Fantasy Baseball League – Official Rules

I. The Draft

1. Prior to the start of the draft, each owner must provide the commissioner with up to six protected players from his team’s roster (keepers).

2. The order of drafting is based on the previous year’s finish.  Based on a 12-team league, the six teams that did not make the playoffs the previous year will draft first, beginning with the team with the lesser record and proceeding to the team with the best record.  These teams are followed by the six playoff teams from the previous season,  to be determined by round of elimination, and then record.  In the event that two teams are tied for a draft choice, total runs scored from the previous season shall be used as the tiebreaker.

3. The order of the draft proceeds from #1 through #12 in each of the 11 rounds.

II. Rosters

1. Owners are allowed to fill a 17-player roster consisting of:  C (2), 1B (2), 2B (2), SS (2), 3B (2), OF (5), Free Slot (2).

2. Free Slots on rosters may be filled by any position player.

3. Players positioned at DH by MLB may only be owned in a Free Slot.

III. Designating Player Positions

1. Positions of protected players and drafted players will be based on how they are designated by MLB.

2. When an un-owned player is acquired by an owner, said player’s position is also determined by MLB.

3. In the event that MLB changes a player’s position during the season, owners may choose to change the player’s position through requesting a position change transaction with the commissioner.

4. The official way to confirm a player position is to go to mlb.com.  Click the “Players” tab at the top. Players are listed alphabetically.  If a player is not listed, go to The Busta Machine (TBM) and click on “All Batters.”

5. Players listed at any OF position by MLB are considered OF by FBL.

6. Busta will generate an official MLB position list on the opening day of MLB play.  He will generate another list closer to, or on Draft Day.  The last list he provides will be the position list for the Draft.

7. Minor league players may be acquired at their designated position by the minor league position designation.  However, they may only be used in games based on the MLB position listing.

IV. Transactions:

1. Trades

a. Trades are allowed between owners, except during the time period beginning with the Trade Deadline and culminating with the end of the FBL playoffs. The Trade Deadline goes into effect prior to the last round of intra-divisional play each season.  This occurs five games prior to the end of the regular season.

b. If a player is traded, and their position has been changed by MLB, the new owner MUST keep the player at their newly designated position.

c. Players involved in trades must be legally owned.

d. Depending on what the trade consists of, owners may need to add/drop additional players in order to maintain a complete roster.

2. Adds/Drops

a. Owners may add an un-owned player after the Draft has ended until the Trade Deadline.  It is not permitted to acquire an un-owned player at any other time.  These transactions must be made on TBM.

3. Waiver Wire

a. Dropped players are listed under the “Drop Players” icon on TBM.  If two or more owners claim a player, said player will be awarded to the team with the lesser record.  If two or more teams have the same record, the player will be awarded to the team with the fewest total runs.

b. At noon on each Thursday dropped players will be awarded to the qualifying owner.

c. The waiver wire does not affect a player who has already cleared waivers.  This pertains to players who were dropped after Thursday on a league week.

4. All transactions are subject to commissioner approval.

V. Lineups

1. Starting lineups consist of 9 players, including:  C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, OF, OF, OF, and DH.

2. Players submitted in each starting lineup, on each game day, must be legally owned at the position submitted.

3. The DH position may be filled by any player on the owner’s roster.

4. Players assigned the DH position by MLB may only be used in the DH position in an FBL starting lineup.

5. Lineups must be received by the commissioner before the scheduled start of the first MLB game on each FBL game day.  If the first game of a fantasy baseball game day is moved back for any reason, the next projected first game start time will replace it.

6. If an owner fails to submit a lineup prior to the start of the first MLB game on a FBL game day, the owner’s most recent lineup will be used.

7. If an owner fails to submit a lineup for the first game of the FBL season, said owner will receive a loss.  Any games after that, if the owner still has not entered a lineup, will result in a loss.

8. Illegal Lineups

a. In the event an owner submits a lineup that does not comply with the rules, any position in doubt will be scored a zero for that game day.

b. It is an owner’s responsibility to appeal an opponent’s lineup to the commissioner. Lineup appeals must be made within two weeks of the game in question.  They must also be made one day before the playoffs begin. Appeals must also be submitted prior to the beginning of each round of the FBL playoffs.

9. Lineups are subject to the approval of the commissioner.

10. If you accidentally drop a player on TBM contact Busta immediately.

VI. Scoring Games

1. Games are played on a head-to-head basis, with scoring based on the total number of Runs and RBI tallied from the starting lineup for each owner in each FBL game.

2. In the event that a player in an owner’s starting lineup does not play, and that player’s MLB team does play, the score for that player is zero.

3. In the event that an MLB team is not scheduled to play on a FBL game day, the next game played by that MLB team shall be used in scoring.

4. In the event that a MLB game is cancelled on a FBL game day, box scores from the next game involving those teams shall be used.  Thus, a player who’s game was cancelled on a Saturday, and whose next game was on a Sunday, would have his production from the Sunday game used by FBL for both Saturday and Sunday.

5. In the event that an MLB team plays a double header, the box scores from the first game shall be used in FBL scoring.

6. Partial MLB games

a. If a MLB game is resumed, it counts for the previous day only.

b. If a game is postponed, the scores will count if the game is completed in the current series between the two involved MLB teams.  If it isn’t completed within the current series between the two teams, it is treated as a cancelled game.

VII. Playoffs

1. Based on a 12-team league, divided into two divisions of six teams, the teams finishing the regular season in the top three positions in each division will advance to the playoffs.

2. In the event that two teams are tied for a playoff position, the first tie-breaker shall be the best record in head-to-head contests.  The second tie-breaker shall be the best record within the division.  The third tie-breaker shall be total runs for the regular season.  In the event two teams are still tied, a one-game playoff will be held on a date to be determined by the commissioner.

3. In the event of a three or more team tie, the total number of wins involving games between those teams will determine finishing places.

4. Division winners shall receive a first round bye.

5. First round playoffs shall consist of the second-place-finisher from one division playing the third-place-finisher from the other division.  First round playoffs are a best-of-five series.

6. Second round playoffs shall have division winners playing the winner of the series involving the third place finisher from their own division.  The second round is also best of five.

7. The FBL Championship Series is best of seven games.

VIII. League Fees and Payouts

1. The franchise fee is $110 per season.

2. The two teams losing in the second round of the playoffs each receive $100.

3. The team losing the Championship Series receives $300.

4. The Champion of the final series receives $700.

5. $120 goes to Busta for TBM.

IX. Season Schedule

1. The FBL Schedule consists of 43 games.

2. The season begins with 2 rounds of intradivisional play, then 1 round of interdivisional play, then 1 round intradivisional play, then 2 rounds interdivisional play, then 2 final rounds of intradivisional play.  The Trade Deadline is always in between the final 2 rounds of intradivisional play.

X. Owner Responsibility

1. The onus is on the owner to abide by all FBL rules.  The commissioner cannot, and will not, think or interpret for owners.

2. For the Love of God, please be competitive with your lineups throughout the season.  We don’t want to ask you to leave, but . . .

XI. Commissioner Responsibility

1. The commissioner will attempt to interpret and enforce the above stated rules to the best of the commissioner’s ability.  All commissioner rulings are final and binding.

a. Busta and DU are game day and transaction commissioners.

b. Ryno/Busta/DU are the triumvirate court for any ruling issues.