League Rules

1988 Modern Problems League Rules

1. Basic Pitch: Major league baseball, beginning in 1988, playing through “present day”, whatever season that is when we get there. After, expect a repurposing. No contracts, no drafts, no bidding.

Teams are first come, first served. Unowned teams will remain in the league. The Dodgers and the A’s will not be included in this league.

What’s new? 1) Potential additions of players with too few AB or IP in 1988, if they have qualifying previous seasons, and if no one else can claim them. 2) Expanding injury limits to make the experience more realistic. 3) Low roster limits at Game 1 to allow teams to become competitive more quickly, and higher roster limits in season to deal with potential injuries. 4) Unpredictable progression makes EVERY League different, because the results are, well, unpredictable. 5) Divisions based on geography, not traditional leagues.

2. How are players acquired?

Each charter owner gets 1 team. Each team gets every player on their 1988 roster with 20 IP and 50 AB. I will allow duplicates on the 1988 import class, but not in subsequent import classes: Beginning with 1989, an import belongs to the team where he had the most AB or IP. When I become aware of a duplicate player in the free agent pool, I will delete him.

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

Beginning in 1989, players must have 100 AB and 30 IP to be imported.

ADDITIONALLY, IF there is a player on your team’s 1988 roster, who has fewer than 20 IP and 50 AB in 1988, but who has 100 AB or 30 IP in a previous season, AND who is not on anyone else’s 1988 roster, and who no one else can claim, contact me, and I will add him to your roster.

Rosters will be 26/7 (26/33).

3. Updating personnel:

Progressions: Unpredictable. Plateau range: 30 - 32. 33 begins regression.

Imports and Minimums: 30 IP, 100 AB

Stat changing? Yes: 30 IP or 100 AB minimum to change.

Trades? Yes, between the end of the World Series and Game 140 of the next season. Any trade, or waiver claim, completed after Game 140, and before the end of the World Series, will be reversed.

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.

Waiver claims? Yes, from game 1 to 140. Order based on last season’s regular season record.

No trades, or waivers, after game 140 and before the end of the World Series.


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

In 1988, there will be 2 12-team leagues. 162 games per season.

5-man rotations.

Rosters will be 26/7 (26/33) coming out of Spring Training. You cannot have more than 33 players on your roster at the time of first pitch, or I will have to cut your lowest rated players. After first pitch, your roster will expand to 45 players to accommodate potential injuries.

Injuries (B/P): Season 1: 8/15. Season 2: 12/20. Season 3: 20/40. Season 4: 40/60. Season 5: 60/70. Season 6 and after: 80/80


5. Playoffs: 10 teams make the playoffs: 6 division winners, and 4 wild card teams. They will be ranked in order of wins, except that the top 6 teams must be division winners, and 7 - 10 must be the wild card teams. NOTE: The 4 wild card teams are the best 4 teams that did not win a division out of the ENTIRE league.

Round 1: Best of 3, all in host city: 10 @ 5, 9 @ 6, 8 @ 7. Reseed.

Round 2: Best of 5 (2 - 3): 7 @ 2, 6 @ 3, 5 @ 4. Reseed.

Round 3 (LCS) Best of 7 (2-3-2): 4 @ 1, 3 @ 2.

World Series: Best of 7 (2-3-2). World Series is hosted by the team with the better regular season record.

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 one is in, the other is out, 1 game playoff (@ head 2 head winner)

Expansion:

We will be doing expansion in this League. We will hold an expansion draft in 1993 and 1998 with the following teams being added:

1993: FLA, COL
1998: ARI, TBR

* In an expansion year (after rookies are added) each team will select 25 players to be protected from two round expansion draft. All protected players should be signed to a 1-year contract. Anyone not signed will be eligible to be selected in the expansion draft. For each round, each expansion owner will send me a list of their top 24 picks (maximum of one per team) in order of preference. I will alternate picks until each team has 12 players. No team will lose more than one player per round. The second round will follow the same format. Non-expansion teams will have a small window between rounds to change protected players if desired.



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.

If you acquire a player by trade or waiver claim during the season, you have 48 hours from the time of the acquisition to request a stat change to the present season. After 48 hours, your right to the change is deemed waived.

Off season duties:

Deletion of 40+ year olds in the free agent pool. If they still played in real life, they can be re-imported.

After the 1988 season, double stats.

After seasons 1988 - 1992, adjust injury limits. Turn waiver claims on until opening day.

Unpredictable progression after world series. Plateau range: 30 - 32. 33 begins regression.

Imports: You get all the imports from the next season that are not already in the league (30 IP/100 AB minimum)

Stat changes: unlimited, as long as the player meets the minimums (30 IP, 100 AB).

Cuts to a certain roster limit. 26 Major league, 7 minor league.

Turn waiver claims off before 1st pitch.

Opening Day

I will put any team not in compliance, into compliance after game 1.

Waivers turned back on after all teams in compliance, but not before game 3.

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	1989 - 1989
Roster Size (Majors)	26
Roster Size (Minors)	7
Keepers
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
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	(15 days)
On Fire	Uses WAR
User Sims	(every 3 hours)