Rules for ATB

LEAGUE MAKEUP

- Two Leagues of 12 teams each.  Each league has two divisions of 6 teams

- We strive for as many human owned teams as possible, but it not possible to do this so their will be PC led teams

- Division winners plus two wild card teams make the playoffs.  Wild Card teams can come from either division in the league

- Schedule is unbalanced, but not ridiculously so.  Division opponents play 14 times, inter-division 8 times.

- DH's will be used in both leagues

ROSTERS/TEAM OPTIONS

- 30 Player Rosters (all active).  The 5 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 30 total.

- Park can be any year, for any stadium 1883 through 2008.

- 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

MINIMUM PLAYING TIME.  See below for restrictions.  There are no exceptions to this in and therefore no-part time players.

* All Batters must have 450 Plate Appearances (sorry 1994 Paul O'Neil) 

* All Starting Pitchers must have a minimum of 20 GS

* All Relief Pitchers must have 50 IP.  Relievers can spot start during the course of the season but can never be part of the 4 or 5 man rotation.  Maximum % start allowed is 49% (as per line-up sheet).

- 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.

DRAFT DAY

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

- 30 Round Draft

- Each owner is pre-assigned a specific 15 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.

PC LED TEAMS (none in ATB XI)

- PC Teams have an inherent disadvantage to human led teams since they do not have the ability to change their lineups/rotations during the course of the season.

- Teams will have an additional 5 men on the roster to try and counter balance this issue.

- Teams will be drafted by the commissioner based upon a formula that ranks each batter and pitcher.  This formula and ranking will not be shared prior to the draft, but will be shared if anyone wishes after the draft.  This could be used as an audit to ensure Commissioner is not using this list to his own teams advantage.

TRADES AND FREE AGENTS

- Teams will get 10 Free Agent moves per season

- Teams will get unlimited DL moves

- FA list is the same as the draft list, i.e., minimum playing time requirements are the limitation

- Unlimited trading.

- Trading deadline is 8/31

- Free Agent deadline for non-performance is 8/31, injury replacement continues.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

- 15 Days Simulated Per Week over the course of 11 Weeks

* Sunday - Lineups and Free Agents Due 8 PM+ 4 Games Run

* Monday - 4 Games Run

* Tuesday - 3 Games Run

* Wednesday/Thursday- Weekly write-up posted.

* 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.