Section I-General League Guidelines
1. The League will be divided into an American League and a National League. Each league will consist of an Eastern and Western Division with each division containing 5 teams for a league total of 20 teams. The league will not consist of less than 20 teams, but may expand if need be and if it is possible.
2. Scoring will be based on a head-to-head most category system. The scoring categories will be as follows.
Hitting: Runs, Stolen Bases, Walks, Batting Average, Home Runs, Runs Batted In Pitching: Whip, Earned Run Average, Strikeouts, Wins, Saves, Holds
*Scoring categories may be altered after extensive league discussion and if a scoring category change is in the best interest of the league
3. Each team is allowed up to 10 keepers from season to season. Any keepers must be selected before the keeper lock date. Owners are not required to keep 10 players, they may keep less than 10 if they wish.
*If for any reason, a manager is unable to select their keepers for themselves, they may contact a commissioner with a list of keepers and allow the commissioner to select the keepers for them. Commissioners are not allowed to guess at which players the owner wants to keep.
Section II-Leadership
1. The League will have 2 commissioners. The role of the commissioners will be as follows:
1. Approve or veto trades based on fairness
2. Facilitate conversations about rule changes or rule clarifications
3. Propose rule changes to the League Council
4.Re-open the league every year
5. Settle disputes among the owners
6. Set the keeper lock date, draft date, and trade deadline date
7. Dismiss owners from the league for collusion, failure to manage their team over a long period of time (without a viable excuse), or for any other action deemed a dismissible offense.
8. Admit new owners to the league
9. Arrange league divisions
10. Creating a league schedule
Ryan Burkhart will be Commissioner for life. The Co-Commissioner spot will be a rotating spot that is up for election every 2 years. Every 2 years, the League Council can approve another 2 year term for the Co-Commissioner or vote to elect one of their own to switch places with the Co-Commissioner. It takes a majority vote for somebody (4 votes) to get a new Co-Commissioner elected.
2. The League Council will consist of 7 owners (and does not include the Commissioners) and votes on rule changes proposed by the Commissioners.
Each year, all of the owners in the league vote for 7 managers they want to be on the League Council to decide on league issues. Terms last for 1 year, and the Council will be voted on every year around the League Winter meetings. On their ballots, managers should rank their top 7 choices in order of 1st to 7th. Scoring goes as follows.
1st 7 points
2nd 6 points
3rd 5 points
4th 4 points
5th 3 points
6th 2 points
7th 1 point
The top 7 point getters will be on the League Council. If there is a tie, then a re-vote between the two tied owners will decide the winner. If another tie occurs, the Commissioners will appoint a winner with a coin toss.
The role of the League Council will be to vote on rule changes proposed by the Commissioners. The League Council cannot propose rule changes, but they can discuss rule proposal with Commissioners. Failing to vote on league rule changes can lead to dismissal from the League Council.
If a manager does not cast their vote for the League Council and does not give a valid excuse, they could possibly be dismissed from the league.
Section III-Rosters
1. Each team will be allowed a 25 man roster consisting of the following positions:
C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, OF, OF, OF, Utility
5 Starting Pitchers, 4 Relievers
7 Bench Players
2. Each team will also be allowed 4 Disabled List spots that do not count against their 25 man roster.
3. A player qualifies for a position with either: 10 games played at that position in the current season or 20 games played at that position in the previous season.
Section IV-Transactions
1. Trades-Teams will be allowed to trade players with each other before the trading deadline and after the World Series. Teams will not be allowed to trade after the keeper lock date and before the draft. There is no limit on the number of trades a team can make, or on the number of players involved in a trade. Regardless of the number of players involved in a trade, a team must observe the 25 man roster rule.
2. The trading deadline will be set for the final Friday in July each season.
3. Free Agency-Teams are allowed to pick up and drop as many players as they want via free agency throughout the year. For players placed on waivers, a waiver priority system will be used with the order never resetting throughout the season.
4. Free agency will be locked at the re-opening of the league every year until after the draft. This is to ensure that the worst teams from the previous year will have the first opportunity at the best new players via the draft.
Section V-The Draft
1. Each year, a draft will take place to fill out rosters after keeper selections. The draft order will be determined by team records from the previous season ranging from worst to best. If two teams have identical records, whichever team lost more head to head categories will be given the higher draft spot. The draft will be a standard draft with the order repeating itself every round with exceptions being made for draft picks that were traded between teams.
The first 10 rounds of the draft will be keepers being selected. If a team has less than 10 keepers, once all of their keepers are selected, they will be free to draft any players from the pool of available free agents.
Teams are allowed to include draft picks in any deals made with other teams. If a trade is agreed upon involving draft picks before the league re-opens, the teams need to notify a commissioner and then carry out the rest of the transaction once the league re-opens. If a team involved fails to carry out the rest of a transaction, a commissioner can be notified and the players returned to their original team.
The draft will take place the 3rd weekend in March every year unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Section VI-Playoffs
1. The playoffs will consist of the following teams:
American League East Champion
American League West Champion
American League Wildcard #1 determined by record
American League Wildcard #2 determined by record
National League East Champion
National League West Champion
National League Wildcard #1 determined by record
National League Wildcard #2 determined by record
2. Playoff Seeding-The Division champion with the best record will play the wild card with the worst record in their league. The two other remaining teams will play each other in a playoff matchup. Home field advantage will be given to division champions with regular season record being the determining factor when two division champions meet in the playoffs. Home field advantage in the World Series will be determined by interleague play. Whichever league wins the most categories for the year will get home field advantage in the World Series.
3. Matchup Length-Each playoff matchup will be 2 weeks in length.
4. Playoff Tiebreakers-Playoff tiebreakers will be determined in the following scenarios:
1. Two teams tie for a playoff spot: The team which has the most head to head category wins will receive the spot.
2. Two teams are tied at the end of a playoff matchup: The following categories will be used as tie breakers in this order-Runs, ERA, RBI, Wins, Saves, Batting Average, Home Runs, Strikeouts, Stolen Bases, WHIP, Walks, Holds
Section VII-Disciplinary Action
1. Commissioners are allowed to enforce disciplinary action (including dismissal from the league) for any of the following acts:
1. Participating in collusion or cheating
2. Posting malicious, racist, overly offensive, or lewd items on the message board
3. Failure to run their team for an extended period of time without a viable excuse
4. Purposely throwing matchups for the sake of improving draft position (teams are allowed to trade proven players for young prospects if they wish, however, an attempt to continue using a full starting lineup must be made)
* Any offense from this list or an offense not listed here will carry a penalty which is up to the discretion of the commissioners.
Section IIX-Miscellaneous Items
1. A league championship trophy will be given to the owner of the league champion each year by the commissioners as well as a trophy for their online trophy case. Awards will also be given for the following accomplishments: Division Championships, League Pennants, Manager of the Year, and Comeback Manager of the Year. These awards will be placed in the online trophy cases of the winning managers.
2. If an owner chooses to leave the league, or is removed from the league their franchise is then owned by the league and will be given to a new owner of the commissioners’ choosing. Any person currently on the league waiting list for a team will be given first opportunity at owning the newly available franchise. If an owner who is departing has a family member in mind to take over the team, that does not guarantee it will happen, however, it will be given consideration.
4. Owners are free to request rule clarifications or question rules through the commissioners. However, owners should first consult the League Constitution to answer any question they may have.
5. New Owners-New owners need to be notified before they get their team that if they fail to manage their team adequately, participate in collusion, or any other dismissible offense they will be removed from the league.
If for any reason you are still reading at this point, you rule. Let’s continue to make this league the best fantasy league that has ever existed.
