That smells collusive...what should I do?

As the 2009 baseball season starts winding down, that means that fantasy baseball leagues are quickly approaching their playoffs. This usually means that a trading frenzy will take place as teams look to bolster their rosters for the fantasy post-season. However, this trading frenzy could potentially include non-playoff teams selling off their best players for nothing...now.

The concept of collusion in fantasy sports is real and probably happens more than you know. So how does a fantasy league and its Commissioner prevent, or at least curtail, such machiavellanous activities? The answer is relatively simple - don't allow it.

I have run my successful fantasy baseball league since 1999 and first experienced attempted collusion in 2002. In fact, the league member who was initiating the collusion foolishly did so on AOL Instant Messenger, so I have printouts of the actual conversations. He was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, so he offered to trade some of his better players to playoff teams in exchange for a cut of their prize money. Needless to say, I rejected the trades, kicked him out of the league, re-wrote my league's Constitution, and ended our friendship.

After the 2002 season, I amended my Constitution to state that once a team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, then they are no longer allowed to trade. Is this fool-proof and an absolute guarantee that collusion will never occur? No - but it is surely a better option that letting teams autonomously make trades and undermine the integrity of your league.