This league will require some decisions regarding rosters that will allow for some semblance of player turnover (unlike traditional "keep whoever you want" progressives), while still maintaining a relatively simple system.
The general idea is simple: you are not allowed to have more than 60M worth of keepers on your roster prior to the draft. This will prevent teams from hoarding ABs and IP. This is a rough approximation of free agency. Once the draft begins, you may choose any players you want, but keep in mind that you need to reduce your payroll to under 60M prior to the next season's draft. In most cases, teams will have to drop players that they would have ordinarily kept in other progressives.
The league will start with 1962 (first year of 20 teams) with a 16-team league. The extra four players worth of teams will make it viable for everyone to pick up enough free agents via the draft to fill positional holes and to have enough innings.
The future plan would be to go to 20 teams in 1969, and 24 in 1977, then 26 in 1993 and 28 in 1998. That way there would always be some extra players lying around while still requiring some strategy and planning to draft.
Other rules are pretty standard:
Draft order - Serpentine for the 1962 inaugural draft, worst-to-first after that. No lottery. Ties for draft order will be resolved in this order: Head to Head (worse team picks first), Division Record (worse team picks first), Home Wins (fewer home wins pick first). There will be a wins floor of 54 wins. Failure to meet the wins floor will result in that owner choosing 6th. If multiple teams fail to meet the wins floor, the team that came closest will pick 6th, with each team picking after that team in reverse order of wins. eg if three teams win 53, 51, and 49 games respectively, the 53 win team will pick 6th, 51 win team 7th, and 49 win team 8th.
Keepers - No maximum, just keep it under 60M
IR - Allowed, and no maximum amount. Any player bought back from the IR will count towards the 60M keeper maximum upon their return.
Stadium - Must match the team you pick
Team City - If your team moves, you can move or stay. If you stay, the team will remain in its original stadium. The team may later move to the new city, but once they do, they cannot move back.
Team Names - Name your team whatever you want as long as it is not racist or otherwise gross. "Indians" will not be considered racist for the purposes of this league due to the historical existence of said name, but only Cleveland may choose this name.
Divisional Alignment - Will be as close as possible, but if out of the 16 original teams, we have more AL or NL teams, we will get creative. I'd rather let people have the team they want then shoehorn the league. I will pick my team last, so maybe I can balance things out.
AAA - Below average, 6 hitters and 4 pitchers.
DH - After the 1972 season but before the 1973 draft, teams in the American League only will vote on whether or not to add the DH. Given that there will be ten teams in the AL at that point, a 5-5 tie is possible. If 6 or more owners in the AL choose to add the DH, it will be added. Otherwise, it will not. Adding or not adding the DH will not affect the 60M cap. It will remain in place regardless.
If the DH is added by the AL in 1973 - After the 2021 season but before the 2022 draft, teams in the National League will vote on whether or not to add the DH. Given that there will be fourteen teams in the NL at that point, a 7-7 tie is possible. If eight or more owners in the NL choose to add the DH, it will be added. Otherwise, it will not.
If the DH is NOT added by the AL in 1973 - After the 2021 season but before the 2022 draft, teams in both leagues will vote on whether or not to add the DH, with each league determining results separately. Once again, eight or more owners in each league must vote yes to add the DH. This does create the possibility of the MMBL having the DH in the NL but not the AL.
Trades - Allowed both in-season and out. A trade may be vetoed by league vote within WIS rules in either case (in-season via the "veto" function, out-of-season by forum post). Draft picks may be traded up to two drafts ahead (EG you may trade 1965 draft picks starting Day 1 of the 1963 season)
Roster/Team Management: You may play players at any position you choose. For example, if you need to play a SS at 2B due to fatigue issues, go for it. If you have four good outfielders and a crappy first baseman, play the 4th outfield at first if you prefer. However, playing players out of position for no discernible reason in an attempt to tank will not be tolerated. Just use good judgement.
The same goes for rotation management. You can pitch anyone you want, but if you pitch someone to death when your team has fresh arms that could be used instead, you're trying to lose to jockey for draft position. None of the above will be super-strict, but simply don't be a jerk. We all know what you are trying to do when your roster has 1400 IP and you're pitching someone every five games who is at 60% fatigue. On that same note, people go out of town or get busy and can't check for a few days. That's fine. What's not fine is doing the above for an entire season. Sorry if this is long-winded but I want owners who are not going to go to low tactics in an attempt to win.
Rules Changes - Can be proposed by anyone and passed with a majority of owners' approval. Note that the vote will be tallied out of the entire number of owners, so an absentee vote counts as "no" for the purposes of any proposed rule changes.
Note about what being in this league means: If you are going to join, try to win and compete fairly.
5/21/2023 10:56 PM (edited)