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A case in point for the disaster of cup elimination is WW: even if it doesn't cost you wins in the league, it may cost you come playoff time. It's pretty plausible, I think that going out of the cup early costed them a final appearance: I knew that when push came to shove, I'd likely be able to beat them on higher enth that I had accumulated with a longer cup run (this is also how I stole an away win at SB in the final the season before...).

The way the enthusiasm spectrum works is that min. level enthusiasm can't degrade on its own, while max. level enthusiasm degrades incredibly quickly on its own (for example, I had 15 enthusiasm after my last game, but it's now at 11, which may fall to 10 for tomorrow's game). The higher a team advances in the tournament, and the more important the cup games are and difficult the opponents become, the more likely the team will need to choose playoff crunch time -- so, considering that and the fast degradation of high enthusiasm, it's very possible my enthusiasm would've been the same had I made it to the end of the tournament. What's certain is that if I made it that deep, I would've had to intentionally lose league games, so I might not have had HCA, which would've been disastrous for my chances in the playoffs.

What gave your team the advantage over mine was the ~300k team salary difference. A huge team salary difference doesn't always mean the more expensive team has an advantage, but it does if that manager has proven he has great judgment choosing players.

Last edited by Ortho Stice at 2/27/2012 7:49:55 PM

I think ortho's right about that point at which it makes no difference, and, in fact, becomes detrimental to your league ambitions. The cup may have cost me a finals appearance before.

Last edited by Calum at 2/27/2012 8:45:37 PM

Either way, I can see that the cup is not always 100% beneficial at later points in the season.

Obv the later you stay in the better though, as you can make the decision whether to TIE or not, and thus gives you more flexibility.

Last edited by Calum at 2/27/2012 8:44:36 PM

The question is whether you'd have been better off by staying in the cup for longer. And to that the answer is, I think, obviously yes.

Well getting knocked out of the tournament certainly hurt my chances of winning the cup

Hehe, I'm just hoping that one year I just get a little lucky. I'm feeling good about season 21, just got a nice ring to it.

Obv the later you stay in the better though, as you can make the decision whether to TIE or not, and thus gives you more flexibility

In the case of what's best for Red's team I'm on the fence. He's carrying the 2nd lowest payroll in the great 8 and likely won't be able afford to throw league games to ensure 6 or better placing.

Another thing to consider is if you do go out of the cup early you have the benefit in focusing on perfect mins and off-position training. If managed well that could offset some (most?) of the impact of an early cup loss.