD
• symptym11
• goneYard
• murrayn
• aaronfinney

D4 leaderboard, next 14 best (14)

• msummey
• Sickboy1965
• CattManik
• Dmaraim
• aim01
• mhayes19
• El_Squinto
• rpcallahan10
• federicid18
• speed_kills
• stevietaco
• chizzle
• brandonssc
• Cardinalsfan1973

Is there something wrong with the leaderboards site? I tried sorting by categories in D4 but the results are nonsensical.

Happy (almost) All-Star Break everybody!

To celebrate the 93rd MLB All-Star Game and all of the events occurring during All-Star week, we have two Google Forms for your enjoyment

First up is the Sultans of Stats Midseason Survey. Traditionally we do an SoS-wide survey at the end of every season, but to help drive engagement while everybody is still paying attention to MLB, we've moved it up to July. While the results of this survey are non-binding, it helps the mod team gather insight from the community on potential changes for the future of SoS, as we're always looking to improve.

Second, it's the return of the Sultans of Stats All-Star Break Challenge! Last year we had a great competition with 30 Sultans participating, with Prosner ultimately prevailing. Come join us this year to put some personal stakes in not just the All-Star Game, but also the Home Run Derby, All-Star Futures Game, Celebrity Softball Game, MLB Draft, and the ESPY Awards. The winner receives bragging rights and, if they're a member of the SoS Discord, a special role denoting their victory.

Enjoy the break from MLB action, and good luck with the rest of your fantasy season

#Click here for the Midseason Survey - no deadline; fill in whenever you want!

#Click here for the All-Star Break Challenge - deadline Saturday, July 8 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT ##EDIT: see the All-Star Break Challenge results HERE!

Not sure if this kind of post is allowed, but just curious if people would be interested in the same kind of league we have going here, but for football.

Happy May Sultans! Please find below the breakdown of promotion and relegation rules for 2024 league assignment - but first, the SoS Leaderboard

sultansofstats.com is back up and running for 2023, and the Leaderboard page has the standings breakdown for each divison & for SoS overall. These leaderboards are used to determine some of the promotions outlined below. Indicators will be re-added to the leaderboards to show who's in line for promotion/no change/relegation, based on the rules below, sometime soon. Reach out to the mods on discord if you notice any issues!

Without further ado...

#2024 Division Breakdown

tl;dr: compared to last year's rules, we have made some changes resulting from the addition of 4 new D4 leagues (48 new managers) in 2023: one extra D4 team will get the double promotion to D2, an extra D3 league will be created in 2024, and D3 promotion numbers adjusted slightly

#D1 - 1 x 16 teams (16)

• D1 1st-6th (6)
• D2 1st-2nd (6)
• D2 leaderboard, next 3 best (3)
• D3 leaderboard, #1 team (1)

Next in line: D1 7th place, D2 leaderboard

#D2 - 3 x 14 teams (42)

• D1 7th-16th (10)
• D2 3rd-7th (12)
• D3 1st-2nd (11)
• D2 leaderboard, next 1 best (1)
• D3 leaderboard, next 6 best (6)
• D4 leaderboard, #1 and #2 overall (2)

Next in line: D3 3rd-4th placed teams, D2 8th placed teams, D3 leaderboard

#D3 - 7 x 12 teams (84)

• D2 8th-14th (20)
• D3 3rd-7th (24)
• D4 1st-2nd (26)
• D4 leaderboard, next 14 best (14)

Next in line (based on divisional leaderboard rankings): D4 3rd-4th placed teams, D3 8th placed teams, D4 5th-6th placed teams, D3 9th-10th placed teams, D4 7th-10th placed teams, remaining D3 teams, remaining D4 teams

#D4 - ? x 12 teams

• Dependent on registration; 2023 had 14 leagues = 168 total.
• D4 includes any new SoS managers, previous D4 managers who didn't earn a promotion, and any returning should-be D1-D3 manager who don't respond in time to claim their spot
• Registration usually opens in February - register early for your best chance to get a team!

Happy Opening Day everybody! All SoS drafts are now complete, and the full 2023 SoS ADP is available for your viewing pleasure. Below I've included some observations I made in combing through this data

##The first round

• For the third year in a row, SoS had four different players selected 1st overall across the leagues! Returning from last year is the 2023 ADP leader Shohei Ohtani - selected 1st overall in 11/24 SoS leagues this year. Notably, eight of those 11 picks were in D1/D2/D3...
• Other players receiving the 1st overall treatment were Aaron Judge (8), Ronald Acuna (4), and Trea Turner (1). Like last year, Turner has the fewest #1 overall selections of any of the four players taken at that position. Acuna and Turner were each also picked 2nd overall exactly one time across the 24 leagues.
• Among players pick in the first round in any SoS league, the two with, by far, the highest overall ADPs were catcher JT Realmuto (8th overall in D4 Lave Cross vs a 40.6 ADP) and Adley Rutschman (5th overall in D4 Jake Daubert vs a 64.3 ADP)
• Including those two catchers, 19 unique players were picked in the first round across all SoS leagues. Rafael Devers had the highest ADP of any non-first round pick at 18.7.

##What were they thinking?

• Normally we see some players' ADPs tank during the draft process due to March injuries - and while that did happen this year with players like Jose Altuve (ADP min 23 --> ADP max 177), Tyler Glasnow (76 --> 226), and Luis Severino (57 --> 216), none of these players had the biggest disparity between their max and min picks. In what one hopes were misclicks, as Patrick Wisdom (ADP max 368 --> ADP min 140), Liam Hendriks (ADP max 390 --> ADP min 158), and Ross Stripling (ADP max 356 --> ADP min 106) were each taken more than 100 spots ahead of ADP at their minimum picks.
• And yet, it gets worse! The min-max disparity winner of 2023 was Martin Perez, who with an ADP of 252.8 and max pick of 339 still managed to go thirty fourth overall in D4 Harry Stovey.
• Let us not forget the unfortunate mispick of Jordan Lawlar, who went 44th overall in D4 Browning and was not picked in a single other SoS league.

##Don't forget to scroll down

• A total of 216 unique players were selected in each and every SoS league. Jarred Kelenic had the highest ADP at 255 (incredibly, I highlighted Kelenic last year for having the highest ADP among players drafted in the majority of SoS leagues)
• This honour really should have been bestowed on Martin Perez, who came ever-so-close with an ADP of 252.8 - were it not for his selection at 34th oveall in one league, he'd be wearing this crown.
• The players with the lowest ADPs who were selected in all-but-one league are Ke'Bryan Hayes (200.7 ADP, not selected in D4 Dahlen), Hunter Brown (202 ADP, D3 Wilhelm), and Jose Leclerc (206.5 ADP, D4 Cross)
• The biggest steals of the draft (players with the greatest disparity between their max pick and their ADP - among non-injured players who were selected in 75%+ of leagues) were Cal Quantrill (pick #398 in D1 vs 270.8 ADP), Cal Raleigh (pick #338 in D2 Jackson vs 226.4 ADP), and Salvador Perez (pick #215 in D4 Stovey vs 104.5 ADP)

Hello Sultans!

We hope that your slow draft is progressing well, or that your live draft prep is underway!

This morning the SoS commissioner account made changes to the transaction settings in all SoS leagues, to make the transactions match the Fleaflicker style we are all used to (FAAB waivers that run overnight each night, with first-come-first-served free agency during the daytime. Players hit waivers at their game start time each day). The mod team created a test league to ensure these settings are correct, and we are fairly confident we've got it figured out!

But on that note, this is our first year moving to Fantrax and as such there may be some growing pains. If there are any settings that seem off, or something isn't working right, please reach out to us as soon as possible so we can fix things up. The mods are most easily reached on the SoS discord, then via email at rsultansofstats@gmail.com, and lastly via mod mail on this subreddit.

Our intent is that the settings in all SoS leagues reflect what we had in fleaflicker last year - with the following exceptions:

• Waivers will process at 10am ET every day - you can put a FAAB claim on any player up until this time
• Teams will NOT accumulate any stats if they have an illegal roster. An illegal roster includes any team where the total number of active+reserve players is not equal to 25. The most likely scenario where this will happen is with a trade - in a 2-for-1 trade, teams may end up having a number of players on their team not active to 25 (even the team trading away two players and ending up with 24 total will be in violation). Fantrax will provide an illegal roster warning both when the trade is proposed and once it's been executed, so please be mindful of this.
• An illegal could also occur if you put a player on the IL and do not add a replacement player
• Transactions will not be locked post drafts before the season starts - you can make claims/adds/drops as soon as your draft is done. Any transactions made in the pre-season will count against your weekly/season transaction cap

Again, please reach out to the mod team if you run into any issues.

Good luck this year!

I figured it would be nice to have a list of all the draft results so people could follow as we go.

D1 Draft Results

D2 Tim McCarver

D2 Jay Johnstone

D2 Reggie Jackson

D3 Phill Niekro

D3 Tim Wakefield

D3 RA Dickey

D3 Tom Candiotti

D3 Hoyt Wilhelm

D3 Charlie Hough

D4 Bill Dahlen

D4 Shoeless Joe Jackson

D4 Pete Browning

D4 Cupid Childs

D4 Fielder Jones

D4 Sherry Magee

D4 The Only Nolan

D4 Tommy Leach

D4 Lave Cross

D4 Harry Stovey

D4 Ed Konetchy

D4 Jimmy Sheckard

D4 Jake Daubert

D4 Tony Mullane

Hello all,

All of D1 and D2 have submitted their KDS results, and most of our D3 and D4 leagues are already full! Here's a look at some draft orders:

#D1 and D2

Full KDS results can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/EnkLVMb

The draft pick order has been updated in Fantrax to reflect the results of the KDS.

#D3 and D4

If your D3 or D4 league has a full 12 managers, then the draft order has now been randomized in Fantrax and the order you see in the draft room should be considered final.

The only leagues that do not yet have a full slate of 12 managers, and as such have not had their draft orders randomized yet, are: D3 Charlie Hough, D4 Ed Konetchy, D4 Jimmy Sheckard, and the newly-opened D4s Jake Daubert and Tony Mullane.

Good luck this year!

D3 and D4 invites were sent out this morning. We are still accepting new D4 registrants and may create additional D4 live draft leagues depending on popularity - we want to make sure everybody who registered gets a spot in SoS!

All slow drafts for D1-D4 will start at noon ET on Thursday, March 9.

Good luck this year!

A quick update on 2023 league assignments - invites for D1 and D2 have been sent to email inboxes! Managers who have not registered yet and should be in D1/D2/D3 still have until the end of February to guarantee their spot in the upper divisions.

Invitations for D3 and D4 will be sent in early March.

Additionally, as with last season we are intending to start slow drafts for all SoS leagues at the exact same time. The intended start time for all slow drafts is Thursday, March 9 at noon ET.

#March 19 Edit: All Sultans of Stats leagues are full to 2023. But you can register anytime between now and the start of next season - if you register during the 2023 fantasy baseball season you'll be placed on the next-in-line list to replace any inactive managers, and registering anytime before February 2024 ensures you'll get an email notifying you of registration opening next year!

Fantasy baseball is back, and this year Sultans of Stats is moving to Fantrax. Read more about this decision here.

##Click here for the 2023 registration form

If you do not already have a Fantrax account, register here.

Returning managers must register by February 28, 2023 to guarantee their spot in D1/D2/D3. Everybody else can sign up anytime throughout the year - sign up in February to guarantee a spot, sign up during March to hit the wait list, or sign up any other time to be put on the next-in-line list to replace inactive managers/to be notified when registration opens for 2024

#####SoS in brief:

• 4 division fantasy baseball league, 12-16 teamers. Start in D4 and work your way up to D1
• 6x6 daily roto league with Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, Stolen Bases, OBP, and OPS for batting | QS, Saves, Holds, ERA, WHIP, Ks for pitching
• 100 add season long maximum | 7 add weekly maximum | no games played or innings pitched limits
• EPL style relegation between seasons based on individual league and overall division standings
• Leagues hosted on Fantrax
• Join the SoS Discord for the latest news and discussion

Draft Results - SoS 2023 Mock Draft 2 - Fantrax

Happy New Year Sultans!

We hope that the offseason has been treating you well and that you're looking forward to the upcoming MLB & fantasy baseball season.

As you may have already seen in your email, there is a major changing coming to SoS for the 2023 season:

#We are moving from Fleaflicker to Fantrax.

Moving away from Fleaflicker onto another fantasy sports site is a move that has long been discussed in the SoS community, and it has come time to finally flip the switch. There are numerous reason for moving away from Fleaflicker and moving onto Fantrax, including but not limited to:

• Fleaflicker's UI, customizability, reliability, accuracy, popularity, and ease of use have regularly become issues that have limited the enjoyment and growth of SoS
• Fleaflicker's lack of support for a native slow draft has resulted in the use of Couchmanagers for slow drafting for years; moving to Fantrax will allow SoS to operate slow drafts on the site and significantly reduce the errors and administrative requirements that resulted from using Fleaflicker and Couchmanagers
• Fantrax, like Fleaflicker, will allow the mod team to set up and commission as many leagues as necessary without actually needing to roster a team in each league - this is a requirement for a super-league like SoS, and isn't possible on other sites like Yahoo or ESPN
• Fantrax is a highly regarded, massively used fantasy baseball operator that is the go-to site for many in the fantasy baseball community. Moving away from a niche site like Fleaflicker should help to growth the community and help to expand the size and longevity of SoS
• Fantrax offers by far the most customizability and best customer support of any fantasy sports operator on the internet
• In the offseason survey sent out following the 2022 fantasy baseball season, 2/3 of respondents voted for Fantrax over Fleaflicker as their preferred site for SoS going forward

We anticipate that there will be some headaches and growing pains as the mod team and SoS community get used to playing fantasy baseball on Fantrax, but we ask for your help and input as we navigate this change. Whether you're stoked for the move to Fantrax or hesitant to try it out, we hope that you stay with us and give it a shot to see how things go! And of course, you'll need to register for a Fantrax account if you don't already have one to play in SoS in 2023.

To give Fantrax a shot, we set up the first mock draft of 2023! You can follow along the results of the mock here. If you're interested in joining any future preseason SoS mocks, join us on the SoS Discord where you'll hear about them first.

###Other housekeeping items: The 2022 year-end survey asked a number of other questions regarding potential changes for SoS, such as changing the QS category, combining Saves + Holds, executive trades immediately, and removing the 7 weekly add limit. The majority responded with the status quo for each of those questions, so do not anticipate any major format changes to SoS going into 2023.

That's all for now! Expect to see 2023 registration open in February. It will be posted on the SoS Discord, SoS subreddit, and you'll get an email about it, too

-SoS mod team