League Rules

2017 Play It Forward League

1. Basic Pitch: This is a non-contract league that begins in 2017, and moves forward.

Each person has 2 teams: 1 NL, and 1 AL. Upon joining, you pick a draft slot: your NL pick will be the inverse of your AL pick. 3 teams are excluded from your selections: Los Angeles Dodgers (because they are unfairly good: whoever gets the first pick has a decided advantage over everyone else), and the NY Mets and the Oakland A’s, because they will be my teams. Neither team has been especially good in or since 2017; the Mets (70 wins in 2017) got to the NLCS in 2024, but neither has done much otherwise. The A's (75 wins in 2017) lost the wild card game when they made the playoffs (twice) since 2017, and you know how they have been the last 3 or 4 years. Likely, I could pick in the middle and get both, because they are average at best, but a different average team would not be “as good”: these are the 2 teams I follow and watch. For those who think I am being unfair, I could have, instead, drafted teams, and taken first pick and the Dodgers. I chose to eliminate the Dodgers from competition, and choose 2 average teams that I happen to like personally instead.

When the league is full, we will pick teams. When the person before you makes his selection, you will have up to 24 hours to make a pick. We hope you will pick a lot sooner, but know that after 24 hours, I will allow the next person on the list to make their selection: you can still select from the available teams after that.

Each calendar season will be played 2 times, until we catch up to present day, then I expect we will need to play each season 4 times. After each “2017”-based season, players will be progressed without aging (unpredictable). When we advance to 2018, players will be progressed (unpredictably) WITH aging.

2. How are players acquired?

First season USED? 2017

Minimum AB/IP: 75 AB/25 IP.

Are duplicate players allowed? In the first year, yes. In subsequent import classes, a player goes where he had the most ABs or IPs.

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. (As such, under this rule, protests can only be lodged prior to game 1 of an import season. During the 2nd 2017 season, there would be no players eligible to dispute.)


3. Updating personnel:

Progressions: type: Unpredictable (non-import seasons) and classic (import seasons). Plateau range: 30 - 33

Imports and Minimums: 75 AB, 25 IP

Stat changing: Once games start, if a player 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! As many as you want. 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.”

Draft: Under ordinary conditions, there will not be a draft. However, at the request of any owner, the Commissioner will announce and oversee a 1-round draft of the players in the free agent pool. Rosters must be at 1 less than the maximum to accommodate the addition of a player. The draft, when there is one, will always follow the inverse order of last season’s finish.

The Commissioner is permitted, and required, to fix any roster not in compliance at the beginning of the draft, or the beginning of the season. The Commissioner will remove the player(s) with the lowest ratings (rank) first, but not so that the team is without a position player for each position, 2 catchers, 5 starting pitchers, and 6 relief pitchers. If you do not put your roster in compliance by the deadline, and you did not ask for an extension in a timely fashion, and the lowest rated player on your team is Barry Bonds or Greg Maddux, well…oh, well.

When there is a draft, the window will be 30 minutes. You are invited, and encouraged, to pre-rank. I check to see who has pre-ranked at the beginning of each round. If you have pre-ranked, I will select for you at the beginning of your turn. If you tell me that you will be there to pick in person, I will wait 10 minutes for you to make your presence known (not to pick – to let me know that you are there, and are deliberating.) After 10 minutes, if you are not there, I will pick for you. If you did not pre-rank, and you are not present, after 30 minutes the computer will pick for you. It is not always what seems like a rational choice.

I do this because it has been my experience that when I am present, the draft runs smoothly, and every time I am not, all shenanigans break loose. I am fine with being present for the whole draft, but I don’t want to spend my whole life doing that. Please be present or pre-rank.


Free agents/waivers? Yes. Waivers will always be based on inverse order of team strength, calculated by pennant chase just before first pitch, for the first ten games, and by record for the remainder of the season. The Commissioner is expected to make this change, but he often forgets: the change will be made either after 10 games, or upon receipt of a reminder from one of the owners.



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

Each person will have 1 team in each league. There will be a maximum of 12 owners and 24 teams. 162 game season. 5-man rotations. Injuries: 8 days for a player, 15 for a pitcher, maximum.

Sims will run every 5 hours, as the import seasons will eventually correspond to the real-life new seasons: we don’t want to repeat each season too many times.

The Ohtani Rule: When a player arrives who pitches and hits, he will be imported as a pitcher, and as a DH. He will require 2 roster spots (sorry), but can hit (as a dh) every game, and pitch every 5th day.

5. Playoffs: 6 teams in each league make the playoffs: 3 division winners, and 3 wild card teams.

Seeding:

1) best division winner
2) 2nd best division winner
3) worst division winner'
4) Best wild card team
5) 2nd best wild card team
6) worst wild card team.

In Round 1, #6 @ #3, #5 @ #4. Best-of-3, all games in the host city.

Round 2: #1 hosts the 4/5 winner. #2 hosts the 3/6 winner. Best of 5: 2 games at the visitor, 3 at the home team.

Round 3: LCS: best of 7: 2 - 3 - 2, at the higher remaining seed.

World Series: best of 7: 2 - 3 - 2

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


Rules about ties for a playoff spot:

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 these are insufficient, I will make an arbitrary decision.
⇒ If one is in, the other is out, 1 game playoff (@ head 2 head winner)

In addition to a Cy Young and a MVP Award, there will also be a Manager of the Year Award given to the owner with the best combined record. In the event that some owners own more teams than some other owners, it will be the best combined winning percentage.


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
Treat others as you would like to be treated. Unless you like to treat yourself poorly.
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 if his pitch count is less than 90, or a RP to a SP if his pitch count is greater than 49, but stamina (pitch count) 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. In Baseball Reference, this can be determined by “Games”, “Games Started” (GS), or “Complete Games” (CG), and any one of these that supports your claim will be sufficient.
During an offseason, a player can be switched to the position they played most in their career (by “Games” (G)), 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:

2017 will be played once; then we will advance to 2018.

Unpredictable progression, plateau 30 - 33. [(With aging (import season) or without aging (non-import season)]

Import season: You get all the imports from the next season that are not already in the league (25 IP/ 75 AB minimum)

After 2020, Players stats will be doubled, import minimums will increase to 35 IP, and 100 AB.

Stat changes: unlimited, with minimums: 25 IP, 75 AB through 2020. After 2020, 35 IP and 100 AB will be the minimums. NOTE: Stat changing will only be available during an import year. Otherwise, it will render unpredictable progressions moot.

Cuts to a certain roster limit: 26/40 for opening day, or 26/39 if there is a 1-round draft.

Draft (if requested).

Opening Day: As soon as the stated starting time arrives, and in the absence of a written request (league email) for an extension:

1) eliminate all players with too few AB and IP (retire, then delete). See the minimums above. Player may return during the next import season, if he has enough AB/IP, and if so, he will report to his new team, not his old team.

2) determine team strength through pennant chase for waivers. After 10 games, switch waivers to a record-based system, or, if not after game 10, as soon as someone reminds the Commissioner, and he receives the request. (In other words, if I forget to change it after game 10, and after game 18 Rosilver reminds me, but I don’t see the reminder until after game 19, the change will be made for the Game 20 waivers).

3) Ensure compliance of the roster limits before first pitch.

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	2018 - 2018
Roster Size (Majors)	26
Roster Size (Minors)	14
Keepers
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency	(waivers)
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(8 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(15 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 5 hours)