The top 4 teams from round 2 will get to pick any single season team from either league and specify which division they want to play in.

These are how the two leagues will be aligned.

League 1: 1885-1891 teams (122 teams)
League 2: 1892-1900 teams + 1901-02 Orioles + 1914-15 Federal League teams (122 teams)

Within each league, there will be a 5-round draft, where you will draft 4 single-season teams (from your defined season range). The fifth round is a single player draft (from any of the undrafted seasons from your season-range). You must roster exactly 6 players from each of your four drafted teams. The single player you select in round 5 is your 25th player. You still get one clone (can come from the drafted teams or the 25th player from round 5).

The draft is a normal serpentine draft
Round 1: 1-24 (pick a year) --> the draft order is based on the round 2 rankings
Round 2: 24-1 (pick a year)
Round 3: 1-24 (pick a year)
Round 4: 24-1 (pick a year)
Round 5: 1-24 (pick a player from an undrafted team)

Other Details
Salary Cap: None
DH, WW, AAA, Injuries: No
Clones: Only one clone allowed.
Ballpark: All teams must use WhatifSports Park
Division Alignment: When selecting your first season, you must also select which division to play in. Those with two teams in a league must put one team in the NL and one in the AL.

The top 6 teams from each half of each league will advance to round 4. Similar rules apply regarding the maximum number of teams one person can have. That maximum is 2 teams. If a team is dropped due to somebody hitting the maximum, the next best team from that half league will move up and advance.

There's not an easy way to differentiate these teams in the search engine, so you'll have to use baseball-reference to parse out which players play on each team.

National League 1890 New York Giants --> https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYG/1890.shtml

Player's League 1890 New York Giants --> https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYI/1890.shtml

American Association 1890 Philadephia Athletics --> https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PHA/1890.shtml

Player's League 1890 Philadephia Athletics --> https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PHQ/1890.shtml

The top 4 finishers from Round 2 get to pick their league, team and division they want to play in.

1. toysboys --> 1888 St. Louis Browns (League 1, AL West)
2. pedrocerrano --> 1914 Chicago Whales (League 2, NL Central)
3. emanes10 --> 1885 New York Giants (League 1, NL West)
4. footballmm11 --> 1894 Philadelphia Phillies (League 2, AL East)

ALW

I'll make my pick later tonight - have a little more research in league 2 to complete

Sorry for the delay. No idea what I am supposed to do here. I think this is a safe pick

1885 New York Giants

This round is probably gonna have some of the greatest disparity in talent we've seen between top and bottom teams in each draft. Not much elite quality to go around.

NLW

picking shortly

there are probably smarter picks than this, but not many that will be more fun

1894 Philadelphia Phillies
AL East

Thanks. I will get things up and running this afternoon.

Posted by footballmm11 on 6/7/2024 12:56:00 PM (view original):
there are probably smarter picks than this, but not many that will be more fun

1894 Philadelphia Phillies
AL East

I had them typed into the forum more than once and couldn't pull the trigger. I second guessed the pick so many times and eventually switched. So painful that you took them immediately after!

Posted by emanes10 on 6/7/2024 1:29:00 PM (view original):

Posted by footballmm11 on 6/7/2024 12:56:00 PM (view original):
there are probably smarter picks than this, but not many that will be more fun

1894 Philadelphia Phillies
AL East

I had them typed into the forum more than once and couldn't pull the trigger. I second guessed the pick so many times and eventually switched. So painful that you took them immediately after!

I was trying to decide between the 14 Whales and the 85 Giants

If you had taken 94 Phillies instead, I probably take the 85 Giants. Not sure who I would've picked between the two, but probably the Giants.