This league is a fictional league with 24 teams in total.
There is one major league, 4 minor league levels, an invitational winter league, and 3 feeder leagues in this world.
The financial system has rolled back inflation by almost 50 years.
Season Sim Schedule
During the regular season, sims will cover 4 in-game days.
Sims will occur Monday through Friday based on the availability of the Commissioner. Under ideal circumstances:
Sim starts at 11:30am on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays
Sim starts at 1:30pm on Tuesdays
Playoff sims are as follows:
Wildcard Round: 1 sim
Divisional Round: 2 sim
Championship Series: 2 sims
World Series: 2 sims
At the conclusion of the World Series, there may be a delay before the first offseason sim to allow for maintenance and recruitment.
Offseason Sim Schedule
At the conclusion of the World Series, there may be a delay before the first offseason sim to allow for maintenance and recruitment.
We will advance through arbitration in 4-5 sims and get to free agency.
Sim intervals will start at 4 days per sim while marquee guys are still on the market. Once all marquee guys are off of the board, we move to a 5 day sim for 2-3 sims for people to try and pivot real quick, and then we finish out the off-season with 7 day sims. and will stop if a Free Agent Decision is needed (No longer have planned stops for free agent decisions.
These will be marked for any player that says they want more money and/or years and their contract offer from that team has an AAV that is equal to 4.6% of the previous season’s Average team Payroll. That figure will be rounded up/down to the nearest $100 (ex. 2010’s average team payroll was $761,569 and 4.6% comes out to $35,032.17 which would round down to $35,000 for simplicity sake)
Marquee guys are anyone that is viewed as a 3.5 star overall or better by OSA rating
Spring Training will be done in a single sim.
Amended for the 2011 season to allow 4 sims for new GM’s to train players.
Role Play
All managers will be expected to propose rule changes and vote on those changes as if they were an owner or General Manager of an American Baseball Association franchise in the current era of the league.
The commissioner reserves the right to veto a proposed change if he feels it violates the spirit of this rule.
Note: I will likely not ever use this power as I don’t want to overrule a majority of managers.
Commissioner has power to enable AI control of a team if the GM has not exported or communicated an absence for two weeks. The Commissioner can replace a GM after 4 weeks of no exports and no communications.
Personal Conduct
Treat others with civility in the Slack channel
Only one warning will be provided to managers who fail to follow this rule.
Discriminatory language will not be permitted. This includes language that is racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, etc.
The first offense will result in a DM warning and the message being deleted.
If the manager does not make an effort to correct their language, they will be removed from the league.
The commissioner has final say on whether or not language is offensive.
If a conflict arises between two managers that cannot be settled via the league rules, the commissioner will act as arbiter and provide a binding resolution to the conflict.
No discussion of “hot button” issues (ex: politics) will be allowed in public Slack forums.
League Vote Procedure
Any manager can propose a rule change in Slack, preferably in #rule-disccusion.
If the rule change is seconded by another manager, a league vote will be posted in Slack at the start of the playoffs.
50% of the league must vote in order for the results to be counted.
At the end of the voting period if a vote receives at least 60% approval through league vote, it will be passed.
The voting period shall last no longer than 7 days.
The Commissioner has the power to encourage people to vote to get to the 50% voting benchmark.
At the end of the voting period if a vote receives at least 70% approval through league vote, it will be passed.
At the end of the voting period, any votes that are not cast will be assumed as indifferent votes and are good either way. This assumption will place their vote with whichever option is in the lead.
The commissioner reserves the right to “close” votes early if a majority has not been reached within a reasonable amount of time.
Relocation
Franchise relocations can happen when a new team is claimed during the offseason at any point.
The relocation/rebranding period starts at the conclusion of the World Series and goes until the start of the “Pre-Season”
A team that is claimed at any point prior to the World Series (Opening Day forward) must wait until the conclusion of the World Series to officially relocate and/or rebrand.
I do request that all rebrands and relocations under this circumstance is submitted in the #team-relocation channel before we get to free agency just to help get the division structure set up.
Any team that was vacant and is claimed in the middle of the off-season can be rebranded upon receiving the team. Still must follow the time period and have the rebrand officially submitted in #team-relocation before the start of the “Pre-Season”
Any manager may propose a relocation of their franchise. The league cannot force franchises to locate without the approval of the manager of said franchise.
Relocations does not need to be approved by the league’s GM’s unless the GM has recently relocated (within the past 2 seasons)
The relocating franchise will be permitted to rename their franchise when moving.
You will have control over your minor league franchises as well including their team name/nickname.
Rebranding
Team nicknames nicknames are randomized as this is a fiction league.
Despite it being fictional, you can use real life teams (both minors and majors) for any team within your organization.
Competitive Balance
The current Compensation plan follows the 2017 CBA.
If you SIGN a COMP tag FA: IF your team paid Luxury Tax (RED number in your current accounting year) THEN you forfeit your second and fifth highest picks AND an additional signing forfeits your third and sixth highest IF your team received revenue sharing THEN you forfeit your third highest pick AND an additional signing forfeits fourth highest
If you LOSE a player that has refused a qualifying offer and is signed in free agency with a COMP tag: IF your team received revenue sharing (GREEN number in your current accounting year) AND the COMP FA signs a $50 million or more guaranteed contract (noted in their history) THEN you receive a compensation pick in a sandwich round between Rounds 1 and 2 LESS than a $50 million contract THEN you receive a compensation pick after Round 2 The game does not incorporate a second sandwich round, so the picks are tacked onto the second round. IF your team paid Luxury Tax (a RED number in accounting) THEN you are to receive a compensatory pick after the Round 4 IF your team neither paid or received revenue sharing (a "-" or “0” in your current accounting) THEN you receive a pick after Round 2.
Amateur Draft
This is a fictional league and all players will be generated randomly. The draft pool will be released officially around opening day so that it allows players to have plenty of time to scout the amateurs that will be available.
The draft will take place on the first Monday (in real life) when the in game month becomes May
The draft pool will be revealed approximately April 5th.
The draft will open on Stats+ immediately following the sim for the day. The Stats+ draft timers will be five hours for round 1-3, three hours for rounds 4-10, and one hour from round 11-20.
The draft order will be based on reverse standings order from the previous regular season. The team with the worst record will draft first, the team with the best regular season record will draft last.
Playoff performance will not impact draft order.
International Free Agency
A hard cap has been implemented on International Free Agency. $100,000 is the current hard cap. Will be reviewed after the first season using the cap (2016)
International free agency will move to the off-season starting in the 2016 offseason
Winter League
The ABA Winter League starts at the start of December and runs through mid January
Active roster size limit is 30 players
Players have the right to refuse an assignment to your Winter League Team
Rosters
Current minor league roster limits:
AAA limit 30
AA limit 30
A limit 35
R limit 45
Contracts
If a contract's total value exceeds $1 million or 60% of the team's total budget, whichever is larger, the contract is is subject to enhanced scrutiny from the Commissioner's office.
These rules only apply if in any year of a contract extension the value is over $100,000:
No year in the second half of the contract can exceed 2X of the first half. (Example: Cannot offer $200,001 in year 6 if $100,000 is offered in years 1-3 and is the lowest yearly total in years 1-3)
If there are two options given in a contract, they must be identical.
Team options cannot be 125% more than the highest non-option year (Prevents contract value inflation during negotiations that can be canceled out later)
Contract buyouts must be 20% of the proposed yearly salary
Vesting options and Incentives can be rejected by the Commissioner if they represent efforts to artificially inflate a contract value
Total incentives cannot exceed 25% of the lowest guaranteed contract year.
ABA qualifying offer to be set to the average of top 125 player salaries
Trades
All trades must be submitted in Slack. Only one GM must post, and the other GM Must confirm the trade as well.
If a player is on irrevocable waivers, this player cannot be traded.
All trades will be processed at the beginning of the sim for the day.
Any trade that is completed in the middle of a sim will not be processed until the next day’s sim.
Future picks can be traded.
Due to inability to trade future picks in game, we have a Future Draft Pick Rights spreadsheet to keep track of who owns which future pick and makes it easier to know which draft picks you have to trade.
A vote will be held at the conclusion of the 2011 season to define a limitation to how far into the future you can trade picks.
Rules and rule changes approved by league vote
Trades may not involve players injured for seven or more days.
Rescinded 2017-18 offseasonThe 10/5 Rule will be enabled.
The League will use “Normal” Accuracy scouting with:
The 20-80 Scale for individual ratings (contact, gap power, stamina, etc.)
The Star Scale for overall and potential in half star increments.
Aging is set to .900 and development is set at 1.000
A new GM that is taking over a team has 1 amnesty release available to them. This will allow the team to select 1 player of their choosing to release and not have the contract negatively affect them.
The option for amnesty is only applicable on the first offseason for a new GM.
The option for contract amnesty is only applicable to contracts on the new GM's team prior at the time the GM takes over the team.
Coaching will be enabled.
Coach Poaching has been removed pre a 2015 season vote.
Free agency will be allowed.
Default service time requirements will be used (3 for arbitration, 6 for free agency).
There will not be a salary cap.
Owner’s do not control the budget. Budget is directly determined according to the revenue that a team brings in.
Draft pick trading will be allowed. No draft picks may be traded once the draft has begun on Stats+.
Injuries will be set to “Normal.”
Active Roster is set to 26
Expanded Rosters in September expand to 40
2023-24 Rule Changes
Winter League has been disbanded.
CBA for compensation has been changed from the 2012 version to the 2017 version.
2018-19 Rule Changes
ABA qualifying offer to be set to the average of top 125 player salaries
Increase random origin will be considered passed at the end of this sim
If a player is on irrevocable waivers, this player cannot be traded.
Current minor league roster limits:
AAA limit 30
AA limit 30
A limit 35
R limit 45
Commissioner has power to enable AI control of a team if the GM has not exported or communicated an absence for two weeks. The Commissioner can replace a GM after 4 weeks of no exports and no communications.
2017-18 Rule Changes
Voting rules have been changed. 50% of league must vote. 60% approval is required to pass. Abstained votes no longer counts.
Contract Extension simple rules - If a contract's total value exceeds $1 million or 60% of the team's total budget, whichever is larger, the contract is is subject to enhanced scrutiny from the Commissioner's office.
Contract Extension rules based on OHBL - No year in the second half of the contract can exceed 2X of the first half, restrictions on options and incentives
Disable the 10/5 no-trade rule.
Set an age limit of 25 for the A league. (Implement starting 2019 offseason)
Expand ABA College league from 16 to 48 teams and rename ABA College Divisions.
Set roster limit of all feeder league teams to 30 players.
Set an age limit of 22 for the R league. (Implement starting 2019 offseason).
2016-17 Offseason Changes
Coaches will be generated from the retired pool generously at the recommendation of any GM and the discretion of the Commissioner.
Contract extensions will be limited to 6 years in length.
Roster Limits : Roster Limits will be applied to the minor league systems - details pending.
