MACK League

[Norseman81]

Hi. I'm intending this as helpful feedback, not as a complaint per se, so I hope you will take my comments in that vein.

I've been a subscriber for several years now, and I just now figured out what a "MACK league" is, and only because I was curious about it and decided to look into it. I've seen it every year on the "Stats & Tools" menu and mentioned on the Custom Draft Guide, but I assumed it was some special league that you could join (such as an Ottoneu league on Fangraphs, for example), so I didn't pay much attention to it. I figured the Custom Draft Guide was already configured for MACK leagues. Perhaps I am the only one who didn't get this. However, I don't see anything on the Custom Draft Guide setup page to explain what a MACK league is or what "MACK" stands for or how it can benefit users. All it says is: "Select MACK League: Choose your MACK league to save and load your league configuration." Seeing that, I say to myself, "Well, I don't have a MACK league, so I guess I just ignore that."

Bottom line: I think it would be extremely helpful if you would put an explanation on the Custom Draft Guide set-up page that tells users what MACK is and provides a link to the MACK help pages.

I hope this is helpful. Thanks for listening.

[RAY@HQ]

Thanks for the feedback. Will certainly see if I can improve upon the explanation of how to use MACK in CDG.

[WillinTO]

Hi Ray,

Any hope of enhancements to Mack? (I know, it's an annual or every other year question.) I just went into MACK to do a quick player comparison and realised I had 24 teams left over from last year. Cleaning them out, at 4 clicks ber team pain in the @ss. It's so 2009!

[RAY@HQ]

Totally agree. I’m trying to find a resource to work on it this preseason. Hope springs eternal.

[WillinTO]

Thanks Ray! I know it is a juggling act. You have given me hope though, and I'll postpone those 24 deletions.

[aikman72]

hi all, ill do my annual ask. as stated above Im just as confused with MACK. As a long time subscriber i don't use any of these tools, and wonder if all I'm paying $80 a year is to read articles. I know there is a you tube video, however I didn't find it useful as it just shows how to edit settings. I'm looking for something to show me how to actually use the tool. In season or for my draft. I would appreciate any help, and please I'm not a tech guy so certain language is foreign to me. any help would be appreciated. Thanks for reading

[RAY@HQ]

People who try to use MACK extensively, to manage their team/league rosters and run reports, will tell you it's pretty clunky for that purpose. It badly needs an ability to automatically import league rosters from your league website, which is a nut we hope to crack at some point.

The significant benefit you can get from it, especially at this time of year, is to use it in conjunction with the Custom Draft Guide to flag your keepers in CDG output, automatically calculate inflation in the CDG, etc. There are videos in the CDG area that tell you how to do that.

If you don't need that feature (i.e. aren't in a keeper league) you probably aren't losing much by ignoring MACK, at least in the offseason. I would sort of push back on the idea that this leaves you "paying $80 for articles", as MACK is just one tool (in fact the least used tool on the site, for reasons mentioned at the top here), and you've still got the CDG, projections files, Playerlink, the (also underutilized) leading indicators area, the SP Matchup tool (in-season), etc.

But back to your initial question: what are you looking to do on the site that you can't? MACK may be part of the answer to that, or there may be other/better tools here that you haven't explored either.

[MilwBraves]

This long-time subscriber continues to wait for Mack to become user friendly. As for the other tools, if you're not using the CDG you are making a huge mistake. It is extremely helpful and user friendly!

[WillinTO]

Hi Aikman72. To answer your question from my POV, this long term user loves Mack for comparing players. I use it extensively when I am trying to decide between different players to pick up, trade for or drop. It facilitates easy comparison of players on whatever criteria I want to look at. And the players' names hyperlink to their player pages if I want more information. So for instance, if you had to injury replace an outfielder off the waiver wire/free agent pool, I'd set up a team with the 5 or 6 best candidates. Set up the report to give you the info you will use to make your decision and...pesto!.....you've got a chart comparing those 5 or 6 players on exactly the criteria you want to make your decision with.

I find it invaluable, and a big time saver versus manually building a chart using downloaded excel files. It is only a time waster when deleting teams that no longer serve any purpose, because it takes multiple clicks just to get rid of a team. So, right now, I have 24 teams listed and am procastinating on taking the 10 or 12 minutes required to clean it up to start the season. That tells you my usage at least is almost entirely for in season comparisons.

To your broader point of value for your subscription fees, your question here points to another huge benefit you could leverage further. These forums are a great way to gather input and ideas, as you just did! I see you have not done a lot of lot of posts. I am far from a big poster, but over the years have accumulated my fair share. I find I get huge value out of asking for input here (usually about players I am trying to decide on). And wading in with my two cents worth on other's issues is both fun and informative. Many times a year I will get a new idea, or get my mind opened to a player I wasn't considering, just by reading through the posts here. It is a big part of what I see as the value that I am getting out of my annual subscription fee, over and above the things Ray listed.

[aikman72]

Thanks to all that responded. I appreciate the info. I was hoping I could find a tool that could help with draft or inseason with available picks/free agents that did not require me inputing other teams rosters. That to me is way to time consuming. I was hoping to find something that would sync automatically to your league. Fantasy pros has something similar that will sync all your leagues and tell you best available pick or free agents. Was hoping to use the data here to be able to do the same thing.
thanks again.