Back in the Day Summer League Constitution
Created November 10, 2006 (revised129/01/2009)
I. League Description
The Back in the Day Summer League (the “BDSL”),
founded in 2007, is a continuous ownership league that utilizes the most recent
version of the Diamond Mind Baseball game
and for the inaugural season will use the 1982 Deluxe Season Disk based
on the 1982 Major League Baseball Season statistics. Each subsequent year of
the BDSL will use the next Deluxe Season Disk in chronological order (e.g. 2nd
season of the BDSL will use 1983, 3rd season will use 1984, etc.).
The regular season shall run from April through September.
II. Playing Requirements
All members of the league must own a registered
copy of the most recent version of DMB and have purchased the applicable Deluxe
Season version of the team disk. Pirated copies of DMB are illegal and are not
allowed in the BDSL. Proper ownership of
season disks will be verified with Diamond Mind.
There are no dues or fees to play in the BDSL.
III. League Hierarchy
A.
League
Commissioner (the
“LC”)
a. Shall administer the daily affairs
of the BDSL.
b. Will be responsible for the
league's integrity and well-being.
c. Has the authority to impose rules
and issue decrees which are deemed in the best interest of the league.
B.
Advisory Board
a.
Appointed by the LC and shall counsel the LC on matters that pertain to
the overall good of the league.
b.
The LC will frequently poll the advisory board on issues affecting such
things as rules changes, eligibility matters and infractions.
c.
Will assist the LC in gathering and checking Manager Profiles and usage
figures during the season.
C.
League Members
a.
Are responsible for
meeting various deadlines and responding as required by LC. Repeated unanswered emails may result in an owner’s dismissal.
b.
Will be responsible for
sending out instructions (via manager profile export – you may have separate
manager profiles for each opponent) for their team’s road games, playing their
home games and sending in statistics (managers are encouraged to include a
monthly recap) on a regular, timely basis.
c.
For home games played
against opponents MP, will need to ensure that the opponent’s correct starters
are being chosen for each series and correct lineup is used.
d.
Shall treat all League
Members with respect and shall adhere to a code of “good sportsmanship”.
IV. League Organization
A. General Information
The BDSL
will consist of 20 teams divided into two 10-team leagues containing two 5-team
divisions each. Each team will play a 154-game regular season schedule. The
intention is to group owners desiring to play a majority (however, not
mandatory that they play 100% of their games via NetPlay) of their games via
NetPlay into the same league in order to afford them the opportunity to play as
many games via Netplay as possible.
B. Game Settings are as follows:
·
No Injuries (players
may be lost due to ejection or weather)
·
No bullpen warm-up
·
Weather effects are
turned on
·
Clutch and Jam ratings
are in effect
·
No DH
·
The Era will be NL of
applicable season
C. Naming of Teams
In order
to preserve some semblance of dignity as well as promote a uniform style, team
names should follow a standard format: [Home
Site][Nickname]. Home site is the name of a city,
state, Canadian province or other foreign entity. It is not the name of a TV
show, a brand of beer, etc. Example of an acceptable name: The Richland Ravens
and an unacceptable name: The Monica Lewinskys.
Nicknames shall be animals, notable figures and appropriate symbols or icons of
American or global culture. While the LC frowns upon soccer-inspired,
singular-noun nicknames – the Burn, the Galaxy, and the Phlegm – exceptions may
be made under various and clever circumstances.
D. Stadiums
Teams may
change stadiums each season, but the changes CANNOT be made after the
commencement of that season’s draft through the completion of the season.
Stadium changes will be handled on a “first come, first serve basis” with
priority given to a team that (a) has a team name near the location of the
stadium, (b) has not made a recent stadium change and (c) the team with the
worst prior season record.
V. Annual
Entry Draft
A. Overview
There is an issue that every
league (even modern day leagues) has to confront and since the BDSL is a retro
league the issue is even greater due to the 100% hindsight factor. The issue is
how to motivate every team to try to be as competitive as possible every
season, thereby increasing the overall competitiveness of the league.
There comes a point in a season
when teams make a decision whether they can compete or not that season. If the
decision is that they can't, then there is a lot of motivation to unload their
better players, especially players that have no future value. Now you may say,
but that is what happens in the real life so why is it a problem in the BDSL. The
short answer is that in real life they do not have the ability to know exactly
how players are going to perform in subsequent years. Also, in real life
baseball it is a business that has to deal with sagging attendance, the
press, etc. So there are external pressures for teams to field competitive
teams.
Therefore, the BDSL is adapting a
draft structure that rewards teams for winning not for losing in an attempt to
encourage teams to be competitive every season.
B.
Draft
Order Determination
a. The 12
non-playoff teams will be included in the draft lotto process and seeded #1
through #12 based on order of finish (best record is #1 and worst record is #12).
i.
Tie-breakers:
1. Team with
better road record will be lower seed (better seed); if still tied then
2. Team with
better record over final 2 months of the season will be lower seed (better
seed); if still tied then
3. Team with
better record within their own league will be lower seed (better seed); if
still tied then
4. A random method
will be used to break the tie.
b. A lotto will be
used to determine the 1st, 2nd & 3rd picks
overall and will be weighted to favor lower seeded teams (better seeded) as
follows:
First Day % to determine 1st
pick overall (%’s
shown can be increased by Bonus %’s defined below):
Seed #1 15% chance Seed
#7 5% chance
Seed #2 12% chance Seed
#8 5% chance
Seed #3 10% chance Seed
# 9 5%
chance
Seed #4 8% chance Seed #10 5% chance
Seed #5 5% chance Seed #11 5% chance
Seed #6 5% chance Seed #12 5% chance
Bonus
15%: The playoff
team with the worst record will
get a 5% chance and 10% will be split evenly between the
teams with a 2-year combined winning %
under .400. If no teams are under .400 then the 10% is split evenly between
the teams with a 2-year combined winning
% under .435. If still no teams, then the 10% will be split evenly between
the 2 teams with the worst 2-year
combined winning %.
Note: The 2nd and 3rd
picks overall will be determined on days 2 and 3. The above % would be
recalculated after removing the 1st and then the 2nd day
winners so that the sum of the remaining team’s % would equal 100% each day
(e.g. if Seed #1 won the 1st day each teams % would be adjusted as
follows: [1st day % divided by 85%]).
c. The 4th pick through the 20th
pick would then be determined based on reverse order of finish during the
regular season.
i.
Tie-breakers:
1. Team with the
worst road record will be lower pick (better pick); if still tied then
2. Team with better
record over final 2 months of the season will be lower pick (better pick); if
still tied then
3. Team with better
record within their own league will be lower pick (better pick); if still tied
then
4. A random method
will be used to break the tie.
d.
For the 2nd Round and through the
remaining rounds of the draft the order will be based on the reverse order of
finish during the regular season with the worst record getting the 1st
pick in each round and the best record getting the last pick in each round. The
Tie-breakers used in c.i. above would be used here
also. The draft will consist of 16 rounds
or until a team reaches 28 players on their roster. However, for teams that
were unable / unwilling to protect 12 players; their draft will continue to
proceed in draft order, until they reach 28 players.
C.
Eligible
Players
a. All players on the applicable season’s team disk (that are
not on a protected list) with at
least 100 (75 for catchers) at bats (no minimum useage
requirement for pitchers) are eligible to be drafted. Very important; please refer to Restrictions on Protecting Players below.
VI. Team Rosters
A.
Regular Season Rosters
a.
Maximum of 28 players
in total.
b.
Active rosters for each
series shall be 27 players and must include:
i.
2 catchers
ii.
9 pitchers, 4 of which
have to be starting pitchers.
iii.
The balance of the
active roster can be any combination of players on the roster.
iv.
You may have a
different active roster for each series, but cannot change active roster in the
middle of a series.
c.
In the final month of
the season all players (not over their usage limitations) on the roster can be
active.
B.
Post Season Protected List (subject to restriction in VI.C
below)
a.
At the conclusion of
each season, each team will be allowed to protect 12 players for the next
season.
i.
The protected lists
will be due at a date determined by LC approximately 2 weeks after the
conclusion of the season.
ii.
There will be an
opportunity to make trades between the end of the season and prior to the
submission of the protected lists.
iii.
If a team’s protected
list is not submitted on a timely basis the LC shall prepare the list for the
team.
C.
Restrictions on Protecting Players
a.
Overused players cannot
be protected (see restrictions below).
b.
Disgruntled players (as
defined below) cannot be protected.
c.
In order to limit a
team’s ability to take unfair advantage of hindsight and stockpile future
superstars before they have bloomed, there will be restrictions on protecting players in the year that they are drafted.
In order for a drafted player to be eligible to be included on a team’s 12-man
protected roster for the next season, he must have the following minimum real-life stats in the applicable
season of the draft:
i.
Batters must have at
least 300 plate appearances.
ii.
Starting Pitchers must
have at least 5 starts.
iii.
Relief Pitchers must
have at least 125 batters faced.
iv.
Swing Pitchers that both
Start and Relieve must have at least 5 starts or 150 batters faced.
Note: This restriction only applies to players in the
year that they are drafted. Any player, on a team’s roster prior to the
annual free agent draft, will not be subject to the above restrictions.
VII. Trading
A.
In-Season Trading
a.
Will be allowed through
the June games on the Season schedule.
b.
A trade needs to be
agreed upon by both managers and reported to the LC by the 20th of
each month and approved by the LC to be valid for the following month’s games.
c.
Teams may not trade
“players to be named later” or ANY future consideration.
d.
You may trade draft
picks with the following limitations:
i.
Only draft picks for
the next scheduled draft may be traded.
ii.
A team must retain
draft picks in 3 of the first 5 rounds of each season’s draft (these may be
their own picks or picks traded for from another team). This limitation is
suspended for trading of draft picks during the draft (e.g. you may trade any
number of draft picks for a draft, during that same draft).
e.
If a trade puts you
over the 28 man roster limit, you must submit along with the trade the players
to be cut to bring your roster back to the man limit.
f.
If a trade puts you
under the 28 man roster limit, you may submit the free agent pickups in order
to bring your roster back up to the 28 man roster limit.
B.
Off-Season Trading
a.
Will begin immediately
following the conclusion of the World Series.
b.
Will be allowed during
the draft with the following limitations:
i.
A trade during the
draft cannot hold up the making of a draft pick, unless approval received from
LC.
ii.
Only picks in the
current draft can be traded during the draft subject to restriction in VII.A.d.ii above.
VIII. Free Agent Pick-ups
A.
Prior to Start
of Season
a.
Following the annual
free agent drafts, there will be a designated period of time where teams may
cut players and sign un-drafted free agent players from the free agent pool on
a “first-come, first-severe basis”. In the event more than one team claims the
same free agent at the same time, the team with the worst prior season record
will get the player. Free agents will be eligible to be protected for the next
season (subject to the above restriction on protecting drafted players) and
play in the playoffs.
B.
During the Season
a.
Starting on the 1st
day of each regular season, teams may select free agents from the free agent
pool. Free agent claims will be awarded on a “first-come, first-serve basis”.
In the event more than one team claims the same free agent at the same time,
the team with the worst record in the current season at the time of the claim
will get the player. A free agent claim must be requested by the 20th of each
month to be valid for the following month’s games, unless deadline is extended
by LC. Free agents will be eligible to be protected for the next season
(subject to the above restriction on protecting drafted players) and if the
free agent is claimed prior to September’s games they will be eligible to be
included on a team’s playoff roster.
VIII. Player Usage Restrictions
A.
Regular Season
a.
Batters
i.
Limited to actual (100%) number of total plate
appearances overall. If a batter has 600
or more plate appearances overall, he will be eligible to be used full time
with no restrictions on overall plate appearances.
1.
Usage Restrictions for Splits (only applicable for Batters
with less than 400 overall plate appearances):
a.
Batters with less than 100 at bats against LH pitchers will be restricted to actual total plate appearances against LH pitchers.
b.
Batters with less than 100 at bats against RH pitchers will be restricted to actual total plate appearances against RH
pitchers.
c.
Batters with 100 or greater at bats or an OPS of less
than .600 against either RH & LH pitchers will not be limited in useage
against that particular pitcher, provided
they do not exceed 100% total plate appearances overall.
ii.
Batters may only play
at a position in which they received a DMB fielding ratings.
1.
This no limit on how
often a player can be used at a position he has received a rating for other
than the plate appearance limits above.
2.
Batters may play any
position in an emergency situation at the end of a game or in extra innings.
3.
For players only rated
by DMB as DH, the LC will assign them a Pr rating at 1B.
b.
Pitchers
i.
Limited to actual
starts.
ii.
Starting Pitchers
require 2 days rest between starts.
iii.
Relievers are limited
to actual number of batters faced.
iv.
A swingman is a player
who can either start or relieve. He is limited to actual number of starts
and/or batters faced. Example – If you use a starter as a full time reliever,
he is limited to batters faced. Example – If you use a starter as a part
time starter and part time reliever, he is limited to the actual number of
starts and batters faced. If he goes over either, he will be subject to
over usage penalties.
v.
Starting Pitchers can
be used as a starter or as a reliever, regardless of DMB rating. However, a
pitcher must be rated as a starter in order to start a game.
vi.
Pitchers may be used as
pinch-runners, but may only be used to pinch hit if their real-life games
played as batters exceed their real-life games played as pitchers and only if
their useage as a batter is less than 100%. If their useage as a batter is 100% or greater, they cannot be used
a as pinch hitter.
B.
Over Use Penalties
a.
IMPORTANT:
i.
Players who exceed
the usage restrictions must immediately be farmed and are ineligible to play
the rest of the season and in the playoffs unless approved by the LC.
ii.
Players who exceed
the usage restriction by 5% or more may be declared free agents for the next season.
iii.
Teams with multiple
material useage violations, may be penalized during
the draft as determined by LC.
C.
Disgruntled Player Restrictions - in order to qualify to be protected for next season (no
minimum useage is required to be eligible for post
season roster):
a.
All Batters must reach
at least 50% of their real-life
plate appearances.
b.
All Pitchers must reach
at least 50% of their real-life
batters faced.
c.
EXCEPTION – for players
traded at the trade deadline only (trade effective for the July games); if that
traded player reaches 30% usage for his new team (excluding usage from prior
teams), they will be eligible to be protected for the next season and eligible
for a team’s post-season roster. Also, Free Agents picked up after the
completion of the June games, maybe eligible for post-season if reaches 30%
usage for his new team (excluding usage from prior teams).
IX. Instructions for Playing of Games
A.
Monthly Database will be
posted to group site by the 28th of each month.
B.
Manager Profiles (MP) and Starting Rotations should be posted to group site prior to the 1st
of each month.
a.
Separate MPs can be
created for each opponent.
b.
Starting Pitching Rotations can be set each month or for the entire season. When playing
home games or when playing via NetPlay owner may vary
from the posted rotation for his team. Please be sure to allow for 2 days rest
prior to each start.
C.
Reset Player Useage prior to hosting games. Do not reset useage
in the middle of a series.
D.
Head to Head Play via Netplay is strongly encouraged, but not mandatory. Series may be
played using manager profiles supplied by the visitors.
a.
Owners are
responsible for getting their home games
played.
i.
Series may be
played out of order, but games within series must be played in order.
b.
Be sure to down load visiting team’s MP from group
site prior to playing games.
i.
If playing against the visiting team’s MP
1.
Home owner is
responsible for ensuring the correct
visitor’s starting pitcher is used. Visiting team’s rotation can be found
at the group site.
2.
Set game options
for visiting team all to “computer”, EXCEPT
for “Lineups/Starting Pitchers” should be set to “human” so the correct lineup
and starting pitcher can be inserted.
3. If incorrect lineups or incorrect starting pitchers are used
for visiting team, the games are subject
to replay by LC.
E.
Upload Series Stats to
group site at the completion of each series, but no later than the 20th
of each month.
X. Playoffs
At the end of the regular season, the two division champions in each league will
advance to the post-season playoffs. In addition, the two teams with the
next-best record in each league (regardless of division) will qualify for the
playoffs as wild cards. The division champions in each league with the best
record will play the wild card team with the worst record. The other division
champions (worst records) in each league will play the wild card team with the
best record. The 1st round winners will face each other for the
right to represent their league in the BDSL World Series. The two winners will
meet in the BDSL World Series. The team with the best record, as in all series,
will have home-field advantage (exception being that a wild card team cannot
have home field advantage over a division winner regardless of their records).
All
series will be best-of-seven. All series will use the
All
playoff games must be played head-to-head via Netplay. If, for some reason, a
playoff game cannot be played using Netplay, the two managers must arrange to
"meet" either on the telephone or by using the league's Yahoo Chat
room. The home manager will give a play-by-play, and the visiting team manager
will have the opportunity to relay instructions. Additionally, a manager may
select a proxy to serve as his live representative for a playoff game. The only
exception would be if both owners in a series agreed to play their games
against the computer using the visiting team’s MP.
In the
event of a tie for a division title or wild card team, a one-game playoff will
determine the regular season division champion or wildcard. This game will be
considered (as in MLB) an extension of the regular season and players will be
subject to usage restrictions that applied during the regular season and the
stats from the game will be included with the regular season stats. The game will
be scheduled to take place after one day of rest after the last day on the
league’s season schedule and neither team’s fatigue will be reset prior to
the game. The game will be played at the home park of the team that had the
better road record during the regular season (if still tied, the tiebreakers
(2) through (4) below will be used).
Playoff rosters will be set at 27
players, fixed for each round, and chosen prior to the round starting and
rosters can be made up of any combination of players. It is recommended that
teams carry at least nine pitchers and two catchers per series.
There will be four off days
scheduled between the end of the season and the start of the 1st
playoff series (note: a 1-game playoff to determine division champ may eat into
this rest). There will be two days off
scheduled between series (assuming series goes seven games), however if your
series ends sooner, your team will have more than 2 days rest between series. There
will be no fatigue reset between the playoff series.
There is one day off for travel
after games 2 and 5. Since each playoff series will be played using the same
stat database for starter and reliever fatigue, there will be no mandatory rest
imposed between starts for pitchers (DMB software will penalize tired pitchers)
– only usage restrictions below. Thus, if not played face-to-face, the home
manager in games 1 and 2 will send the playoff stats export file to the home
manager in games 3, 4, and 5, who will then make sure both teams are rested one
day before starting their games and likewise for games 6 and 7.
Playoff teams will be given a
maximum of 7 days to complete each series.
Player Usage
Restrictions – Playoffs
Batters
with 300 plate appearances have no usage limit...unlimited plate
appearances in the post-season
Batters
with under 300 plate appearances are limited to10% of
their real-life plate appearances in each series of the playoffs
Starting
pitchers get the following starts in each series of the playoffs:
i.
0-4 real life starts = 0 playoff starts
ii.
5-14 real life starts =
1 playoff start
iii.
15-24 real life starts
= 2 playoff starts
iv.
25 & above = 3
playoff starts
Relievers get 10% of their
real-life batters faced in each series of the playoffs.
V. Due Dates