[MD Longhorn]

Best league I've had the chance to be part of does the following - using 12 teams by way of example.

Group the players into four groups based on talent, form 3 teams in each group to be as equal as possible (draft works, independent evaluators works too). So now we have teams 1,2,3 assumedly equal, 4,5,6 equal, 7,8,9; and 10,11,12.

First 3 weeks, 1 plays 2, 2 plays 3, 3 plays 1; ditto the other 3 groups.
After that, the team with the worst record in 1,2,3 moves down to group 2. The team with the best record in group 2 (teams 4,5,6) moves up, the worst moved down. Ditto group 3. The best team in group 4 moves up.

So week 4, you still play two games, but the groups changed a bit. It could be 1 vs 5, 5 vs 3, 3 vs 1 // 2 vs 4, 4 vs 7, 7 vs 2 // etc. Do that for 2 weeks - then the regroup the exact same way.

Generally the best teams still end up with the best records, and often a team plays down for 2 weeks and moves right back up, or vice versa... but the games remain competitive. Blowouts kept to a minimum. Nobody is 0-12 at the end (the bad teams play each other a lot, 4-8 is normally the worst record.

This team doesn't use playoffs - so I'm not sure how one would tack that on here... but everyone has fun, and since the kids are playing both with and against similarly levelled kids, they all learn and improve.

(During the "tryout phase", all the kids show up for 2 hours twice a week - they start on a court and after 40 minutes, they move "up" or "down" 2 or 3 kids each in similar fashion to the teams above. They randomize the courts so it's not obvious to the kids (it's usually obvious to the parents who are watching) whether they are moving up or down. This generally gives them a GREAT idea what groups the kids belong in before the teams are formed.)