Rules for ATB

LEAGUE MAKEUP

- Multiple divisions dependent upon the total number of owners.

- Division winners plus three wild card teams from each division make the playoffs (8 total).

- DH's will be used in both leagues

ROSTERS/TEAM OPTIONS

- 28 Player Rosters (all active).  The 3 additional players are necessary because of injuries that occur during the simulation.

- Positional makeup is entirely up to the owner.  You can carry as many pitchers or batters as you would like, as long as you have 28 total.

- Park can be any year, for any stadium 1871 through 2011.

- Team Name is entirely up to owner

STADIUM SELECTION

- Any park from 1901 till know is fair game

- Please submit the year and the park you want (park factors change from year to year)

- DMB uses different PF's for each combination of handedness and hit type (LH/RH for 1B, 2B, 3B, HR). 
- In the off chance two owners select the same park, preference will be given to the owner with the worst draft slot.

- We can't have two of the same parks (two Fenway's, two Yankee stadium's, etc) even if owners request different years.
 

PLAYER POOL

• Any batter with at least 450 PA is eligible.

• Any pitcher with 50 IP is eligible.

• Only pitchers with at least 20 Games Started can be considered a full time starter in ATB.

• Any pitcher is allowed to spot start, even if they do not meet the 20 GS minimum.

• There are 5 Negro League players eligible as well.

Exceptions have been introduced as of the ATB XIII season.  These exceptions are designed to allow more players who do not meet the above requirements, because they are from the 1800s and strike shortened seasons, a chance to be drafted.

1) For teams with less than 100 games in a season, a player from that team is only eligible if he has appeared in 95% of his teams games. For teams with more than 100 games, a player is only eligible if he has appeared in 85% of his teams games.

 

2) Catchers need only have 370 Plate Appearances, instead of the 450 currently required.

 

3) However, batters must have appeared in at least 65 games to be eligible.  There are some 1800s teams with 20 games in a season and that is not who we are looking for.

 

4) Pitcher's who have appeared in at least 30% of their team games are now eligible even if they have less than 50 IP.

- POSITION REQUIREMENTS.  As an owner, I want to have the ability to start a player out of position if I want to.  If I want all offense and no defense, I should be allowed to start by first basemen in the outfield and be damned with the consequences.  The problem of course is knowing what the limits are.  Since defensive ratings are determined by me at the time the player is created, it leaves too much leeway as go guessing.  If a player happened to get garbage time in 1 game completely out of position should he be eligible for that position in DMB?  If so, how should I determine ratings after just one (or a handful of games played)?

* Any player who appears in at least 45% of his "real-life" games played a the position will not suffer a penalty

* For players with more than two rated positions, this percentage is dropped to 20%

* If, and only if, an owner wants to break this rule, I will remove the DMB rating from this second position and allow DMB to automatically downgrade as they see fit.

* If exemption is not requested, all ratings remain as is and owners are free to keep these players in back up positions.

2 Position Examples: 

- Jim Hickman played 74 games at 1B and 79 in CF - 48% and 52% respectively.  He is eligible at both positions.

- Dick Allen.  played 91 at 3B, 47 in LF - 66% and 34% respectively.  He is only eligible to start full time 3B

3 Position Examples

- Stan Musial.  41 LF, 64 CF, 76 RF - 23%, 35%, 42% respectively.  Eligible to start full time at all three.

- Randy Ready.  51 2B, 52 3B, 16 LF - 43%, 44%, 13% respectively.  He is only eligible to start full time at 2B and 3B.

Iron Men

Pitchers with the following start criteria will be considered Iron Men and have a reduced injury Risk

1994-current:  34+ Starts

1988-1993:  35+ Starts

1961-1980:  38+ Starts

1924-1960:  34+ Starts

1909-1923:  36+ Starts

1897-1908:  37+ Starts

1893-1896:  50+ Starts

1874-1892:  58+ Starts

1871-1873:  55+ Starts

Batters Iron Man rules are as follows:

1960-current: 157+ Games

1904-1960: 152+ Games

1890-1903: 142+ Games

1873-1889:  Not Eligible

Clutch and Jam Ratings

All players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame will receive a bonus when performing in late and close situations.  From the DMB help file:

All DMB batters have Clutch ratings and all DMB pitchers have Jam ratings. Both ratings are used to raise the level of performance in the late innings of close games. DMB gives out a limited number of good clutch and jam ratings each season, and these players are more valuable in those late-inning situations.

 

But the baseball research community has yet to find any compelling evidence that certain players are able to raise their game consistently in these situations. The evidence seems to suggest that any apparent clutch performance is an illusion, that the laws of chance predict that some players are going to be up, some down, and some normal when you choose any subset of 50-60 at bats out of his total for the season. So the fact that a player raised his game in the 50-60 at bats that fit the late-inning-close-game definition probably means he was just lucky.

 

Consequently, we give you the option to use the clutch ratings or to turn them off. If you use them, batters and pitchers with better-than-normal clutch and jam ratings will be a little better than usual in the late innings of close games. But this isn't a strong factor in the design of the game, so we recommend that you avoid placing a lot of weight on these ratings when making your decisions. It's rarely a good idea to use a weaker player over a better one just because the weaker player may have a better clutch or jam rating.

DRAFT DAY

- Draft Order determined randomly by commissioner using the Excel "Random Number Generator" function.

- 28 Round Draft

- Each owner is pre-assigned a specific 10 minute block of time to make a selection.  If you miss your block of time, you are skipped, and the next owner is allowed to make a selection once his block of time has started.  The skipped owner can go back and make the missed selection at any time thereafter.

- In general, the draft runs from 9 AM to 10 PM each weekday. For those who can't make early picks you can email me your pick the night before.

- Owners can also submit lists to me, in order of preference, and I will post a pick for them if they wish.  This is not recommended, but can be accommodated.

TRADES AND FREE AGENTS

- Unlimited Trades, Free Agent, and DL Moves

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

- 15 Days Simulated Per Week over the course of 12 Weeks

* Sunday - Lineups and Free Agents Due 8 PM+ 3 Days Run

* Monday - Thursday - 3 Days Run per night

* If for whatever reason games can not be run on a given day, they will be made up the following day.  This has no impact on owners as there is no ability to submit lineup changes between game days.  Spreading games out over multiple days is simply for enjoyment purposes.

- If you request a Free Agent (straight add drop or DL) - assume you are going to get him and insert into your lineup.  If something goes haywire and more than claim is submitted for the same player, we'll just delay the first day of sims by 24 hrs and straighten out the owner who missed out.

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