Of course - there has to be some sort of reasonableness associated when there are extenuating circumstances. But when you've been playing with the same guys for years and years, you can typically figure out if it's innocent or not.
it can also be apathy which is almost as bad as purposely doing it but yet not really innocent.
Apathy is a league killer.
I have a great example of why:
I just won 200.4 to 199.8 - about as close as it gets, thanks to Stevenson’s 3 & Higgins’ 0.
My opponent started Derwin James, who was deemed “doubtful” on Saturday (maybe earlier).
I noticed it on Saturday, and texted my opponent who is eliminated from contention) saying “hey, Derwin James is likely out. You need to replace him.”
For one, I’m commish, so I never want to be accused of getting a cheap win, but more importantly, I’m the current 1-seed by 1 game. And the 2-seed has the tiebreaker (points, by 23).
Ergo, if I lost, I’d be the 2-seed headed to the final regular season game this week, and would need either the 1-seed to lose, or to outscore them by 23.1
I texted my opponent *again* on Sunday AM saying “hey, James is doubtful, and it’s a SNF game, so if he doesn’t play you won’t be able to add someone because the rest of your roster will be locked from the early games”.
I went to work, and when I checked at game time, James was still in his lineup. Guaranteed 0. I asked him WTF since we have league rules about fielding a lineup, and he basically said he was out so he didn’t care/want to spend $4 for an add/drop.

And he still had the late games to take action, which he didn’t do.
I texted the Co-commish & sent him screenshots of my time-stamped texts so he knew I was on the level going above & beyond.
I was down 2.8 with Stevenson YTP on MNF. Which looked like the James thing wouldn’t have mattered. But then Stevenson got hurt, came back, scored just enough to put me up by .6, and left for good.
If I survive the Thursday AM stat changes, I will still be the 1-seed headed into the last week with a 1-game advantage over the 2-seed.
Not a lock for anything, but since the 1-seed *picks their playoff opponent* for the week 16 4-team playoffs, it is actually hugely relevant.
And if I lose and we end up tied, but i outscore him by 23.1+, he’ll have been 100% screwed by an irrelevant team’s apathy.
The rest of the league is pretty pissed off at that owner right now, and I’ve received several requests to make rules about removing/replacing owners for doing this.
And tbh, I’m on board with it. Yes, it worked to my advantage this time, but I hate getting a cheap W, and I never want to be thought of as not earning an achievement.
TL/DR - apathy is a league killer, and can have massive ramifications.