Great post, Eriq! My fave is the guy that dumps everything for SB’s. Gotta have love for a team full of Willie Bloomquists! We linked to your article today over at MLBFP: http://www.mlbfantasyprospects.com/2009/09/touch-em-all-statistics-strategies-and-one-major-disappointment.html

In H2H leagues,tweaking your strategy based on your opponent is also an important factor to weigh into any strategy. If your opponent is super roster-aggressive and you are not, there are a number of ways to play.

You may want to try to beat him at his own game.

You may want to stand idle for a day or two and see if his spot starts go well or not. If they go well, then you have to jump in the deep end. If not you can be a bit more judicious and manage your rate stats a bit better.

If you decide to jump into it, you have to give yourself every advantage. The first rule is to wake up earlier than your opponent. If you are competing for spot starters, make sure you get first pick.

Perhaps the most devious plan is to defend against your opponent’s strategy. Even if you are playing the quality game to your opponent’s quantity. Drop your drop-able roster spots and pick up the best spot starting options anyway - and bench ‘em! See if your opponent is overcommitted to his/her strategy. How bad of a match-up is he/she willing so play for the prospect of a few Ks? Of course, one of the most important rules of game theory is to avoid adjusting your strategy in a way that prompts an opponent who is making questionable decisions to react in a way that causes them to make better decisions. The idea though is to try to maintain your own flexibility as long as you can, while attempting to get your opponent to further and further commit to a single strategy.

Any of the H2H tactics are somewhat applicable to roto leagues as well, except the greater sample size mitigates the category swings and establishes a greater base over which any risk is spread. Of course, there are also the third party teams potentially complicating matters. A potential strategy is to drop players that may help other teams catch your challenger in certain close categories, provided your spot within that cat is solidified. As long as the third party team isn’t tanking - and provided you don’t collude by telling that mgr what you want him to do - this is a perfectly ethical tactic as well.