The league is predestined and there is little to nothing you can do if you play them without manipulating. I have been sacrificing the last 2-3 seasons and I have not tanked or manipulated to understand more of this and I'm certain in my assumption even thou I haven't complained or posted much in the forum in that regard, nor will I.
I was 3rd for most of the season with 3 points difference from the 1st place for a long time. when the 1st place got a surprise loss against an active team, I was hoping to narrow down the difference, but guess what I also got a troll draw. That happened literally everytime the leaders got bad result, the funny thing is I got 3 victories and 1 draw in direct matches against them, but an abandoned team placed 9th got the best of me.
Funny thing is this team also trolled 2nd and 4th place teams who were also in the race for the title. The game makes everything to crown the champion and we call those troll results.

Believe me you don't have to be a genius to play this game, just get a general knowledge in the forum and you will be fine. I myself have been bored with the game with quite sometime but I still like to find pieces of the engine puzzle.