League Rules

NUMBER AND COMPOSITION OF TEAMS
•This is a 12-team league. There will be two 6-team divisions.
•Each team will be comprised mainly of former MLB players from two real-life franchises.
•The first season will use 1980 players.
•The two franchises comprising each team will be determined by an original snake draft. The first franchise will determine the city name; the second will determine the mascot/nickname.
•For example, an owner chooses San Francisco in round one and Toronto in round two. The team will forever be known as the SF Blue Jays.

FUTURE ROOKIES
•Each season, teams will receive any players from their two franchises aged 25 and younger with at least 100 AB or 30 IP.
• For the initial draft, if a player played for multiple teams in 1980 and meets the qualifying minimum for each team, he will go to the first team who makes the selection regardless of the comparative number of AB or IP accumulated while playing for the various teams.
•In subsequent years, rookies will be awarded to the team with the highest number of AB or IP during his inaugural season.

OPTIONAL DRAFT
•There will be a single-round draft during the offseason.
•The order will be the reverse of the previous year’s standings.
•When a team’s turn in the draft arrives, the owner has two choices: opt to draft a player OR choose to take one or more of the rookies already assigned to the team.
•If the owner drafts a player, his assigned rookies will become free agents who can be drafted the next season by any team provided he is 25 or younger at that time.
•After the rookies are added and the yearly draft has concluded, team rosters must be reduced to 31 total players.

RANDOM PROGRESSION
•Random Progression will be used with all players being progressed as U (unpredictable) unless or until they have earned the right to use the C, A, or S progressions instead based on their performance on the field.
•Some players will even be able to permanently change their potential levels due to exemplary play/accomplishments.
•Free agent players—players who are part of the draft pool—will always be progressed using the S rating.

STAT CHANGES
•The league will begin in 1980.
•Players may have their stats changed to the current season.
• Minimum stat levels for season changes are 85 IP for SPs, 25 IP for RPs, and 100 AB for position players.

ROSTER SIZE/CONTRACTS
•There will be 26 players on the active major league roster.
•There will be an additional 5 players on the minors roster. All of the minors players must be 28 years old or younger unless it is an injured players who has temporarily been sent down.
•Contracts will not be used.

FORCED RETIREMENTS
•Players over 42 will retire. They may play during their aged-42 season.
•Players may play beyond age 42 if (and only if) they use the real stats from their age 43, 44, etc. seasons and NOT the accumulated progressed stats.
•Undrafted or released players will be retired if they are older than 25. Others will remain part of the free agent pool for future drafts.

EXPANDED ROSTER
•The major league roster will be expanded to 28 players on day 120 and will remain at this expanded level throughout the remainder of the season, including the postseason.

ROOKIES
•Every player who enters a season with 250 or fewer at bats OR 50 or fewer innings pitched will have the rookie tag provided the player is 25 years old or younger. These players are the only players eligible for Rookie-of-the-Year (ROY).

TRADES
•Each team will be limited to 5 trades. The trade deadline is day 130. If one of the owners not involved in the trade expresses a concern about the fairness of the trade, there will be a league-wide vote. If 6 of the remaining 8 owners vote against the trade, it will be cancelled. The concerned owner must use the Report Unfair Trade feature on the league homepage to make the commissioner aware of the potentially unbalanced trade.

•Trades may contain a combination of players and draft picks. Traded draft picks can only be for the next two seasons. Any trades involving draft picks must be communicated to the commissioner by both owners participating in the trade.

PLAYER POTENTIAL/PROGRESSIONS
•All players begin with U (unpredictable) potential and will be randomly progressed using that rating. There are a few exceptions:

•Every all-star will be progressed using the A-rating the subsequent off-season. If the player already has a permanent rating of C or S, he will be progressed using that rating instead.
•The league MVP and Cy Young winners will be progressed using the S-rating the subsequent off-season.
•Players finishing 2nd and 3rd in the MVP or Cy Young voting will be progressed using the A-rating the subsequent off-season. If either player already has a permanent rating of C or S, he will be progressed using that rating instead.

PERMANENT POTENTIAL INCREASES
•A U-rated player will permanently become a C-rated player when he becomes an all-star for the third time.
•A C-rated player will permanently become an S-rated player when he becomes an all-star for the fifth time.

PLAYER PROGRESSION
•Players will progress until age 30 and will begin regressing at age 33.

ALL-STARS
The CPU will select the all-stars at day 85.

PITCHER CHANGES
At the beginning of a season only, RP may be changed to SP with a stamina of 75; OR SP may be changed to RP with a stamina of 20.

Should, after one or more seasons, an owner wish to change the pitcher back to his original position, he will not retain his original stamina. However, when stat changes are employed, his stamina may change.

When changing from a RP to a SP, the resulting ranking must be within 3 points of the original ranking. Stats will be altered across the board to reach this threshold, in this order—subtract 2 strikeouts, add 2 walks, add one hit allowed, repeat.

PLAYOFFS
• Six of the 12 teams will make the playoffs.
•If there is a tie for one of the 6 playoff spots, there will be a 1-game playoff before the wildcard series begin. In the playoff game, the head-to-head winner will host. The wildcard round will begin the very next day.
•There will be one day off before the wilcard round—and each subsequent round—unless a play-in game is required.
•In the wildcard round, the two wildcard teams from the same division will play a 5-game series.
•The division champion with the best record will play a 7-game series with the wildcard winning team with the lower winning percentage. The remaining two teams will square off in the other semifinal.
•The two remaining teams will play against each other in the World Series using the same format of 2-3-2. The team with the best regular season record will have home field advantage. There will be a one-day break after games 2 and 5 as was the case in the semis.
•The days of rest needed for starting pitchers will be reduced from 4 to 3 for the postseason.

TIEBREAKERS

1. Head-to-Head Results
2. Overall Run Differential
3. Overall Runs Scored

TEAM EDITING
Teams not making the playoffs may change their ballpark dimensions during the subsequent off-season.

SIMS SCHEDULE
SIMS will be about every 3 hours—5 times daily—beginning at about 9 am EST. This includes playoff games.

OTHER INFORMATION:
•5-man rotations
•Pitchers max injury (15 games)
•Other players max injury (10 games)
•Player Fatigue will be used.
•Pitcher HR allowed will be used.
•The surprise bunts will be balanced.
•Slump Buster will not be used.
•Pitchers must face a minimum of 3 batters.
•The no-drop list will be in effect.
•There will be no waiver wire.
•Contracts will not be used.
•WAR will be used for “On Fire.”

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	1989 - 1989
Roster Size (Majors)	26
Roster Size (Minors)	5
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	3
Slump Buster
On Fire	Uses WAR
User Sims