Making it through the regular season as one of your league’s top teams is commendable, but it’ll take something extra to win the championship. Here’s how to navigate the fantasy football playoffs.
If your fantasy football team excelled in the regular season, you’re likely headed for the playoffs, but that’s no time to let off the gas. The fantasy playoffs are a different beast, and your whole season may come down to one ill-advised decision or poorly timed injury.
So how can you prepare yourself to limit downside and maximize upside potential during the most important few weeks of the season? You’re about to find out.
Fantasy Football Playoffs: A Breakdown
Fantasy playoffs aren’t uniform across all leagues, but there are some common denominators and baseline expectations no matter your custom settings. Here’s the gist of it:
How Do Teams Qualify for the Playoffs?
Teams qualify for the playoffs based on their regular-season record. If there are no divisions, and the league is a single table, then the playoff teams will be determined by the best win-loss records, with fantasy points scored typically serving as a tiebreaker if needed (head-to-head performance could also be used).
If there are divisions, then each division winner will qualify for the playoffs and, depending on how many teams make it in a given league, there will be wild card entrants as well. It’s possible a division winner could have a worse record than a wild card team (or a non-playoff team, in extreme cases), but under those settings, all that matters is topping the other teams in the division.
How Many Teams Make Fantasy Football Playoffs?
Depending on the size of the league, it generally ranges from 4-6 teams per league. If it’s six teams, the top two will get byes while the other four duke it out for places in the semifinals. Those winners will then take on the top two seeds, with the winners advancing to the championship game in the last week.
On Sleeper (and other platforms), the number of playoff teams is a customizable feature.
When Do Fantasy Playoffs Start?
Typically, Week 15 is when most leagues kick off the fantasy playoffs, but it all depends on how many teams make the playoffs per your league settings (see above). If only four teams make it, it’s likely that the playoffs will start in Week 16 with the championship taking place in Week 17.
Fantasy Football Playoff Formats
Standard procedure is playing a round per week and finishing in the penultimate week of the NFL season, Week 17. Most leagues avoid any action Week 18 because by that point, most NFL teams are either out of the running for the playoffs or have already clinched a playoff spot. As a result, they tend to use Week 18 as an opportunity to rest players and avoid injuries.
Week 18 often winds up having the unpredictability of preseason in terms of player usage and stakes for each team, and that’s not really how you want your fantasy league’s season being decided, is it?
Some leagues opt for a two-week championship round (another feature that is available on Sleeper), with the teams’ final scores being a combined tally of their Week 16 and 17 outputs. Under these rules, losing in Week 16 doesn’t mean that your championship hopes are toast. It just means there’s work to do the following week to win the title.
In terms of seeding, Sleeper leagues (and those on other platforms) have the choice to reseed for each round to ensure that the highest seed always plays the lowest remaining seed. Leagues can also opt to keep the playoff bracket as is without reseeding. Commissioner’s call.
4 Tips to Win Fantasy Football Playoffs
So you’ve clinched one of your league’s playoff spots. Congrats! Now what?
1. Optimize your roster for matchups
Sometimes the schedule has more of an influence on success than the studs who got you to the cusp of the title. One of your starting running backs could find himself going up against the league’s top run defense in Week 17, for example. Depending on your lineup options, you may not have the means to replace that RB, but you should be prepared for a less-than-ideal outcome.
If you’re fiddling with the waiver wire in the playoffs, eye players whose matchups are pristine and those who could find themselves in a scoreboard shootout.
On the flip side, if you are or have been streaming defenses, find the team DST units that have the best matchups during the playoff weeks and pounce on them early. If that means hoarding more than one so you’re covered for all playoff weeks, so be it (just don’t cut someone who could come back to bite you if picked up by an opponent).
2. Monitor player injuries closely
The last thing you want is a player reduced to a snap count or one who is far from 100% but giving it a go anyway because it’s late in the season. That’s admirable for him but unlikely to help accrue fantasy points by the bucket, and that’s what you’re looking for in a playoff week.
Keep an even more watchful eye on the injury reports all week than you previously have been and stay focused on the pregame scoops and inactive lists that drop on gameday so you field a team with its highest potential. Your feed in the Sleeper app should have you more than covered here.
3. Be prepared to make last-minute changes
Tinkering is a giant mind game, but you need to feel empowered to make bold moves and have the conviction to pull them off if you have some lineup uncertainty.
Changes in the event of injury are one thing, but changes because you’re reading into matchups and determining which player is a better fit are another, and you’ll either walk away kicking yourself for the lineup swap or raising the trophy because of it. Just try to understand where the line between overthinking and prudent thinking is.
4. Consider stacking your bench
At this point in the season, unless you're in a Keeper or Dynasty league, no one's roster space is safe. And maximizing potential firepower is your goal. If a superstar is unlikely to suit up or is clearly not 100%, you might be better off replacing him with an available free agent who has a higher probability of scoring. Even if you don't use them, it's not a bad idea to stash as many high upside players on your bench as you can get your hands on in the week leading up to a must-win playoff matchup.
Pro tip: be aware of your league's tiebreaker rules. Some fantasy leagues use bench points as a tiebreaker. If you're feeling really frisky, and league rules allow it, consider stacking your bench with QBs or defenses, both of which are positions all but guaranteed to score at least some points for you. The last thing you want is to lose a heartbreaker because you had two or three DNPs or injured players on your bench.
Frequently Asked Questions
How should I set up my league’s playoff settings?
That’s ultimately up to you and your leaguemates. A standard setup in a 12-team head-to-head league would be the top six in the standings making the playoffs, the top two seeds getting a bye as the other four play for advancement in Week 15 and then having Weeks 16 and 17 for the semifinals and championship.
Some leagues prefer a longer regular season to keep the drama going longer for more teams. In these leagues you might only have four playoff teams competing in Weeks 16 and 17 for all the marbles.
In Sleeper leagues, customizing playoff settings is easy. Just go into your General Settings, click on Playoffs and you'll be able adjust the start week, number of teams, number of rounds, seeding rules and bracket types.
What happens if there's a tie in a playoff matchup?
It’s not often that a fantasy matchup ends in a tie, but it is technically and mathematically possible. In the unusual event that happens, a default tiebreaker — as is the case on Sleeper — is that the higher-seeded team wins and advances. Some leagues use bench points for tiebreakers
Is there any reward for finishing first in my league in the regular season?
That, too, is up to your league and commissioner. Some leagues will offer part of the prize pool for the first-place finisher or top points getter during the regular season. It will pale in comparison to the winnings for the champion, but it’s at least recognition of a job well done for the vast majority of the season.
See also:
Begin Your Run to the Fantasy Playoffs With Sleeper
If you want to experience the thrill of fantasy football playoffs, sign up for a season-long league on Sleeper. You can join the fun and experience all of the unique, user-friendly features on the platform either by signing up on the website or by downloading the app.
Sleeper also offers daily fantasy sports (DFS) contests through Sleeper Picks, if that is more your pace. You can maximize your winnings up to 100x by making selections on whether players will exceed or fall short of their projected stats, and you can also take advantage of Sleeper’s generous deposit match.
