League Rules

MLB NATION

LEAGUE OFFICE

Commissioner: jfinlay01
Vice:

Past commish: BigAlRoulo

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Contents

1) Logistics & Expectations
2) Schedule of Events
3) Contracts & Player Management
4) Transactions & Player Movement
5) Season & Post Season League Tasks

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1) Logistics & Expectations

A) MLB Nation is a traditional league that uses 2015 rosters and stats.

B) Once you've joined the Nation you are required to be active or you will be removed. If there is a situation where you can't be online in 7-10 days, send a message to the league office and let them know. Once you've been inactive for 10 days, you will be removed and banned from the league. No warnings or exceptions.

C) At any point if you have ANY issue or problem with anything that pertains to the league, a message to a member of the league office is required. The league office will ignore any issue unless extremely major that is brought up in the Chat Box. The Chat Box is used for friendly conversations or very basic questions and at no point should become hostile.

D) League Polls will be utilized to resolve major issues within the league and a league Message will be sent to explain the poll. Owners can discuss the topic of the poll in the Chat Box or via private message.

E) The League office has the ability to remove any owner from the league without any warning if that same owner breaks any rules, promotes breaking rules, or in all creates a negative atmosphere.


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2) Schedule of Events

A) Spring Training Begins (29 games)
B) Regular Season Begins (6 calendar days per sim)
C) All Star Break (Depending on schedule, around day 100)
D) Trade/Extension Deadline (Day 120, simulations stop for 2 REAL days)
E) Season Ends (Game 162)
F) Playoffs (1-5-7-7)
G) Offseason begins & Contracts must be signed for players you intend to keep.
H) Players & contracts progressed, aged and retired. Position changes, pitcher conversions.
I) Rookie Draft
J) Trading Open
K) Free Agent Bidding (MLB & International players)
L) Supplemental draft
M) Free for all free agency Open
N) End of offseason

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3) Contracts & Player Management

A) CAP SPACE- Teams in this league all start with the same parameters of 25 keepers. Max players in your organization is 35. Budget for each team is 150$ at the start of season 1. The maximum cap for a team will be 175$ depending on their team performance through the years. Once you hit 175$ your team budget will not go up anymore.

GM's are responsible for monitoring this, the site does not. Be sure to get comfortable with the concepts of payroll, and leverage veteran GM's or your leadership team for any items you are unsure before you act. You must be at or under budget at all times.

B) ROSTER SIZE- MLB roster size is 25 and you must carry it through preseason, the regular season and the postseason. The roster size rule does not apply during the offseason period. You will be able to carry as much as 10 players in the minors. Should you not respect the roster size you will be penalized. 1st offense will result in a warning. 2nd offense will cause your team at fault to lose its 3rd round pick. 3rd offense will make you lose your 2nd round pick.

If you still don't understand after three warnings, you to be terminated from the league.

C) CAP REWARDS & PENALTIES - Playoff teams will be rewarded with cap bonuses. Each playoff team will be rewarded a minimum of 1$ in their team budget depending on their playoff performance. Bonuses will go as follow:

REACH WILD CARD: 1$ cap bonus
REACH DIVISIONAL SERIES: 2$ cap bonus
REACH CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: 3$ cap bonus
WORLD SERIES FINALIST: 4$ cap bonus
WORLD SERIES CHAMPION: 5$ cap bonus

Please note that playoff bonuses are not cumulative. If you get eliminated in the championship series, you get 3$. If you have reached the maximum established cap of 175$, you will not be eligible for cap rewards.

D) PENALTY FOR GOING OVER BUDGET
You may NOT go over budget at any time. Should you go over budget, you will lose your team's 1st round pick in the following draft and the player(s) causing you to go over budget. You are responsible of your team budget. You have to stay at all times within budget. Should you not respect this rule more than once, you will be terminated from this league.

You will get a message warning you that you have gone over the maximum budget permitted during the course of the season and will be notified with the sanction. It is YOUR responsibility to remain within your allowed budget.

E) NEW GM RULES
The following rules have been instituted to make poorly run organizations manageable. Requests should be made to the League Office prior to conclusion of season in which
you join, or during the same offseason, whichever applies.

- CUTTING CONTRACTS- You are not allowed to cut players signed to contracts unless you are a new owner taking over a team that has bad contracts signed. If that is the situation you will have a one time chance to cut ONE contract. The player whose contract gets cut will immediately become a free agent and the team cutting him cannot re-sign the player until the next offseason free agency period. The player who gets cut may be put into a "special free agent bidding" situation at League Office's discretion.

- SIGNING INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTS - In Pennant Chase this often can be the difference between competing for a championship and struggling to survive in a league without big market payrolls. In this league, you will be allowed to offer a contract extension to a player who is in the final season of his contract (return to draft season). You could hold on to a player throughout his whole career as long as you can fit him in your payroll. Remember though that you will have only 25 keepers, including rookies. If you were to go over the 25 contract limit you will lose your 1st round pick in the draft. Please note that on the manage contracts page when resigning a player you will still see: "You cannot extend a contract, so choose the number of years wisely". Please make abstraction of it as it will not apply to our league.

Since you will be able to extend players who are on expiring contracts you will be limited to a maximum of 5 players per year getting a 1 year extension. This rule is to prevent anyone from trying to cheat the payroll rules by having most if not all of their players on expiring contracts at the same time. The league office will keep track of contracts for each team. Any owner who tries to cheat the system will be terminated from the league.

F) IMPORTANT FYI FOR ROOKIE GM?S: In Pennant Chase, when a player shows up on a contract page (the immediate page after clicking on your team name from league page, standings or anywhere else for that matter), he?s always on your team one year longer than what the number actually says. For instance, an expiring contract (RETURN TO DRAFT) means that the player is in the final year of his contract, 1 year left means 2, 2 years left means 3 and so on and so forth.

G) PLAYER RAISES: When signing a player, you will need to deal with the raise that specific player is asking. If the player is asking for a 3$ raise per year, it is what it is. It's your decision to sign him or not. Contracts will not get revised by the league commission.

H) ROOKIE CONTRACTS: Draft picks are eligible for rookie contracts, this is not mandatory. All rookies will be signed to a 2$/3 year deal if you so choose as an entry level contract. Their contracts will count within the 25 keepers so manage your contracts wisely. Once a rookie contract ends, the player has to be signed to a pro contract or he will become a free agent. Rookies who will not be offered a deal will become free agents and will need to be signed to pro contracts should you pick them up and decide to keep them on your team.

I) PROSPECT CREATION: There will not be any prospect creation in this league. The only created players will be fictional players for the amateur draft and International transfers, also fictional.

J) SLUMP BUSTER: We will not be using slump bust in this league.

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4) Transactions & Player Movement


A) TRADES: In this league, you will be allowed a maximum of 5 trades per team, per season. Players and picks can be dealt, but you will not be allowed to deal cash. Again, make sure that the players you will be dealing for will not put you over the cap otherwise the trade will be reversed. Please notify the league commissioner if picks are involved. Only picks from the current season can be dealt.

When taking over a team from a departed owner, you will be restrained of making trades for 5 days. We do not want newbies getting ripped off by veteran owners in this league.


B) DRAFT- There will be three rounds to the amateur draft. The amateur draft will take place after the playoffs. Teams will need to rank their draftees list (top right of your team page) to insure that they may get the players they want if they choose to automate their picks. The draft is a very important feature considering the league parameters. Also, to the league commission's discretion, draft rewards could be extended for being in attendance during the live draft and/or making a draftees list using the RANK DRAFTEES link on your team page. Rewards will be in the form of either receiving a 1$ budget increase (if team budget is below 175$) or a 1 FIRE point bonus for any player on your team roster (if player has not reached the 25 FIRE point maximum).

YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TRADE AWAY YOUR 1ST ROUND PICK IN CONSECUTIVE SEASONS. The league will list the traded picks on the league page to keep track of dealt draft picks. Also, you will not be allowed to own more than three 1st round picks per year. There are no limitations for 2nd and 3rd round picks. Please note that draft trades will not be allowed during the course of the draft, whether it would be during the slow draft process or the live draft. Trading opens once the draft process is over.

Draft order for non-playoff teams in round 1 of the amateur draft will be determined by a draft lottery. The team with the worst regular season record will hold the best chances of winning the lottery. A team will be able to move up five spots from their ranking and won't drop more than one spot should they be losers in the lottery. Therefore, the team with the league's worst record will draft 1st or 2nd. The teams that had the 6 worst records in the regular season will all have a shot at landing the no.1 pick. I will be using the draftpicklottery.com draft simulator to proceed with the lottery. This rule has been put in place in order to prevent owners from voluntarily tanking to get the 1st pick year after year. Should you have a bad record at the end of the regular season you will still be able to get a good value pick no matter what. Draft order for playoff teams will be determined by team performance during the postseason. World Series champ will get the last pick of the round.

To enter a live draft, click on the ?draft room? link in the red bar at the top of the league's home page. Lastly, any undrafted rookies will go into the free agency pool.


C) OFFSEASON FREE AGENTS- With contracts expiring at the end of the season, players in that situation will become free agents should they not be extended by their teams. Those free agents will be put into a bidding fashion, players going to the largest overall offer (i.e years x dollars equals amount, thus a 3 yr/6M offer will better a 4 yr/4M offer). Bids of zero dollars will NOT be allowed. The maximum years for a contract will be 8 years. Maximum raise per contract year is 3$. The raise per year will be the same every year for the duration of the contract. All players listed under the free agent tab are available for bidding. Negative raises are not allowed.

All bids are to be in the following format: LAD SP Clayton Kershaw $10/8yrs/$0=$80

Free agent bidding will be ongoing until there is a 24 hour period in which no free agent receives an offer. If a player you are interested in has been bidded on, you have 24 hours to re-bid on him otherwise he will be assigned to the team who has placed the bid on him. The league office will list all the bids on the main page during the free agency period along with the time the bid has been posted. The bids have to be sent through the commissioner's inbox. PUBLIC BIDS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

There will also be an International free agent pool with six players every TWO years who will join MLB as International transfers. The process will be the same than the one used in regular free agency bidding but the minimum salary will be 15$ per season for any International free agent. International bidding is to take place simultaneously with the MLB free agency period. Should any of the International player not receive a bid, he will be auctioned and be signed to the team who offers the most for his services.

ALWAYS make sure that your bids will not put you over your allowed team budget. If that would be the case, your bid(s) will be voided and you will be penalized by losing your 1st round pick in the amateur draft.

D) SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT- Following the free agent signing period, teams who do not carry 25 players on their roster will take part in the supplemental draft in order to fill up their roster. The team will get, through the supplemental draft, the total amount of players required to carry a 25 man roster.

E) IN-SEASON FREE AGENTS- After a player is released he will be placed in the league free agent pool. These players are first come first serve. Important to remember again that it is your responsibility to ensure that you maintain 25 MLB players and a maximum of 35 players in your organisation at all times or you are forcing the leadership to correct it for you. We owe it to the other GM?s to account for this swiftly.

E) TRADE DEADLINE- The trade deadline will be day 120 but may move forward or backward slightly based on the sim schedule. The league office will announce the trade deadline. Trading will be turned off after this day. Trades will be reinstated immediately after the draft. If the trade includes draft picks, the trade notice will need to be immediately sent to the league office for approval. If a player that is traded for has a contract, the new owner team is responsible for the remainder of the contract. Draft picks can be traded for current year only.

F) PLAYER POSITIONS- Owners will be permitted to ask for position changes. A player can be changed to its secondary position only. Players whose secondary position is IF, OF or DH cannot be modified. The league commission will insure that every player has a secondary position that makes sense.

G) DISABLED LIST- Teams can use their minor league squads as injured reserve fill-ins. A player that gets injured is allowed to be put into the minors system as an injured reserve roster.

H) OFFSEASON PLAYER PROGRESSION- Players will be progressed once after each season. Players in the majors and minors are progressed the same amount. This will allow the players to have realistic stats throughout their careers. A player will reach its peak at 28, and begin to gradually decline afterwards. Players can retire at any age and retirees will be mentioned on the league's main page.

UPDATE: a league poll resulted in a 1 year delay before players will start to decline. So peak at 28 and decline at 30. This is effective after the 2048 season.

I) PLAYER EXTENSIONS ? Contract extensions are meant as just one more option as a GM to retain talent if you so choose before losing a player to free agency and will promote player/team loyalty. You will be allowed to extend a player ONLY when he is in his RETURN TO DRAFT year. To extend him, you must use the MANAGE CONTRACTS link on your team page. From there you will be able to extend any of your players on an expiring deal.


J) STARTING PITCHER CONVERTED TO RELIEF PITCHER ? Most importantly, know it is a permanent move. Teams may convert 1 pitcher per offseason.

- Past their prime pitchers are eligible every offseason until they retire to be converted from starting pitcher to relief pitcher. (35 OR OLDER)

- Once a starting pitcher hits 35, in the following offseason a GM can message the league office with the subject ?SP to RP Conversion? along with the full name of the pitcher he wants to convert.

This process is manual but here are a few general guidelines to have some idea of what to expect: Stamina will drop significantly (30 pitches maximum). ERA & WHIP will drop (- 12.5%), W, L?s and IP?s will drop as needed to make sense (- 50%). BB?S/9 will drop by 1, K?s/9 will go up by 1, and of course stats like CG will zero out. As a best practice, you may want to wait until after player progressions take place to have a more clear picture of what you have.

K) RELIEF PITCHER CONVERTED TO STARTING PITCHER - Occasionally, in MLB a relief pitcher is converted to a starting pitcher. If a RP has a stamina of 50 or more pitches, he can be converted to a starter. His stamina will be increased to 90 pitches. ERA and WHIP will rise (+ 12.5%). H/9 and BB/9 will go up 1. K/9 will drop 1. W,L and IP will be doubled up, SV will zero out. The pitcher converted will need to be 30 or less in order to be eligible for the conversion.

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5) Season & Post Season Tasks


A) ALL-STAR PROCESS

- The All-Star break is a time where off days are granted to rest up your team so you can revamp your team for the stretch run. There will be 2 real days off and 4 sim days off for the All-Star break.

- We will not play an All-Star game and All-Stars will be selected by the Commissioner. We will keep track of All-Stars from year to year. All-Star teams will be made up of 30 players from each league. All star teams will be made up of 12 P, 2 C, 2 1B, 2 2B, 2 3B, 2 SS, 6 OF & 2 UTIL/DH. Every team is guaranteed ONE All-Star...just like real All-Star teams.

- All All-Stars will receive 1 ON FIRE point. Please be aware that the maximum FIRE points a player will have is 25. Once he reaches 25 FIRE points he will not be rewarded for an All-Star selection.

B) PLAYOFFS

- The playoffs are made up of 5 teams from each league. There will be 1 day of simulated rest between the regular season and the playoffs and one day off after the wild card games. Should two or more teams have the same record after 162 games and be tied for a playoff berth, there will be an elimination game to determine who gets in. The team that will host the elimination game will be the one who had the best record against their opponent during the course of the regular season.

- Division winners own home field over wildcards regardless of records. Home field thereafter is determined by better record.

- Each league has three division winners and two wild cards. The 2 wild card teams will play an elimination game to begin the playoffs and the winner of that game will play against the #1 seeded division winner in the Divisional Series. The other two division winners will compete in the other Divisional Series. A day off will be granted after Wild Card games.

- Format of games will be 1 for 1st round, 2-2-1 for 2nd round, 2-3-2 for all rounds thereafter.

- Current MLB rules will be used for tie-breaker.

?day off? granted after game 2 in division series
?day off? granted after game 4 in division series

?day off? granted in between Divisional round and League Championship round.

?day off? granted after game 2 in Championship series
?day off? granted after game 5 in Championship series

-Two ?days off? granted in between League Championship round and World Series.

?day off? granted after game 2 in World series
?day off? granted after game 5 in World series


C) OFFSEASON AWARDS
Each offseason the league will determine the MVP and CY YOUNG winner in both leagues through a voting process. Players who win any of these awards will be awarded 1 FIRE point.

There will also be Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards. Players who earn any of these awards will be granted a FIRE point for their achievement. These awards will be given out by the league commission based on player stats at the end of the regular season. In the second year of existence of the league, we will also incorporate the Rookie of the Year award (RoY). RoY awards will be awarded through a voting process. Only players that came out of the draft process will be considered for RoY nominations. Please note that these awards will be given in both leagues. Again, the winner of the award will be awarded a FIRE point for his achievement. We will also have an award for the World Series MVP. He too will be rewarded with one FIRE point.

D) NATION LEGENDS CLUB

The Nation Legends Club is the equivalent to the Hall of Fame. It was created to immortalize the best players this league had to offer. In order to be inducted to the Nation Legends Club, a player will need to have compiled the following stats:

HITTERS

- Minimum of 5 full seasons played in the league.

- Career average of .275 or better

- 100+ career HR

- 500+ career RBI

PITCHERS

- Minimum of 5 full seasons played in the league.

- 100 career wins for a SP

- 100 career saves for a RP

- Career WHIP cannot exceed 1.00

- Career ERA cannot exceed 3.00

All players that meet the requirements will be submitted to a vote to determine if they get in or not. They will need 50,1% of the vote to be admitted in the Nation's Legend Club.


---MOST IMPORTANT LEAGUE RULES---

**Understand that this is for FUN!**
**DO NOT make life miserable for other owners.**
**BE RESPECTFUL AT ALL TIMES!**

Anyone who doesn't respect these rules will be terminated from this league and banned from returning to it.
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League Settings

Year Range of Stats	2015 - 2015
Roster Size (Majors)	25
Roster Size (Minors)	10
Keepers	(25 keepers)
Change Stats Allowed
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(40 games max)
Pitcher Injuries	(40 games max)
Use Pitcher's HR Allowed Stats
Allows Max Surprise Bunts
Min Batters Pitcher Must Face	0
Slump Buster
On Fire	Classic
User Sims