I just made my first TOC, am waiting for the league to fill up and had a few questions:

* It appears that the salary cap is $90M but I'm coming from a $80M league. Will I have an opportunity to take on $10M in more salary? If so, will I be limited to a waiver wire or can I take any player (draft style)?

* Is it a playoff format, best out of 7 with teams advancing until only one remains?

no you cant add players. you're in a $90m tourney because you have AAA players on your team and their value is included.

It's single elimination, 1st 3 rounds are best of 5, last 2 rounds are best of 7.

Fatigue is a killer in toc, be prepared.

I was just eliminated quickly from my third TOC. At least I made it to the second round this time. But Clackumus is right, fatigue is brutal. I had a 94 Maddux and kept him at 100% all year. Kept him at 100% through the playoffs and WS. Pitches game one of TOC and goes down to 65%, three games off and he was at something like 78% and I couldn't even use him in game 5.

One important thing to know is that your fatigue in the TOC has nothing at all to do with how you used your player during the original season. Whether you had burned Maddux to the ground in your original season, or used him not at all, his TOC fatigue after game 1 would have been the same.

Thanks Contrarian good to know. Guess the key is to cut down pitch counts.

Interesting. So players will become more quickly fatigued in TOC? I have a 3 man rotation. Actual stats around 360 IP/pitcher, sim closer to 385 IP/pitcher. Pitch count between 100 and 115. I didn't have any problem with starter fatigue. Will it present a challenge in TOC? Will I need to drop my pitch counts or plan to use a 4th man if I hope to have any success?

fatigue is no worse than the beginning of the season, it just seems worse because you're reluctant to use your scrubs.

Some of the teams are just short of $90M while most are closer to $80M ($80M + $1.6M in prospects). How does that occur? Are teams with $90M in payroll at a competitive advantage?

Your AAA players are real players from the database with real prices. While they're shown as 200k, they are nearly always worth more than that, which is why you are in a 90mil TOC.

Teams with closer to a $90M payroll played in custom $90M leagues, not Open Leagues.

...and yes.

Please disregard if these questions have been answered elsewhere. Regarding fatigue, do they insert a day of rest in between series? If you finish a series early, do you receive an extra day's rest for each game, thus improving fatigue? Last, how are seedings determined? Record, Exp % or none of the above?

I forget how the fatigue works between series. I believe that you get extra rest IF you win the series in fewer games than your next opponent. i.e. if you sweep round 1 and your next opponent won their first series 3-1, I think you get an extra day of rest compared to him. Not sure though.

Seeding within brackets is strictly by what your W/L% was in your original season. Not sure how they decide which teams go in which brackets, but my guess is that it's random.

Also, if you think you're at a disdvantage in a 90M TOC, wait until the day when you win an OL with AAA players whose total actual salary puts you over $90M. If your total salary (including AAA) is $90,000,001 or greater, you get placed in a 100M TOC instead.