Hey Everyone,
I'm looking to start a brand new Live Progressive league. In honour of one of my favorite little-know Ballplayers, it will be called the Bid McPhee Baseball League - the BMBL.
The Rules would be nothing you havn't all seen before. I run one other live progressive league (the LPBL - in its 22nd season), so I have some experience as a commish. I also love to play live games, so there will be a substantial live game minimum.
The Basics -
- 16 teams to start, 2 leagues, 2 divisions of 4 teams each league, until wayyy down the line when expansion starts, then we'll expand the league.
- No Salary Cap in this league, however, to prevent long dynasties that stifle fairness and interest in the league, there will be a champion-handicap that I will detail below.
- No Keeper restrictions - you can have as many keepers as you want up to 25, PLUS as many DL players as you want.
- Player Position Limitations - At any position, you can have a max of (N/16 rounded up) players as keepers, plus 1 utility player (1 extra player at any position). This means, if in 1904 there were 21 Third Basemen to choose from, you can have (21/16 = 1.3=2) 2 Third Basemen. Additionally, you could have a 3rd Third Basemen as your 1 utility player that season, but any more than that, and you'd have to drop one of them from your roster.
- IP Limitations - Rosters must have a minimum of 1100 IP, and a Max of 1800 IP in any given season.
- The Opening draft of the league will be Serpentine (1-16, 16-1, 1-16, etc), with the order determined by random.org's sequencer, sequenced by 3 seperate owners and combined by the commish. All eligible players from 1901 will be drafted in the inaugural draft. If a player is eligible from 1900, but does not play in 1901 and returns in 1902 or later, that player will not be in the inaugural draft, but rather, will emerge in the 1902 draft.
- Further league drafts after the initial league draft will be normal order(1-16, 1-16, 1-16), with the draft order randomized in groups of 4 by the random.org sequencer.
- There is a live game minimum of 50 games by game 120 to be eligible for a top 4 draft pick.
- There is a live game minimum of 80 games by season's end to be eligible for the playoffs.
- You must have 35 wins minimum by game 120 to qualify for a top 4 draft pick
- Draft pick trades are allowed, you may trade picks for the upcoming draft in-season, and during the draft you may trade picks for that draft or the next draft, but no further.
- If you trade a draft pick, you must be eligible for that pick - so if you trade your 4th rounder in season, you must be eligible for that 4th rounder so that you can have legally traded it, ergo, you must have no more than 21 keepers. This is prevent guys from trading picks they don't really have.
- If you trade a draft pick and subsequently don't replace it with another pick from another trade, IE you have 21 keepers, and traded your 2nd and 3rd rounder away - the last two spots will be filled by picks at the end of the draft, in a supplemental draft.
- If the available players list becomes empty before all league rosters are full (and it will happen) owners are to complete their roster with 200k players who will NOT be used in season, but rather sent down to the minors for AAA players.
- There will be 2 Sets of AAA players, 12 position players, 4 pitchers...below average ability. Draft wisely!
- Team Stadiums will be determined by the draft - you can draft a stadium at any time during the Inaugural Draft. That becomes your Stadium/City, and only changes if the team moved in real life, or the stadium changed in real life for that team.
Alright, thats about all I can think of - It may seem like a lot of rules, but it's pretty standard from what i can tell. Bottom line - you need 80 live games to make the playoffs, and 50 live games + 35 wins min to be eligible for a top 4 draft pick.
I encourage owners to have some fun with it, build team pages in the League Forum, name field Managers and coaches, etc. You can do as much or as little as you want, as long as you enjoy it.
Finally, the Dynasty-Prevention Cap. Here's how I see it - If a team wins consecutive World Championships....Wow! Congrats! On behalf of the rest of the owners, I can honestly say - Way to go, you SOB. Now, to prevent you from continuing to beat down on the entire league with impunity - After 2 consecutive Championships, the following season, the team that won it all twice will get slapped with a Luxury tax that freezes their Payroll. For that one season after, they cannot have a payroll higher than they did in the 2nd consecutive Championship season. It can be lower, but not higher. Then, if that team happens to win a 3rd consecutive championship, the following season, the cap for that team gets reduced by 5 million from the previous season. Win 4 championships in a row, another 5 million off the cap, etc, etc. Now, if they win two in a row, have the cap in the third season, then do not win the World Series for a 3rd year in a row, the following year, they have no restriction as before. So the only way to remove the restriction after winning consecutive crowns is to not win the World Series a 3rd (or 4th or 5th) time in a row. Winning one year, not winning in year 2, then winning in year 3 - this has no cap limit for that team, because they weren't consecutive, and thus not a true Dynasty.
Some might say this is kinda draconic, but i say - Hey, if a guy is winning consecutive championships, and everyone else has to sit back and watch them do it without having any equalizer - now there's at least some way to equalize it.
Finally - any of the league rules are open to league vote with some decent justification - just ask the commish, me, and I'll put it to a league vote as part of roster submissions for the next season. That includes the above Champion cap. If you don't like it as a league, we'll turf it.
So who is interested? Comments, Queries? Once we have our 16 owners, preparation will begin!
-Moronman