League Rules

MLB:Race to the World Series
Commissioner: Beansnap
Head of Player Development: Apathetix

The focus of this league is to provide an in-depth, semi realistic baseball league for entertainment purposes. What sets this league apart from other leagues is the variability factor. There is a reason in any sport, why one cannot accurately predict the outcome of every season, based on the projected improvement of players.

How do we attempt to simulate reality?

It is true that there is no real way to get the true effect of reality in the game. Especially, when the line must be drawn in a place that still maintains league integrity. (i.e. I cannot just decide to end the career of a player that is currently playing for a team.) We should allow for the system to simulate some of the randomness. Here are some things we have implemented to work towards the goal that we are trying to achieve.

1. Unpredictable Potential ? By using this potential setting for most players in the developmental stages (17-26), we truly cannot know how any player will turn out in the end. In real-life, obviously, some players with high potential never develop. This adds a realistic dimension to the system.

2. Developmental Leagues ? Along with the unpredictable potential, we have developed a system where players can develop naturally from creation to draft. Players start their PC life at an age between 16-22 in most cases. Those players develop randomly, where no one knows at what level they will be when drafted. (There will possibly be some manipulation to ensure that stats remain within certain preset parameters.)

3. Undrafted Players ? Players that go through the draft, and are not drafted will return to the draft class the following season, until they reach 27. These players will receive a progression before returning to the draft, a year older.

4. New Stat Releases ? When PC releases the new year stats (currently 2016), free agents will adjust to those stats, however maintain current league age. This means that a player who was dominant could become completely useless, and a player who was useless, becomes viable. Again, this change will only occur to players who are not assigned, giving equal opportunity for any of the players to be signed. This maintains league integrity.

5. More ideas to come.

League Play Balance

I want a league that has a competitive balance.

Unmanaged Teams - Many leagues have teams that are not maintained. The owner logs into PC regularly, however lineups are not set, players are not signed, etc. If an owner logs in regularly, I will not remove them as owner. However, I will make sure that a lineup is set, rotation is set, etc. I will make sure that the team has the correct number of players. If needed, I will sign free agents to the team to keep it competitive. They will have one year contracts, so that they cannot be dropped, and add stability to the roster. They will not be the best free agents, but will also not be the worst.

Unowned Teams ? From time to time, owners drop out and teams become available. I am a huge proponent of the challenge of taking over a team in its current condition. In real-life, a new owner cannot take a mulligan and cancel everything that the previous owner had done. Such is how this league will operate.

TITLE I: TEAM FINANCE MANAGEMENT

*CAP SPACE - Teams in this league all started with the same parameters of 45 keepers and $165M in Cap Space. GM?s are responsible for monitoring this, the site does not. Cash can be traded, penalized for infractions, etc. Please get comfortable with the concepts of payroll.

***CAP REWARDS/PENALTIES***
You will get a cap reward for performance in playoffs....
Play in ALDS or NLDS +1M
Play in ALCS or NLCS +2M
play in World Series + 3M
Win world series + 6M
Worst record in MLB:R2WS - 5M

Just to be clear you only get one of these rewards per playoffs. For example, the world series champ will only be rewarded 6M, not 6M plus the other rewards for playing in other rounds.

***SIGNING INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTS - You have 40 contracts to give to players. In Pennant Chase this often can be the difference between competing for a championship and struggling to survive in a league without big market payrolls.

***IMPORTANT FYI FOR ROOKIE GM?S: In Pennant chase when a player shows up on a contract page (the immediate page after clicking on your team name from league page, standings or anywhere else for that matter) he?s always on your team one year longer than what the number says. I.E Expiring means 1 (or at the end of the current season he?ll be FA), 1 means 2, 2 means 3 and so on and so forth. This is because the contracts on your ?My team page? show what your budget is going to be for next year. Odd nuance indeed, but it is what it is and it?s a great site despite this oddity.

*****PLAYER RAISES: The max raise when signing players in our league is 2M. If you have a player with a raise of 3M or 4M when signing your contracts sign him to the length of contract you prefer and then message me and I will change the raise to 2M. (I am toying with the idea of limiting pitchers to 1M raises. These contracts are out of control for pitchers on PC. I have not done a full evaluation on this yet.)
TITLE III: ROSTER MANAGEMENT

1. DRAFT- The amateur draft will occur during the offseason. It is extremely beneficial to pre-rank your draftees if you cannot attend the live draft (PC makes some extremely poor auto picks). However, the commish will pick your players in the first round if you do not pre-rank or attend. This is to maintain competitive balance. Picks may be traded, but no more than 2 years in advance of the current season. All trades involving picks will need to be emailed to the league office and will be pending approval. This will help prevent from lop-sided transactions. There will be 3 rounds in the amateur draft. The draft order is determined by worst to best regular season record for non-playoff teams, and then order of elimination for playoff teams.

2. OFFSEASON FREE AGENTS ? Contracts that expire at the end of the season will become free agents. Those free agents will be available via bidding, signing with the team with the largest overall offer. There will be no 0 bids.

3. ?RULE 5? DRAFT ? This is not a true ?Rule 5? draft. It is a draft intended to keep players under 26 from entering Free Agency early. When a player exceeds MLB rookie thresholds, he requires a contract. Often, these players do not get contracts and are therefore released. They will continue to be available via this draft until they are either signed to a contract, or reach 26. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL GET A PLAYER IN THIS DRAFT. If only 10 players fall in this category, then only the worst 10 teams will get a player. Historically, we usually end up with around 30 players in this draft.

4. SUPPLEMENTAL SIGNINGS ? After the first round of free agency, players that are not offered a contract will choose to sign with either the NPB league, or the Independent League. This dilutes the ?free? free agent pool to a realistic level. Players who choose the Independent League (as well as the remainder of players in FA pool) will be available for contract offers until the end of Spring Training. These contracts will be limited to 1 year.

5. MIDSEASON FREE AGENTS- Once a player is released he will be placed in the league free agent pool These players are first come first serve. Important to remember again it is your responsibility to ensure that you maintain the max 25 MLB:R2WS players and max 45 overall. To make things interesting, new players may be added to this list at any time. Also, occasionally, other things may affect the talent level of these players throughout the season. Keep an eye on this list regularly for a potential advantage.

6. TRADE DEADLINE - The trade deadline will be at 11:59ET on the day of game 120. Any further trades after this day will be voided. Trades will be reinstated immediately after the playoffs for that season. All trades will be monitored by the league office for league integrity. If the trade includes draft picks, the trade notice will need to be sent to the league office for approval. You may trade cap space also through an email to the commissioner. Please be aware this effect is permanent and not just for the season. Draft Picks can be traded for current year and next 2 seasons.

7. OFFSEASON PLAYER PROGRESSION - Players will be progressed 1X after each season. Players in the majors and minors are progressed the same. This will allow the players to have realistic stats throughout their careers. A player will reach their peak at 28, and at age 30 begin to gradually decline in their stats until retirement. Players will be retired when they no longer have value. It is possible for variations in the progression of unsigned players. To keep things interesting, some veteran players may get extra progressions to maintain value and career longevity. (These variables will only occur for unsigned players, to maintain league integrity.)

8. FRANCHISE TAG ? To franchise a player you must email the league office with the subject ?franchise tag?, the full name of the player and how many years you want to veteran franchise tag him in the year of his expiring contract. Every season every owner is allowed one veteran franchise tag. To be eligible to use the veteran franchise tag, an owner must have enough free cap room, the first-year cost of keeping the veteran player. A veteran franchise tag is a 1, 2 or 3-year extension with the first year being set at $14 (Or the players expiring salary), the second year $18(or 4$ more than first year salary), and the third year $22(or 8$ more than first year salary). You can only veteran franchise tag the same player once, and if you tag a veteran then trade him, you?ve still used your franchise tag for that season.

9. PLAYER TENDERS ?You may not use a player tender on a player who you have already franchise tagged. You can tender a draft pick (email the league office with the subject tender(s), the full player name, and what round pick you?d like to tender) against that player to get something in return in case you lose him to another team. Obviously if another team signs that player, you are awarded the pick from that team equivalent to the tender. If another team does not sign that player, you get the player back with a 2-year contract per details below. (You can bid on a player that you tender; however, your bid must be higher than the tender value per year otherwise it will be rejected.

Tender Values ?
1st Round pick is 2M less than highest paid player at that position upon conclusion of that FA period.
2nd Round pick is 4M less than highest paid player at that position upon conclusion of that FA period.
3rd Round pick is 6M less than highest paid player at that position upon conclusion of that FA period.

Max Resulting Contracts per position:
SP/1B - $15M
3B/OF/C - $14M
SS/2B - $13M
RP- $12M

10. BUYOUTS - If a player is no longer performing at his contract level, and you would like to shorten the years in his deal, you may do so. The overall contract value, however, must remain the same.

TITLE V: MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
A. LINEUPS AND TEAM STRATEGIES
1. Players playing beyond their endurance are at greater risk of injury.
2. The order of your bench is used to decide pinch hitters and such. Order accordingly when choosing starters.
3. Editing your strategy allows a manager to choose things like who can be pinch hit for, who can pinch hit, how often you try to steal bases etc.
4. Lineups, Rotation, and Bullpen order MUST be set. If they are not set, the commissioner may set them for you at any time.

A. PLAYOFFS
* Regular season tiebreakers are decided by a play-in game, unless the outcome will not affect the playoffs.
1. The playoffs are made up of 5 teams from each league. There will be 1 day simulated rest between regular season and playoffs.
2. Division winners having home-field over wildcards regardless of records. Home-field thereafter is determined by better record.
3. Each league has three division winners and two wild cards. The 2 wild card teams will play 1 game to begin the playoffs and the winner of that game will play against the #1 seed division winner in the division series.
4. Format will be for 2-2-1 for 2nd round, 2-3-2 for all rounds thereafter
?day off? granted after game 2 in division series
?day off? granted after game 4 in division series
-No ?day off? granted in between Divisional Series and League Championship Series.
?day off? granted after game 2 in championship series
?day off? granted after game 5 in championship series
-Two ?days off? granted in between League Championship Series and World Series.
?day off? granted after game 2 in world series
?day off? granted after game 5 in world series

NEW RULE CHANGES:
1. ARIZONA DEVELOPMENTAL LEAGUE
Before Opening Day, each team will be allowed to send 2 players to the ADL. These players will be unavailable for the entire season. At the end of that season, the players will get a classic progression, and then be returned to the MLB:R2WS team. There will also be a slight defensive improvement issued. Players sent to the ADL must meet 2 requirements: They must be under 26 years old, and they must have no MLB:R2WS stats. (Begins 2024 season).
2. RP CONVERSION
During Spring Training, any SP that is 35 or older can be converted to a RP. Also, any SP that is still under rookie thresholds at 27 (after progression occurs) can be converted to a RP. There will be a drop in stamina, and an improvement in H/9. It will be a set formula, and will be enough to make an ?undeveloped? starter into a ?useful? reliever.
3. POSITION CHANGES
During Spring Training, you may request to change any C who is 32 or older to 1B. This is due to the fact that knees tend to give out. In addition, you may request to change any SS who is 32 or older to either 2B or 3B. This is due to the fact that speed wears down and age limits ability to be versatile enough for SS.

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	2017 - 2017
Roster Size (Majors)	25
Roster Size (Minors)	25
Keepers	(40 keepers)
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(50 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(50 games max)
Use Pitcher's HR Allowed Stats
Allows Max Surprise Bunts
Min Batters Pitcher Must Face	0
Slump Buster	(15 days)
On Fire	Classic
User Sims