2005 LEAGUE RULES
All questions, disputes and interpretations of these rules subject to commissioner’s rulings. All commissioner rulings will be final.
The Season
Each team has a possibility of winning
or loosing six (6) games each week.
The
participants in the playoffs will be the 4 division winners along with 4 wild
card teams from any division for a total of 8 teams that will participate in
post season play. The 4 division winners will be seeded 1-4, and the 4 wildcard
teams seeded 5-8.
The
Scoring
The scoring system is accessed by
clicking
here or through the main page of this website. This scoring system will be
used to determine the winner in each game played. The performance of your
players on each day will be the deciding factor for that days game. Each owner
will be responsible for calculating the scores of not only his team, but also
for his opponents team. Scores for Monday thru Thursday (Single high game) are
due by 9pm Saturday. Scores for Friday, Saturday and Sunday are due by 9pm Monday.
As a part of the league you are expected to fulfill your obligation in reporting
the scores of the games. If any team does not report scores to the league on
time, you will be allowed one "mulligan". On the second violation,
your team will not be given credit for any points scored (team totals or
individual totals) for that time period. Your team will still receive wins and
losses for that week. In addition, a $10 fine will issued against the team
owner. All fines will go towards food at the draft the following year. In the
event of a discrepancy in the scores, the commissioner will verify the scores
through the official stat service website, MLB.com and the decision will be final.
(If a score discrepancy occurs from the results
posted on the internet, the Commish will review multiple websites to determine
the most consistent and accurate score) For each series
there will be a "home" and a "visiting" team.
The home team will receive a 1/2 point "home field advantage" for each game of the series and also on total points, solely for the purpose of breaking any ties that may occur.
When reporting your weekly scores to the Commissioner each week, teams are encouraged to compare scores with their opponent, and once the two teams agree on the scores, send a single scoring summary to the commissioner. With 16 teams in the league, it will severely delay the process of posting weekly results if all match-ups must have their scores reviewed. Excel files will be provided to assist in the process of reporting scores.
The Teams
The teams will consist of 13 players, distributed as follows:
(2) Catchers (1) 1st Baseman (1) 2nd
baseman (1) shortstop (1) 3rd
baseman (4) outfielders
(1) middle infielder (1) corner infielder (1) pitching
staff
The two catchers will be from the same team. A specific catcher must be drafted and you will be awarded his back-up as well. The back-up catcher must be declared as well each week. You roster will show two specific players at the catcher position. Once a MLB team's catchers are selected, that team can not be claimed as their catcher, even if another player on the MLB roster is eligible at the catcher position.
The corner infielder must qualify at either 1st or 3rd base
The middle infielder must qualify at either shortstop or 2nd base
Players may be drafted from both the American and National Leagues of Major
League Baseball, and on an active roster.
Owners must keep a full and active roster at all times during the season.
Rosters are frozen once the playoffs begin, only DL moves will be allowed during
the playoffs.
Position
Qualifications
For a complete list of games played, follow the following links:
2004 Season
NL
AL
(click on league)
For any given player to qualify at any given position he must meet certain
criteria. By either playing in 20 games at that position in 2003 or playing 10
games at that position in 2004, the player will be considered eligible for that
position. If a player did not play 20 games at any position the prior year, they
are eligible at the position the played the most at the prior year. In the event that a player is changing positions for 2004, if any
player makes a start at a position on opening day, he will be considered
qualified for that position. During the draft, if it is considered "common
knowledge" that a player is making a position change for 2004, he will be
allowed to be drafted at his new position. Since we will not have the DH in our
league, any player that is only eligible at DH within the American League must qualify at a
position in order to be placed on any team roster in our league. See below for
the list of American League DHs and positions that they will qualify at for draft
and roster purposes. If he plays at another position during the year he will increase his
qualifications. If a player is a rookie, he will be eligible at the position he
plays regularly or has the most games played at until he reaches the 10 game
minimum.
DH's
Players may qualify at more than one position, but will only accumulate points for a specific position side pot on weeks they play that position. For example, Ryan Klesko qualifies at 1B and OF. Weeks 1-4 he is started at OF. Then in weeks 5-7 he is started at 1B. Only the points scored on weeks 1-4 will go towards the High OF sidepot. The stats from weeks 5-7 will go towards the High 1B sidepot.
The Draft
The draft will consist of 12 rounds of
16 picks with teams picking in reverse
order in even numbered rounds. Example: If you have the first pick in the first
round, you will have the 16th pick in the 2nd round. Draft position has been
determined and is posted on the website. You are permitted to make trades of
your draft positions. When a catcher is selected, the
team will also receive the back-up catcher for that player as part of the pick.
Specific players must be declared at the position (the backup can be declared
when lineups are due week #1).
Line-ups
Each team must submit a starting line up for each week. Line ups are due to
the league by 9:00 PM Sunday. Once the Sunday 9pm deadline has passed, no lineup
changes are permitted for the week unless of injury (DL rules for the week
apply). In the event that a
player is placed on the DL on Sunday night, that an owner was unaware of when line-ups were
due, there will be a grace period given
to that owner to make the change in his line-up. This grace period will expire
once the first game is played on Monday. If a player goes on the DL between Monday and Friday, you will be allowed to
replace him for the weekend games (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) prior to the Friday
lineup deadline. If the DL player replaced is a sub, the newly acquired
replacement can not be moved into the starting lineup for the weekend games. Once the weekend
games start, you are not allowed to replace any DL player. You can replace a DL
player over the weekend, but the transaction will not take effect until Sunday
night for the following weeks games. The affected owners will have
until the start of the first game of the affected
players to notify the league of the desire to make the change. If no line-up
changes are received by the league, it will be assumed that none are to be made,
and the previous week's line-up will be used.
Starting line ups will consist of :
(1) Catcher (1) 1st Baseman (1) 2nd
Baseman (1) Shortstop (1) 3rd Baseman
(3) Outfielders (1) Pitching staff
Only points scored by these players will be tabulated into the game results.
In the event that one of the players in your starting line-up does not play, due
to injury, managers decision, postponement, or the lack of a scheduled game, the
back up player at his position will be inserted into the line up for that day
ONLY. Example: Team "A" starts Frank Thomas at 1st base and Matt Williams at 3rd
Base for the weekend, and they have Jeff Bagwell as their corner infielder. If
Thomas or Williams do not play in the game on Saturday, for any reason, Bagwell
will be inserted into their line up for that day only and his scores will be
tabulated along with the rest of the starting team. This applies to each
position and its respective back up players. If a starter has at least 2 plate
appearances (PA), his stats will be used for that game. If neither the starter
or back up player achieves the 2 PA limit, and they have an equal number of
PA's, the starter then will be used. If neither the starter or back-up makes an
appearance in a game on any given day, the position will get a zero for that
game. If a starter does not play or get the necessary 2 PA during any game on
the Mon-Thu games, the back-up will be used and their best game during the
Mon-Thu period will be used. In the event that a starter makes a appearance, but
fails to get 2 PA, and the sub does not play that day or only has 1 PA, the
starters 1 PA
will count for that day. (Note, this rule does also
apply to the weekday M-Th games, but only if a starter does not get 2PA for the
entire week, and then the sub does not get 2PA for the entire week as well. If
both were to happen, then a starter's 1 AB or 0 PA game would be used)
In the event that 2 starting OF's both only get one PA,
the sub OF will be used for one player, and the team will use which ever of the
2 starting OF's that had the highest score for the day for the second score.
Please keep in mind when applying these rules to the M-Th games, you must treat those four days as ONE SINGLE GAME. You do not apply rules on individual days, and overlook the rest of the week. If a player has the same score in two different games M-Th, the first game that the score occurred in will be used.
Since your roster will show two specific players at catcher, the same 2 AB rule will apply in any other games as listed above for all other offensive players. You must declare the 2 specific players at catcher on your roster each week. If a MLB team happens to carry 3 catchers, you do not receive stats from all 3, only the two catchers you have declared on your roster.
In the event that a pitching staff is rained out and does not play (on the Weekend games only), the scores most recent game not used on the Mon-Thu games will be used. Example: Team B has Florida's pitching staff, the Marlins are rained out on Saturday, they played on Thursday. The performance from Thursday's game will be used in the scoring for Saturday if the Thursday game was not used. If the Thursday game was used, then you go back to Wed and so on.. A team may not use the game they used as their high game on Mon-Thu. While going backwards to find the most recent game not used it comes to a day that the pitching staff played a doubleheader, game 1 will be used first and then game 2 if necessary.
In the event
your catchers game is rained out and does not play (on the Weekend games only),
the same rule for pitching staffs will apply. (See above for rule) If a starting
catcher does not have an available game during the weekday to fill in for a
weekend rainout, the next available game for the sub catcher will be used.
There are no other line up changes permitted during the course of the
weeks series.
In the event of a double header during the M-Th games,
both games are eligible to be used as the high game of the week. If a team's
pitching staff or team catcher is rained out during the F-Su games, both games
of a doubleheader will be used when going backwards to find the most recent game
not used, which will be substituted for the rainout game. In the event of a double header in MLB on any weekend
games, the statistics from the first game will be used in tabulation of
scores unless a player does not achieve the required 2 PA minimum. If a starter
does not get 2 PA's in game one, then the stats from the second game of a
weekend doubleheader may be used. In the event a player only has 1 PA in both
games of a weekend doubleheader, game one will be used.
********A weekly report will be published each week during the season on the league web-site, updating the leagues standings and scores, if any owner notices a discrepancy in something that was published in the report, he will have one week in which to notify the league of the problem, after such time NO CHANGES will be made. This applies to scores of games, scores of players, to game results to side pot issues. After a period of one week, the results and published reports becomes OFFICIAL***************
Fees
There will be an entry fee of $215. $100
of which is due at the draft. The balance will be due no later than May
2, 2005. In the event that half the entry fee is not paid by the day of
the draft, your team will be restricted from making
any transactions until the entry fee is paid. The same goes for the balance, if
not paid in full by the deadline, your ability to make transactions will again
be put on hold.
*Entry Fee Breakdown: $3440 Entry Fees Collected
-$200 Commish Fee
-$35 Website Registration/Server
-$35 Draft
Supplies/Trophy Engraving
-$2040 Playoff Team Breakdown (8 Teams)
-$240 Division Winners (4 Teams)
-$650 Side-Pots Breakdown
-$240 All-Star Weekend Pool
There will not be any charges for transactions during the year. This should help owners in keeping the best team on the field during the entire season, especially when the playoff spots may be in jeopardy.
Prize
Money
The total of all fees collected will be returned to the league in the form of
prize money. All Eight (8) of the playoff teams that qualify for the post season will share in the prize
money.
The prize money pay-out breakdown will be as follows:
1ST-$600 2ND-$420
3RD-$300 4TH-$240
5TH-$200 6TH-$140
7TH-$80 8TH-$60
$60 Each Division Winner (4 Teams)
Side Pots: $100-High Team Series Average $65- Most Team
Points $25-All-Star Game MVP
$50-High Team Series
$40-High Player for a
game $50-High Player for a Series
$40-High Team Game*** $40-High 1B for the Year
$40-High 2B for the Year
$40-High SS for the
Year
$40-High 3B for the Year
$40-High OF for the Year
$40-High C for the
Year
$40-High P Staff for the Year
***ONLY FRI-SUN GAMES WILL USED TO DETERMINE THE HIGH TEAM GAME***
All-Star
Weekend Pool: During the weekend of the All-Star Game (F-Su
games only), there will be a daily pool for the top 3 scoring teams. The daily
payout will be 1st Place-$50, 2nd Place $20 and 3rd place $10. These prizes will
be paid out at year end along with the rest of the prize fund. Player high game
and team high game scores are eligible for sidepot awards.
Weekly Points Pool
The top 3 teams scores each week will receive the
following prize: 1st $9 2nd $6 3rd
$3
The bottom 3 teams will have to pay the following amounts: 16th $9
15th $6 14th $3
This will be a running total throughout the year and will be available on the
website. Payoffs will be at the following years draft. Any winnings or losses
from the prior year, would be the responsibility of the owner that incurred
them. If a team chooses not to come back to the league the following year, they
would receive any winnings they may have won, as well as must pay any losses
they may have had. If a team does not pay off any losses, they would not be
permitted to participate in ANY UAL Fantasy League until their debt is settled.
Post
Season Play
Each Division Winner and 4 wild card teams
from any division qualify for the playoffs. The 4 division winners would
be seeded 1-4, and the 4 wildcard teams seeded 5-8. In Round One the #1 seed will play the #8,
the #2 seed will
play the #7 seed and so on. In Round Two, the highest seed remaining will play
the lowest seed remaining, and the two remaining teams will play each other. In Round Three, the two
remaining teams play for the league
championship. Each playoff series will be the best of
5, with the winner moving on to the next round. When determining final order of
finish, a wildcard team can never be ranked higher then a divisional winner,
regardless of the teams final record.
The "home-field advantage" will continue throughout the playoffs, with
the higher seeded team receiving the advantage in every game.
Tie
Breakers
If at any time during the season a tie occurs with respect to records, the
league will use the same formula through out:
1) total team points (wins + top 8 finishes)
2) total wins
3) head to head
4) record within division
5) points scored
6) points against
7) coin flip
******* Please note that ALL rosters will be frozen for the playoffs, unless a
team has a player that goes on or comes
off of the DL.*******
Transactions
****All transactions should be e-mailed to the commissioner at ualcommish@comcast.net. If necessary, transactions may be called in to the commissioner at 303-248-9259.****
Free Agents
After the draft, any players that remain un-drafted are considered free
agents. Any team may acquire a free agent at any time
during the year, provided he releases a player that qualifies at the same
position as the acquired player. All free agent acquisitions are on a daily basis. The cut off time for free agent moves is
9:00
PM each day. In the event that more than one
team wishes to acquire the same free agent during the same period, the team with
the lower ranking will be awarded the player.
If a team wishes to place a bid on more than one free agent or waiver wire
player during any given claim period, the owner
must rank the players in an order of preference. The league will then award the
players in a draft like manner, with the lowest
ranked bidding team getting their first choice of players then the next lowest
ranked team getting their choice, and so on. During
week #1, priority will be determined by reverse order of drafting positions.
Players must be on an active roster
in order to be claimed as a free agent. DL players are not eligible to be claimed
as a Free Agent until they have been activated from the DL, and then they are an eligible free
agent to be claimed.
If a catcher is claimed as a free agent or waiver wire claim, you will also receive his back-up as well. The starting catcher and the back-up must be declared as specific players (not just team catcher) when line-ups are due.
When you acquire a player through free agency, you must retain him on your roster until they are used in a lineup and can drop them only after the new week they are used in a lineup has started. A free agent may be claimed and used for the weekend games, and then dropped for the next week (i.e. they have been used in a lineup). A free agent can be placed on the DL in the same week they were claimed.
If you want to claim a player at catcher, and they played the necessary 20 games last year or 10 games this year, that MLB team's catchers can not be on an active fantasy team.
There will a limit of 4 transactions (either free agent or waiver claims combined) that may be made involving a team Pitching Staff for all teams in the league.
Waiver Wire
When a player is released by a team he will be considered "on waivers". The weekly waiver period will end at
9pm
Tuesday when the latest standings come out. All players on waivers for the week
will be processed at 6pm Saturday. Players claimed from waivers on Saturday will
be eligible for line-ups that Sunday. The same rule for multiple claims applies
for the waiver wire as for free agents. If a player goes unclaimed during the
waiver period he will then be classified as a free agent. A player claimed off waivers MUST be retained for
the week following the waiver claim, which is the first week they are eligible
for. A player may be claimed and then traded during the same week.
Disabled List
When a player on an active roster is placed on the DL by his major
league team (click
here for latest injury status), the fantasy team is also required to place
the player on our DL. This is a mandatory transaction. There is no limit to the
number of players that you can have on the DL.
When a player of yours is activated from the major league DL, you also must
activate him off your DL. All mandatory DL
transactions must be made by Sunday at 9:00 PM.
If a player is
sent to the minors, or released by his team, that player is eligible to be
placed on the DL.
No team will be permitted to acquire a player that is on the DL of his major
league team once the draft has been completed.
Any player that goes on the DL or is activated from the DL, must be
replaced or activated. Teams will be given ONE transaction date (transaction
dates are Friday before 1st game played, and Sunday at 9pm) as a grace period.
On the second transaction date, if a player is not replaced or activated, the
following penalties will be enforced:
1) If a player is on the DL and listed as a starter, the back-up at that
position will be ineligible for any scheduled games until the player is
replaced.
2) If a player has been activated from the DL, the player will be forfeited and
placed on the waiver wire.
*Consideration will be given in determining when a player should be replaced.
For example, a player goes on the DL late Thursday. An owner will be given a
chance to catch the DL move and the first transaction date would be Sunday.
***Roster deadlines will still apply to any move. If a DL player is replaced
after the roster deadline has passed, it will not take effect until the next
deadline.***
Trades
Trades are permitted at anytime until the trading deadline. Owners must have
a complete and balanced line up at the conclusion of a trade. In the event of a
"2 for 1" trade, owners must release and/or acquire free agents to
fill any roster voids. The trading deadline for our league will be 9:00 PM on
the Sunday prior to week #13 (June 26th, 2005). There will be a cap on the number of trades a team
can make. The trade cap will be 5 trades per team during the season.
Draft Day
Tidbits
Mulligan
During the course of the draft, if a team drafts a player that has already
been drafted by another team the drafting team will
forfeit that draft pick. The League will allow one "mulligan" to be
used by each team for such an occasion. Each team, in effect, gets one
"screw-up". The forfeit rule will go into effect with the second
wrongful pick.
Drafting of DL Players
Teams are permitted to draft players that are on the DL. The lone
requirement be that, immediately following the draft, the team must acquire a
free agent to replace the DL player in order to satisfy the complete and active
roster rule. Teams will select DL replacements in order of the DL players
drafted. Once the draft is completed, you will not be permitted to acquire a
player on the DL. A player must come off the DL and then will be available as a
free agent.
Refreshments
The draft will be a cash bar function.