This is a league we've run a few times over the years. We're just finishing up a season and will try another one.
This league is not a progressive league. It's just a one time shot that can be repeated. It's pretty complicated so it's probably not the right league for a beginner or someone with a passing interest in WIS. It's better for the hard core owner. So here are the complicated rules.
Standard 24 teams league - six divisions, four team per division, $ 80 million budget, no DH.
Your final roster will be constructed from combining the rosters of four real life teams (all MLB teams from the seasons 1924, 34, 44, 54, 64, 74, 84) which will be posted below. For instance you could construct your roster from the 1964 Yankees, 1934 Philadelphia A's, 1964 Mets and 1964 Giants. The rostering is very restrictive.
Once the season starts you can start a player at any position at which he has a rating for that season. However on your final roster you must have exactly two players who have a primary position at catcher, 2 1B, 2 2B, 2 3B, 2 SS, 5 outfielders and 10 pitchers. You can tell what position a guy counts as because when you roster in a team, say the 1954 Brooklyn Dodgers you see Jackie Robinson as an outfielder. That means if he makes your final roster he counts as one of your five outfielders. Once the season starts though he can start at any position where he has a WIS rating. Lucky you. Jackie has a WIS rating at 2B, and 3B besides his main outfield spot. He's a very valuable guy in this league. Heck, he was a very valuable guy in any league.
Very important! We all have to be looking at the same place when we look at who's on a team. How do you see who you get if you choose a team? Look at a blank draft center page. See where it says 2015 Anaheim Angels? You can switch that to any team of any year. That's the official league approved way of finding out who goes with each team. There are two wrong ways to do it. If you look at baseball reference.com and call up the 84 Mets you may see additional players that didn't show up when you called up the 84 Mets the approved way. You don't get what baseball-reference says you should have. Also if you go to a blank draft center page and hit utility and the 84 Mets you will get a different group of players from the approved way. People make those mistakes every time and they think they have players that are not eligible. Please let's all do it the same way.
On your final roster you must have seven players from one of your teams and six players from each of your other three teams. You can't have two of the same player on your final roster. Let's say you are using the 1974 Mets and the 1984 White Sox. You can't have both Tom Seavers on your final roster.
As soon as 24 players are signed up, you will randomly be assigned a draft slot and a division. The draft order goes 1-24, 1-24, 24-1, 24-1. There is no particular advantage to picking first in this draft. Here's how it works.
Round One - Once your draft slot comes up you pick any team from the available teams list which will be listed below. Once you pick it, no one else can. For instance you can pick the 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers.
Round Two - One of your three division mates will be assigned the task of gifting you your second round team. He should look at your first pick and find another team which meshes horribly with it. For instance if his first pick was the 1964 Dodgers which has great pitching but not very good hitting, maybe the 1974 Mets would be a good match. After all you can't roster Koufax, Drysdale, Sutton, Seaver, Koosman, and Matlack on an $ 80 budget. Or can you? Or you might just gift him the 1964 Mets and say let's see how you find six usable players out of this trash. Or you could offer a 1944 team where all the best players are off fighting the war. There are lots of good ways to screw your division mate. Let's say his first pick was the 34 Yanks. Their first baseman was Lou Gehrig at a smooth $ 10.9 million but the Yanks have no backup 1B. What if in the second round you gift them the 34 Philly A's complete with Jimmie Foxx and his $ 9.7 million salary. Oh, the A's also have no backup 1B. Wouldn't it be fun if the team has to roster both of those guys in an $ 80 million budget? But oh wait. Foxx has a WIS 3B rating at D/D so he could play both of them. But at what cost to the budget? Would that kill your screw strategy? Anyway this is why we need experienced WIS owners.
Round Three - A second owner in your division will gift you another team. He needs to look at your first two picks and find which remaining team will give you the most grief.
Round Four - You get to pick the fourth team to complete this mess of a roster as best you can knowing that the dagger round is coming next.
Dagger Round - The third owner in your division gets to throw two daggers at your team before your final roster. He will look at the four teams you will build your final roster from and he can dagger one player, removing him from consideration on your final roster. Who to dagger? Your only power hitter? Your only cheap backup 1B?, the fourth starter who's a bargain at $ 2.1 million? Your only shortstop with over 300 at bats? The only guy who plays four positions? The possibilities are a puzzle. If the person has the 1974 and 1984 Tom Seavers, daggering Seaver kills them both. The second dagger will be to dagger one of your stadiums.
I know this is complicated, but it's for the owner who wants complicated. It works smoothly as we've run it multiple times before. Please sign up or ask questions.
8/11/2020 12:09 PM (edited)