League Rules

Welcome to the "All Yankee League"

Players - League consists entirely of players who played for the New York Yankees from 1961 to the present. A player must have played at least one season (for any team) in which he had a minimum of 70 ABs or 30 IPs to be eligible for the league.

TEAMS - Players are divided into teams based on the other franchises they played for during their careers. In most cases, players will be assigned to the team for whom they had the most ABs or IPs. Except for the Expos/Nationals franchise and the Columbus Clippers, players must have played in the actual city where the team is now located (ie. No Rangers players who only played for the Washington Senators and never in Texas. Same goes for the old Athletics teams, the Pilots, the Milwaukee Braves, etc.)

The Basics:
162 Game Schedule
8 Teams make the Playoffs
- (Division Winners plus 2 Wildcards in each League)
- (Division Winners automatically get top 2 seeds)
- (All Playoff Series Best of 7 with a 2-3-2 Format)
5-Man Starting Rotation
4 SIMS per day, approximately once every 6 hours
No Progessions. Use best qualifying season for each player
Fatigue: On
Slump Buster: On (5 Calendar Days)
Injuries - Players - 13 Max / Pitchers - 15 Max

Players Changing Teams - On Occasion, a player will move from one team to another based on the fact that, in real life, his total ABs or IPs for the team he's on in real life surpasses the ABs or IPs he had with the team he's on in the All Yankees League on PC. In such a case, the player will not switch teams until after the current PC season has finished. All player moves (other than trades and FA pickups) will happen between PC seasons, rather than mid-season, so no team will suddenly lose a player from their roster mid-season due to something happening in real life. The same goes for real life trades and FA signings, which may shift PC players from one team to another, but only after the current PC season (including playoffs) has been completed. There will be a "Player Movement Deadline" a few days before the start of each PC season, after which players will not be able to switch teams (except for trades and Free Agency).

Player Stats - You may use any season for a player in which he had a minimum of 70 ABs or 30 IPs. It doesn't matter which team he played for, or which season (even pre-1961 seasons are eligible). WARNING - You can switch a player?s stats back and forth as many times as you like in the off-season and can choose a different set of stats each season, but you cannot switch mid-season. Once the season starts, no changes.

Position Switches - Before each season, each team can switch the primary and secondary positions of one position player on their team (rule change voted in after Season 9)

Drops (Pre-Season Rosters) and the 2-Round Draft - Teams will need to drop players to reach the maximum pre-season roster limit of 28 players. This will help ensure a larger Free Agent Pool so that weaker teams will have a chance to sign players and strengthen their team. Teams may not drop players who have only played for their team and the Yankees (or only their team, the Yankees and a franchise that no longer exists ie. Philadelphia Athletics, KC Athletics, Seattle Pilots, Milwaukee Braves, Boston Braves, etc.). Once all teams have 28 players on their roster, there will be a Supplemental Draft (2 Rounds) so teams can get back to 30 players. Then, Free Agency will be opened up to all teams.

Teams - 28 teams. All current teams excluding Miami, Tampa Bay, Arizona, and Colorado who will be combined to form one mega-expansion team called the Columbus Clippers (in honor of the Yankees former long-time farm team. Washington Nationals will be playing as the Montreal Expos and include players from both of those teams. Plus there will be an extra New York Yankees team called the Bronx Bombers (both of those teams will be comprised of players who only played for the Yankees (and no other team) during their entire career (with a few exceptions ie. players who only played for the Yankees and a team that no longer exists). NOTE: Both the Yankees and Bombers will be allowed to take part in the 2-round draft and can choose ANY player in the draft, even players who have played for other franchises.

No-Drop Players - Players who only played for the Yankees and one other franchise may not be dropped. This will keep some sub-par players on each team, but will also increase the talent in the Free Agency Pool and will help to increase parity in the league. A list of no-drop players is shown on each team's home page, and each no-drop player has a '+' symbol next to his name on each team's Roster page.

Trading - Trading will be very limited, as you will only be able to trade players to teams that they actually played for in real life. (This means that the Yankees and Bombers will only be able to trade with each other). To help with your research, a link to Baseball Reference has been included on the Home Page. Historic Imports can be traded for each other, so that may help increase trading a bit (ie. a team could trade their Historic Import plus another roster player for another team's Historic Import).

Free Agents - Free Agency will also be limited. There will be a pool of Free Agents who have been dropped by their initial franchises. However, you can only sign a Free Agent if that player actually played for your franchise in real life. For example, if Jerry Royster shows up in the Free Agent Pool, only the Braves, White Sox, Dodgers and Padres can sign him because he only played for those teams in Real Life. Again, to help with your research, a link to Baseball Reference is included on the Home Page.

New Players - New players will be added to teams at the beginning of each new season depending on whether the Real Life Yankees added players to their roster. For example, if the real-life Yankees happened to trade Luis Severino for Bryce Harper, then the Montreal Expos would get both Severino and Harper, and the Yankees or Bombers would lose Severino from their roster for the next AYL season. (This makes the Real Life Yankees even more interesting to pay attention to - you never know when they will add a Free Agent or make a trade. Every roster move the Real Life team makes can have an impact on the Pennant Chase version for upcoming seasons).

Yankees/Bombers - Since there are two original Yankee teams, they will have equal access to any new players who join the Yankees each season (as long as those players have ONLY played for the Yankees and no other team and meet the AB/IP threshold. After each real-life season ends, the Yankees and Bombers will hold a special draft for brand new Yankee-only players. Draft order is determined by previous year's AYL record, with the team with the worse record picking 1st (if the 2 teams have identical records, tiebreaker order will be 1: worse run differential chooses first, if still tied, then 2: least runs scored chooses first). WARNING - this draft will not happen after every AYL season, since we will likely play about 5 or 6 AYL seasons for every Real-Life season of MLB. NOTE: The Yankees and Bombers WILL be able to sign Free Agents who did play for other teams in order to increase their rosters to 30 players, and will also be able to pick any player they want in the 2-Round Slow Draft. They will not be able to drop any of their original players who only played for the Yankees (or the Yankees and teams that no longer exist since those players wouldn't be eligible to play for any other AYL team)
Note - Change for Season 6: The Bombers and Yankees will still need to drop the players who played for other franchises before the 2-Round Draft in order to get to 28 players, but they also may be able to drop a roster or player or two in order to get to 28 if they're still above 28 at that point (it depends how many players get added to their teams in a year where there is a Special Draft after a real-life season ends).

AB/IP Minimums - A player must have appeared in 1 Game with the Yankees from 1961 to the present. (even if he doesn't have an AB, as long as he appeared in a game, ie. pinch-running or an inning in the field count too!)

Utility Players - The Commish will assign one player per team the "Utility Player" designation for that player's second position. This will help for teams who are short at one particular position or another, as the Utility Player will be able to play any position on the roster without too much of a defensive drop-off. If you would like to change the UT designation from one player to another, please make a request of the Commish. When possible, the UT designation will only be given to players who actually played many different positions in real life (ideally, both IF and OF).

The Twist! (The Rule 13 Draft) - After each season, the 8 worst teams in the league (by winning percentage - or more if there are teams tied for 8th worst) will be able to choose (steal) 1 player from the 8 playoff teams from that season. Due to the limits placed on trading and drafting, this will help keep a competitive balance in the league and will keep the weaker teams interested. There will be limits on which players can be chosen (the better teams will be able to protect 5 players each who will be safe from the draft, and each team will only lose a maximum of 2 players each season. Also, teams will be limited in choosing players who actually played for their franchise in real life, so the Yankees and Bombers will be safe from the Rule 13 Draft. Teams will choose their 5 Protected Players immediately following the Regular Season each year.
- (the following was added on Sept.11/2021) - If a team is participating in the Rule 13 Draft, but there are no eligible players for that team to choose, the owner can drop the "no-drop" designation from one of his/her no-drop players. That doesn't mean they have to cut the player, it just means they can remove the no-drop designation, so the player may be cut at any point in the future.
- before Season 13, a change was made to Rule 13 making only the bottom 8 teams (plus ties) eligible to pick rather than the bottom 10 teams (plus ties).
- if an owner fails to make a selection in the Rule 13 Draft, the Commish will make a selection on their behalf at the end of the draft.

Rule 13 Draft Tiebreakers - If 2 teams participating in the Rule 13 Draft are tied in the standings, the tiebreakers will be 1) Run Differential (worst run differential picks highest); 2) Runs Scored (least runs scored picks highest); 3) Previous Season's Standings

Lucky Losers Rule! (expanded starting in Season 16) - At the end of each season, the Last Place Team in each Division, plus the next worst team in the entire league (so 5 teams altogether) will have the ability to remove the No-Drop designation from 1 player on their roster. This will allow you to drop a weak player currently on your No-Drop list and pick up a Free Agent in his place.

Too Many No-Drops Rule (added in Season 16, edited in Season 21) - At the end of each season, whichever team has the most no-drop players on their roster will be able to remove the no-drop designation from one of their players. This will allow teams to potentially drop a weaker player who you couldn't drop previously, and hopefully improve by picking up a better player in his place. If there are multiple teams tied with the most no-drop players, all of them will be able to drop the no-drop designation on one player (unless they made the playoffs the previous season).

HISTORIC IMPORTS: Before Season 6, we will have a special Historic Import Draft in which each of the 28 teams will choose 1 player from a special list of pre-1961 Yankee stars. These imports are not restricted by which teams they played for in real life and are all open to any of the 28 teams. Commish's Formula (based on first 5 years of AYL) will be used for the draft order of the Historic Draft. Historic Imports can be traded, and each team may only have one Historic Import on their roster at a time.

PLAYOFFS: Each division winner plus 2 wildcard teams in each League will qualify for playoffs. Division winners will receive top 2 seeds regardless of record. Teams seeded 1 to 4. 2 days off after season will be granted. Day off between series and on travel days. Each series best of 7.

ALL-STAR BREAK: 3 days off will be granted to every team at the All-Star Break, which will take place after "Day" 95 on the schedule (which is after every team has played their 90th Game. A real All-Star Game will be simmed by the Commish using a different Sim - results will be posted on the home page following the game.

PLAYOFF TIEBREAKERS: If teams are tied for a playoff spot, ranking will be determined first by head-to-head matchup, unless it's a tie for the 2nd Wildcard, in which case the teams will have a play-in game.

AWARDS: Each Season, the Cy Young and MVP Awards for each league will be decided by a league-wide vote between 3 candidates (chosen by the Commish). Majority Rules. Commish will act as a tiebreaker if necessary.

Recap of Possible Ways to Receive New Players:
1. Trade for players who played for your team in Real Life
2. Imports - when the Real-Life Yanks add a player who had more ABs/IPs for your team than any other team, he joins your team prior to the next AYL season (exceptions: Yankees and Bombers only receive players who ONLY played for them - they?ll have a Special Draft for their new players each season in which there are qualifying players)
3. Rule 13 - Poorer teams can steal a player from top teams each off-season (player must have played for their team in Real Life)
4. Free Agency - During the Free Agency Period, teams may drop players and pick up Free Agents (as long as those FAs played for their team in Real Life.

No obvious tanking. This includes playing defensive players out of position, using a non-catcher at catcher, sitting star players in favor of weaker players, etc.

No politics, religion, or disrespecting other owners. Some good-natured ribbing/teasing/sarcasm is great, but please don?t cross the line. We?re all here for fun and to play ball.

More rules may be added as necessary.
The Commish (Gus)

League Settings

Year Range of Stats	1860 - 2025
Roster Size (Majors)	26
Roster Size (Minors)	4
Keepers	(49 keepers)
Change Stats Allowed	(not allowed while under contract)
Free Agency
Drops
No-Drop List
Player Fatigue
Batter Injuries	(13 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	Uses WAR
User Sims	(every 6 hours)