League Rules

THIS LEAGUE IS FOR ACTIVE OWNERS ONLY:
During the regular season, If you don't log on for two weeks, you will be booted from the league. During the offseason, if you don't log on for 7 days, you will be booted from the league. If you are going on vacation and cannot access internet, let me know before hand and we will set your lineups for you. If you don't set your lineups before the season starts, actively participate in the off-season draft, or don't sign contracts at the end of the season, you will be booted.
We really want ALL owners to be active so that we can have a very fair and fun and realistic league.

Commissioner:
If anyone has any questions or concerns, please feel free to message me, Chickenheads. I will do my best to answer any questions you may have or attempt to resolve any problem that a commissioner would need to fix.

Rosters:
All teams will have a 25 man active roster and a maximum of 5 players in the minor league system.

Any team with a player who suffers an injury >15 Days may contact the League Office (chickenheads) and request said player be moved to the Long Term DL. This will provide an additional roster spot to players who are missing an exceptional number of games.

SIM Schedule:
We will SIM games every 6 hours during the Regular Season (3/9/3/9). Playoffs will be reduced to Every 8 hours. We should complete a season from Opening Day to Draft Day about ever 3 months.

Contracts:
Players CAN be re-signed after their contract ends, which means that players can technically stay with one team until they retire. There is no limit on how many times you can resign a player. Each team will be allowed to sign up to 30 players. Players will not demand raises and contracts can last for a maximum duration of 5 years.

Cutting Contracts:
You can cut a player under contract. The player will still count towards contract total, but will cost you 50% of his contract rounding down.

For example, if you cut player "John Smith" who is currently signed for $4 each year for 3 years, you will have a player under contract named "John Smith's Remaining Contract" and he will be under contract for $2/year for 3 years . All of his stats will be zero so he can't play.
Another example, if you cut a player "Ed Don" who is signed for $7 each year for 8 years, you will have a player under contract named "Ed Don's Remaining Contract" and he will be under contract for $3/year for 8 years. He makes $3 and not $4 because 50% of 7 is 3.5 and thus his salary will round down. All of his stats will be zero so he can't play.

Note: Players in the final year of their contract are not eligible to have their contact cut.

Players Ask for Raises:
Players won't ask for raises so they will be paid the same amount for every year of their contract.

New Ownership:
When a new owner takes over a team, existing contracts will remain, but the new owner can CHANGE or DELETE any existing contract assigned to a player on their team.

Player Progression:
Players will reach their prime at 28 years old. Before they are 28, their stats progress every year and they get worse every year after 28 until they retire.

Retirement:
Players retire between the age of 35-41. When they turn 35, there is a tiny chance that they retire. As they get older, they are more likely to retire. At the end of their 41 year old season, they are guaranteed to retire, no matter how good they are. Players are also less likely to retire if they are better. so if they is a 35 year old 3B who is still great, he will not retire. But if there is a 35 year old 3B who isn't signed by anyone because he isn't good, he will have a high chance to retire.

Also, if a player is 35 or older and has an OPS below .450 or a WHIP above 1.75, he will retire.

Any player retiring while under contract will be allowed to be replaced by a player from the previous seasons roster.

Budget Rules:
All teams begin with $101 of budget. At the end of each season, budgets will increase or decreased based upon how a team performs compared to their projected win total (or improvement over the previous season). Budgets are updated at the beginning of the next season. The way projected win total is calculated is by taking a teams budget and subtracting 20 from it. So when the league starts, all teams will have a projected win total of 81 wins. For teams under $101, teams are awarded a budget change based on the higher of the two methods. Revenue Sharing (34%) is based on the real MLB calculation. It is applied to all teams AFTER all current year budget gains/losses are applied.

REVENUE SHARING is the result of taking 34% of each teams budget, adding all 30 teams "adjusted budget" together and determining the league average (i.e. dividing the sum by 30).

REGULAR SEASON
If a Teams Budget is >= $101
16+ Wins less than projection --> -$6 to budget
11-15 Wins less than projection --> -$5 to budget
9-10 Wins less than projection --> -$4 to budget
6-8 Wins less than projection --> -$3 to budget
4-5 Wins less than projection --> -$2 to budget
1-3 Wins less than projection --> -$1 to budget
Same Wins as projection --> No budget change
1-3 Wins more than projection --> +$1 to budget
4-5 Wins more than projection --> +$2 to budget
6-8 Wins more than projection --> +$3 to budget
9-10 Wins more than projection --> +$4 to budget
11-15 Wins more than projection --> +$5 to budget
16+ Wins more than projection --> +$6 to budget

If a Teams Budget is < $101
16+ Wins less than previous season --> -$6 to budget
11-15 Wins less than previous season --> -$5 to budget
9-10 Wins less than previous season --> -$4 to budget
6-8 Wins less than previous season --> -$3 to budget
4-5 Wins less than previous season --> -$2 to budget
1-3 Wins less than previous season --> -$1 to budget
Same Wins as previous season --> No budget change
1-3 Wins more than previous season --> +$1 to budget
4-5 Wins more than previous season --> +$2 to budget
6-8 Wins more than previous season --> +$3 to budget
9-10 Wins more than previous season --> +$4 to budget
11-15 Wins more than previous season --> +$5 to budget
16+ Wins more than previous season --> +$6 to budget

PLAYOFFS
The following will be the increases for playoffs:
Lose in Wild Card game --> +$1 to budget
Lose in LDS series --> +$2 to budget
Lose in LCS series --> +$3 to budget
Lose in World Series --> +$5 to budget
Win World Series --> +$7 to budget

During Even numbered seasons (i.e. 2036), the AL Wildcard Game will kickoff the post-season. Likewise, during Odd numbered seasons, the NL Wildcard Game will be scheduled to kickoff the playoffs.

REVENUE SHARING
If your team "sharing" budget exceeds $35, you lose the difference
If your team "sharing" budget is under $35, you gain the difference


Revenue Sharing example calculation:
Team Budget of $111 (pre-sharing)
Revenue Sharing is $35
New Budget of $108 (post-sharing)

$111 x 34% = $38.....$35 - $38 = -$3


Budget change example:
If a team has a budget of $101 and they finish the year with a record of 91-71, then their budget would increase by $4 to $105. Revenue Sharing results in no change, thus a net change of $0. The final budget will be $105 for the following season.

Explanation, $101-20=81 so the team is projected to win 81 games. Since they won 91 games, they won 10 more than what was expected so they get a $4 increase to their budget and $101+$4=$105. Revenue Sharing at 34% is $105 x 34% = $36. Assuming the average share is $35, then the budget will be reduced by $1. The final budget for the upcoming season will be $105 - $36 + $35 = $104 (and they will be projected to win 84 games)

If a team has a budget of $123 and they finish the year with a record of 94-68 and lose in the LCS. Their budget would decrease by $4. Their Playoff bonus will add $3. Revenue Sharing results in a decrease of $6. Thus a net decrease of $7 from the previous season. The final budget will be $116 for the following season.

Explanation, $123-20=103 so the team is projected to win 103 games. Since they won 94 games, they won 9 less than what was expected so they get a $4 decrease to their budget and $123-$4=$119. Making the playoffs and losing in the LCS nets a $3 gain, so $119+$3 = $122. Revenue Sharing at 34% is $122 x 34% = $41. Assuming the average share is $35, the budget will then be reduced by $6. The final budget for the upcoming season will be $122 - $41 + $35 = $116 (and they will be projected to win 96 games).


Trading Budget:
You cannot trade some of your budget to another team. This is because a team's budget is used to find out their projected wins.

Trading Draft Picks:
You cannot trade draft picks.

Trading Deadline:
The trading deadline will be Day 122. The deadline will be 10:00 PM Central Time on the CALENDAR DAY Day 122 occurs. For example, if Day 122 sims at 3:00 PM on a Tuesday, the deadline will be 10:00 PM on that Tuesday.

Trades/Vetoing Trades:
If a trade is deemed to be unfair, a league poll will be created asking if the trade is unfair and if 50% or more vote that the trade is unfair, the trade will be vetoed. If a team owners finds a trade was unfair, they can send me a message asking me to put up a poll to see if the trade was unfair and should be vetoed.

FIRE Max:
The CAP for Fire is 30 points. Any player whose Fire exceeds 30 points will be adjusted down to 30 during the Off-Season.
Fire bonus points will not be awarded for players who are already at the FIRE max.

Awards:
MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the year (ROY), and Relief Pitcher of the Year (RPOY) are the 4 post-season awards. There will be an award winner in each category for the AL and a winner for each in the NL.
MVP and Cy Young will receive +1 fire points at the end of the season.
ROY will receive +1 fire point at the end of the season.
RPoY will receive +1 fire point at the end of the season.

* To qualify for ROY, a player must have fewer than 150 ABs or 50 IPs over their career (if not currently designated as a rookie)

All star Break:
There will be an all star break after Game 99 (while we follow the 2015 Schedule). The all stars will be chosen by the pennantchase system. We will also take 2 days off from simulating. Players will also be granted 4 days off to emulate the real all star break.
All stars will receive +1 fire points. This will be given to them at the end of the all star break and will effect the second half of the season.

Offseason:
      1) World Series Ends and Championship Ring is awarded
      2) Contracts are advanced and any player unsigned or with an expiring contract is released to Free Agency
      3) Player Progression is applied
      4) Rookie and Free Agency Draft occurs
      5) Set Lineups and Minor League System
      6) Start New Season

Rookie and Free Agency Draft:
There will NOT be a traditional Free Agency period where all teams bid on free agents. Instead Free Agency will be part of the rookie draft. The free Agent draft will work like a normal rookie draft where the worst team (record wise) of the previous season gets the first pick and the second worst team gets the second pick (and so on...) The new rookies will be added with the free agents and the combination of the two will make up the player pool for the draft.

Draft Length:
The Draft will go until all teams have filled all their major league roster and their 5 minor league spots (all 30 spots in total). Once all a team's roster spots have been filled (so they have 30 players), the team will be skipped when it is their turn to pick again. The draft will technically be 30 rounds but most teams will likely sign at least 10-15 players before hand and possibly as many as 20-22 players before the draft so the draft shouldn't take more than 20 rounds.

The off-season Draft will be split into 3 sections:
      Part 1) Rounds 1-7 Live Draft (SLOW format - up to 12 hrs on the clock) *
      Part 2) Rounds 8-10 Supplemental Draft (1 pick per day) - after Part 1 has concluded (the LIVE format
                  will not occur on a date PRIOR to all 30 teams completing 7 SLOW selections).
      Part 3) All remaining picks (SUPPLEMENTAL - Run all at once, until ALL rosters have 30 players)

* ANY team that misses their selection during the SLOW format of the LIVE draft will receive an "auto" selection for each subsequent selection during a SLOW format. To avoid an "auto" selection, you have a few options:
1. Make your selection while your team is "on the clock"
2. Pre-Rank players ahead of your selection (note: you will still be "auto" picked for, but your selection will be based on your
    pre-ranked players
3. Notify the Commissioner after you have a received a "auto" pick that you intend to make your next selection
    (and subsequently do so)....notify both Chicken and Thug
4. Message Chicken/Thug with selection instructions or post instructions in the Draft Room.

The Draft has been designed to allow owners to control their top 7 selections every off-season. The remainder of the draft (Supplemental) is a filler, and is executed on a date to be announced ahead of time. The Supplemental Draft will be executed to complete rosters (for all teams) on the same date/time.

Determining the Draft Order:
Tie-Breakers for draft positioning if teams have equal record:
      1st tie-breaker) The team with the worse Pythagorean Record gets the higher pick
      2nd tie-breaker) The team that lost head-to-head matchups gets the higher pick
      3rd tie-breaker) The team with the lower budget heading into the next year gets the higher pick
      4th tie-breaker) Previous Seasons Standings

Ballpark Edits:
Before the beginning of each year, you can edit either LHB or RHB by one step. Every team will start without any advantage or disadvantage for RHB or LHB. Before we begin our first season you can choose to change either (but not both) the LHB or the RHB effect of your park to either a mid-disadvantage or a mid-advantage.

Example: If an owner changes their stadium to mid-advantage for RHB in their first year, the following year, they could change the RHB ballpark effect to either big-advantage or back to nothing or they could change their LHB ballpark effect to mid-disadvantage or mid-advantage.

Amnesty Clause:
There will NOT be an amnesty clause that allows you to cut a player with no penalty.

Compensation Picks:
There will NOT be compensation picks if another teams signs your player.

Playoffs:
The playoffs will be run the same way it is run in the MLB. There will be 3 wildcard teams.

There are 2 days off at the end of the season.
There is 1 day off between rounds

Playoff Tie-Breakers:
Single Elimination Head-2-Head matchup - there are no longer tie-break games

Good Luck and Have Fun!

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	2011 - 2011
Roster Size (Majors)	25
Roster Size (Minors)	5
Keepers	(30 keepers)
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(36 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(36 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	(every 6 hours)