2026-05-11, 06:02 AM - Word count:
SSL Fantasy Series:
SSL Fantasy - An Intro
If you caught my last article, you saw the conclusion which pointed to a very important next step for any SSL Fantasy to be viable. Roster spots have to be set and limited!
Before we would take any attempt to try and balance out scoring based on game stats, you have to lock in positions to know if you’re getting into issues with too many spots open with the positions that are most likely to dominate current stats. After all, there are 10 positions outside of the Goalkeeper, and the flexibility offered it the sim would need to be partially extended to any fantasy roster.
First step, given the allowance of multiple positions to a single player, we have to try and look at the positions individually to see if we can see a trend for points. I tried this through basically counting the stats for a player for each of the positions they have. So from the old post, the top of the chart was “AM (RL), ST (C ) “. For the 8 players who have that position combo, I split it into AM (RL) and ST (C ) and then applied the points to BOTH positions. This obviously isn’t the most accurate way to accomplish this, but for the purposes of starting out, it works.
What that gives you is a list that kind of looks like this (shortened to give a sample)
AM (C )
AM (L)
AM (LC)
AM (R )
AM (RC)
D (RC)
D (RL)
D (RLC)
DM
GK
M
M (C )
The ability to play multiple sides of the field as well as play anywhere within that position expands this list to 25 different “index” positions. That’s obviously far too many to draft a fantasy team.
When you go through that list, you can simply just by taking some of the positions and reducing mostly the “center” shifts into 1, you actually end with 14 unique positions.
AM
LAM
RAM
CB
LB
RB
DM
GK
CM
LM
RM
ST
LWB
RWB
This is much more manageable, BUT, you immediately see the issue. There are only 11 players on the field at once. Why would there be 14 positions?
This is where you have to make a decision. Do you open up rosters for flexibility, reducing the positions further and expanding who can fit into that slot? Or, do you keep the positions set but treat the scoring more like the “Best Ball” format that you see in Fantasy NFL leagues where you are rostering players but not assigning a “starting line up” and you just receive whatever the max amount of points you could from who you have rostered?
There are skill challenges with both. Neither is an easy format, it’s really more about preference. Small roster position count means people need to actually choose their starters, so it’s more about looking at individual matchups, and player performance. The “Best Ball” format becomes more directly related to player performance across the season, as you’d get points for everyone you have rostered.
For the purposes of this series, I’m going to choose and focus on one format: Small Roster Position Count
With that in mind, here is my proposed roster positions
Striker
Attacking Midfielder (Contains L/R/C)
Midfielder (Contains L/R/C)
Defensive Midfielder (Contains LWB, DM, RWB)
Defending Back (Contains LB, CB, RB)
Goalkeeper
Six actual positions, containing different players. When you look at the points split by these categories, they don’t look too bad! (Other than GKs)
We’ve landed on a roster position lineup, and looking at points, it really isn’t VERY imbalanced. Yes, offense has more points than defense, and yes, Goalkeepers are missing points completely.
Scoring adjustments, however, are a topic for the next article.
SSL Fantasy - An Intro
If you caught my last article, you saw the conclusion which pointed to a very important next step for any SSL Fantasy to be viable. Roster spots have to be set and limited!
Before we would take any attempt to try and balance out scoring based on game stats, you have to lock in positions to know if you’re getting into issues with too many spots open with the positions that are most likely to dominate current stats. After all, there are 10 positions outside of the Goalkeeper, and the flexibility offered it the sim would need to be partially extended to any fantasy roster.
First step, given the allowance of multiple positions to a single player, we have to try and look at the positions individually to see if we can see a trend for points. I tried this through basically counting the stats for a player for each of the positions they have. So from the old post, the top of the chart was “AM (RL), ST (C ) “. For the 8 players who have that position combo, I split it into AM (RL) and ST (C ) and then applied the points to BOTH positions. This obviously isn’t the most accurate way to accomplish this, but for the purposes of starting out, it works.
What that gives you is a list that kind of looks like this (shortened to give a sample)
AM (C )
AM (L)
AM (LC)
AM (R )
AM (RC)
D (RC)
D (RL)
D (RLC)
DM
GK
M
M (C )
The ability to play multiple sides of the field as well as play anywhere within that position expands this list to 25 different “index” positions. That’s obviously far too many to draft a fantasy team.
When you go through that list, you can simply just by taking some of the positions and reducing mostly the “center” shifts into 1, you actually end with 14 unique positions.
AM
LAM
RAM
CB
LB
RB
DM
GK
CM
LM
RM
ST
LWB
RWB
This is much more manageable, BUT, you immediately see the issue. There are only 11 players on the field at once. Why would there be 14 positions?
This is where you have to make a decision. Do you open up rosters for flexibility, reducing the positions further and expanding who can fit into that slot? Or, do you keep the positions set but treat the scoring more like the “Best Ball” format that you see in Fantasy NFL leagues where you are rostering players but not assigning a “starting line up” and you just receive whatever the max amount of points you could from who you have rostered?
There are skill challenges with both. Neither is an easy format, it’s really more about preference. Small roster position count means people need to actually choose their starters, so it’s more about looking at individual matchups, and player performance. The “Best Ball” format becomes more directly related to player performance across the season, as you’d get points for everyone you have rostered.
For the purposes of this series, I’m going to choose and focus on one format: Small Roster Position Count
With that in mind, here is my proposed roster positions
Striker
Attacking Midfielder (Contains L/R/C)
Midfielder (Contains L/R/C)
Defensive Midfielder (Contains LWB, DM, RWB)
Defending Back (Contains LB, CB, RB)
Goalkeeper
Six actual positions, containing different players. When you look at the points split by these categories, they don’t look too bad! (Other than GKs)
| Category | SUM of Total Points |
|---|---|
| Attacking Midfielder | 5355.25 |
| Defensive Midfielder | 4142.5 |
| Striker | 3007 |
| Midfielder | 2997 |
| Defending Back | 2817.75 |
| Goalkeeper | 5.5 |
We’ve landed on a roster position lineup, and looking at points, it really isn’t VERY imbalanced. Yes, offense has more points than defense, and yes, Goalkeepers are missing points completely.
Scoring adjustments, however, are a topic for the next article.
