Info and Instructions for the PlayoffComputer app

The purpose of the app is to take a league's standings and schedule info to analyze and provide details about the playoff race. Features include:

• Listings of each team's status in the playoff race.
• "Paths-to-clinch" for eligible teams on what needs to happen in the upcoming week or round to clinch a division or playoff spot.
• New for 2023: "Paths-to-elimination" added to see how teams could be :( eliminated.
• Calculations for both division and wildcard spots.
• Inclusion of many popular tiebreakers in the calculations.
• A quick "Monte Carlo" simulation for early season calculations.
• Just added Nov2023: Listing of the minimum wins each team needs to reach for any chance, the wins number that guarantees a spot, and whether they control their own destiny (full calculations only).
• New for 2023: "Best outcome" listing shows what is the best results of the upcoming round for each team's chances. (full calculations only)
• New for 2023: "Best-in-division" process option added (for MFL multi-division leagues).
• Data transfer from Yahoo, ESPN FF, My Fantasy League, (new for 2023) Sleeper, NFL Fantasy, Fleaflicker, FPPC, Reality Sports Online, and the companion Google Sheet.
• New for 2023: Data transfer from Madden leagues through MyMadden and Neonsportz.
• Other 2023 news: Increased allowable teams to 24, "weak" division issue solved (see below).

The app attempts to do things that otherwise would require many super-computers. The number of calculations made to perform its tasks is uncountable. The process can take many minutes or even many hours, which can place incredible strain on a user's computer or device. Use of this app is strictly "at your own risk".

For the app to function as intended, a league must:

• Have 4 to 24 teams in total, or in each conference. Max number of teams in league is 48. Multi-conference supported with MFL and Madden hosting sites.
• Play head-to-head games.
• Have 320 or less remaining applicable games. (for 2023 experimenting with up to 750 remaining games)
• For traditional leagues: Determine playoff spots firstly by overall winning percentage (additional spots can be reserved for teams based on points totals).
• For points-based leagues (e.g. hockey): Determine all playoff spots firstly by a points system with each win resulting in two or three points and each loss, even an overtime one, resulting in zero points. Currently, the allowance of a point for an overtime loss is not functional. Perhaps in 2024.
• Have all pertinent data input into the app either thru data transfer or manual entry. For example, if the league uses head-to-head records as a tiebreaker, then the app requires past results.

• If sending data soon after the end of the week (e.g. after MNF for ff), make sure that all data in the app is the most current, in particular that just-completed games do not show up in the "Remaining Games" section. ALL ff hosting sites have a lag between the conclusion of a week and all relevant data being completely updated.
• The data import process can take several minutes.
• The name field made in calculations is limited to ten characters. Pro-tip: For ease of reading the results manually adjust team names to abbreviations or owner names.
• After data import verify all data is complete and correct.
• ESPN users: All sports now available. The commissioner must set the "Make league viewable to public" setting to "yes".
• MFL users: The app will work with up to three conferences in a league as long as the total number of teams does not exceed 48. Put "A", "B", or "C" after the league ID to denote which conference to pull data from. Note that if data is requested prior to the season the week 1 games will show in the "Past Results" section with no scores by design to overcome programming issues inherent to multi-conference leagues and the app's functionality. Other than week 1, the "Past Results" and "Remaining Games" section will only show games that are relevant to teams in the selected conference. Tiebreaker options will automatically be set to the standings sort order shown in MFL. See below for additional MFL tiebreaker discussions.
• Fleaflicker users: There appears to be a significant delay between the end of the week and Fleaflicker updating standings and finalizing the scores. Please verify info, particularly that games shown in the "Remaining Games" section have not just been completed.
• Fantrax users: The Fantrax API does not provide all the details that are likely needed to process calculations. Data can be imported and supplemented with manual additions as necessary.
• Goblin users: The Goblin site seems to often be missing scores of completed games. Check that the first game(s) in the "Remaining Schedule" section have not already occured and either fix through Goblin or manually delete those games using the Delete button and add them to the "Past Results" section (if needed).
• Madden users via MyMadden and Neonsportz: "Season" refers to the nth season of the league (e.g. 1, 2, 3), not a year. In MyMadden the seasons are normally displayed on the standings page and in Neonsportz the seasons are normally displayed on the scoreboard page. For example, if the league has played "seasons" 2021, 2022, and 2023, 2023 is the 3rd season of the league, and 3 would be input as the season in the app. Due to the scheduling structure of many leagues (e.g. bye weeks, varying times/dates of games) it is necessary to manually input the number of remaining games from the "Remaining Schedule" section to correspond with the number of unplayed games left for the week in order for paths to be calculated correctly. The playoff structure, calculation, and tiebreaker options are automatically set for NFL rules. If the league employs other rules they will need to be manually selected. Note that Madden hosting sites often seem to be missing some scores in past weeks. Verify that the "Remaining Schedule" section starts with games from the upcoming week, otherwise past games and scores will need to be manually entered into the "Past Results" section and those games deleted from the "Remaining Schedule" section.
• All data import processes were either completely redone or are new for 2023. Most are not well tested. Please advise of any issues encountered.

• Your individual Google settings may dictate changes to these instructions.
• The generic PlayoffComputer sheet can be found here
• Begin by making your own copy of this spreadsheet (File - Make a Copy). This likely requires a Google account.
• See additional instructions on the Google Sheet. When ready to transfer data to the app, continue.
• Publish the spreadsheet copy (File - Publish to the web).
• Go to 'Sheets Home' (green box to the left of 'File'). Click or doubleclick to open the sheet.
• Using the URL link shown in the browser, cut and copy the spreadsheet KEY, which is the characters inside the full URL between the slash ( / ) after 'spreadsheets/d/' and before the following slash. Do not include the slashes.
• Paste the KEY into the web-app as shown within the "Google Sheets" data transfer option.
• Click "Import Sheet Data". "Authorize" if requested or if nothing happens after a minute.

Brief explanation of the data tables (Team Info, Past Results, Remaining Schedule

Team Info
• Name: Team name derived from import site etc. It is strongly recommended that the names be shortened (if needed) to abbreviations or similar to make the results more readable-friendly.
• ID: This is the number used to represent each team in the Past Results and Remaining Schedule tables. In most circumstances, this will be a simple 1..2..3.. arrangement. With some hosting sites, e.g. MFL, the number is derived from the ID used by that hosting site.
• Div #: A number (1..2..3..) used to represent what division the team is in. For non-division leagues a '1' will be used for all teams.
• Wins: Overall wins
• Losses: Overall losses
• Ties: Overall ties
• PF: Points For
• PA: Points Against
• Div W: Division wins
• Div L: Division losses
• Div T: Division ties
• Cnf W: Conference wins
• Cnf L: Conference losses
• Cnf T: Conference ties
• AP W: All-Play wins
• AP L: All-Play losses. Note this is not actually used in calculations for the All-Play tiebreaker, which is calculated using All-Play wins and ties only.
• AP T: All-Play ties.
• VP: Victory Points
• C/E: *New for 2023* This allows the user to manually check whether a team has already had their fate determined, e.g. clinched or eliminated, as known from past calculations or as marked by the hosting site or as calculated by simple magic number methods. It is one of a series of attempts to further improve the accuracy of calculations when there are many remaining games left and the program has to introduce randomization into the process, in which any reduction in the number of games that need to be worked through can make a difference. It is likely more useful for either larger leagues or leagues with longer seasons (e.g. baseball). It is considered fairly unlikely that this will be of much use for standard 10-12 team fantasy football leagues where by the time teams actually begin to clinch or be eliminated from contention the number of remaining games is already reduced to a manageable number. To use in conjunction with the "Auto Delete" button (see below) simply select C or E for any team that has already clinched or been eliminated. Note this feature should not be done for any league in which all games may matter for tiebreakers such as strength of victory. See below for more info.

Past Results (note this table is hidden by default, use the 'Show/Hide Past Results' button to display)
• Tm A: The first team, by ID from the Team Info table, in a game that has already been played.
• Tm B: The second team, by ID from the Team Info table, in a game that has already been played.
• A pts: The number of points that 'Team A' scored in the referenced game. Note that in some leagues, depending on hosting site, only a 1-0 or 0-1 will be shown to denote a victory or loss if actual points scored cannot be accessed.
• B pts: The number of points that 'Team B' scored in the referenced game. See note above.

Remaining schedule
• Game: The number of the game, which if needed is used to manually delete a game.
• A: The first team, by ID from the Team Info table, in a game that is upcoming.
• B: The other team.

If for any reason a game needs to be manually deleted from the remaining schedule, enter the 'game number' and use the 'Manual Delete' button. This feature can be most helpful in fantasy football near the end of the season when some matchups are already determined after Sunday games and calculations are wanted to be re-run. This is accomplished by manually adding the newly finished games to the Past Results table, making manual adjustments to each team's win, loss, and related stats records, and deleting same from the Remaining Schedule table.

To mass delete games that are no longer relevant between teams that have already cemented their place (clinched or eliminated) as part of the attempts to make results more accurate when there are still numerous remaining games, use the 'Auto Delete' button after manually marking teams in the 'Team Info' table as 'C' or 'E' (clinched or eliminated). This button will then delete any remaining game that is between two teams whose fate is already sealed or between one of these teams and a non-conference opponent (if relevant, e.g. MFL). In theory, this should not impact the results other than make them more accurate if there is still a large number of remaining games. Note that since this will remove remaining games from any calculations to determine the fate of other teams, any games removed that may factor into other teams' tiebreaker rankings such as for strength of victory will negatively affect those calculations. There is no need to use this feature once there are 22 or fewer remaining games left. Also note that the number of games for the upcoming week/round will likely need to be manually selected in the 'Non-standard schedule options' to match with the new actual number of relevant games for the upcoming week/round, if any for the upcoming week/round were deleted.

Note this feature has not been kept track of well and recent changes to calculations may have impacted it. If you use this app for such a league please advise if things just don't look right.

• At this time, the program does not account for leagues in which a overtime loss results in the losing team gaining one point. It assumes all losing teams receive zero points. This may limit its application with hockey leagues where there are more options than simple win, loss, or tie.
• It is not absolutely necessary to enter W-L records, but if done for the sake of organization and having records shown in the results display, use the "T" column for overtime losses.
• Use the "PF" column for team points.
• The "PA" column can be used for goals or another stat if desired if needed for a further tiebreaker.
• See notes below for additional details.

• Verify data, especially the Remaining Games section, to make sure info is correct. This is the most common problem with data transfers from outside sources.
• Leagues with "bye-weeks" (rare) where teams are on bye in the upcoming week requires manually selecting the number of games in the upcoming week/round, under the Non-standard schedule options.
• "Points based league option": Select "yes" or "yes3" if the league is a hockey-type (wins = 2 or 3 points). Also select "points" as the first tiebreaker.
• "Playoff berth information": For leagues with divisions where each division-winner automatically received a playoff berth, select "Yes". Note for 2023 the option to have more than one division-winner per division had to be removed due to new formulas being used to solve the weak-division issue of the past. Select how many wildcard spots there are. For multi-division leagues, this is in addition to the total number of division spots (e.g. three-division league, six playoff spots, each division winner guaranteed a spot, resulting wildcard number would be "3"). For leagues without divisions, this is the total number of playoff spots. For leagues that award additional playoff spots to the teams leftover with the highest points total, only select the number of playoff spots in this section that are awarded by record.
• "Tiebreaker options": Select any tiebreakers for determining division winners (if applicable) and wildcard winners. See below "Tiebreaker info" section for important details and option descriptions. If head-to-head is a tiebreaker, the "Past Results" section must have the appropriate data. Hockey type points based leagues must have "points for" selected as the first tiebreaker.
• Except for points based leagues, a tiebreaker that cannot be firmly "projectable" (points, all-play, victory) will be the last tiebreaker included in the calculations regardless if any are selected afterwards.
• "Points and All-Play tiebreaker options": The program will analyze the scoring of the league and, if set to "Automatic", calculate a reasonable amount of points that any one team can gain on another. "Most safe" increases the amount used in calculations that a team may gain, and should be used in leagues that tend to have a wide disrepancy in scoring possibilities. "Minimal changes" decreases the amount. "No changes" is unrealistic in most cases, but can be handy to run custom scenarios, particularly if the points tiebreaker is used for another stat. The same principle is used for the "All-Play" calculations.
• "Victory points options": If VP is used as a tiebreaker (ahead of any other points tiebreaker), select the amount of VP awarded for a win, and the maximum VP amount a team could be awarded each week based on their point total for the week. For example, if a team gets 1 VP for a win and 1 VP for being in the top half of the league in points for the week, select "1" and "1". If a team gets 2 VP for a win and then 2 VP for being in the top third of the league in points for the week and 1 VP for being in the next third of the league in points, select "2" and "2".
• "Additional tiebreaker specifications / Best-in-Division method": If selected the calculations will attempt to perform an NFL-style method for selecting wildcards. It is believed the only ff hosting site that uses this methodology is MyFantasyLeague. Due to the many, many issues with this methodology in conjunction with most fantasy tiebreakers, desired results here will be hugely dependent on which tiebreakers a given league uses and in which order. This methodology takes a vast amount of time compared to the normal processes and it is impossible to do more than rudimentary testing on it to verify accuracy. In fact, feedback from users in 2023-24 will be the primary testing of it.
• "Additional tiebreaker specifications / Common games": If common-games tiebreaker is used and a minimum threshold of common opponents is used, select that as appropriate.
• "Tied-game possiblity option": "Yes" will only be applied if there are 14 games or less remaining. "No" is recommended for most situations. For leagues in which a tie is a likely possibility it is recommended to select "No" until the final week/round, the results display can be almost unreadable with ties included in the calculations. Note if selected, this will cause the playoff odds probabilities displayed to be incorrect as a tie-game is calculated as having an equal probability to a game being won by either team, which is usually not realistic.
• "Non-standard / Schedule games option": The app will automatically calculate the number of games for the upcoming week/round and display "paths" for those number of games. This number can be adjusted if desired or as needed. For the rare leagues that have "bye" weeks and teams are on bye in the upcoming week, manually enter the number of games in the upcoming week/round. For teams that play "doubleheader" type schedules each week/round, manually enter such number of games as well. Note that the "paths" have to be simplified when requesting a large number of games (>10) be used in their calculation.
• New for 2023 "Non-standard / Median system": For leagues that award an additional win each week/round to teams that score in the top half of the league for that week/round, eg a Sleeper option, may be called something else on other platforms. Because this system is dependent on points and there may be no correlation between the teams that get a H2H win and those that get a Median system win, the program will treat the league as a "points based league" for the calculations and no tiebreakers can be accounted for (see tiebreaker discussions below).
• "Additional playoff-team by points/victory points option": For leagues that award a playoff spot to the highest scoring team(s) leftover after the traditional w-l based calculations. Note the "paths" display may be confusing to read for some teams as "illogical" scenarios may be required for a particular team to have a chance. Since points are highly variable in most fantasy leagues and almost all teams will theoretically have a chance to win this spot, it may be less confusing to only change this to "yes" nearer to the end of the season.
• "Simplified display of odds option": Without this option selected, the program will display the percentages that each team could end up in a tie at that end of the season that is at the current moment too early to determine which team(s) would win that tie. This usually occurs when points, all-play, or similar are used as a tiebreaker. This option, if set to "Yes", will attempt to roughly combine these chances into an overall odds for each team that is more readable. Due to the formulas used, there may be occasional irregularities in the odds displayed for teams that are close to clinching a spot or close to being eliminated (e.g. a number slightly over 100%). For more accurate, but slightly more complex display, select "No".
• "Sort results option": By default, the team synopsis section will be roughly sorted, e.g. teams that have clinched a spot will be listed first and teams that have been eliminated will be listed last, etc.. Selecting "No" will preserve the order shown in the "Team Info" section when the results are displayed.
• "Isolate team option": The program by default has to introduce randomization into the calculations when there are more than 22 remaining games as otherwise there are too many permutations to go through each and every possibility. This can sometimes lead to teams that have an extremely high (i.e. 99.99%) chance of clinching a playoff spot being shown in the results as "clinched" when that is realistically but not technically true. By selecting this option, the program will alter the randomization method in such a way to lessen (but it does not completely eliminate) the chances of a false "clinched" message, but in doing so only one team can be analyzed. This is designed to be used when the "Monte Carlo" simulation first shows a team in the league at 100% and/or when a "Path to clinch" first shows up for that team when there are many games still remaining as a way to verify that status. It should only be used to verify the "best" team that has not already been verified as having clinched a spot, using it to isolate other "lesser" teams will have negative consequences on results. This option will have no affect when there are 22 or less remaining games when tie game possibility is "no" or 14 or less games when tie game possibility is "yes" as the program is able to go through all permutations by that point. Any odds for an isolated team displayed will not be accurate, this function is only for verifying a "clinched" determination. Again, it is not completely foolproof, but if used in conjunction with the "magic" calculations (if possible) and by noting the number of wins the program says would guarantee a spot and comparing that to the isolated team's current win totals, along with some manual analysis, it can provide a near-certain picture.
• "Alternative h2h import option": This likely will just be used for myself for MLB calculations, but can be used as follows for leagues with a large number of games in the season with data imported from the Google Sheets companion or manually adjusted. Instead of each game being listed in the "Past Results" section, only one entry for each h2h series is used, with the number of wins each team won against the other being put in the "Scores" fields.
• "Show team synopsis in table format option": If "Yes" is selected, the team synopsis (odds, general status, wins needed if full calculations, etc.) will be shown in a table that may be more readable.

• "Monte Carlo": 100,000 random simulations of the remaining schedule are ran to provide a quick estimate of each team's playoff odds. For most leagues, advancing to "Full" calculations generally does not provide additional insight until any one team has reached a 98% chance or sunk to a 2% chance.
• New for 2023 "Quick Magic": This is an experimental attempt to both save time and provide more accurate results when there are a large amount of remaining games. This method only supports leagues without divisions (although it may be useful for leagues with divisions), cannot incorporate any tiebreakers into the calculations, and is "wins-based" meaning that tie-games cannot have occured or be a possibility and all teams must play the same number of games. Calculations will be made to determine if teams can be overtaken in wins by any combination of others. Messages will be provided when any team(s) are close to clinching a playoff spot and that advancing to the "Full" calculations may provide additional insight.
• "Full": Calculations will be based on running every possible remaining scenario (if there are 22 or less remaining games and the "Tied-game possibility option" is set to "no", or 14 or less remaining games with it set to "yes") or a blend of possibilities with random simulations to determine which teams have clinched playoff spots, been eliminated, or their odds of making the playoffs. Besides listing each team's odds, the minimum number of wins that each could win a division and/or playoff spot is listed along with the number of wins that would assure of clinching such a spot. If there are more than 22 games remaining these numbers will likely be very very very accurate but are not 100% guaranteed to be correct. Also, if a team is assured of going to the playoffs by winning their remaining games, they "control their destiny" and that will be reflected.
• "Full" + Clinching "Paths": Calculations will also include a listing of what scenarios for the upcoming week/round (or games, or two rounds, depending on options selected) would clinch a playoff spot for applicable teams. "Paths" will also be shown that would guarantee a tie for a playoff spot with others for leagues that use a points/all-play tiebreaker with a listing of which other teams each particular team might be fighting for as far as points are concerned. The new for 2023 best-outcomes listings will also be included.
• New for 2023 "Full" + Clinching and Eliminating "Paths": Calculations will also include a listing of what scenarios would eliminate applicable teams from playoff contention. This adds additional time necessary for the calculations.
• Because of 2023 changes made to solve the "weak division issue" of the past, note that processing time is far longer than in years past. The "Full" and "Paths" options can take many minutes, even hours, depending on many factors (league complexity, tiebreaker selection, number of teams still in contention, etc.).

• The tiebreaker calculation methods used may not exactly conform to the methods used by league hosting sites. Some known examples:
  • When a scenario is encountered in which three or more teams are tied and tiebreakers are calculated, the tiebreaker process starts over once any one team either secures or is eliminated from a spot in that scenario. It is believed, but not guaranteed, that this method matches with Yahoo, ESPN, and MFL.
  • It is believed that only MFL utilizes a "best-in-division" rule for wildcard teams in multi-division leagues and that option should only be selected for leagues hosted by them.
  • Head-to-head methods do not match with the default setting in MFL, but do match with what many MFL commisioners set for their leagues. MFL actually advises to not use H2H as one of the first few tiebreakers.
• The following tiebreakers are available to be included in calculations:
  • "div pct": Division percentage, for multi-division leagues. If used as a wildcard tiebreaker then this will only be applied if all tied teams in a given scenario are from the same division.
  • "conf pct": Conference percentage, for multi-conference leagues.
  • "points": Points-for. Higher trumps lower. As a tiebreaker that cannot be firmly projected, yet is one that will almost always resolve a tie at the end of the season, no further tiebreakers are accounted for in the calculations (with the exception of points based leagues) once this is employed.
  • "opp pts (hi)": Points-Against. Higher trumps lower. Substitutes as a "strength of schedule" record for some hosting sites. As with points, no further tiebreakers are accounted for in the calculations once this is employed.
  • "opp pts (lo)": Points-against. Lower trumps higher, e.g. a better defense wins. As with points, no further tiebreakers are accounted for in the calculations once this is employed.
  • "h2h #1": Head-to-head comparison that is only employed when two teams are tied. See below.
  • "h2h #2": Head-to-head comparison that is only applied when one team has swept the other team(s) OR been swept by the other teams that are tied.
  • "h2h #3": Head-to-head comparison that uses each team's winning percentage of games played against the other tied teams (believed to be default MFL setting). This is applied regardless of whether some teams have played each other or not, which is why MFL recommends their default h2h not be used as a tiebreaker.
  • "h2h #4": Head-to-head comparison that uses each team's number of wins against the other tied teams (believed to be default Fantrax setting).
  • "h2h #5": Head-to-head comparison that is only applied when one team has a winning record against ALL the other team(s) OR has a losing record against ALL the other team(s). Used in MLB calculations, unaware of any platforms using this for fantasy.
  • "non-div pct": Non-division percentage.
  • "all play": All-play records. As with points, no further tiebreakers are accounted for in calculations once this is employed.
  • New for 2023 "common": Best record against common opponents. Not well tested for multi-conference leagues.
  • New for 2023 "victory": Victory Points. As with points and all-play, this tiebreaker is not firmly projectable and no further tiebreakers are accounted for once this is employed.
  • New for 2023 "sov": Strength of Victory. Only can be used if best-in-division process is employed (eg MFL leagues or NFL). If used with multi-conference leagues it is not perfectly accurate as remaining non-conf games aren't completely incoroporated into the calculations. Logic is built-in to account for imperfections.
  • "random": The program will randomly choose winners between teams still tied.
• Based on best-known info, the tiebreaker info for FF and other hosting sites is as follows:
  • ESPN: Public leagues use points-for as tiebreaker. Private leagues can use H2H, points-for, division-record, and points-against. For H2H, use "h2h #1" followed by "h2h #2" to get as close as possible to ESPN's methodology, which is only employed if they have played the same number of games against each other.
  • MFL: Many tiebreaker options are avaiable as well as manual seeding using third-party software, which offers even more options. For H2H, the default MFL H2H setting is flawed (see MFL's explanation), if not manually adjusted use only "h2h #3". If the commissioner manually adjusts to comply with an NFL sweep-style rule, use "h2h #1" followed by "h2h #2". For leagues replicating the NFL, see below.
  • Yahoo: For football, division winners are selected by division-record and then points-for. Wildcard winners are selected by poinst-for. Yahoo does not employ a H2H tiebreaker. Past results are not transferred automatically.
  • Fox (are they still around?): It is unknown what options are available for tiebreakers. As of many years ago, for H2H use "h2h #1" followed by "h2h #2" to get as close as possible to Fox's methodology.
  • NFL Fantasy: Tiebreaker rules unknown.
  • CBS: Tiebreaker rules unknown.
  • Sleeper: Points-for is used as tiebreaker. It is not believed there are any options for H2H.
  • Fleaflicker: It is believed that all NFL tiebreakers are available. It is not known exactly how H2H is calculated, but if it is exactly as the NFL then see below. Note because it is unlikely a fantasy league will play a scheduled exactly structured like the NFL, the H2H choices may need to be altered to fit individual league structures.
  • Reality Sports Online: Tiebreaker rules unknown.
  • FFPC: Tiebreaker rules unknown. Not believed that FFPC uses H2H as a tiebreaker.
  • Madden: EA sports states that NFL's mathodology is built-in. The program will automatically select NFL relevant options when a Madden league is imported through MyMadden or Neonsportz, including "best-in-division" and NFL's playoff team allocation. If the league employs other rules, the options will need to be manually altered.
  • NFL: For leagues that replicate NFL rules and schedule system, use the following:
    • Division tiebreakers: H2H#3, div pct, common, conf pct, sov
    • Wildcard tiebreakers: H2H#2, conf pct, common, sov
    • Select the "best-in-division" option if your hosting site utilizes that. It is believed that only MFL utilizes "b-i-d" among fantasy football sites, perhaps Fleaflicker. It is believed that Madden replicates NFL rules and would utilize "b-i-d" as well.
    Note the above options will only be completely accurate if the league plays an NFL-type schedule (e.g. equal number of division games for all teams).
• Points tiebreaker diatribe:
  • This discussion applies to all-play, points against, and victory points tiebreakers also.
  • It is almost universally agreed that points are a great way to break a tie at the end of the season. However, for the purpose of running scenarios to determine which teams have made the playoffs, which have been eliminated, and what needs to happen for teams to get in, the points tiebreaker presents an issue. The problem is points are impossible to predict and do not wholly relate to winning or losing. A fantasy team might win with 50 points while another might lose with 150 points at the same time. Thus, there is not a perfect way to project them in these calculations.
  • The program attempts to compensate by computing a realistic amount of points that one team could gain on another team over the remainder of the season. It will then only calculate whether a team has clinched or been eliminated in each scenario when a points advantage (or disadvantage) is too great to be overcome. It will then display the odds of each team finishing in a tie with others that will come down to the final points total at the end of the season, something that cannot be projected while the season is still ongoing.
  • Fixed for 2023 but at great expense of processing time. There is one technical issue to this process when used on multi-division leagues that use points as a tiebreaker for both division winner and wildcard. If scenarios are encountered in which teams tie for a division with a worse record that the lowest wildcard team would have, requiring a points tiebreaker at the end of the season that cannot be ascertained currently, the wildcard odds displayed may be slightly off. The program does register when this possibility exists and will send a "weak division" message. The program now, in the event of encountering a scenario in which it cannot determine a winner due to points (or other) tiebreaker not being resolved, it will "sub-divide" that scenario into additional ones that include each applicable tied team as winning one of the additional scenarios. As mentioned, this has really added the amount of time needed to do all the calculations.

• The "Full" calculation methods detail the following:
  • At the top of the results message there will be wording as to whether every possible remaining scenario was computed or whether a probability based approach needed to be mixed in. There will also be a note on whether the possibility of tie-games was considered.
  • If all the possible scenarios were worked through the status of each team displayed can be considered certain. If a probability based approach was used then the clinched/eliminated status messages will include 'possibily' wording as there may be some lottery winning in a lightning storm chance that the status displayed is not 100% accurate. This possibility diminishes as the number of remaining game decreases.
  • A projected number of wins the program determines are the most likely to be needed to make the playoffs.
  • Each team will be listed with a description of their fate (e.g. clinched, eliminated, etc.). This message will vary depening on league structure (i.e. multi-division or not).
  • For teams that do not have a pre-determined fate, approximate odds will be listed for each team to claim a division (if applicable) and playoff spot, or to be tied at the end of the season for such. The odds to "tie" represent the liklihood where a tiebreaker (usually points) whose resolution cannot yet be determined will have to break the tie at the end of the season.
  • The approximate odds for a particular team may add up to over 100% in multi-division calculations if there are scenarios in which a team may be in an unresolved tie for both the division and wildcard.
  • The approximate odds will be skewed if tie-games were factored in as a tie-game has to be calculated as being just as likely as one of the teams winning, which is not realistic.
  • For the rare leagues that have an added "points-spot", the odds do not include calculations in which that spot cannot be determined yet.
  • Odds are rounded down (e.g. 98.85% = "98%") except for odds less than 1%, which will be shown with the appropriate number of decimal places.
  • If the points tiebreaker setting was changed to "Zero changes" (not recommended) the display will indicate that such advantages one team has over others may need to be maintained.
  • Just added Nov2023 Following the odds for each team, as applicable, the minimum number of wins to have any chance to take a division and/or playoff spot along with the highest number of wins that could still result in being left out and the number of wins that would guarantee a playoff spot will be listed.
  • Whether a team controls its own destiny (i.e. if wins out will go to playoffs) will be shown.
• The "paths-to-clinch" and "paths-to-elimination" analysis features the following:
  • For multi-divisional leagues, the "paths" listings will be in two sections, division and playoff, with a third section for elimination (if option chosen).
  • For leagues with points/all-play/victory tiebreakers, there may be two listings for a team: One that shows ways a team can clinch a spot and one that shows ways a team can do no worse than end up in a tie for a spot (that can't be determined the winner of at the current time, see points diatribe). The other teams that this team may fight with will also be listed.
  • If the points tiebreaker setting was changed to "Zero changes" (not recommended), an asterisk following a "path" means that team must maintain a points advantage it holds over another.
  • If no "paths" are listed, no team can clinch the respective type of spot in the upcoming week/round (or two rounds or number of games as requested), or be eliminated from playoff contention (if option chosen).
  • The "paths" feature is limited in the interest of brevity and time in the following situations and may not be 100% complete or accurate if:
    • There are enough remaining games that a probability/randomization based approach had to be conducted.
    • A custom number of games to look at was selected that is more than one round's worth of games.
    • There are many upcoming inter-conference games (for large multi-conference leagues).
  • New for 2023 The best-outcomes among the upcoming week/round's games that would most improve each team's chances will also be listed. No listing will be displayed for teams that have already clinched a spot, have clinching scenarios already listed, or are eliminated. This feature is currently not available for leagues that award additional playoff spots to teams by points/victory points. Note that the listings will include results for games that may not matter for a particular league (e.g. two teams that are both out of playoff contention) but may matter for a league that uses common games or strength of victory tiebreakers and determining which ones to exclude is programmically difficult and would greatly increase processing time which is already lengthy. Additionally, listings for teams close to clinching a playoff spot while there are still a large number of remaining games may not be completely accurate as the program may not determine much of a difference in their chances between the outcomes of one particular game.
• Info on the new "Magic" analysis:
  • This method is experimental and theoretical in nature and is not well tested.
  • It is intended to accurately reflect whether a team has definitely clinched a playoff spot well before the "full" analysis is able to. However, in doing so, it does not factor in divisions, tiebreakers, or the possibility of tie-games in its calculations.
  • If it detects a team is nearing the ability to clinch a playoff spot, a message indicating so will be displayed. As such, advancing to the full calculations using the "isolate" option may provide further details.
  • A combination of teams will be listed that in total could all end up strongest combined group opposing the selected team at the end of the season. The selected team would need to eliminate one from that group through their own wins or losses from a member of that group to make the playoffs.
  • For teams that are currently the frontrunners for a playoff spot (by wins, not pct), a message stating what their "PlayoffComputer Magic Number" is will be displayed. This number is similar but not identical to the traditional definition of "magic number". It represents the number of wins by the selected team and/or losses by the worst team in the above-mentioned grouping, but this grouping is fluid so it does not represent a direct comparison between the selected team and one other as is the traditional magic number calculation.
  • It is believed, but not well tested, that adding a team's "PlayoffComputer Magic Number" to their wins will give a mark for wins that if attained would guarantee a playoff spot.
  • In theory, the "PlayoffComputer Magic Number" will not increase through the season even as the members of the opposing group may change. Please advise if something otherwise is noticed, it is difficult to test this method.

• Current issues
  • MFL multi-conference leagues: There are many options for league set-up in MFL and it is possible the app may not function properly with a particular league. Advise via email of any difficulties. June 2023.
  • Despite best efforts to test as many of the infinite possibilities of league size, tiebreaker rules, and various options as can be done, there will always be a chance that the program encounters a situation the causes a fatal error in the calculation process. Unfortunately, the "spinning wheel" signaling that the process is ongoing may not stop when such happens, leaving the user unsure if the process is still ongoing or not if the calculation time approaches hours. Having a Task Manager running concurrently can aid in knowing whether the calculations are ongoing, as the processes do take a substantial amount of resources, or have stopped by evidence of resource use drastically diminishing.
• The most common questions and discussions that come up:
  • ESPN users not having the league listed as "public" by the commish for the program to access its data.
  • Users "requesting access" to the companion Google Sheet instead of making a copy as instructed.
  • Users with multiple Google accounts may have difficulty importing data from the companion Google Sheet, and may need to sign out of all accounts or use an "incognito" tab.
  • Data being transferred immediately after the conclusion of MNF before the hosting sites have completely updated.
  • Discussions on the imperfections that points tiebreakers bring and the impossibility to firmly project a team's final points total in these calculations. If you trust one thing from the internet today let it be that, after many years of thought, the program's approach is the best possible method known to deal with this situation.
  • Requests to add the following sites to the "data import process":
    • CBS: Multiple attempts to contact have been made. No response has ever been received.
    • Realtime Fantasy Sports: Multiple attempts to contact have been made. No response has ever been received.
• Questions, suggestions, and compliments can be sent to "jomizec (@at) gmail.com". Response time may be quite long.