Rules for ATB IX

LEAGUE MAKEUP

- Two Divisions of 8 teams each

- 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 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 1901 through 2006.

- 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). 
- I can't supply all of them throughout history because it would take months to type it all into a spreadsheet.

- However, this file has some raw park data that you can at least get a good idea as to what is a pitchers park vs. a batters park.  (Above 100 signifies a park

  favorable to hitters; below 100 signifies a park favorable to pitchers)

- You can of course, ask me for the true ratings for a specific park and I will look it up and let you know. 
- 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

PLAYER TYPES.  There will be three player types to choose from each carries there own set of attributes which MUST be taken into consideration.

*Post 1901 Players.  99% of the player pool comes from this set.  An owner can draft any player post 1901 from any season they wish, as long as they meet the minimum playing time requirement outlined below.  This set of players is input into the game using real life statistics and DMB uses the internal Era information as the basis for performance.  In this case we are blind to how the players will perform because the era adjustment occurs post statistical input into the game.

 

*1800's and Year-1900 Players.  Because of the scarcity of data, I have loaded a select few players from this time period into the database using other popular internet league's data.  Since some data is not available, certain statistics have been estimated.  You do not have free reign to pick and choose any year, rather, you must choose from a pre-determined selection.  Just as in the case with the Post 1901 Players we are blind to how the players will perform because the era adjustment occurs post statistical input into the game.  The full list of available 1800s to Year 1900 players can be found here.

 

* Negro League Players.  A handful of negro league players are available to choose from.  Because of unavailability of vast majority of game accounts these statistics are all estimated, but be assured they based upon existing popular internet leagues.  Because this data is less reliable I thought it only fair to run 15 sims - here are the yearly averages of those 15 seasons. 

 

- MINIMUM PLAYING TIME.  See below for restrictions.  There will be no exceptions to this in ATB VIII and no-part time players.

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

* All Starting Pitchers must have 140 IP AND 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 1/2 hour 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 1/2 hour block of time has started.  The skipped owner can go back and make the missed selection at any time thereafter.

- The goal is not to adhere to these blocks of time, rather, the goal is to get through the draft as quickly as possible.  The 1/2 hour increments are only there to enforce that slow owners make their picks in a timely fashion.  We all have jobs, well, I think we do anyway, and some of us have family - so it is expected that at certain times we can't make our allotted time schedules.  This is OK - just let me know ahead of time and we will make alternative arrangements. 

- In general, the draft runs from 8 AM to 10 PM each weekday, with the exceptions being a later start on Monday morning, and an earlier finish on Friday evenings.  For those who can't make early picks (for example, Kevin Crowley is up at 8 AM on Tuesday) - 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

- 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 5 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 between human controlled teams.  No trades to PC Led Teams

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

- 14 Games 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.