After reading a post of Roto Authority I was inspired to provide several keys to winning in a head-to-head league. Now, my friends will tell you that I am full of crap, but the fact still remains that I am the defending champion in our H2H league. There is one significant difference between H2H and Roto; Roto is a long race and H2H is a weekly dash. Quite often in H2H you are looking for a quick fix so that you can win your matchup. With that is mind, here are several keys to winning in H2H:

1. Roster Flexibility - Do not fall in love with your roster. Develop a solid core of players, but always have players that you are willing to trade out for the next best thing. Hot players can make all the difference between winning or losing your match-up over the weekend. For example, last year I was in a tight battle against a solid team and picked up Chris Duncan when he hit 3 homeruns over the weekend. Those HRs, runs, and RBI helped to seal an overall win that week.  Then on Monday I dropped him back on the waiver wire and picked a solid 2 start pitcher for the next week.
2. Know you opponent’s team schedule and find a weakness - Let’s say that you are going up against a team with 4 closers and you have 2. On the surface, saves looks like a lost category. Look at the opponent’s closers though. Are any of them going up against each other during the week? Are any of them going up against your closers? If he has 2 closers facing each other, and 1 facing one of yours, then the odds are that your 2 closers should compete in the saves category that week due to the limited amount of chances his will get. In this scenario, check the waiver wire for an additional closer to try to beat him, or overwhelm him with the other pitching categories.
3. Don’t wait until Monday - Start evaluating your opponent over the weekend. Some match-ups can be won on Monday’s games, especially if it’s a short day. If your opponent only has two players going on Monday, pickup some players from the waiver wire and try to get ahead.
4. Use unconventional tactics each week - Go ahead and pickup multiple 2-start pitchers for the week. Try pitch-and-ditch over the weekend if you are getting blown out in ERA, but strikeouts and wins are close. Do play-and-ditch on the shorts days. If you are ahead by a wide margin in ERA, WHIP and wins, sit your pitchers over the weekend to protect those categories.
5. It’s a New Week - Whatever happen last week doesn’t matter on Monday. Each week gives you a restart and the ability to win that week. Every win in a category may make the difference in making, or missing the playoffs.

All five of these items are heightened to new levels during the playoffs, especially if you are trailing going into the weekend. Unlike the regular season, there is no next week. So do whatever it takes to win, or you are done!

One other tidbit of advice, do not draft one category players. Podsednik is basically useless in H2H, unless you need some steals over the weekend. Balanced players like Abreu, Jeter, Rollins, Beltran, and Wells provide more overall value from week to week.

Remember, during the regular season, concentrate on winning that week without destroying next week.