League Rules

Welcome to Best of the Best: 1901-2022

This league is designed to use the Favorite Teams format but with 30 teams and additional options to make it more interesting, fun, and competitive no matter which team you use. We have a concept called Upgrade player which is extremely important to understand and is explained in detail below. The league resets after each season.
The Front Office will track each regular season's win totals for both users and franchises using a spreadsheet that will be available under Links.

Commissioner: Raiderbill33
COs: Sheikyerboudi, Revejb

Assigning Teams:

Every year each owner will need to pick a different franchise and cannot repeat franchises (until they have used every team) This means that if you are the Red Sox one year, the next year you will need to be someone else. The idea is for this to continue until you have used all 30 teams, giving everyone the opportunity to gain some understanding of each franchise and baseball history.

A Franchise draft will be done each offseason, from inverse order of the previous season's standings, ties for Draft order will be broken by Power Rank, then run diff. The teams who play in the championship will always pick 29th and 30th, and the final 10 picks will always be the teams who made the playoffs. The spreadsheet link will tell us which owners have already used which teams. There will be a 6 hour time limit for owners to select a team. In the event that an owner fails to pick within the required time, a team wil be assigned by the following method: If the owner has not previously been the team listed as his favorite team on his User Page, he will be assigned that team. If the owner has previously been his favorite team, a team will be selected using a random number generator and that number (1-30) compared to the alphabetical listing of teams.

Rules for Drafting Teams:

Rules will be the same as auto league favorite teams leagues. Please read this message regarding how it works.

"This is a unique draft in which you pick your franchise of choice, then select four years from that team's history (based on the year range of this league: 1901-2018). (In this year range, the following franchises are limited by PC settings to three years to keep the league competitve: Yankees, Giants, Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox. **Houston also will be limited to 3 years even though this is not the default PC setting, so you must be sure to only use 3 years).

The franchise you draft will be your team for the following season and you must use that player pool to create your roster. You will get to pick your years and your players from that year pool. Failure to use your assigned team or trying to use some one else's players will result in the owner being immediately booted. If you are assigned the Royals you are not allowed to draft the Indians.

You will then select a roster from the players available, building an initial 35 man roster. To ensure a valid bullpen, pick at least one modern-day team To qualify, a player needs 125 ABs or 35 IPs. Starters with less than 85 IP must be RP. No duplicate players will be allowed on the same team but Duplicate players can exist on different teams." If pitchers are below the threshold for IP, they are imported as a RP and their stamina is adjusted. To keep things simple, fair, and consistent, no adjustments will be made. You can either live with them as a RP, or not draft them. Also, players will be the positions that PC imports them as, therefore there is no changing to secondary positions, or changing roles of say an SP to an RP.

**2020 Starting Pitcher exception. Not a single real life 2020 SP made it to 85 IP, and the site allows these pitchers to be imported as starters, so this rule will guide us: 2020 Starting Pitchers must have at least 56 Innings Pitched to be eligible to be imported as starters (56 innings pitched was the threshold for CY eligibility--for example Max Fried had 56 IP and was a CY finalist, while Dan Plesac had 55 IP and was not). Any starting pitchers from 2020 with fewer than 56 Innings Pitched will be adjusted and switched to RP with 40 pitch count.

Rosters:
Rosters will consist of 26 in your majors, and 5 in your minors. Initially, you will draft 35 players (because that's what PC has you do), then add Plus/Upgrade players by sending message to Sheikyerboudi and REVEJB... then AFTER drops are turned on, you will drop players until you get down to 31. League messages will be sent out, and home page will be updated to tell everyone what to do and when to do it, step by step. It will be your responsibility to complete each step: initially you must draft your team, then send Plus players if you have them, then do the drops and get your roster to 26 and 5.

***Player Upgrades*** UPGRADE player means that you can take a player on your team that you created using favorite teams draft and change the player to a different year with the SAME team. Example: Oakland Athletics owner chooses 1909, 1971, 1990 and 2017. Mark McGwire is imported along with other 1990 players. Then Oakland owner chooses to Upgrade McGwire to 1996, Big Mac?s best year with the A?s. You cannot upgrade to a player year if the player wasn't with your franchise in the season requested: the A's owner cannot request 2000 McGwire (because he was with the Cards). Upgrade players must *already be on your roster*, so we can check "See Other Seasons Available" on the player and confirm that the request is valid.

**IF a Team owner wants to add a Player that did NOT play in the four (or three) selected years, then the owner can do so at the cost of TWO Upgrades. A *Plus Player (must be from that franchise) will cost Two Upgrades. Example: Oakland Athletics owner chooses years 1909, 1971, 1996, 2017, but owner wants OF AL Simmons (1930). Simmons is not on the roster from the selected 4 years. Choosing him in this situation makes Simmons a Plus Player, and he costs Oakland 2 Upgrades.

Allotted Player Upgrades Per Franchise (subject to change after further review during offseason):

Boston Red Sox (3 Seasons) Upgrade 5
NY Yankees (3 seasons) Upgrade 3
Tor Blue Jays Upgrade 10
TB Rays Upgrade 7
BAL Orioles Upgrade 6

CLE Indians Upgrade 0 (moved to 4 seasons)
DET Tigers Upgrade 6
MIN Twins Upgrade 6
KC Royals Upgrade 10
CHI White Sox Upgrade 7

OAK Athletics Upgrade 3
LA Angels Upgrade 8
HOU Astros (3 Seasons*) Upgrade 3
TEX Rangers Upgrade 9
SEA Mariners Upgrade 7

PHI Phillies Upgrade 6
WAS Nationals Upgrade 5
MIA Marlins Upgrade 10
NY Mets Upgrade 6
ATL Braves Upgrade 4

CHI Cubs (3 seasons) Upgrade 3
STL Cards Upgrade 2
MIL Brewers Upgrade 9
PIT Pirates Upgrade 8
CIN Reds Upgrade 6

LA Dodgers (3 seasons) Upgrade 4
SF Giants (3 seasons) Upgrade 6
COL Rockies Upgrade 10
SD Padres Upgrade 7
ARI Dbacks Upgrade 7

Upgrade Request must be sent to Sheikyerboudi and REVEJB. Send ONE Message only for all the upgrades you want for that season.
Format: Request type, Position, Player Name, current year, Upgrade year (example: Upgrade 1B Mark McGwire 1990 ---> 1996)? Upgrade players must *already be on your roster*, so we can check "See Other Seasons Available" on the player and confirm that the request is valid.
IF the player is a Plus and NOT on your roster, here is the format: Plus SS Lou Boudreaux 1948

Trades:
Trading will be allowed, but each trade will be reviewed by the commisioners to ensure fairness. Owners' goal should be to exchange players for mutual benefit where there is a need, nothing more and nothing less. Any trade deemed too lopsided can be simply reverted or put to a league vote.
--Limit of 5 total trades per franchise per season
--Limit 2 players per team for any trade (no team swap deals)
--Limit of 2 trades between franchises per season (again, no team swaps)
Trade Deadline is at Day 100.

**Offseason/Season Order of Events and Deadlines:
1. Ring and trophy awarded to World Series winner
2. All players deleted
3. Franchise draft Teams imported, Draft order announced
4. Franchise draft: There will be a 6 hour time limit for owners to select a team. In the event that an owner fails to pick within the required time, a team will be assigned by the following method: If the owner has not previously been the team listed as his favorite team on his User Page, he will be assigned that team. If the owner has previously been his favorite team, a team will be selected using a random number generator and that number (1-30) compared to the alphabetical listing of teams. We want as many owners as possible to pre-rank, at least once they are a few picks away, and check in frequently to PC to make their pick.
5. Teams will be re-assigned and the ability to draft teams will be turned on. Team will have a 2 WEEK DEADLINE to build their teams before drops and trades are turned on. Any team not built at the deadline will have their team built for them by a commissioner and be subject to removal from league.
6. AFTER your team draft is complete (35 players) and you are done adding and deleting players, then you can send in Plus requests, which will be recorded on league homepage.
7. Once rosters are complete, drops and trades will be turned ON and everyone will have a 1 WEEK DEADLINE to get their rosters cut to 31 players (25 majors 6 minors), and make trades prior to opening day.
8. WAIVERS will be executed early in the season, typically around day 10, where a 24 hour sim schedule will be put into place for the 1st 2 waiver rounds to allow all owners to submit waiver claims. Owners must also select a player to drop when submitting claims for waivers or the 1st player in alphabetical order will be auto dropped.
a. Owners must also select a player to drop when submitting claims for waivers - or the 1st player on your roster in
alphabetical order will be dropped.
b. Owners who accidentally drop a player should contact a commissioner prior to the next Waiver round is ran (24 hours)
c. If the dropped player is claimed by another team, you may still request that the player be returned prior to the next
sims running (4 hours)
d. Once the player in question has played in a game for another team, he is that team's property and any requests to
have him returned will have to be negotiated between the owners - the Commissioners will no longer be involved.
9. Waivers will run for two 24 hour rounds, then one 4 hour round, then free agency will open up for remainder of season.
10. Trade Deadline at Day 100, roster add/drops will be turned off at day 160
11. At the conclusion of regular season: stats will be archived, including team records, and MVP/CY will be awarded. Playoff teams, seeding and schedule will be announced
Ghost Teams: If the league is short of an owner(s) a ghost team will be created by the commissioners. They will set the roster, lineups, etc. There will be no trading allowed with a ghost team. A new owner will be found in the offseason to fill the ownerless team.

Rosters will be locked at Day 160 (No adds or drops after this time) so make sure you have backups at the most important positions such as Catcher and have at least 6 starting pitchers in case of injury

OHTANI RULE: He is one player, but 2 roster spots if you import him as both a hitter and pitcher. This creates a few unique rules. 1. If you use both a hitter and pitcher of Ohtani, you MUST use the same season for both. You cannot have the 2021 SP and the 2018 DH. 2. You may not trade one without the other - in other words, you can't trade hitter Ohtani and keep pitcher Ohtani. 3. If you have both versions of Ohtani on your roster, and want to "Upgrade" him, both versions have to be Upgraded to the same season, which will cost you 2 upgrade spots. 4. f you want to add Ohtani as a hitter and pitcher, that will take 4 UPGRADE spots. You may, however, just add only Ohtani as an SP or DH for 2 upgrade spots, as long as that is the ONLY version of Ohtani on your team. Any questions on Ohtani should be directed to the commissioners during the team building period.

Schedule: We will import a modern MLB schedule each season and alternate which year's schedule is used. Users sim every 4 hours for regular season. Playoffs will be run by Commish or Vices, sims will be spread out by at least one hour each.

Playoffs:
Playoffs will be a total of 5 teams per league, each Division winner plus 2 wildcards will make the playoffs.

Wildcard teams play each other for a 1 game series, best record hosts the game. In the event of a tie for the 4th and 5th spots, the head to head matchup will be used first, then run differential to determine who hosts the game.

Division round is best of 5. 2-2-1 format.
Championship series will be best of 7. 2-3-2.
The world series will be the same 2-3-2 format and the best record will host. The tie breaker rules will be the same as the wildcard.

DIVISION TITLE, WILD CARD AND DRAFT ORDER TIE BREAKERS (as voted by league prior to season 1 of reboot)
The league will adopt slightly altered MLB rules, as of 2022, and do away with tie breaker games. In the event of a tie for the division title or final playoff spots, the following criteria will be use to break the tie, in order:
1. Head 2 Head Record
2. Intradivsion Record (only if H2H is a tie also)
3. Intraleague Record (only if H2H and Intradivsion Record are both ties)
4. Run Diff (only If the first 3 are all ties)
5. Coin Flip (only if the previous 4 are all ties)

Other Notes:
Following season 19, Ballpark effects will have options, with a current (2022) setting and 1-2 historical options.
Days off and fatigue will be used.
Pitcher HR allowed will be used
Surprise bunts will be set to balanced
Slumpbuster will be set for a max of 5 days
All-stars will not be used or selected

--------------PARK EFFECTS-------------------------Each franchise has options to choose from for park effects, the current (2022) version and historical ones. The following are the options for park effects:

AL EAST
BALTIMORE
2022 Camden Yards RHB Mild Boost LHB None
1983 Memorial Stadium RHB None LHB None
1906 Sportsmen's Park RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Mild Boost
BOSTON
2022 Fenway Park RHB Big Boost LHB None
1986 Fenway Park RHB None LHB Mild Disadvantage
1910 Huntington Avenue Baseball Ground RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Boost
NEW YORK
2022 Yankee Stadium RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Disadvantage
1967 Yankee Stadium RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Mild Boost
1904 Hilltop Park RHB None LHB None
TAMPA BAY
2022 Tropicana Field RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Big Disadvantage
2006 Tropicana Field RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
1999 Suncoast Dome RHB None LHB None
TORONTO
2022 Rogers Centre RHB None LHB Mild Disadvantage
1999 Skydome RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Big Disadvantage
1987 Exhibition Stadium RHB None LHB None

AL CENTRAL
CHICAGO (AL)
2022 Guaranteed Rate Field RHB None LHB None
1983 Comiskey Park RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Boost
1906 South Side Park RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Big Disadvantage
CLEVELAND
2022 Progressive Field RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Big Boost
1968 Cleveland Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
1936 League Park RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Big Boost
DETROIT
2022 Comerica Park RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Big Disadvantage
1984 Tiger Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Boost
1923 Navin Field RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Disadvantage
KANSAS CITY
2022 Kaufmann Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
1980 Royals Stadium RHB None LHB None
1972 Municipal Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Boost
MINNESOTA
2022 Target Field RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB None
1999 Metrodome RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Mild Boost
1911 Griffith Stadium RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Big Boost

AL WEST
HOUSTON
2022 Minute Maid Park RHB Mild Boost LHB None
2005 Minute Maid Park RHB Mild Boost LHB Big Disadvantage
1986 Astrodome RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
LOS ANGELES (AL)
2022 Angel Stadium RHB Mild Boost LHB Big Boost
2000 Edison Field RHB None LHB None
1968 Anaheim Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
OAKLAND
2022 Oakland Coliseum RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
1990 Oakland Coliseum RHB None LHB Mild Disadvantage
1930 Shibe Park RHB Mild Boost LHB Big Disadvantage
SEATTLE
2022 T Mobile Park RHB None LHB Big Disadvantage
2001 Safeco Field RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Big Disadvantage
1996 Kingdome RHB None LHB None
TEXAS
2022 Globe Life Field RHB None LHB Mild Boost
1999 Ballpark at Arlington RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Big Boost
1978 Arlington Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage

NL EAST
ATLANTA
2022 Truist Park RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
1978 Fulton Co. Stadium RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Boost
1957 County Stadium RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Big Disadvantage
MIAMI
2022 Loan Depot Park RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
2011 Sun Life Stadium RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
1994 Joe Robbie Stadium RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Boost
NEW YORK (NL)
2022 Citi Field RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
1997 Shea Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB No Effect
1971 Shea Stadium RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Big Boost
PHILADELPHIA
2022 Citizens Bank Park RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Boost
1975 Veterans Stadium RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
1930 Baker Bowl RHB No Effect LHB Big Boost
WASHINGTON
2022 Nationals Park RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
2004 Hiram Bithorn Stadium RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Boost
1994 Olympic Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB No Effect

NL CENTRAL
CHICAGO (NL)
2022 Wrigley Field RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
1985 Wrigley Field RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Boost
1911 West Side Grounds RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
CINCINNATI
2022 Great American Ball Park RHB Big Boost LHB Big Boost
1975 Riverfront Stadium RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
1941 Crosley Field RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
MILWAUKEE
2022 American Family Field RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Boost
2000 County Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
1980 County Stadium RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
PITTSBURGH
2022 PNC Park RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
1999 Three Rivers Stadium RHB No Effect LHB Mild Boost
1965 Forbes Field RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
ST. LOUIS
2022 Busch Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Big Disadvantage
1999 Busch Stadium RHB No Effect. LHB No Effect
1941 Sportsman's Park RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Big Boost

NL WEST
ARIZONA
2022 Chase Field RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB No Effect
2003 Chase Field RHB Mild Boost RHB Mild Boost
2001 Chase Field RHB Big Boost RHB Big Boost
COLORADO
2022 Coors Field RHB Big Boost LHB Mild Boost
2007 Coors Field RHB Mild Boost LHB No Effect
1993 Mile High Stadium RHB Big Boost LHB Big Boost
LOS ANGELES (NL)
2022 Dodger Stadium RHB Big Boost LHB No Effect
1965 Dodger Stadium RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
1941 Ebbets Field RHB No Effect LHB Mild Boost
SAN DIEGO
2022 Petco Park RHB Mild Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
2005 Petco Park RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Big Disadvantage
1984 Jack Murphy Stadium RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
SAN FRANCISCO
2022 Oracle Park RHB Big Disadvantage LHB Mild Disadvantage
1971 Candlestick Park RHB No Effect LHB No Effect
1924 Polo Grounds RHB Mild Boost LHB Mild Boost

League Settings