With only six weeks left for you to gain ground in your Rotisserie leagues, there's only so much you can do. It's the little tweaks in your lineups and rosters that could make that two-point difference between first and fourth place.

For instance, in the CBS SportsLine magazine league -- our model Rotisserie league -- there are 11 points that are separating the first through eighth-place teams in the standings.

Some Head-to-Head owners will also be able to take some of these ideas to heart, but in the next three weeks, two-thirds of you will have baseball in your rear-view mirror since you missed the playoffs.

Fantasy teams in the lead need some ideas to stay in front. Fantasy teams that are trailing need to find a way to gain ground.

1. Figure out which categories you can make up ground in and which ones you can't. By "can't," I mean, you might be far behind the next team in the standings -- or you might be leading that category, which means you are topped out.

2. You'll need to look at which categories you can make up the most ground in. For instance, you might be only 20 strikeouts away from the next team in Ks, but in saves you are only five saves away from a team three or four spots ahead. Usually, the lower-scoring categories, like saves, steals and wins, have teams bunched up in groups. So if you can gain four spots in that category by adding a good closer, then that trumps any other ascent you can make in any other category.

3. Figure out which categories your competition directly above you and behind you can make up ground in. Are they similar to the stats you are going to be targeting? If so, you might need to move quickly to beat them out for a particular trade. Are their weaknesses in categories you are strong in? If so, you could still damage yourself by trading with them, so be cautious.

4. Much like a division race in baseball, understand that subtraction for one team and addition for another could mean twice as much if it happens in the same category. In other words, if you are fourth in wins and your opponent is third in wins, getting a good starting pitcher from them increases your chances of gaining points in that category much better than if you trade with a team elsewhere in the standings.

5. Realize that since batting average, ERA and WHIP are all quantitative categories (meaning, their results aren't cumulative and they can go up as much as they go down. In home runs, for example, once you have 120 home runs, you'll never have 119 home runs. But in ERA, you could go from a 3.30 ERA up to a 3.90 or down to a 2.98.) In home runs, RBI, runs scored, stolen bases, saves, strikeouts and wins, someone will need to catch you in order for you to lose points. So batting average, ERA and WHIP are a little tougher to make up ground in this late in the season.

6. Many Rotisserie leagues have a trade deadline set for the end of August. So take a look at some of the rosters of some also-rans and see if you can't grab their top stolen-base threat. Or the other way around, if you are near the bottom in steals, and there's not a great chance of someone catching you there, consider moving your speedsters for a good closer.

7. If you have met your "innings-pitched" mark, or are very close to it, and you are looking pretty good in wins, strikeouts and saves, consider dumping/trading some high-win pitchers, like Braden Looper or Dave Bush, that don't help you in other categories. Get what you can for them, and consider using some setup men to help slowly drop your ERA and WHIP. Two-thirds of CBS SportsLine Fantasy leagues don't own players like rookie import Hideki Okajima, who has 1.26 ERA and a .0825 WHIP. Or Arizona's Tony Pena, who has five relief wins and a WHIP under 1.000, despite getting knocked around in his past four outings. And Rafael Betancourt is owned in just 12 percent of our leagues, yet he has an ERA under 1.70 and a 0.741 WHIP. Luis Vizcaino has a 1.08 ERA and over a strikeout per inning since the All-Star break.

8. Don't take September -- and mid-August -- call-ups too lightly. Recognize what roles these players will have on their respective teams. Someone called up to be on a lesser team will likely see more playing time than someone on a playoff-contending squad. Although, when you look at rookie pitchers that might get the call, being on a better team could end up paying bigger dividends, since wins would be more likely. Jay Bruce and Joey Votto in Cincinnati, Evan Longoria in Tampa Bay, Andrew McCutchen in Pittsburgh, Daric Barton in Oakland, Andy LaRoche in L.A., Clay Buchholz in Boston, Johnny Cueto in Cincinnati, Eric Hurley in Texas, Franklin Morales in Colorado and Gio Gonzalez with the White Sox.

9. Even if your starting pitching rotation is set, don't pass up a decent two-start pitching matchup. Even if you just pick him up to sit on your bench, you have prevented another team from getting his stats for that week. And if you do it weekly, you can just rotate that reserve spot on your roster. In Head-to-Head leagues, this is a very smart strategy in the playoffs against whomever you might be playing. Scoop up the solid two-start guys before him.

10. Look ahead in the MLB schedule for teams that are playing weak pitchers with weak hitters. For instance, the Red Sox have three more series against the Devil Rays, which gives their hitters an advantage over teams that have to face Toronto's staff multiple times. The Jays lead the majors in ERA in the second half.

11. Watch out for rookies pitchers who might be used more sparingly over the next six weeks because their team is good and they want to save them for the playoffs (John Maine). Also beware of some rookie pitchers that have been in the rotation all season on bad squads that might be rested late in the year in preparation for next season, like Scott Kazmir in '06. Jeremy Guthrie is less than three innings away from reaching his career high in any professional season. He has been a huge success for Baltimore this year, going 7-4 with a 3.22 ERA, but don't be shocked if the O's decide to lessen his load in the coming weeks. As a matter of fact, he has already slowed a bit, unable to get through the fifth inning in his past two starts, with an 11.42 ERA. Tim Lincecum pitched 125 innings in his senior year at Washington and he's at 111 1/3 innings now, so he's another candidate for an early shutdown.

Hopefully, with these suggestions in mind over the following scoring periods, you'll be able to squeeze out at least a few points in the climb up your standings.

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