I have played What If on and off for ~20 years coming back to the game in 2020. I have always solely played open leagues.

Inspired by just4me's bounty idea I thought I would throw out a challenge of my own to create an incentive for people to play more creative teams in open leagues. The winner of the bounty will receive a $100 gift card from me. If no one has won the bounty by the end of 2023 I will pay the bounty to the team with the highest regular season win total.

Challenge
Win an open league while spending at least 30m combined on two position players. The 30m can be split in any fashion ie (26m/4m 15m/15m ect). There are 20 position players with salaries over 15m so there is the potential for a number of different player combinations. The two position players must be on your roster when you win the open league (can not be waived)

Fantastic challenge... I was playing around with some options and this really makes you think outside the box.

Hmmm. I still can't win the normal way. So maybe I'll give this a try too.

I have two entries that I feel ok about.

Nap and the Boys in MLB136121

Nap Lajoie and Baby Doll Jacobson vs the world in the Polo Grounds

Min/Max/Min in MLB136128
The Mick and Lou Boudreau with some platooning

if you all wanted to follow along.

good luck, I tried to make a team for this but hated everything I came up with

It’s brutal for my typical setups, I think Nap has the best shot but who really knows, all depends on which lg I get dropped in.

I have 2 teams in progress and one more about to start. I think this challenge might be accomplished fairly early from one of the earliest open leagues with these bounty teams. Although, there can be a stark contrast between regular season performance and playoff results...

People have put together some great teams. Looks like a reasonable possibility the prize goes off soon.

My two attempts have started pretty rough. Both teams tried to build around 27 Gehrig. Seems like the optimal strategy is to select a pair with salaries close to 15m.

Have two going right now, one is doing ok with 31 and 20 Ruth. 15-18 to start but looking ok overall.

the other was based off 24 Hornsby and 30 Ruth. We started 2-18 with massive fatigue, but are 9-21 now and have managed fatigue back to usable. But don’t have high expectations

I have two more teams I wanna try but am trying to give a little distance

My first one is 20-13, but in a tough division. '32 Foxx and '26 Ruth. I've had to juggle some pitching fatigue issues, but those are starting to work out. I was actually a little surprised by some of my hitter's fatigue, but that should be a non-issue.

I have another one that is 13-5. '86 King Kelly and '24 Ruth. We're currently battling pitcher fatigue right now, but I am otherwise happy with the result.

I have another '32 Foxx and '26 Ruth squad about to kick off - I tried to divert a little more money into pitching, so we'll see how that one goes.

i'm going to give this a run.

MLB136228 - 1920 Ruth and 1997 McGwire^

I haven’t played an open league in years…..giving this a shot with 86 King Kelly and 26 Ruth

Good luck guys.