League Rules

MLB Legacy (Please read all rules before deciding to join the league)

Special message to owners/prospective owners
Please be active. As commissioner, I will try to be as active and responsive as possible. I understand we all have things come up from time to time, if you cannot be online for more than seven days in a row, send a message to the commissioner. If not on for more than fourteen days you will be removed.

We are all adults here. Please treat other owners with respect and lets keep the discussions in the chat box on an adult level.

Trades are allowed in this league, the commissioner will monitor trades and if anything looks fishy or unfair, the trade will be reversed and if necessary owners will be warned, removed, etc. The commissioner will be an owner of a team in this league.v The commissioner will step in to run a team that is un-owned as necessary.

League basics
This is a replay style league. This is a NON CONTRACT league. Once you have a player, you keep him as long as you would like or until he retires (at the time he did in real life). Real life progression will be used. Each team's roster will consist of a 25 man major league roster and a 3 man minor league roster. (The minor league roster may be expanded in the future based on the size of the player pool.)

The key to success in a league such as this is to do your research and know your players. Baseball Reference will be used for all statistical data regarding players entering the league, stats, etc.

Important Note:
There will be no expansion teams is this league. The league will start with 20 teams and remain at 20 teams. Players entering thru expansion teams will go in free agent pool.

Players
Minimum qualification for this league is defined as 60 at bats for a position player and 30 innings pitched for a pitcher. (Some exceptions may be allowed for total PA and G played when needed & doesn't give a team an unfair advantage)

Rookies entering the league will do so in the season they achieve minimal qualifications. They join the team they PLAYED the most seasons with in real life (If there is a tie, then most ABs will be tiebreaker). This means that a player in their first year of eligibility for the league does not necessarily join the team they did in real life. If they played for more than one team during their career, they will be start their rookie year with the team they played the most years. (Based on Baseball-Reference.com). This is done with the intent of keeping the players career Legacy with the team most known for.

Any player already qualified into the league must still meet minimum qualification each subsequent season. If a player does not meet minimum qualification he will not be a part of the league for that season. In the next season that the player meets minimum qualification he will return to the league with the last team he played with previously.

As said before, do your research. Please look a few years ahead to see what areas you are deficient in. Try to make sure you have some reserve infielders, outfielders, and especially a backup catcher each year. Also, it's REQUIRED to have at least ten pitchers on your major league roster in this league (sims will not even run with less than nine pitchers).

The league is set up for a four man rotation until 1974. It's not a bad idea to have an extra starter available in the case of injuries, but this is not necessary. (The extra starter can also be put into your long reliever role in the bullpen). <

Injuries are a part of this league. Injuries that cause teams to fall below a minimum level needed to run sims will be cleared by the commissioner.

Pitcher Conversions
(Note: Pitcher conversions are for the current season only, it is not a permanent change.)
- Any Starting Pitcher that pitched in relief can be converted to a reliever.
- Relief pitchers can be converted to a starter if their stamina rating is greater than or equal to 40, and in the current real life season they started at least one game (maximum of 2 RP to SP conversion per season). Please send a message to the commissioner regarding any pitcher conversion requests.


Fielding Position Changes (updated 1/29/20)
(Note: The players imported as a primary position of DH will automatically first be converted to their secondary position for the current season unless they only played DH, the fielding changes outlined below can then be applied.)
A player can be switched to their secondary position for the current season or if any of the following apply (based on his real life stats):
(1) He played at least 20% of his total innings at the other position in the current season.
(2) He played at least 20% of his total innings at the other position in the two previous seasons, or the two subsequent seasons (only seasons meeting minimum stats apply).
(3) He played at least 1 inning at the other position in the current season, or the two previous seasons, or the two subsequent seasons (only seasons meeting minimum stats apply); AND he played at least 20% of his total innings at the other position for his career as a whole. (For ease of calculation of the 20% threshold, the player's total career stats from Baseball Reference will be used, not just qualifying seasons.) Note: Fielding numbers (fielding % and DWAR) will have basis in reality, but as a tradeoff for changing positions the player's fielding stats will be reduced to some degree (probably a higher degree if the player was imported with a primary position of DH.) Please send a message to the commissioner regarding any fielding position change requests.
Note: Each team is allowed only 2 position player changes per season.


Slump Buster
Slump Buster will be set to 5 days during the regular season and will be turned off for the post season.


Trades
Trading is unlimited. The trade deadline is currently set to day 135 of the regular season schedule.

Trades are independent transactions and will be judged as so. In other words, there cannot be a trade made now with an agreement between teams of another trade later to "level out the deal". Every trade will be judged for fairness independently, not combo deals.

Free agents
Free agency uses the waiver wire system. In the offseason order is based on the supplemental draft order (see Supplemental Draft order section below). Once the regular season begins, waiver order is determined by draft lottery with all non-playoff teams.

Schedule
As of now, the commissioner plans to generate a real schedule from the year being played. If this becomes too cumbersome a random schedule would be generated. (Owners would be notified if this were to change.)

Games will be simmed by user sims (usually five to six games per day).

Ballpark dimensions
Ballpark dimensions will be modeled per "real life" ballparks to the best of the ability of the commissioner .

All Stars
Number of All Stars selected for each league will be based on the era being played (currently it is 31 players per league). The commissioner selects All Stars and will play (sim) the All Star game and post a box score.

Offseason schedule
1. Players are progressed (real life progression).
2. Rookies and players who did not have qualifying AB or IP from previous season are placed on the appropriate roster.
3. Trading will be turned on.
4. Drops are turned on so that owners trim their rosters to the current season requirements.
5. Supplemental draft (a good chance to address positional deficiencies).
6. Free agency is turned on (28 players max).
7. Season. Trading turned off at the trade deadline. Drops and free agent signings turned off at the end of the regular season.
9. Post season. Rules follow the season being played.

Supplemental Draft Order (
- The World Series winner from the previous season will draft last with runner-up next. Regular season record for next two picks.
- Draft spots 1-16 are based on a draft lottery. The number of chances will be determined by the previous season's Won/Loss record. (These are the teams who did not make the playoffs in the previous season.)

Some leagues use fictional player progression. To learn more about how players progress, check the Player Potential page.