League Rules

Welcome!

Franchise League Rules:

Pick a franchise that existed in 1969, except the Yankees, Braves, and Dodgers, are eligible. Only one person to a franchise -- put the team you want in the chat box: first come, first served. You pick the season you want, between 1969 and 2024. You get that roster, plus the next roster, every player with 100 AB or 35 IP. You can have only 1 Ivan Rodriguez on your team, but there may be more than 1 Pudge in the league – he played for a lot of teams.

We will use classic progression. Plateau range to be 30 - 33: at 34, players begin to regress.

No trades, no waivers or free agents, and no stat changing*. But you get your whole roster (as long as the players meet the minimums), and there’s no forced retirement age. When your team reaches present day (which, as of this writing, would be 2024), your next year’s imports would be 1969.

If the next season is a shortened year, due to strike or COVID (1981, 1994, 1995, 2020) you have the option to import those players, or skip to the next year. Inform the commissioner before the end of the PREVIOUS World Series. For example, if you want to skip from 2019 to 2021, you must tell me during or before your 2019 season World Series, so that when game is over and I import your next season, I import the right team. If you tell me after I import 2020 (or 1981, 1994, or 1995), it's too late.

Actually, you do, and you don’t, get to stat change. Each year, you get the full roster with 100 AB and 35 IP. As long as a player continues to play for your team, you get your choice of the progressed stats from the previous year, and the imported stats from the next year. Say you had the 1930 Philadelphia A’s. You can stat change Jimmie Foxx through 1935, because he will be imported every year through then, and you get a choice. However, in 1936 he played for Boston, so in 1936, and subsequent years, you would be unable to “stat change” him: you have to accept his progressed stats, or you can get rid of him.

I will give you (at least) 48 hours notice of any deadline. If you need an extension, message me; I am generally fairly reasonable, or so I think. However, I will not be reasonable about deadlines missed where there was no extension request. Fair is fair, guys.

1) The expectation is a 162 game season. Each series is 3 games. 5-man rotations. I am hoping for 2 12-team leagues, but this, and the season length, and the playoff format, may vary based on participation.

2) A player is yours until he is cut.

3) Roster limits: 26 major league, 10 minor league. Rosters must be trimmed after imports and before opening day. Owners will be given a day’s grace (24 hours from first pitch) to fix their rosters; after 24 hours, and after game 2, any team that is over roster limits will be trimmed by me. I can trim them by any process I choose, but I cannot leave you with fewer than 9 pitchers, or 11 position players when I am finished (i.e. I cannot cause a forfeit.)

4) Playoffs: There are 2 leagues of 8 teams each. 5 teams in each league make the playoffs. The 4 wild card teams will compete against each other in best-of-three series until there is 1 wild card team left. The league championship series, and the World Series, will be best-of-7."

This keeps more teams "in the hunt": if we had 4 4-team divisions, there would be only 4 playoff teams: now, there are 10. At the same time, the team which has the best record in each league only has to play 2 opponents: the best wild card team, and the other league's champion, which places value on having the league's best record, and prevents an early exodus from the post-season. A win-win.

6) Tie breakers: If both teams would make the playoffs, then the tie is resolved by run differential. If one team is in, and the other out, then it will be a single game, winner-take-all tiebreaker. No team that is tied for a playoff berth will be eliminated without a chance to win their way in (or lose their way out.)

General Rules:

7) A player can have his primary and secondary positions switched if he played half the games in his current season, or 25% of his career games, at the position desired. A player can be switched to the position he played most in his career even if it is not his primary or secondary position when he was acquired. A SP can be switched to RP as needed, but only during the offseason. If a player is listed as primary DH, he can be switched to his secondary position if he has a fielding percentage.

8) Any dispute about whether a player should be on your team, or any position change, must be raised before game 1. I will not make changes after Game 1 of any season, until the next offseason.

Expectation of owners:

9) Owners are expected to read messages on a daily basis. Owners will be given a minimum of 48 hours from the time of posting to complete the act required. After the 48 hours, it is not a defense for the owner to say that he did not see the message.

10) Every owner is expected to field a team (9 pitchers and 11 fielders) every game. Failure to do so, making the sims not run, results in a forfeit.

11) The commitment is season to season. Leaving the league during the offseason is permitted. Quitting during the season is frowned upon, and may cause a bad report to be placed in your file where other commissioners can see it.

Please keep all conversations clean
Please don't be rude to fellow owners
Please be active, if not active for 14 days you may be removed from the league
We all love baseball and that's why we're here. So Just have fun and enjoy!


Offseason duties:

Empty the cut player pool.

Classic progression, plateau period is 30 - 33; at 34 regression begins.

Imports, 100 AB or 35 IP.

Teams must be down to roster limits by game 1 (26 ml, 9 minor league). 24 hours after first pitch, and after game 2, Commissioner will fix any roster not in compliance.

Elastic Clause: I reserve the right to add any additional rules necessary to make the league run smoothly.

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	1871 - 2024
Roster Size (Majors)	26
Roster Size (Minors)	10
Keepers
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(6 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(6 games max)
Use Pitcher's HR Allowed Stats
Allows Max Surprise Bunts
Min Batters Pitcher Must Face	1
Slump Buster	(1unlimited days)
On Fire	Classic
User Sims	(every 3 hours)