Here are the rules:
(Original rules created by dn3524)

1) Every owner picks an exclusive franchise, Yankees are blacklisted but will be used (read on)
2) The league will include the years 1967-present day
3) We will NOT start in 1967 and move forward. Each owner can use EVERY SEASON ONCE in ANY ORDER they would like
4) Huh ....you say?? Let's say I pick the Cardinals...as I will. Each season I can pick any season between 1967-present day. That is the season I will use ....real life stats and all....for that season of our league.
5) This is where the SUPER SECRET part comes in......the rest of the league won't know what season you are using until they have entered their team in the league.
6) Each year every owner will sitemail me by a deadline with their year selection for their franchise. For example...if someone is using the Reds they would sitemail me with "1981 Reds for our current season." Maybe that same season I am using the 2003 Cardinals. It will be teams from across the decades all in one season. It is important to NOT LET ANY OTHER OWNERS KNOW WHAT SEASON YOU WILL USE.
7) By keeping it a secret every season we will have no idea how our team will compete. Even if we have chosen one of our franchises bad seasons....doesn't mean our team will be bad. Maybe there are a lot of other bad teams in the league.
8) Each year can ONLY BE USED ONCE. Once you use it the year is burned...gone...never to be seen again.
9) Again.....to be clear...you are simply using the real roster of your team. For "combined season" players you may use full OR partial, just as long as they are listed with your team.
:

AAA - yes....a decent amount to fill in IP and PA.....but they will be BELOW AVERAGE. (You WILL be able to manually add real life overflow players from your roster to your AAA if you'd like)
DH - No
Trades - Yes, single season only
WW - No
Transaction Deadline - not until end of season

ALIGNMENT

Each season once I have the teams we will align by real life win pct for each team's season....highest to lowest. So the AL West will be the 4 worst teams. That way everyone will still have a chance to win every year

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NEW RULES

1. No 2 consecutive season winning pct chosen can exceed 1.100. In addition, for every 5-season period, at least 1 season used must be sub-.500.

2. Interleague Play - NO. Most owners were against it or had no real preference, May revisit this after a few seasons.

3. Free Agent / Franchise Free Agent Twist
A. Split all teams into 3 levels to determine FAs (with # of teams awarded FAs)

level 1: overall winning pct .510+ (8 teams) 1 FA for teams under .450 pct
Boston(0), Cincinnati(5), LAD(2), STL(4), Atlanta(12), Oakland(7), Baltimore(11), SF(9)

level 2: winning pct .490-.509 (8 teams) 1 FA for teams under .500 pct
Houston(17), Phil(22), LAAngels(23), CWS(22), NYM(22), Tor/Arz(21), Minn(22), Detroit(21)

level 3: winning pct below .490 (10 teams) 1 FA or Twist for teams .500-.550 pct --PLUS-- additional 1 FA or Twist for teams under .500 pct*(updated)
Pitt(21/15), ChiC(28/12), Clev(25/12), Texas(28/12), KC(19/15), Wash/Mtl(23/14), Milw(21/14), Col/Sea(28/19), Fla/TB(12/16), SD(22/17)

*Limit 1 Twist per season. So for every level 3 team, add the 2 #s together for total teams getting FA-only teams above .550 don't get help


B. Free Agents - New York Yankees plus any other franchise not selected will be available for use, but must be from same season as your team.

C. Franchise FA Twist (optional) - The following franchises: Pittsburgh, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland, Texas, Kansas City, Washington/Montreal, Milwaukee, Colorado/Seattle, Florida/Tampa Bay, San Diego will be given additional option of *twisting* a player from current roster in place of FA. Must use a season from your franchise. Limit 1 per season.

D. FA Tiebreaker - Any 2 or more owners selecting same season will use RL Franchise Winning PCT (1967-2011) as tiebreaker. All owners from teams listed above must state intentions as to Franchise FA option when selecting team. Team with lowest Franchise pct gets 1st choice of that seasons FA regardless of where they are aligned. ie San Diego and San Francisco both select same season. SD (.463) gets 1st pick from FA over SF (.510) even if SD is in ALE and SF is in ALW.


Also I'd like to implement an idea that was suggested some time back (not by me). Assuming we get this off the ground, I will be setting up seasons 1&2 and tracking all selected teams/FA etc. then as we proceed on to season 3 and beyond I'd like to have the returning champ set up the next seasons league as extra reward/incentive. Anyone not wanting to do so doesn't have to; I'll do it in those seasons. I will still be taking on all the responsibilities of running the league etc, but returning champ will get free team. Then I'll sitemail the season I will be using to that owner prior to seeing anyone elses super secret choice.

Level 2 teams available-1

Houston - .504 ranked 9th of 26. Top team in level 2. Tied for 4th most winning seasons.
28 seasons @ .500 or above - 8 above .550 - 17 below .500 (FA seasons)
Top 5 seasons - .630, .599, .593, .574, .574.
14/15 above .500 seasons (92-06)
Players: Killer B's, Joe Morgan, Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, JR Richard, Don Sutton,Roy Oswalt.

 

Level 3 teams available-3

Cleveland - .484 ranked 20th of 26.
16 seasons @ .500 or above- 8 above .550 - 29 below .500 (2 FA seasons) plus 8 more w/ 1 FA.
Top 5 seasons: .694, .615, .599, .593, .584.
Players: Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, Roberto Alomar, Gaylord Perry, Luis Tiant, Bert Blyleven, CC Sabathia, Dennis Martinez.

Milwaukee - .477 ranked 22nd of 26.
15 seasons @ .500 or above - 8 above .550 - 28 below .500 (2 FA seasons) plus 7 more w/ 1 FA.
Top 5 seasons: .593, .590, .586, .574, .569.
Players: Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Cecil Cooper, Don Sutton, Mike Caldwell, Ben Sheets, Rollie Fingers.

Colorado/Seattle combo - .470 ranked 24th of 26.
18 seasons @ .500 or above - 7 above .550 - 36 below .500 (2 FA seasons) plus 11 more w/ 1 FA.
Top 5 seasons: .716, .574, .574, .568, .562.
14 straight losing seasons (Sea 77-90).
Players: Ken Griffey Jr, A-Rod, Ichiro Suzuki, Edgar Martinez, Todd Helton, Larry Walker, Troy Tulowitzki, Randy Johnson,Felix Hernandez.

I'll take the Mets JAMESA. Looks like a fun one.

thanks JG

Just to be clear ...if I take a level 3 team and I pick a year below .500 can I supplement this team with two free agents....or two career twists or does it have to be one twist and one free agent?

can be 2 free agents - OR -  1 free agent and 1 twist

twist has to be from a season played on selected franchise, not entire career - to clarify

looks as though Angels may also be available, so we probably need 2 more owners. I'm leaving ad at needing 1 owner.

If anyone takes on 1 of these franchises I'll take on 2nd team to get us started


Teams Available

Colorado/Seattle
Houston
LA Angels
Pittsburgh

TEAMS TAKEN
1) St. Louis - dn3524
2) Cincinnati - forte4him
3) Detroit - occsid
4) Oakland - ace1430
5) Atlanta - tabasko
6) Boston - busterglen
7) LA Dodgers - dannino
8) Philadelphia - lenbo1212
9) Florida/Tampa - crazyjoe02
10) Washington/Montreal - ljemd
11) San Francisco - JAMESA
12) Minnesota - specsman
13) Chicago Cubs - mark102857
14) Baltimore - biggriz
15) Texas - reddtrain
16) Houston - Robin4
17) Kansas City - thomsonb
18) Chicago WS - mikemundt
19) San Diego - wgasa
20) New York Mets - JGreene
21) Toronto/Arizona - cleonjones
22) Milwaukee - pugs
23) Cleveland - mountainjack
24) LA/Anaheim Angels - Rattlers

Free Agent Teams

Colorado/Seattle
New York Yankees
Pittsburgh

I will take the Angels if you still need somebody

they're yours Rattlers, thanks for joining...and NOW we are full w/24 different owners.

sitemails will be coming tonight and/or tomorrow night - I'm going to send out a separate sitemail for each franchise level.

thanks everyone for your patience while  filled !!!!!

TEAMS TAKEN
1) St. Louis - dn3524
2) Cincinnati - forte4him
3) Detroit - occsid
4) Oakland - ace1430
5) Atlanta - tabasko
6) Boston - busterglen
7) LA Dodgers - dannino
8) Philadelphia - lenbo1212
9) Florida/Tampa - crazyjoe02
10) Washington/Montreal - ljemd
11) San Francisco - JAMESA
12) Minnesota - specsman
13) Chicago Cubs - mark102857
14) Baltimore - biggriz
15) Texas - reddtrain
16) Houston - Robin4
17) Kansas City - thomsonb
18) Chicago WS - mikemundt
19) San Diego - wgasa
20) New York Mets - JGreene
21) Toronto/Arizona - cleonjones
22) Milwaukee - pugs
23) Cleveland - mountainjack
24) LA/Anaheim Angels - Rattlers

Free Agent Teams

Colorado/Seattle
New York Yankees
Pittsburgh