League Rules

Field of Dreams
League Rules
Revision 7/24/23
Commissioner-todorojo

LEAGUE PHILOSOPHY:

The Field of Dreams allows you to assemble a team using real stats from real players cherry-picked from any era in your franchise’s history. Consequently, franchise roster purity is the main emphasis with no trades or free agent acquisitions. Every season, up to 5 historic franchise players can be added to your roster starting in the first year they met the minimum stats (25 IP or 100 AB) for your franchise, and remain on your roster until you drop them or they retire based on real-life stats.

As determined by a league poll, owners may run 2 franchises as long as they are in different leagues, since there is no interleague play.

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LEAGUE SUMMARY

This is a keepers league. There will be no contracts. The league will run for 25 seasons, with max rosters of 25/10 and a 5 man pitching rotation playing 162 Games. Every offseason, players will progress to their next season’s real-life stats. Players will “retire” for the duration of any season in which they registered less than the required real-life stats (25 IP or 100 AB) in the real season, but will return to their franchise roster once they surpass the threshold again. This may result in a player “retiring” multiple times before he retires for good. Players remain with your franchise until you drop them or they retire based on real-life stats. Since trading and free agency will not be used, the only way a player may join another franchise would be if he is poached in the supplemental draft of dropped players.
Every season, up to 5 historic franchise players can be added to your roster, starting in the first year they met the minimum stats (25 IP or 100 AB) for your franchise. When a player enters the league, a tag will be added to his name indicating the franchise that is activating him. Since many star players have met the minimum requirements for multiple teams during their career, there is a high probability that we will have multiple versions of that player playing with different franchises during the same season (each with a different franchise tag). For example, at different points within the 25-year run, a player like Nolan Ryan would likely appear for each of the 4 franchises he played for IRL, but only the Mets would have him for his entire career. Owners would be wise to keep a spreadsheet of when they would like to add key players at key positions so as to maximize their playing time and not have one star riding the bench during one of his best seasons while another star (with slightly better stats) moonlights in his place.
Because the 16 original franchises will have a huge advantage over the 14 expansion franchises (due to a much larger player pool to draw from), the league will be divided into the 2 leagues: the Originals League and the Expansion League. These will each be divided into 4 divisions (A, B, C, D). Divisional winners will face off in the playoffs (with no wild cards). There won't be interleague play, but the winner of each league will face each other in a World Series at the conclusion of the playoffs. Following each season, the top team in each division with move up one level, and the bottom team in each division will move down to create a more competitive balance.

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CONDUCT

Please keep all conversations clean.
Please don't be rude to fellow owners.
Please be active. Owners who are not active for 15 days may be removed from the league. Please notify the commissioner if you are going to be gone for extended periods.

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PLAYER AVAILABILITY

Each franchise will start with 30 franchise players of their choice, based on the first year in which they met the minimum stats (25 IP or 100 AB) for that franchise. Every offseason, following real-life progressions, owners may request up to 5 historic franchise players by notifying the Commissioner's office. Note, that a player who played significant time as a pitcher and a hitter (ie. Babe Ruth) will be considered two different players in this league. Players will continue to progress with their real life stats until they no longer met the threshold in real life. Once used, the player cannot return to your franchise again over the course of the 25-year challenge. Please be aware that by adding active players to your roster, you may create the possibility that they "retire" in the simulation prior to their real retirement.

Since there will be no free agency in this league, the only players that can be added during the season (in order to alleviate situations in which multiple players at the same position are injured) are players from your own franchise who have been dropped. If you wish to acquire a free agent in that particular situation, please contact the commissioner who will drop and add the players of your choice.

ROSTER LIMITS
* Major League rosters must have 25 players.
* You must have a minimum of: 
9 pitchers on your major roster 
11 batters on your major roster 
* Minor league rosters may have up to 10 players.

SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT
Since there are no trades, and free agency will not be available in this league, the only way to get new players is via rookie imports or the supplemental draft. The main purpose of this draft is to allow franchises with holes to fill out their rosters in case of injury. A five-round supplemental draft will be held once rosters are trimmed to 35 players. Only teams with less than 35 players (25/10) will be able to add players in the draft.

INJURIES/FATIGUE
*Hitters maximum is 10 days and pitchers is 15 days.
*Player fatigue is on. There will be a 3-day rest for the All-Star Break.
*We will use a 5-man pitching rotation

RETIREMENT
Players will retire once they fail to meet the minimum state requirement (25 IP or 100 AB) in real life. Players will rejoin their franchise roster if they surpass the minimum requirements in a future season. Otherwise, they will remain retired indefinitely.

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POSITION CHANGE
Positional players can switch their primary position if they: 1) Played 33%+ of their games at that position during the current season, or 2) Played at least 1 game in the current season and 33%+ of their career games at the desired position. Contact the Commissioner's office for this change. SP may be converted to RP if: 1) Their stamina is less than 70, or 2) At least 33% of their games that year were in relief that season. RP may be converted to SP if: 1) Their stamina is greater than 60; or 2) They started at least 33% of their games that season. Stamina will not be changed in pitcher conversions.

FIELD DIMENSION CHANGES
Field Dimension changes can be made any time during the offseason.

SLUMP BUSTER
Will not be used

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SCHEDULE
Each season will be 162 games. There will be no inter-league play.
Sims will be run every 3+ hours.
POST SEASON

The 4 divisional winners will face off in the playoffs with no wild cards. Two days off will be granted following the regular season. If there is a regular season tie, there will be a 1 game playoff prior to rest being granted. Home field will be determined by 1) Head to Head record 2) Team runs differential.

All post-season series are best-of-seven with a game off after games 2 & 5. There will be 2 days off between each series. Home field goes to the team with most wins. If there is a tie, home field will be determined by 1) Head to Head record 2) Team runs differential.

World Series
Will pit the winner of the Originals League against the winner of the Expansion League. Both teams will receive trophies, but only the winner will get a ring.

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ALL-STARS & AWARDS

All-Stars will be chosen at Game 90, and 3 days rest will be granted. An MVP and a CY Award winner will be chosen for each league. A Triple Crown Award will be awarded for any player who leads his league in BA, HR & RBI, or pitcher who leads his league in W, ERA & K. A WS MVP award will be awarded to the player who has the greatest impact in helping his team win the World Series.

HALL OF FAME

We will not be using a Hall of Fame in this format.

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	1871 - 2025
Roster Size (Majors)	25
Roster Size (Minors)	10
Keepers	(35 keepers)
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(10 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(15 games max)
Use Pitcher's HR Allowed Stats
Allows Max Surprise Bunts
Min Batters Pitcher Must Face	0
Slump Buster	(5 days)
On Fire	Classic
User Sims	(every 3 hours)