League Rules

MLB Legendary (Please read all rules before deciding to join the league)

(I need to give a special credit to tactracer who runs the Rewind and Replay league on Pennant Chase. Many of the rules for this league have been adopted from his league.)


Special message to owners/prospective owners
Please be active. As commissioner, I will try to be as active and responsive as possible. I understand we all have things come up from time to time, if you cannot be online for more than seven days in a row, send a message to the commissioner. If not on for more than ten days you will be removed.

We are all adults here. Please treat other owners with respect and lets keep the discussions in the chat box on an adult level.

Trades are allowed in this league, the commissioner will monitor trades and if anything looks fishy or unfair, the trade will be reversed and if necessary owners will be warned, removed, etc. The commissioner will not be an owner of a team in this league. There are plenty of other leagues for me to play in and I personally think it is better for the league this way. The commissioner will step in to run a team that is un-owned as necessary.


League basics
This is a replay style league. This is a NON CONTRACT league. Once you have a player, you keep him as long as you would like or until he retires (at the time he did in real life). Real life progression will be used. Each team's roster will consist of a 25 man major league roster and a 3 man minor league roster. (The minor league roster may be expanded in the future based on the size of the player pool.)

The key to success in a league such as this is to do your research and know your players. Baseball Reference and Baseball Almanac are great references (links above). Baseball Almanac is more "literary", Baseball Reference is more "statistical". For all statistical data regarding players entering the league, stats, etc., Baseball Reference will be used. For schedules, Baseball Almanac will be used.

Expansion teams will enter the league as they did in real life.

Important Note: expansion teams will have the players that they drafted in their expansion drafts in real life, so know that you will lose these players if they are on your roster when the expansion team enters the league (remember do your research). Rule upheld by two league poll votes, latest 6/4/2020


Players
(Minimum qualification for this league is defined as 40 at bats for a position player and 12 innings pitched for a pitcher.)

Rookies entering the league will do so in the season they achieve minimal qualification, with the team they STARTED that season with in real life (adopted again by league vote 12/31/2014). This means that if a player, in their first year of eligibility for the league, played for more than one team in that season, he will be placed on the FIRST team he played with. This is done with the intent of keeping things historically accurate while giving league owners as much control of their players as possible (limiting owners from having to accept "real life" trades).

Any player already qualified into the league must still meet minimum qualification each subsequent season. If a player does not meet minimum qualification he will not be a part of the league for that season (think of it as a season long injury). In the next season that the player meets minimum qualification he will return to the league with the last team he played with previously.

As said before, do your research. Please look a few years ahead to see what areas you are deficient in. Try to make sure you have some reserve infielders, outfielders, and especially a backup catcher each year. Also, it's REQUIRED to have at least ten pitchers on your major league roster in this league (sims will not even run with less than nine pitchers).

The league is set up for a five man rotation (started in 1974). It's not a bad idea to have an extra starter available in the case of injuries, but this is not necessary. (The extra starter can also be put into your long reliever role in the bullpen). It is a league requirement to have 10 pitchers at a minimum on your major league roster during the season. This is required to try to keep from sims halting due to injuries.

The following minimum stamina ratings for starting pitchers in the league will be used:
Any starter with less than 4 CG will have a minimum stamina rating of 80.
Any starter with 5-9 CG will have a minimum stamina rating of 90.
Any starter with 10-14 CG will have a minimum stamina rating of 100.
Any starter with 15-19 CG will have a minimum stamina rating of 110.
Any starter with 20+ CG will have a minimum stamina rating of 120.

Injuries are a part of this league. Injuries that cause teams to fall below a minimum level needed to run sims will be cleared by the commissioner.


Pitcher Conversions (updated 6/17/22)
(Note: Pitcher conversions are for the current season only, it is not a permanent change.)
- Any starting pitcher can be converted to a reliever.
- Relief pitchers can be converted to a starter if their stamina rating is greater than or equal to 40, and in the current real life season they started at least one game. Please send a message to the commissioner regarding any pitcher conversion requests.


Fielding Position Changes (updated 1/29/20)
(Note: The players imported as a primary position of DH will automatically first be converted to their secondary position for the current season, the fielding changes outlined below can then be applied.)
A player can be switched to another position for the current season if any of the following apply (based on his real life stats):
(1) He played at least 20% of his total innings at the other position in the current season.
(2) He played at least 20% of his total innings at the other position in the two previous seasons, or the two subsequent seasons (only seasons meeting minimum stats apply).
(3) He played at least 1 inning at the other position in the current season, or the two previous seasons, or the two subsequent seasons (only seasons meeting minimum stats apply); AND he played at least 20% of his total innings at the other position for his career as a whole. (For ease of calculation of the 20% threshold, the player's total career stats from Baseball Reference will be used, not just qualifying seasons.) Note: Fielding numbers (fielding % and DWAR) will have basis in reality, but as a tradeoff for changing positions the player's fielding stats will be reduced to some degree (probably a higher degree if the player was imported with a primary position of DH.) Please send a message to the commissioner regarding any fielding position change requests.
Note: Each team is allowed only 1 position player change per season.


Slump Buster
Slump buster will be set to 5 days during the regular season and will be turned off for the post season (per league vote 7/5/15).


Trades
Trading is unlimited. The trade deadline is currently set to day 135 of the regular season schedule.

Starting in 1965 (by league poll 77% in favor), any player that has met minimum qualifications and been in the league before, does not meet minimum qualifications for the current season, but will return to the league in the future is eligible to be traded in the current season. Also, any rookie (first year qualifier) that would qualify in the next 1 to 2 seasons is eligible to be traded as well. For example, if the season is 1980, any player that would qualify into the league in 1981 or 1982 is eligible to be traded. The commissioner must be notified when a future player or player not currently in the league is involved in a trade.

Trades are independent transactions and will be judged as so. In other words, there cannot be a trade made now with an agreement between teams of another trade later to "level out the deal". Every trade will be judged for fairness independently, not combo deals.


Free agents
Free agency uses the waiver wire system. In the offseason order is based on the supplemental draft order (see Supplemental Draft order section below). Once the regular season begins, waiver order is determined by current record.


Schedule
As of now, the commissioner plans to generate a real schedule from the year being played. If this becomes too cumbersome a random schedule would be generated. (Owners would be notified if this were to change.)

Games will be simmed by user sims (usually five to six games per day).


Ballpark dimensions
Ballpark dimensions will be modeled per "real life" ballparks to the best of the ability of the commissioner (upheld by league vote (8/8/2017).


All Stars
Number of All Stars selected for each league will be based on the era being played (currently it is 31 players per league). The commissioner selects All Stars and will play (sim) the All Star game and post a box score.


Offseason schedule
1. Players are progressed (real life progression).
2. Rookies and players who did not have qualifying AB or IP from previous season are be placed on the appropriate roster.
3. Trading will be turned on.
4. Drops are turned on so that owners trim their rosters to the current season requirements.
5. Supplemental draft (a good chance to address positional deficiencies).
6. Free agency is turned on (28 players max).
7. Season. Trading turned off at the trade deadline. Drops and free agent signings turned off at the end of the regular season.
9. Post season. Rules follow the season being played.


Supplemental Draft Order (30 team league, one wild card)
- The World Series winner from the previous season will draft in the 30th position.
- The World Series loser from the previous season will draft in the 29th position.
- The 6 playoff teams from the previous season who do not make the World Series will draft 23 through 28. (Regular season records decide order.)
- Draft spots 1-22 are based on the reverse order of the previous season's Won/Loss record. (These are the teams who did not make the playoffs in the previous season.)

Note: Ties are decided by Power Ranking (lower ranking picks first).

League Settings