League Rules: (these were posted prior to the first draft) I put them here for further reference)
1. This is a 12 team, two divisions of 6 teams league, with interplay between the divisions. There is no DH, no Waiver Wire, Trades are encouraged, and injuries can happen. Two division winners play each other for the World Series Championship at the end of the season. World Series Winner gets entered into the WIS tournament of champions and can win (once I made the third round!). Salary Cap is set at $120 Million.
2. There will be an inaugural 26 round snake style draft to determine your 25 man roster and your stadium. Team names must reflect where your stadium is located (feel free to be creative!) Draft order will be determined through random.org with the assistance of my two young daughters (who have no idea what this is). Eligible players for the inaugural draft must have WIS statistics for 1920.
3. Year to year we may be able to draft four AAA players, depending on the number of players available in that season. If there are not enough players for the AAA draft, then computer generated AAA players can supplement the WIS pool (these will not be very good WIS AAA players by the way). If there are enough players for the AAA draft, then computer generated AAA players are not allowed to be used for any game, and if used will lead to forfeiture of any game that they played in. If we are not drafting AAA players for that season, then computer generated players can be used in games. Computer generated AAA players can always be used to balance uneven trades.
4. 1920 WIS player pool is 213 batters and 125 pitchers. This allows up to 17-18 batters per team and 10-11 pitchers per team. Assuming some of the batters and pitchers will have few PA/IP, I will state that there will be no draft for AAA players for the inaugural 1920 season. Also teams can draft a maximum of 11 pitchers during the first draft. Commish reserves the right to also appoint up to 4 additional players per team from previous years if there is a lack of talent available in later rounds. Commish appointed players are AAA players, but can be used in game play. Any confusion over the AAA rules will be made more clear once the draft happens.
5. Babe Ruth is available for drafting. There will be a League Discussion thread for owners to discuss whether there should be any penalty for drafting Ruth, such as missing a later pick. Commish gets final say in this matter. (note back in the day, Wayne Gretzky was never allowed in our NHL playoff pools, but that's another story...)
6. Collusion and Tanking will be discouraged. There will be a lottery for the bottom 4 teams at game 120 to determine the draft order for the first four picks (rounds 1 and 2). Teams must win at least 40 games at game 120 to be eligible for the draft lottery, otherwise will draft 5th etc.. I'm not a fan of formulaic rules to further prevent tanking, but these can be adopted if it gets bad like this years NBA!
7. Future draft orders will be based upon a worst to first order at game #120. Note draft lottery is for the first two rounds only, as noted above. Starting with round 3, draft order is worst to first, and will remain so throughout the draft and any AAA draft if one occurs.
8. Teams must switch stadiums and potentially names if their stadium no longer was being used in a future season.
9. In future drafts, each owner must post their maximum 20 keepers for the coming season. I chose 20 to keep any team from stockpiling talent, but still give teams a chance to build a team for the future. In any future draft if a player who was a "keeper" was accidentally left available on the "available player" thread, then for the first two rounds ownership of that player goes back to the original owner. This gives teams a chance to review the "availables" thread to see if any of their players were accidentally made available. Starting with the third round, any player left on the "availables" thread is fair game, unless the two owners can work something out. I have seen this happen both ways so be vigilant!
10. Commish holds the right to add in additional rules if problems arise. Main principle ruling this league, is lets all have fun, and make this work together. Good ideas are always appreciated!
11. If two teams tie for number of Wins at game 120, then tie breaker rules shall apply:
i. First Tie Breaker is head to head record up until and including game 120
ii. Second Tie Breaker is run differential in games played between teams (up until and including game 120)
iii. Third Tie Breaker is Divisional Record
iv. Fourth Tie Breaker is lower Team Salary
v. Coin Flip
12. If three or more teams tie for number of Wins at game 120, then tie breaker rules shall apply:
i. Head to Head Records and Run Differential in all games played between teams are determined
ii. If there is a clear ranking of teams based upon the record between teams +/- run differential, then that rank order applies
iii. If there is no clear ranking of temas based on record between the teams +/- run differnential, then Tie Breaker is based on order of lowest Team Salary
iv. Coin Flip if there is still no clear Ranking
13. If two teams are tied as per wins for the 4th draft slot (worst four teams make the lottery), then the tie breaker determines who gets the 4th draft slot and makes the lottery, and who gets the 5th draft slot and doesn't make the lottery. (by the way my team missed out on the lottery in the first season based on this rule!)