Post by Rangers GM (Stephen) on Nov 17, 2015 5:46:30 GMT -5
2.1 League Scoring
2.2 Scoring Categories
2.3.1 Regular Season Format
2.3.2 Playoff Format
2.3.3 Regular Season and Playoff Scheduling
2.3.4 MBL End of Season
2.4 Yearly Divisional Pairings
2.5.1 Regular Season Standings
2.5.2 Divisional Winners
2.5.3 Divisional Winner Seedings
2.5.4 Wildcards
2.6.1 Regular Season Tiebreakers
2.6.2 First Tiebreakers
2.6.3 Second Tiebreaker
2.6.4 Third Tiebreaker
2.6.5 Fourth Tiebreaker
2.6.6 Fifth Tiebreaker
2.6.7 Sixth Tiebreaker
2.6.8 Seventh Tiebreaker
2.6.9 Final Tiebreaker
2.7 Playoff Tiebreakers
2.8.1 Roster Limits
2.8.2 Playoff Roster Restrictions
2.9 Identification of 1st Year Players2.10 Players Missing from a Roster
2.11 Proboards Roster Updates
2.12 Roster Moves On The Scoring Website
2.13 New Owner Dispensation to Optionally Reduce One Multi-Year Contract to an Expiring Contract
2.14 Starting Lineup
2.15 Hitting and Pitching Minimums
2.16 Hitting and Pitching Maximums
2.17 Active Rosters of Unowned Teams
2.18 Position Eligibility
2.19 New Roster Maintenance Period
2.20 Historical Rosters
2.21 Loss of Proboards
2.1 League Scoring
League scoring will be hosted on Fantrax.
At the conclusion of the regular season the playoff matchups will be configured by the Commissioner.
Whilst the Commissioner takes responsibility for administering the Fantrax leagues, team GMs are always responsible for accurately managing their roster and setting their lineup.
2.2 Scoring Categories
The league is a 5x5 category H2H league, with a point awarded for each category win in any week. Categories tied in a week will be scored as a tie.
The hitting categories are: Runs, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, Stolen Bases, Batting Average.
The pitching categories are: Wins, Saves+Holds, Strikeouts, ERA, WHIP.
2.3.1 Regular Season Format
The MBL will be played over an 18 week regular season to identify teams progressing to the playoffs.
The regular season for all teams will comprise of two matchups against each of your four Divisional rivals, and one matchup against each of the teams in the two Divisions your own Division has been matched with in the Divisional Pairings (as specified in rule 2.4).
2.3.2 Playoff Format
The playoff structure will mirror MLB playoffs, with the top two divisional winners progressing straight to the League Divisional Series and the remaining divisional winner and three wildcards qualifying for the Wildcard Series.
The Wildcard matchups will be played over 1 week, with the Third Seed facing the Sixth Seed and the Fourth Seed facing the Fifth Seed.
The LDS matchups will be played over 1 week, with the First Seed facing the winner of the Fourth seed vs Fifth seed Wildcard matchup and the Second Seed facing the winner of the Third Seed vs Sixth Seed Wildcard matchup. Winners of the LDS matchups progress to play in the League Championship Series.
The LCS matchups will be played over 2 weeks, with the winners progressing to play in the World Series.
The World Series will be played over 2 weeks, with the winners crowned World Champions.
2.3.3 Regular Season and Playoff Scheduling
If the MLB schedule allows, the shortened All Star week will be added to the following week to make one scoring period and the World Series will finish in the penultimate week of the season. The Commissioner will announce at the earliest opportunity if the schedule for the coming season does not accommodate these preferences, and how the schedule will be amended to fit our chosen regular season and playoff formats.
2.3.4 MBL End of Season
The MBL season ends immediately upon the conclusion of the MBL World Series. Upon the completion of a season there must be no further edits to the 'old' team roster, and a new roster for the coming season should be posted as soon as possible.
2.4 Yearly Divisional Matchups
Starting in 2016, the yearly divisional matchups will run on an 18-year cycle as detailed here:
mlbbaseballleague.proboards.com/thread/11/yearly-divisional-pairings
2.5.1 Regular Season Standings
The final regular season standings will be determined by ordering the Win% of each team, with the highest Win% being ranked first. Win% is calculated to be:
Wins + (0.5 * Ties) / Games Played
2.5.2 Divisional Winners
The team in each Division finishing highest in the standings will be crowned Divisional Winner.
2.5.3 Divisional Winner Seedings
The three Divisional Winners will be ranked in order of Win% from the season. The team highest in the standings will be awarded First Seed, the second highest in the standings will be awarded Second Seed, and the remaining Divisional Winner will be Third Seed.
2.5.4 Wildcards
All non-Divisional Winners in each League will be ranked in order of Win% from the season. The top three in the standings will be awarded Wildcard berths with the top Wildcard being awarded the Fourth Seed, the second Wildcard the Fifth Seed, and the remaining Wildcard the Sixth Seed.
2.6.1 Regular Season Tiebreakers
Tied teams with the same Win% will be entered into a tiebreaker to determine their position in the standings. If the first tiebreaker does not determine a winner then subsequent tiebreakers will be used until a winner is reached.
2.6.2 First Tiebreakers
Tied teams will be separated by Most Wins, with the team with the most wins being ranked first.
2.6.3 Second Tiebreaker
Tied teams will be separated by head-to-head record in matchups between each other from the current season (only applicable when tied teams were in the same Fantrax league in the regular season), with the team with the winning head-to-head record being ranked first.
2.6.4 Third Tiebreaker
Tied teams will be separated by comparing their regular season divisional records, with the highest Win% within their own Division being ranked first.
2.6.5 Fourth Tiebreaker
Tied teams will be separated by comparing their regular season divisional records, with the Most Wins within their own Division being ranked first.
2.6.6 Fifth Tiebreaker
Tied teams will be separated by comparing their regular season records from the second half (ie cumulative scores from weeks 10 through 18), with the highest Win% from weeks 10 through 18 being ranked first.
2.6.7 Sixth Tiebreaker
Tied teams will be separated by comparing their regular season records from the second half (ie cumulative scores from weeks 10 through 18), with the Most Wins from weeks 10 through 18 being ranked first.
2.6.8 Seventh Tiebreaker
Tied teams will be separated by total cumulative HR hit during the regular season, with the most HR being ranked first.
2.6.9 Final Tiebreaker
A winner will be determined by coin toss.
2.7 Playoff Tiebreakers
Playoff matchups resulting in a tied score will be awarded to the highest seeded team.
World Series matchups resulting in a tied score will be awarded to the team with the highest Win% in the regular season (see rule 2.5.1). If the two teams had the same Win% in the regular season, tiebreakers from rule 2.6 will be used in order.
2.8.1 Roster Limits
The size of your active roster will be determined by the scoring website.
The size of your whole roster, as tracked on Proboards, is unlimited as long as the team remains under the salary cap.
2.8.2 Playoff Roster Restrictions
Any player that finishes the MBL regular season on another team's roster will be considered an ineligible player for the duration of the playoffs, regardless of how and when they are acquired by the playoff team.
Any player that finishes the MBL regular season on another team's roster will be considered an ineligible player for the duration of the playoffs, regardless of how and when they are acquired by the playoff team.
2.9 Identification of 1st Year Players
Regardless of age, experience or obviousness, every player shown on a roster as a 1st year player should also have their affiliated real life big-league club shown, either against their name or as the header of a list in which they are contained.
2.10 Players Missing from a Roster
Any player with a guaranteed contract found to be missing from it's rightful roster must be added immediately.
Any player with a non-guaranteed (ie arbitration) contract found to be missing from it's rightful roster should be added immediately or unprotected in the 'Roster Moves' folder unless the player has since been protected by another team under rule 7.7.
2.11 Proboards Roster Updates
The result of any trade, retirement or free agent auction must be reflected upon Proboards roster pages within 14 days of the final TC approval or the auction's end. Once the roster page has been updated, the updating owner(s) must post confirmation within the trade or free agent thread that the roster update has been performed.
It will be assumed that Proboards rosters will be updated at the same time as a posting to protect or unprotect an arbitration eligible player, so no other confirmation of that roster update is required.
2.12 Roster Moves On The Scoring Website
It is recommended that all players being paid a salary by your team (whether by guaranteed contract, or as a protected 1st-6th year player) are added to your roster on the scoring website immediately upon acquisition, and are retained there until they are posted for trade or are removed from your salaried Proboards roster for any other reason.
Players who are not being paid a salary by your team (unprotected 1st-6th year players, or players not under control by your team) should not be present on your roster on the scoring website (refer to rule section 6.4 to see the penalties for accumulating stats with ineligible players).
2.13 New Owner Dispensation to Optionally Reduce One Multi-Year Contract to an Expiring Contract
A new owner joining a team is entitled to reduce one inherited multi-year contract to expire in the coming offseason. To do so the new owner must contact the commissioners within 28 days of joining the team to specify which contract should be reduced. If the new owner does not contact the commissioner during this period then they waive the ability to reduce a contract in length.
If the contract reduction request is made after the trade deadline but before the beginning of the Previously Unlisted Free Agent group then the contract reduction is instantaneous. If the request is made during this window and after the end of the MBL End of Season then the player immediately becomes a free agent.
If the contract reduction request is made after the beginning of the Previously Unlisted Free Agent group and before the next trade deadline then the contract reduction does not occur immediately upon request. The revised contract length would go into effect at the subsequent trade deadline (as mentioned in rule 4.9) provided that the guaranteed contract to be reduced has been continually present on the roster since the new owner assumed control of the team.
No hometown discount will be applicable when the player is auctioned after his contract reduction.
2.14 Starting Lineup
Starting lineups may be changed daily, with each player locking in position 1 minute before the first pitch of their game. The active starting positions are:
Hitters:
C
1B
2B
SS
3B
LF
CF
RF
Util (DH)
Pitchers:
SP
SP
SP
P
P
RP
RP
RP
RP
2.15 Hitting and Pitching Minimums
In regular season or one-week playoff matchups, each team must compile a minimum of 10 innings pitched and 20 at bats per matchup to qualify for the ERA/WHIP and BA categories respectively.
In two-week playoff matchups, each team must compile a minimum of 20 innings pitched and 40 at bats per matchup to qualify for the ERA/WHIP and BA categories respectively.
Where both teams in a matchup forfeit the same category, a tie will be awarded for that category.
2.16 Hitting and Pitching Maximums
There are no maximum limits for at bats, innings pitched, or starts made in any week or matchup.
2.17 Active Rosters of Unowned Teams
In an attempt to avoid 'walkovers' which may adversely impact fairness and have playoff implications, the active roster of every unowned team will be set on a weekly basis by the Commissioner (usually on a Sunday evening or Monday morning). This will ensure that owned teams will still need to achieve a reasonable standard of performance to score good points. Lineup decisions made on the behalf of unowned teams by the Commissioner are solely at their discretion, and will not be influenced in any way. Unowned team lineups will not be changed or amended midweek at any time or for any reason.
A TC member will be designated to set the weekly lineup of any unowned team(s) in the Commissioner's Fantrax league pairing.
2.18 Position Eligibility
Position eligibility for all players will be determined by the scoring website. Fantrax's positional eligibility is as follows:
Hitters qualify for any position where they have made 10 appearances in the past season, or 10 appearances in the current season.
Pitchers qualify as an SP when they have made 5 starts in the past season, or 5 starts in the current season.
Pitchers qualify as an RP when they have made 5 relief appearances in the past season, or 5 relief appearances in the current season.
Eligibility for players who fail to meet any of the above criteria is solely at the discretion of Fantrax.
2.19 New Roster Maintenance Period
Following the conclusion of the MBL season, each owner will post a new roster for the coming season. This roster will contain an exact list of players on the 'old' team roster excluding any players lost to free agency, with arbitration years incremented and new salaries shown where appropriate. To allow the smooth completion of pre-season roster checks, new rosters will be frozen until the formation of the new trade committee. No trades, protects or unprotects are permitted during this time. The end of this freeze will be announced by the Commissioner.
2.20 Historical Rosters
It is every owner's responsibility to retain all of their team's roster threads from past seasons - regardless of age or author. When rosters are generated for new seasons (i.e. when arbitration contracts are recalculated and lost free agents identified) they must be posted as a new thread. A rolling edit of the previous season's roster is not acceptable.
2.21 Loss of Proboards
The Commissioner will take responsibility for capturing backups of roster pages and the rule book twice a season - usually at the completion of free agency and at the end of the MBL End of Season. These backups will be stored in isolation from Proboards.
In case of a full loss of our league board(s), all owners will be contacted via the email address linked to the scoring website. When a new host service is established and setup, every roster will be restored to that of their last backup. If the loss occurs during the MBL season, results until that date will remain but rosters must be immediately updated to reflect only the players present on the restored backup roster. All transactions between the backup and the loss of the league board(s) will be deemed as lost.