if i may continue a thought from the 2017 thread... instead of divisions, and if we did put some small meager cash money on the table, we could always award a smaller prize for the second-half winner. tally the stats at the all star break, reset the totals to zero, and see who does best from then on. that might be enough to keep people's interest. alternatively, and i'd mentioned this in the message board, we could try to run an off-line head to head mirror league, where we sum up every team's weekly stats and match 'em up against that week's designated opponent. it'd take a fair bit of work to pull off, but would offer some distinction and maybe a reason for lower-tier teams to play. altogether though, i was in 7th place at the end of june, and going into the last month, i honestly felt like if things broke just right, i might be able to make a run at the lead. and was really hoping to at least take second. and the devil toads climbed from 35 points to 60, and were within spitting distance of a few more points, too. and poor muddy chickens, looked like he was going to run away with the damned thing early in the season, and he dropped to 8th (and will plummet to 9th once his pitching stats get expunged). so the season is really up for grabs even late. i guess the bigger issue might be how do we get the bottom of the league to get into the game, and keep trying to run out the best lineups and build the best rosters, but theoretically, the dynastic nature of our league should make that happen. those teams should be shedding salary and building future depth.