Two weeks from today we'll be discussing the real baseball playoffs, as there will be no more regular season games to preview. No more chances to move up a spot or two in ERA, nobody left to steal a base. Well, it is possible there's a one-game playoff on that Monday, but those are rare, and it wouldn't be the Phillies' way to force one of those.
So this is it, crunch time if you will. Every decision is going to matter. The problem for some of you, as you've been telling me, is that there are no decisions to make. Even in head-to-head leagues, you know you don't want to overmanage your team, but you can't control what the players do. If Roger Clemens wants to pitch great the final few weeks, you'll welcome it, but if he decides to get lit up, there's not much you can do.
In my oldest fantasy league, now in season No. 19, I know where I went wrong. A few weeks ago, I had made the deals I needed to make to stay in contention, trading for Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Jeremy Guthrie, among others, and things haven't quite worked out, and now I'm fighting for fourth place. We have no bench in that league, and the only way to sign a free agent is to have an open spot from a disabled list move or demotion.
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Eric Karabell
