League Rules

RULES ARE A WORK IN PROGRESS. ASK QUESTIONS IF NEED BE. PAY ATTENTION TO HOMEPAGE STORIES AND CHATBOX DIALOGUE TO STAY UP TO DATE.

FIRST AND FOREMOST THIS IS A FICTIONAL/ALTERNATE UNIVERSE LEAGUE INTENDED TO BE FUN WHILE HONORING THE SPIRIT OF OUR NATIONAL PASTIME.

*****NEW COMERS WITH LESS THAN 500 TOTAL CUSTOM LEAGUE GAMES AGREE TO, AND ARE REQUIRED TO REMAIN IN THE LEAGUE FOR 1 FULL SEASON BEFORE QUITTING/LEAVING. DOING SO WILL RESULT IN NEGATIVE RATING SUBMITTED USER FEEDBACK WHICH ALL COMMISIONERS WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS AND ALSO HAVE ALL TRADE ACTIVITY RESTRICTED TO SUBMITTING PROPOSALS TO THE COMMISH FOR EVALUATION AND APPROVAL FOR YOUR BENEFIT AS WELL AS THE LEAGUES. ******

"THE BEST THAT NEVER WAS"
Inspired by ESPN's 30 for 30 episode profiling running back Marcus Dupree even though he was a football player. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

CONCEPT: Is to play out an alternate history of baseball in which fictional players from movies-books-tv-etc.-Little League World Series Stars-Created and real players would form the player pool according to certain parameters. All fictional players are eligible. Real players qualify if they had never made it to the MLB such as Negro/Latino/Cuban/Mexican/Asian/Native American Leagues etc. , Prospects who never made it due to injury or never panned out such as Brien Taylor or players like Joe Charboneau. Dual sport players who were drafted. Injury shortened/life shortened career players will be eligible (Think Jose Fernandez-Thurman Munson) and will resume their careers or in some cases be able to start over as a rookie . And War Heroes who lost time away from the game to fight wars (Ted Williams Joe D). Will either get to play out their careers without the cloud of chaos looming or just play out the years they lost serving our country.

KEYSTONE PLAYERS/TEAMS: We will start by choosing teams(fictional or real). And by picking 2 Keystone Players. The 1st must be a fictional player associated with your team or from any other movie/show/play/book etc. so long as team of origin has passed on them or if the media involved had ambiguous teams. 2nd player can be another fictional player or a real one following the criteria listed above. WAR HERO players are not available in this phase and will be addressed afterwards.

PARTICIPATION: Conduct your business within the scope of what this league is about. IF YOU ARE ANTI FICTIONAL PLAYER THEN YOU DON'T BELONG HERE. Reply to messages, vote on polls-set your lineups and be in command of your team. I will not fix lineups or do any of your homework. IF THIS IS A SET IT AND FORGET IT LEAGUE FOR YOU THEN DON"T WASTE OUR TIME.

OWNERS: Are expected to be active and field the best team they can given their roster. Tanking will not be tolerated. Tanking is no fun. CHEATING WILL GET YOU BOOTED. Cheating is playing players in ridiculous positions as well as altering your rotation by trying to play the old sneak the reliever in game.

ROSTERS:
There will be a 25 man majors roster {minimum 12 batters and 11 pitchers} with up to a 5 man minor league roster for a maximum total of 30 players. *Minors may be expanded after season 1.
Season: 154 Game Schedule

ROTATION: 5 Man Rotations.

BUDGETS: All at $150 as of now. *(subject to change before or after inaugural season starts.)

PROGRESSION:
Players will progress to peak at 28 yrs. old and plateau until 32 yrs. old before regression and players start to decline at 33 yrs. old.
*CONTRACTS: Players can be signed for up to 10 yrs. Contracts cannot be re-signed. Keystone Players will have $0 contracts and can be renewed until either replaced with another Keystone Player or retired.

*ROSTER MANAGEMENT: All Teams must sign a minimum of 15 contracts.

PLAYER TAGS:
KEYSTONE PLAYERS: Our Teams founding players fictional/real. Can only be traded for another Keystone Player. Can be re-signed for life.

WAR HEROES: Real life MLB Players who lost time away from the game while serving our country in combat duty. Heroes stats will be based on their career stats up to the point they were called for duty and will be eligible for the amount of seasons missed in combat. For instance Joe Dimaggio played from 1936 through 1942 and missed 1943-1945 giving him 3 seasons. As he was 27 at the end of 1942, he would be eligible for 1 progression as well. This formula will apply to all WAR Heroes. The Team that secures his rights will have the option on when to start his BTNW career. I.E. A team not yet ready for contention may want to hold off on activating him until they feel it would be the best time taking into account the rest of his team. Basically when you think your team is at it's peak, that's when to bring him in. WAR HEROES WILL BE BID ON.

*INFLUENCERS: Every championship team has one or more of these guys. They're the one's in the dugout and on the field that get the team fired up, loose, focused and inspire the entire team to go hard. Can be a Superstar (Jeter) or a grunt and grinder hustle guy or prankster. (Kevin Millar-Pete Rose-Mike Trout) i.e an inspiration. When you acquire an Influencer, every *SIGNED player on your team will get 1 Fire point and a .2 bump in Dwar added every off-season the influencer remains on your team for a max of 5 seasons. However if traded expired or released, the new team will get the boosts for 5 seasons. Valuable to have on you roster. If a team acquires more than 1 Influencer, they will only be able to use 1 of them per season. *INFLUENCERS themselves do not get boosts.

*DRAFTS: There will be a series of drafts including but not limited to: CHAT BOX/LIVE/AUTO/SUPPLEMENTAL. *WS Teams will occupy the bottom 2 spots with the winner last.

First draft will be a "PROSPECT" draft featuring players who meet the criteria: i.e. Negro League/Foreign Players-Injury plagued-TV/Movie/Books...etc. 2 or 3 rounds (TBD) via CHAT BOX Draft {Primarily to keep player info inputted where draft info would be. This get's lost in the Draft Room.

Next would be a "LIVE" draft {usually starting of as a Slow Draft} featuring PC generated and edited players.

OFF-SEASON FREE AGENCY: After Season 1

BID FORMAT: Players position and full name $$amount/#of years/ Raise = total.....
Example 3B Graig Nettles $9/9/$0=$81 {Raises can be plus or minus up to $2 per} SPELLING AND MATH MUST BE CORRECT OR BID IS VOID.

IN-SEASON FREE AGENCY/Adds and Drops will open as announced after draft completion and close on DAY 120.

CONTRACTS: Players can be signed to PC contracts up to 10 yrs. Keystone players are for life unless released, traded or retired.
All contracts signed before the end of the World Series in order to be on your team for the upcoming season. THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. Unsigned players released to FA.

ROOKIE THRESHOLDS: N/A

ALL-STAR BREAK: After Day 81{3 Days Off Granted} All-Stars will receive +1 Fire Point {Max 30}

TRADE DEADLINE: will be Day 120.


PLAYOFFS: Top 5 teams seeded in each Division.
Division Winner assumes #1 seed. Wild Cards seeded 2-5.
Wild Card: #4 vs. #5. One game elimination, winner assumes #4 seed. { Day Off}
Brackets: #1 vs. #4 (WC winner) and #2 plays #3. 5 Game Series. { 2-2-1} {Days Off after games 2-4}
LCS and WS will be 7 Game Series. {2-3-2} {Days Off after Gams 2-5}
Tie Breaker is head to head, then run differential.

OFF-SEASON SCHEDULE:
Award MVP's & CY Youngs: *Each get +2 FIRE
Archive Season Stats
PLayoffs
WS
Send Ring Request
Update Team Payrolls
Add Influencer Boosts
Player Boosts Requests (To be submitted and edited before FA's and Drafts start.)
Rookie Draft (Via Chat Box)
FA Bidding
Roster Fill Draft

PLAYER BOOSTS: Available after Season 1.

FIRE CAP-35
DWAR CAP +3

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	1901 - 2020
Roster Size (Majors)	25
Roster Size (Minors)	5
Keepers	(25 keepers)
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(25 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(25 games max)
Use Pitcher's HR Allowed Stats
Allows Max Surprise Bunts
Min Batters Pitcher Must Face	0
Slump Buster	(unlimited days)
On Fire	Classic
User Sims