Every year around this time, I find myself dreading the inertia that sets in in fantasy baseball leagues as thoughts turn to football drafts. Inevitably, the teams that have no chance in baseball seem to shut down, wreaking havoc on the results for the teams still in contention.

I suppose this isn't all that different from a major league team calling up a group of fringe prospects when the rosters expand in September -- something that contenders commonly complain about (but only when those teams of prospects are playing their competitors for a playoff spot). In the majors, the issue is when teams start, say, Joe Inglett for a month; in fantasy, the problem is the guys who are still starting Corey Koskie and Eddie Guardado. 

I thought the issue would go away as I started to play in fantasy leagues with more serious players who write about fantasy baseball. However, even these leagues are susceptible to owners losing interest, probably because the owners are spread too thin and don't have time to focus on a league where things aren't going well.

The problem is particularly acute in roto leagues, where the fantasy season runs the full length of the major league season for everyone. I'm currently sitting in second place in a league where I'd stand a very good chance of winning if everyone behind me in the standings kept plugging away and passed the first place team in a couple of categories. Unfortunately, I can see that probably isn't going to happen.

Over the years, I've come up with a couple of different ways of dealing with the problem. In one league, we use the keeper system to try to keep the also-rans playing through the entire season. The concept is fairly simple: you get to keep the most players if you finish in the middle of the standings. The keeper system works like a pyramid, where the first and last place teams get the fewest keepers, and the number of keepers allotted grows as you get closer to the center. This tends to keep everyone playing for something.

Another concept that I've seen executed over the years is to use the final month's disinterest to your advantage by trying to get out to a big lead. In leagues where there are caps on innings pitched and games played, the idea is to go well beyond the limits early in an effort to build a big lead and basically demoralize your opponents. Of course, if you try to do this and don't get out to a big lead, you may find that you are the one who gets demoralized.   

Ultimately, the end of season blahs are just something you need to keep in mind in order to maximize your chances of being successful. They teach you that you can't presume anything, and particularly that you can't count on someone else to come and bail your team out. If you want to win, the best thing you can do is put yourself in a situation where you're not doing a whole lot of scoreboard watching in September.