[Ragin Cajun]

It goes back to a trust factor. Ask owners that have been in the league for a while. For myself, my league is in it's 9th season, and I just won the division for the 9th time. How many LCS wins? ONE. How many Series wins? NONE. I've had new guys question my overall success in the regular season and I tell them to talk to other owners. One of my league presidents is in my division...he definitely has a motive to "keep an eye on me". All my trades are subject to review by the league presidents (one AL and one NL)...in 9 years, there have been exactly ZERO overturned. So, as Skuts said; success has no real basis although it can be one flag but don't base all your accusations on that. Check the player development log for the league and the individual teams. Check to see what players a commish's team has lost to FA from not signing an extention. In my league, I had to trade away JJ Davis to the Yankees after three rejected proposals. If I was going to cheat, he would have been a player to do it on.

Again, it all comes back to trust. Should you keep an eye on your commish...hell yes. Nothing like the moral majority to keep you in line, even if you were ever tempted to cheat. But using my league as an example, if that was really an issue then I don't think the league would be going strong as we just finished our 9th season. There would be way to much turnover, the league would get a bad reputation (see all the posts about those kind of leagues on this forum...) and people would know to stay away from it.

So, don't begrudge a commish for being a dominant team. I have owners every week ask my advise on their team. They know that I review my league daily to keep on top of any and all issues, and that I may know their team better than they do.

Here are a few things I do, and other commish's do (in leagues that I am members of)...
1. Input your contract offers first for FA so you cannot be influenced by other bids. (FTP has helped this so you don't have to see the bid screen every time you import.)
2. Do not make any trade offers with a new person until at least 24 hours after you have introduced that person to the league as a whole. Gives your other vulture owners a chance to get first crack.
3. When simming, sim a whole day, whole week or to a certain date all at one time. Do NOT ever sim one game at a time. The time stamps on the box scores will help you, as an owner, track this. (see above post that discusses this more)
4. Have a league council (or league officers) that can review any and all moves by the commissioner. This does not have to entail daily decisions, but moreso trades and things inpacting the commish's team.
5. Encourage your owners to keep tabs on you. Be open and honest in what you are doing and why. Anytime I make a decision, I give my reasoning so everyone gets to know how I think.

Just a few guidelines of many...