2008 BASEBALL LEAGUE RULES
All questions, disputes and interpretations of these rules subject to commissioner’s rulings. All commissioner rulings will be final.
Rule changes for the 2008 Season are in red
Rules Committees
There are two rules committees to handle all rule issues. First, there is an
in-season rules committee. This will consist of the Commish and 1 owner from
each of the four divisions. Members will be selected at the draft prior to each
season, and will potentially change each year. The in-season committee will
handle any in-season rule issues that arise. If any member of the rules
committee is directly involved (i.e. their game or team is specifically
affected, not just a general issue) they will be be replaced on the issue. A
replacement owner from the same division or at large for the Commish will be
selected on that issue only. Members will carefully evaluate any issue and
render a timely decision to the league. Second, there will be an off-season
committee. This will consist of the Commish and 4 owners. Members will be
selected at the end of each season. The off-season committee will solicit rule
change proposals from the league. The committee will review all proposals and
evaluate worthiness of the proposals. Once the rule change proposals have been
reviewed, they will put together the rule change vote to the league. They will
provide as much clarification of the issues, both for and against.
The Season
The season will consist of 18 weeks
of regular season play beginning Monday March 31, 2008. The Sunday night game on
Sunday March 30th will be used in the M-Th games for those teams playing. There will be no
games played during the week of the All-Star Game, July 9th-15th. There will be
a All-Star Weekend Pool during the break. 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. There will be 3 rounds of playoffs to
determine the league champion. The weekly team point totals will be ranked 1-16, with
the top 8 receiving a bonus win. In the event of a tie for the 8th and final spot in the
top 8, both teams will receive the bonus win.
The schedule will consist of playing each
non-divisional team in the league once and each team in your division twice.
There is 5 games played each week, as well a top 8 bonus win awarded each week. Each team has a possibility of winning
six (6) games each week. The week is broken down as follows:
GAME 1: Monday thru Thursday, BEST SINGLE GAME
GAME 2: Friday
GAME 3: Saturday
GAME 4: Sunday
GAME 5: Total points scored during the week.
BONUS WIN/LOSS: Top 8 team point totals receive a win,
bottom 8 team point totals receive a loss.
Game 1 will be the best single game performance by each player on the team during the Monday
thru Thursday games. Example: Albert Pujols has an off day on Monday, scores a 5
on Tue, a 6 on Wed, and a 10 on Thu. You would only get to use his Thu 10 point
score. You do this for each starter in your line-up. As
long as each starting player plays at least one game during the four day period
(Mon-Thu), you do not use your back-up players. If your starter plays no games
on the four day period (Mon-Thu), you will use your backup's best game from the
Mon-Thu period. For the pitching staff, the same rules apply as the individual
players to determine the best single game.
Games 2-4 will be a single game
for each day and Game 5 will be the highest
cumulative point total from Games 1-4.
Each week the team point totals will be ranked 1-16, with the top 8 receiving an
additional win. In the event of a tie for the 8th and final spot in the top 8,
both teams will receive the bonus win. If there are Sunday games prior to week
one, those games will be eligible to be used as part of the M-Th games. This is
ONLY prior to the opening week of the season.
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.
Scoring
The scoring system is available on the main page of the league website. This scoring system will be
used to determine the winner in each game played.
Players reaching base on catcher's
interference will receive 1pt. Players that ground into a triple play (GITP)
will receive a -1. Each owner will be responsible for
reporting the scores of not only his team, but also for his opponents team by
9pm Monday. Owners are encouraged to send scores in as early as possible, this
will help in identifying any potential errors. 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 Commish.
Teams not reporting scores by Monday at 9pm will receive a mulligan on the first
offense and $10 fine for all subsequent offenses. In the
event of a discrepancy in the scores, the commissioner will verify the scores
through the MLB.com website.
(If a score discrepancy occurs on
the results posted on the internet, the Commish will review multiple websites to
determine the most consistent and accurate score)
During the regular season, a game or total points that ends in a tie will result
in each team winning a 1/2 point. In the playoffs the same rule will apply, but
if the series ends in a 2.5-2.5 tie the higher seeded team will win the series
based on the better regular season record.
If any owner notices a discrepancy in something that was updated on the website, they will have one week in which to notify the league of the problem. This applies to scores of games, scores of players, game results or side pot issues. After a period of one week, the updated results becomes OFFICIAL unless an official scoring change was made by MLB.
Rosters
Team rosters will consist of 13 players, distributed as follows: 1B, 3B,
CI, 2B, SS, MI, OF(4), C(2), Pitching Staff. The two
catchers will be from the same MLB team. A specific player will be drafted
at catcher
and you will be awarded his back-up as well. The back-up catcher must be
declared each week. Your roster will show two specific players at the catcher
position. Once a MLB team's catchers are drafted or claimed as a free agent, that
MLB team can not have another catcher claimed, even if another player on the MLB roster is eligible at the
catcher position. The corner infielder (CI) must qualify at either 1B or 3B.
The middle infielder (MI) must qualify at either 2B or SS.
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.
Teams are permitted to draft players that are on the DL. 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.
Position
Qualifications
For a complete list of games played by each player, follow the
links on the main page of the baseball website. To qualify for a position a player
must have played in 20 games at that position in 2007 or 10
games at that position in 2008. 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
of "common knowledge" that a player is changing positions for 2008, he will be
allowed to be drafted at his new position. The
player must start at their new position on opening day, or a roster change must
be made to return the player to an eligible position. Available free agents
who made a position change for 2008 will be allowed to be claimed at their new
position, provided they started at the new position on opening day. 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, Lance Berkman 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. If a player is a rookie, he will
be eligible at the position he plays in first MLB game, where he played in the
minors doesn't matter. If a rookie plays multiple positions, they would need to
play 10 games at an additional position to gain eligibility there as well. Any player that is only eligible at DH must qualify at a
position in order to be placed on a roster. See below for
the list of DH's and positions that they will qualify at. If a DH qualifies at
another position during the year he will increase his qualifications.
DH ELIGIBILITY:
C
Mike Piazza Oak
1B David Ortiz Bos
Jim Thome CWS Travis Hafner Cle Billy Butler
KC Mike Sweeney Oak
Shea Hillenbrand LAD
Jason Giambi NYY
Jose Vidro Sea Greg Norton Sea
Frank Thomas Tor
OF Gary Sheffield Det Sammy Sosa Tex
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
Lineup changes are due to
the Commish by 12:00pm mtn Monday. If a MLB game starts before 12pm mtn on
Monday, lineup changes for players involved must be submitted before the game
starts. Absolutely no late changes will be allowed
once the 12pm deadline has passed. The "default lineup" for teams each
week will be the previous week's lineup. (The only exception to this rule is
week #1, if no lineup is submitted the starting lineup will be the order of
players drafted) Changes must be made to
that default lineup by the required deadline or the default lineup will be used
for the week.
No non-DL lineup changes are permitted once the week's games begin. 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. Once the weekend games start, you are not allowed to replace any DL
player in your active lineup. You can replace a DL player on your roster over
the weekend, but the new player will not be available to use until the following
weeks games. If the DL player replaced is a sub, the newly acquired replacement
or other active sub player can not be moved into the starting lineup for the
weekend games. If a player is activated off the DL prior to the weekend, they
can be placed into the starting lineup for the weekend. A starter may not be
benched for the weekend and replaced by an active sub for the weekend games in
any scenario.
Starting line ups will consist of: 1B 3B
2B SS OF(3) C
PS.
Only points scored by these players will be tabulated into the game results.
If a player has the same score in two different games M-Th, the first game that
the score occurred in will be used. If a starter does not play or get the
necessary 2 PA during any of the M-Th games, the back-up will be used and their
best game during the Mon-Thu period will be used.
In the event that a starting player does not play on a weekend game, due to injury, managers decision, postponement, or the lack of a scheduled game, the back up player at his position will be used for that day ONLY. Example: Team "A" starts Albert Pujols at 1st base and David Wright at 3rd Base for the weekend, and they have Ryan Howard as their corner infielder. If Pujols or Wright do not play in the game on Saturday, for any reason, Howard will be used 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 weekend game, the position will get a zero for that game. 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.
In the event that a pitching staff is rained out and does not play on a weekend game, the score from the 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 score from Thursday's game will be used for Saturday if the Thursday game was not used during the M-Th games. If the Thursday game was used, then you go back to Wed and so on. While going backwards to find the most recent game not used it comes to a day that the pitching staff or catcher played a doubleheader, game 1 will be used first and then game 2 if necessary.
Your roster will show two specific players at catcher, the same 2 AB rule will apply as listed above for all other offensive players. 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 your catcher's game is rained out on a weekend game, 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.
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. In the event of a double header in MLB on any weekend games, the highest game of the two games will be used for a starter. If a starter only plays one game of the doubleheader, that one game will be used. If a starter is dnp for a weekend game, and the back up has a doubleheader, the same rule will apply as it does for a starter.
If a suspended game is completed within the same fantasy week, the stats will count for the day the game was originally played. There would be one exception: if a suspended game is completed on the Monday following the week, the stats would still count for the original day. (For example a Sunday game suspended and completed the next day on Monday). We would just have to delay the stats for the week by one day. For any game that is suspended and completed on a later date (later than the Monday following that week) we will count the stats for the suspended game on the day the game is suspended. When the game is finished weeks or months later any additional stats accumulated during the completion of the suspended game will not be used.
Entry Fees
There will be an entry fee of $215,
a minimum of $100
is due at the draft. The balance will be due no later than May 1, 2008.
In the event that the minimum entry fee is not paid on the day of
the draft, your team will be restricted from making
any transactions until the minimum 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
-$60 Website/Server
-$20 Trophy/Trophy Engraving
-$20 Draft Monitor
-$50 Draft Room
-$2040 Playoff Team Breakdown (8 Teams)
-$160 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 eligible 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 league prize fund breakdown is available on the league website. All
sidepots will conclude at the end of the regular season. Only Fri-Sun games will
be eligible for the high team game sidepot. Team pitching staffs are not
eligible for player high game or high series sidepots.
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. Team entry fees will be adjusted by money won or loss in the weekly
points pool the following season. 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. "Home-field advantage" will
apply in the playoffs ONLY, with
the higher seeded team receiving the advantage in a tie series.
Rosters are frozen once the playoffs begin, only DL moves will be allowed during
the playoffs.
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) winning percentage ((wins + 1/2 point for ties)/games played)
3) head to head
4) record within division (*only in the event of a tie between two teams in the
same division)
5) most points scored
6) most points scored against
7) coin flip
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 303-868-7039.****
Free Agents
After the draft, any players un-drafted are considered free
agents. Any team may acquire a free agent at any time
during the year, provided they release a player to maintain a legal roster. All free agent acquisitions are on a daily basis. The cut off time for free agent moves is
9:00
PM each day, with the exception of Monday when moves are permitted until the
roster/lineup
deadline at 12noon on Monday. Any transactions sent in after 12noon on Monday
will be processed as part of the following week. 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. 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. 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 as a DL move 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, provided they
went on the DL after they were claimed. There will a
limit of 4 transactions (free agent or waiver claims combined) that may
be made involving a team Pitching Staff during the season.
Waiver Wire
When a player is released by a team he will be considered "on waivers". The weekly waiver period will end at
9pm
Thursday. All players on waivers for the week
will be processed at 9pm Saturday. Players claimed from waivers on Saturday will
be eligible for line-ups that Monday. 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, 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. If a player is
sent to the minors, or released by his team, that player is eligible to be
placed on the DL.
Teams will retain rights to the player if they resurface on another MLB team.
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 Monday at 12pm) 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.
**If a suspended player is placed on the DL and will be activated in the middle
of the week or weekend, teams will not be penalized for starting a DL player for
a missed game. For example, a player is suspended 4 games and has no game on
Monday, he will sit out Tue-Fri and return Saturday. Teams can activate that
player for the weekend and not be penalized for the missed Friday game. If the
suspended player is started and sits out an entire M-Th or F-Su period for any
reason then the no sub penalty will apply.
***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 roster 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 12:00PM on
the Monday of week #14 (June 30, 2008). There is maximum of 5 trades per team during the season.
Draft Day
Tidbits
During the course of the draft, if a team attempts to draft a player that has already
been drafted by another team, they will get a mulligan for the first offense,
and will forfeit the pick on any subsequent offenses.
Fines
Fines will be issued for not reporting scores on time or
for an incomplete lineup. An incomplete lineup occurs when a player on the DL
for more than one lineup deadline is started. A mulligan will be issued
for the first offense and a $10 fine for all subsequent offenses. There will be a running total of fines listed on the standings page
on the website. These fines will be deducted from any winnings a team may have,
or must be paid prior to the draft if a team has no winnings. These fines will
go to draft food, meeting room cost or will be added to the
prize fund if necessary.