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UPDATED March 4, 2009 Note: BLUE means the rule passed the
voting.
LEAGUE STRUCTURE
1. Our league consists of three divisions as follows:
2. Divisional changes can only occur if one of the following occurs:
a) All managers involved agree to the move.
b) A majority of managers approve of the move.
c) League expands to a point which would require more than 4 divisions.
d) League expands to 15 teams. One expansion team will be added to each
existing division using the random card selection method.
DELETED:
e) If initial league expansion were to include 4 teams, ALL expansion
teams will be placed into a newly created division and the schedule will
be adjusted to take this into account.
f) Any other scenarios will fall directly by application of the "Best Interest" clause
of MLB.
REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE & RULES
1. Each team plays a total of 162 games: 22 games against each
divisional opponent and 12 games against each non-divisional opponent.
2. A manually created fixed schedule will be published at the beginning
of each season based on the results from the previous season. There will
be 8 turns of games with one or two off days each turn, and 4 days off
between Turns 4 and 5 to simulate the All-Star break (see below)
3. A designated hitter will be used in all games.
4. All regular season games will be played in the computer autoplay mode
with manual pitching, line-ups, and managerial preferences. (See Roster and lineup section for more
details.)
5. All Super-Advanced Strat-O-Matic rules are in effect with the
following exceptions. Weather and Day/Night optional rules ARE NOT in
use. Injury rules will not be used during the regular season or
playoffs. Player usage must be controlled by each manager through
roster, pitching rotation, line-up and strategy maintenance.
6. Starting on October 1 (beginning of Turn 8), major league rosters
expand to 40 players.
TURN
PROCEDURE
1.
After completion of the preceding turn, the league shall publish results
and current standings, as well as current statistical files. The
schedule for the new turn and a deadline for the “first half” of the
turn must be published at this time. The majority of the time, the
deadlines will be the 7th & the 21st of the month.
2.
The league will also publish the names of all players that used up all
of their IP/AB/PA in the preceding turn. These players are considered
“burned out” and cannot be used.
3.
Each manager will then deliver a pitching schedule and a 25-man Major
League roster to the Secretary. The pitching
schedule may simply be in the form of a rotation, or it may identify the
name of each pitcher who will start each game of the schedule.
4.
The league will publish all rosters and pitching matchups, and identify
a deadline for the “second half” of the turn. This concludes the first
half of the turn.
5.
Each manager will then deliver further orders to the Secretary. These will include: (A) individual player settings for
each player on the major league roster; (B) manager settings; (C) at
least two, and no more than five batting lineups to be used against
opposing pitchers; (D) lineup assignments, which assign one of the
batting lineups to face each opposing starting pitcher; and (F) any replacements for
players who are running low on IP/AB/PA.
6.
Any manager who misses any deadline will have his team run on
“autopilot,” defined as follows. All decisions that HAL is capable of
making will be made by HAL; the secretary will make all other
decisions based on the best interests of the team. The starting pitchers
will be used in a straight rotation, based on the last five games of the
preceding turn.
7.
The Secretary will then play all games of the turn
using the autoplay feature of the Strat-O-Matic game software. At the
end of each series during the turn, the players running low on IP/AB/PA
will be checked to see whether they have “burned out.” If a player has
burned out, he will be replaced immediately with a player from the minor
leagues. This concludes the second half of the turn.
8.
At the start of the season, the league will publish a handy “fill in the
blanks” form known as a turn template. This will provide spaces for up
to five batting lineups and all manager settings. Managers, especially
new managers, are encouraged to use the turn template to turn in their
orders for the second half of each turn.
PLAYOFF SCHEDULE & SPECIAL PLAYOFF RULES
1. Divisional winners and one wild card team (best record by a team not
to win a division) are eligible for post-season play.
2. All Playoff series will be best of seven using a 2/3/2 format, with
the home field advantage going to the team with the highest regular
season winning percentage. There is one day off after games 2 and 5.
3. The Divisional Playoffs begin two days after the regular season
ends. The team with the best record overall will play the wild card
team, with the other two qualifiers playing each other.
4. Divisional Playoff winners will advance to the World Series. The
World Series begins two days after the Divisional Playoffs end.
3. All post-season games may be played manually on the computer,
utilizing the human manager option. Any manager unable to attend in
person may elect to utilize the various internet play options available,
or may designate another manager to play for him if unable to get the
games in any other way.
5. All carded players are eligible for the post-season with the
following restrictions:
a) Starting pitchers may be designated as a reliever for the duration of
the series, but may not start if so designated. These pitchers will
have a fatigue factor of 2.
b) Pitchers having both a starter and reliever rating can be used in
either or both capacities, as limited by and subject to the fatigue
factor shown on the fielding report. A starter/reliever may both start
and relieve.
c) All post-season players will be limited to no more than the innings
or plate appearances they were capable of using in the regular season.
If a player reaches the maximum innings or plate appearances allowed,
that player must be immediately removed from the game in progress before
throwing another pitch or batting again. Batters may still play defense
or run the bases, but if they come up in the batting order again, a
pinch hitter must be used.
7. Injury rules will not be used during the playoffs.
8. In order to be eligible for the post-season, a player must appear on
his current team’s major league roster in the last game of Turn 6 (August 31) and the first game of Turn
7 (September 1).
9. Post-season rosters may not be changed between the Divisional
Playoffs and the World Series.
10. In case of a regular season tie (between two teams), the team with
the better head-to-head record will host a one game playoff. This one
game comes immediately after the end of the regular season; there is no
off day. If head-to-head record is even, then the team with the better
division record will host the playoff game. This tie-breaker is played
in autoplay mode and the statistics count towards the regular season.
The winner advances to the post-season.
11. Players with innings pitched or plate appearances remaining before
the final regular season series may appear in the one-game playoff with
unlimited playing time.
LEAGUE DUES, FINES & PRIZES
1. Currently, no dues, fines, or prize moneys exist.
2. Managers will be polled before the draft concerning the creation of
dues, fines, and prizes. A majority of managers must vote in favor of
these additions.
BALLPARKS
1. Each manager may select an existing major league stadium from the
available pool.
2. Upon selection of your ballpark, a manager signs an ironclad
three-year lease which prohibits relocation. Your existing major league
stadium factors may vary year-to-year with that park, but you are still
obligated to stay in that park for three years.
3. Teams which have fulfilled their current ballpark lease obligations
may relocate prior to the draft. If a team changes ballpark, a new
three-year lease takes effect. If a team chooses not to relocate, that
team may do so after any following year.
5. You may not trade your ballpark under any circumstances.
6. New owners will be allowed to change their
team name and choose a ballpark BEFORE the draft (conditional for the
2009 season)
7. A team may choose to break a three year lease at
the start of the season, before the draft. This will cost that team any 2nd
round draft pick they may have. If that draft pick has already been
traded away, the team can’t move to a new ballpark that year.
DRAFT
1. Managers shall designate any number of players from their previous
season’s roster as protected for the upcoming draft at least two weeks
before the draft.
2. Once the protected lists are published, managers may trade to
increase or decrease their protected roster prior to the draft.
3. Players that are eligible for the draft will be posted by the league
Secretary at least four weeks before the draft. Eligible players are
those players who have “cards” published by the Strat-O-matic Game
Company. This is supposed to be limited to players with at least 30 IP
or 50 AB the previous MLB season, but a few exceptions have been
recorded in the history of the league.
4. Draft order is determined as follows:
a) Reverse order of finish in the prior year’s season.
b) The above order is repeated in all successive rounds (NOT
serpentine).
c) Head-to-head record and then division record will be used as tie
breakers for determination of draft position.
5. It's not a rule, but managers SHOULD draft enough players at each
position to cover for a year. With 40 players it shouldn't be a
problem.
6. Teams with more than 16 players protected at the start of the draft
will forfeit one draft pick per excess player, starting with that team’s
second round pick. If a team does not still have its own draft pick in
a certain round, it may not protect that many excess players.
7. A team may protect up to two players that did not have cards
published for them without sacrificing a draft pick, besides at the end
of the draft. This is known as placing a player on injured
reserve. Players placed on injured reserve may not play in any games
the season following the draft that they were put on the injured
reserve.
8.
Trades can occur during the draft. However, the moment a team has 40
players it cannot draft any more players in that draft. If a subsequent
trade during the draft reduces that team below 40 players, this rule
will still be enforced.
ROSTERS
1. Each team drafts until it has 40 players.
2. After the draft, managers may increase or decrease their rosters
through trading.
3. Each team must maintain a 25 man Major League roster, and the rest of
the players are designated as Minor Leaguers.
4. Teams are required to at all times be capable of fielding a team with
the minimum number of plate appearances and innings pitched needed to
complete the regular season. As listed above, we have a SUGGESTED
minimum for plate appearances and innings pitched to start a season. As
of the All-Star break trade deadline, all teams are required to meet the
following minimum requirements:
a) 5 plate appearances per batting position per game left to play.
Distribution of plate appearances must be in such a manner as to insure
that the team will always be capable of fielding a complete 25 man
roster.
b) 6 starting innings, 2.5 relief innings, and 9 overall innings pitched
per game left to play.
TRADING
1. All trades must be reported to the league Secretary via email AND on
the forum before
publication of the following month’s pitcher rotations and rosters.
2. All trades will be published by the league once each month. All
trades should be posted & confirmed on the league's forum.
3. The league website will contain updated rosters and
draft listings.
4. All exchanges as the result of a trade must take place at the time of
the trade. A manager may only trade players and picks which appear on
his current roster and draft pick listing.
5. "Loaning" of players is prohibited.
6. Only draft picks for the next draft may be traded.
7. The trade deadline is the publication of pitching matchups and Major
League rosters for Turn 8. All trades must be completed before the
start of Turn 8.
10. At the end of the regular season, trading for the upcoming season
may begin, but will not affect the current post-season.
11. Any manager can protest a trade and thus force a vote by all of the
teams.
12. Conditional trades are not allowed.
PITCHING
1. Pitcher usage is limited to actual innings pitched in the previous
MLB season.
2. Starters require 4 days of rest between starts unless they have the
asterisk (*) designation on the supplemental listing from Strat, in
which case they may start on 3 days rest. The fatigue factor shown on
the fielding report is NOT to be used. I.E. no one can ever start on one
or two days rest even if the fielding report says they could. And even
if the fielding report shows them to have 3 days rest fatigue, they can
only start on 3 days rest if they have a (*) rating.
3. Starter/relievers must be designated at the beginning of each month
as a starter or a reliever and that may not change during the month. Any
pitcher who is designated to start at least one game in any month will
be considered a starter for the whole month.
4. If a pitcher has less than 45 IP remaining, then the maximum number
of games he can start during a turn will be limited based on the chart
below left. (In order to start X games, Y innings must remain.)
Alternatively, if the manager uses player settings to limit the pitcher
to 6 IP or less per start, then the maximum number of games he can start
during a turn will be limited based on the chart below right. (In order
to start M games, N innings must remain.)
X-Y M-N
1-1 1-1
2-8 2-7
3-15 3-13
4-22 4-19
5-29 5-25
6-36 6-31
7-43 7-37
NOTE: Even if a pitcher runs out of innings before a start, if that
pitcher was allowed to start based on these charts, then he will start
the game as normal without any penalty.
POSITION PLAYERS
1. Position players (including DHs) are limited to the actual number of
plate appearances from the previous MLB season. A position player will
be removed from a roster following the series he runs out of plate
appearances.
2. Players may not start a game at a position where they are not rated,
except for outfielders. A player who is rated in CF can start in RF or
LF without penalty. A player who is rated in RF can start LF with no
penalty but is -1 range for CF. A player who is rated in LF only is -1
range for RF and -2 range for CF.
4. If a position player is approaching his plate-appearance limit, a
substitute should be declared by the manager in the event that he runs
out of at-bats during the month. Other reasonable defensive changes can
be specified in the event of substitution, but manager profile settings
cannot be changed. Whatever manager profile is set up at the start of a
month will remain in effect for the entire month regardless of usage.
AWARDS VOTING
Awards will be determined by the computer program at the end of the year
via the league's stats page.
EMERGENCIES AND UNUSUAL SITUATIONS
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