League Rules

1884 til now league

1. Basic Pitch: This is a non-contract league playing from the beginning (1884) through present day. Each person has 1 franchise, composed of 2 teams taken from either the National League, the American Association, or the Union Association. There will be a max of 8 franchises in the league.

When you join the league, you will pick a draft slot: your second pick is in the reverse order of the first. You will receive the imports for both teams as long as they exist, or through 1899, whichever comes first.

We will be selecting a feeder program for your team after 1900. After selecting your teams for the 1884 season, if one (or both) of your franchises exists after 1900, indicate which of them you wish to retain, or if you prefer to cash one or both in to select an available team as your feeder program. We will then select our permanent feeder programs by a draft based on the inverse order of your teams' 1884 win totals.

Team Name: any professional team name from 1876 - 1884, or its present day equivalent, however, it has to be available. If you wish to use "Hartford Dark Blues" as your franchise name, it can go to the first owner who requests it. However, "Boston", or "Milwaukee", or "Atlanta Braves" is reserved for the owner of the 1883 Boston NL team, if that owner wants it.

You pick teams from 1884, and get their players. 20 IP, 100 AB to play; the rest go on your holding team. A player is either a hitter, or a pitcher, but not both -- your choice, if they meet the minimums for your selection.

Every year, you get all your franchises’ imports. If they have 25 IP or 100 AB, you get them on your major league roster; otherwise they go to your holding team until they have enough AB or IP to be usable. It is the ultimate responsibility of the owner to make the commissioner aware that a player has become usable.

The 1900 season will be skipped.


2) How are players acquired?

First season USED: 1884

Minimum AB/IP? 100/25

Duplicate players are permitted in the initial cohort, but not in import cohorts. When imported, a player that is eligible to be placed on multiple teams will be placed solely on the team where he had the most AB or innings pitched that season.

ANY ISSUE ABOUT WHICH TEAM A PLAYER BELONGS ON MUST BE RAISED PRIOR TO THE FIRST GAME, OR THE RIGHT TO APPEAL IS WAIVED. Once a player “suits up” for a game, he belongs to that team.

When necessary, 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.) Generally, I remove the players with the lowest ratings, even if the players with the lowest rations are Mike Schmidt and Bob Gibson.


3. Updating personnel:

Progressions: Unpredictable. Plateau range: 28 - 32 until 1945. From 1946 through 1999, 30 - 32. From 2000 forward, 31 - 33.

Imports and Minimums? 25 IP, 100 AB. You get all the players from each of your feeder franchises (if they exist) through 1899. 1900 is skipped. You get the imports from your 1 feeder program after 1900.

Stat changing. Yes, unlimited as long as the players meet minimums (25 IP, 100 AB). Once games start, if an owner is caught stat - switching to a year where the minimums are not met, the player will be removed from the league for the season, and will only return if imported. I make a distinction between an owner turning himself in before games start, and the Commissioner or another owner catching him during the season.

Trades? YES. But no trades, or waivers, after game 140 and before the end of the World Series.

“Anyone can question the fairness of a trade, and forward a review request to the trade review committee. I will select the members of this committee, and majority rules. If for some reason there is a tie (as with an abstention), the Commissioner will break the tie. The Commissioner will oversee the performance of this committee. Requests to have trades reviewed must be made within 1 week or 20 games from the trade, whichever comes first.”

I will reserve decision on the existence of a draft until I see how the teams shake out.

Free agents/waivers? Yes, once games start.


4. League set up, number of games, rotation size, injury length, and roster size:

1 8-team league. 154 games until 1962, then 162 games. 3-man rotations until 1900. 4 man rotations from 1901 - 1974, and 5-man rotations thereafter. 5 days for a player, 8 days for a pitcher. 26/7 rosters (26/33)

5. Playoffs:

The top 5 teams make the playoffs. 2 hosts 5, 3 hosts 4 in a best-of-3 series: all games at the better seed. The winners play a best-of-5 in 2/3 format. The winner plays the regular season champion in the World Series.

Rules about ties for a playoff spot:

A wild card team never hosts a series against a non-wild card team.

If teams tie for a playoff spot:
⇒ If both teams would be “in”, use head to head record as a tiebreaker. Run differential is the 2nd tie-breaker.
⇒ If one is in, the other is out, 1 game playoff (@ head 2 head winner)


MY BASIC EXPECTATIONS OF EACH OWNER:

⇒ Your commitment is season to season. When you join, you will be expected to actively run your team until the end of the season, which is when the regular season ends for non-playoff teams, or when your playoff team is eliminated. If you quit mid-season without my blessing, I will share this information with other commissioners.

⇒ Actively running your team means that you read messages once per day, meet all deadlines, and communicate any difficulties to the commissioner.

⇒ I will provide a minimum of 48 hours between a posting of a deadline, and the deadline. Ignorance of the deadline will not be an excuse for failing to meet the deadline.

⇒ If you will be away, and unable to get your messages, give the commissioner advance notice. Inactivity for ten (10) days, or repeated failure to meet deadlines, may result in your being booted from the league.

⇒ 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.


⇒ Read and be familiar with the rules immediately upon joining: it may affect your desire to be in the league, or your desire to pick a certain team.

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!


General rules:

Each offseason, you can switch a SP to RP, or a RP to a SP, but stamina will remain “as is.”. You can change it back the next offseason if you like, but no changes between first pitch and the last out of the World Series.
You can switch a player’s primary and secondary positions if they played 50% or more games THAT season at their secondary position, or at least 25% of their games for their career at their secondary position.
During an offseason, a player can be switched to the position they played most in their career, regardless of the requirements of General Rule #2.
You can switch a DH to his secondary position, as long as he has a fielding percentage.


Off season duties:

Unpredictable progression after world series. Plateau range: Plateau range: 28 - 32 until 1945. From 1946 through 1999, 30 - 32. From 2000 forward, 31 - 33.

Imports: You get all the imports from the next season that are not already in the league (25 IP/100 AB minimum)

Stat changes: unlimited with minimums for importing (25 IP/100 AB minimum)

Cuts to a certain roster limit. 26/7 (or 26/33, depending on how you interpret it). Since all players who are cut are eligible for waiver claims, I will have to make the cuts if you don’t.

Turn drops and trades on

Opening Day/Waivers


Elastic Clause: I reserve the right to create new rules as necessary to deal with problems as they arise.

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	1886 - 1886
Roster Size (Majors)	26
Roster Size (Minors)	7
Keepers
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency	(waivers)
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(5 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(8 games max)
Use Pitcher's HR Allowed Stats
Allows Max Surprise Bunts
Min Batters Pitcher Must Face	1
Slump Buster	(1unlimited days)
On Fire	Uses WAR
User Sims	(every 2 hours)