This is the Modern Era Random-as-Possible Progressive (MERAPP) League. It's the baby brother to URAPP, the Ultimate Random-as-Possible Progressive. Here's how it works:
Season Usage: Most progressives follow baseball from year to year in order. This one is different because all the players from the DH era are available at the same time. Prior to each season of this league, your player years will be selected randomly. So if you have Alex Rodriguez, you'll get any year between (and including) 1994 and 2016. This means you could get a fantastic season out of him, or instead get a non-WIS year. For example, if 2014 is drawn (his suspension year), you'll be unable to use him that season and he goes on your DL. The same goes for any year in which a player did not play enough to qualify for a WiS listing. You could even get the same year two seasons in a row. This adds a realistic sense in that you know you have a great player but you may or may not get a great year out of him.
Free Agency: To incorporate the era of free agency and to add another random element, you will randomly lose five of your 30 players after each season (30? Yes, we'll get to that.) Those players become free agents and may be selected in the offseason draft. You may waive additional players if you wish. The draft order will be completely random each round. So you may draft 8th in the first round, and 15th in the second round, etc.
Cookies: All players in the WIS database are fair game, provided they played in 1973 or beyond. If their career pre-dates 1973, their entire career will be drawn from (so some 1960s years will appear). However, some players had very short careers, or are currently young players in the game. To prevent someone from overloading on players with short careers but great seasons, each team may only have three players with less than a three-year span on baseball-reference.com. So it's a maximum of three one- or two-year guys. A current MLB season not yet in the WiS database does not count.
Fine print: Each team shall have 30 men on their roster. All 30 players will receive random seasons. We'll use the "choose your own AAA" feature so that you may add all 30 (minus any DL guys) to your squad and promote/demote as you see fit up until the trade deadline (yes, trades are allowed). This will help with innings shortages or depth at certain positions. There is a DH in both leagues. No clones, no salary cap. Random realignment each season. Each team will represent a particular franchise and you may only use stadiums from your franchise in use since 1973. You may name your team whatever you like, it doesn't have to reflect your city or stadium.
In closing, this is much like URAPP. Except rather than all the players in baseball history being available, we're focusing on the DH era and players we've grown up watching. If you like progressives, random leagues or just wanna try something new, jump in!
7/1/2019 7:20 AM (edited)