Good strategy or poor sportsmanship?

[cubbieblue66]

I find myself in an interesting situation in my head to head league. On the pitching side of the equation, our league is set up so that each team gets a maximum of seven starts per week. My opponent just hit his limit (with two lincecum starts, two price starts, one kershaw, one britton, and one hughes). As a result, I know almost exactly how his pitching is going to end up this week, as it will only move slightly based on how his relievers fare (we only get two relievers each).

I have a slim lead in ERA (2.79 to 3.12) and WHIP (1.03 to 1.08). I'm 15 strikeouts and 2 wins behind him. And I find myself with two starts left before I bump up against my limit. Those two would be from Nolasco in Houston, and Kuroda in San Diego.

It seems that my odds of catching up in strikeouts and wins are lower than my odds of blowing my leads in ERA and WHIP. My natural instinct is to sit my two guys and gladly split those pitching categories with him.

My questions are threefold:

1.) Is it really in my best interest to sit Nolasco and Kuroda?
2.) Is it cheap of me to do so?
3.) Would it be a mistake to leave my relievers (Feliz and Papelbon) in to try and catch up in saves (1 behind). His relievers that may still be going are Broxton and K-Rod.

[Oregon Nut Cups]

Personally think you could reach 15K with those two given the matchups. The smart thing to do would be to sit them both and ride with your saves guys but I personally wouldn't.

[Oregon Nut Cups]

Oh and about sportsmanship: it's a game and if you can't do it then it's illegal. Anything else is free game. I've had this discussion within our league and H2H brings about many strategies and you play it as you need to. There's no right or wrong.

[havok]

15 K's is certainly attainable given that you also have closers to factor in. That being said, I'd just let the relievers face-off for the rest of the week and take the 2/2 split on the pitching cats.

Another question though, do you get awarded a weekly win (1-0) or do you get wins by category (6-4, 5-5, etc.)? Depending on how your hitting categories stack up currently I may change my response based on your league scoring.

[cubbieblue66]

15 K's is certainly attainable given that you also have closers to factor in. That being said, I'd just let the relievers face-off for the rest of the week and take the 2/2 split on the pitching cats.

Another question though, do you get awarded a weekly win (1-0) or do you get wins by category (6-4, 5-5, etc.)? Depending on how your hitting categories stack up currently I may change my response based on your league scoring.

I meant to mention that, actually.

We are set up with wins by category. I'm currently sweeping my opponent on offense (huge leads of 17 R and 89 points of AVG, also leading by 2 HR, 2 SB, and 7 RBI). And with my scores leading in ERA and WHIP, I'm currently up 7-3 on my opponent.

[jebusfreek666]

I'd sit the starters and play the closers.

[Pacochu]

It isn't poor sportsmanship at all. You don't have to use those two starts, so if you can win the week without them, then sit the guys.

[havok]

Up 7-3, sit'em.

[blinkuldhc]

I'm sorry, but how could this even come close to poor sportsmanship? This type of decision is a very basic (and important) one in H2H fantasy baseball.

So long as any decision is made with the intent and purpose to give you the best chance of winning the week, then it's fine.

This really is no different from setting an infield deep in the 9th inning of a 5-0 game with a runner on 3rd, and on a groundball the defense chooses to concede the run and get the out at first.