SECTION 1.00-LEAGUE OFFICIALS
1.01 - The Commissioner is the moderator of the league. He will be responsible for rule enforcement and maintaining the integrity of the league.
1.02 - The Eastern Conference and Western Conference Presidents will be appointed by the Commissioner and will be responsible for assisting the owners of their respective Conferences when the Commissioner is unavailable.
1.03 - League Statistician will be responsible for maintaining all statistical reports and the league Web site.
SECTION 2.00-FEES AND REQUIREMENTS
2.01 - There will be no monetary fees in this league.
2.02 - The only requirements are that each owner must have the most recent version of the Strat-o-matic CDROMBB game, access to the internet (all games are to be net played), and a valid email address as well as access to AOL Instant Messenger.
SECTION 3.00-LEAGUE AND PLAYOFF STRUCTURE
3.01 - The American Association currently consists of 20 teams divided into two 10-team conferences each of which is subsequently divided into two 5-team divisions.
3.02 - Each team will play an unbalanced 162 game schedule consisting of nine home and nine away games against each team in their own division and three home and three away games against each team not in their division.
3.03 - All games during the regular season will be head to head via net-play.
3.04 - At the end of the regular season there will be a league playoff. Each game during the playoffs will be played head to head via net-play.
3.05 - The American Association playoffs will consist of the FOUR division winners and TWO wildcard teams from EACH Conference.
3.06 - The playoff teams will be seeded as follows in each conference: The division winner with the highest winning percentage will be seeded #1 and the team with the second highest winning percentage will be seeded #2 in the conference. The two other teams with the highest winning percentages in the conference will be seeded #3 and #4 in order of higher winning percentage.
3.07 - The first round will consist in each conference of the #1 seed hosting the #4 seed and the #2 seed hosting the #3 seed.
3.08 - The second round will consist of the winners of each series in each conference playing each other; the winner of the second round receives the pennant.
3.09 - The pennant winners then play the World Series. The Dauvray Cup will be awarded to the winner of the World Series.
3.10 - Home field advantage in the conference playoffs will be based on seeding (the higher seeded team will get home field advantage)
3.11 - Home field advantage in the World Series will be based on Regular season Record ( the team with the better record will play host and in the event that each team has the same record their record against each other from the regular season will be the first tie-breaker, division record will be the second tie-breaker.)
3.12 - Each round of the playoffs will be best of 7.
SECTION 4.00-GAME RULES AND LINEUP OPTIONS
4.01 - Game rule options will be as follows:
4.01A - MAIN RULES - Maximum Level
4.01B - STEALING - Super Advanced Steal System
4.01C - MISCELLANEOUS - Use Miscellaneous Rules
4.01D - INJURIES - Do Not Use Injuries
4.01E - GROUNDBALL A - Allow GBA on Pitcher Cards
4.01F - BP/WEATHER/CLUTCH - all options should be checked
4.01G - STRATEGY - Super Advanced Strategy Charts
4.01H - CLOSER - Use Closer Rules
4.01I - PITCHER FATIGUE - Use SADV Fatigue & Pitch Count
4.01J - MAX RULES - All options should be checked except for the following:
4.01J.01 - Force Daily Injuries
4.02 - Lineups and Usage Options will be as follows:
4.02A - VISITING TEAM LINEUP - Draft League Mode No Rest
4.02B - HOME TEAM LINEUP - Draft League Mode No Rest
4.02C - SCHEDULED DAYS OFF - Give Scheduled Days Off (Scheduled days off count toward days of rest when scheduling starting pitchers)
4.02D - MINOR LEAGUERS - Minor Leaguers - Ineligible (The final two blocks of the regular season all minor leaguers will be eligible) Changed from 40/25 method (2008)
4.02E - AUTO SWAP - No Auto Swap-o-Matic
4.02F - OVERUSAGE - Fully Control Overusage Changed (2008) from Ignore Overusage
4.02G - USE 'SUPER HAL' BULLPEN - Yes
4.02H - USE 'SUPER HAL' LINEUP SUBS - Yes
4.02I - ALLOW EXTRA GS FOR CERTAIN PITCHERS - Yes
4.03 - The American Association will not allow overusage.
4.03A - Overusage will be considered as follows:
I - Hitters may not exceed their plate appearances
II - Pitchers may not exceed their innings pitched
4.04 - Regular Season Usage Limitations
4.04A - Hitters will be limited to 100% of their plate appearances (defined as at bats plus walks)
4.04B - Pitchers will be limited to 100% of their innings pitched
4.05 - Any player overused will be ineligible for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs.
4.06 - For players to be eligible for playoffs they must have appeared in one game with either one plate appearance or 1/3 of an inning pitched.
4.07 - Penalties for overuse will be as follows:
4.07A - First Offense - Player will be ineligible for remainder of the season and playoffs.
4.07B - Second Offense - Same as 4.07A. In addition, the overused player will be ineligible for the first block the following season.
4.07C - Third Offense - Player will be removed from the team. Team may use 3rd round pick in next season's draft to retain player.
4.07D - Fourth Offense - If a team overuses four or more players, all previous provisions in this rule shall be nullified and all overused players will be removed from the team permanently and placed into the draft pool for next season's draft. (This may be appealed if the current owner resigns and a new owner takes over the franchise, however the players will still be ineligible to play for the remainder of the season, and the playoffs, and block one of the following season.)
4.07E - Continuous Overuse Violations - Owners that continuously overuse players year after year may be asked to resign from the league.
Note: All penalties listed are not open for debate and will be enforced hereafter. The commissioner reserves the right to remove players from teams for excessive overuse.
Addendum: Any player that enters a game under the usage limit may finish that game without penalty of overusage.
4.08 - Playoff Usage:
4.08A - Hitters with over 450 AT BATS will have unlimited usage; hitters below 450 will be restricted to 15% of their actual regular season at bats.
4.08B - Starting Pitchers with * ratings will be allowed unlimited usage as a starter
subject to all rest requirements.
4.08C - Any Pitchers with 180 innings or more will be also unlimited subject to all rest requirements.
4.08D - All other Pitchers will be limited to 15% of their actual real life innings pitched.
4.09 - All overusage rules apply to the playoffs as well.
4.10 - Fielder's Position Rules-Players may not play a position at which they are not rated. The exception to this rule is outfielders. If a player is rated as an outfielder, he may also play any other outfield position he is not rated for. This rule is in accordance with Strat-o-matic's outfield mobility rule.
4.11 - Pitching Position Rules-Pitchers who are not rated as a starter may never be scheduled as a starting pitcher. Likewise, a starting pitcher who is not rated as a relief pitcher may not enter a game in relief. An exception to this rule will be made in the instance where a game reaches extra innings and no other relief pitcher is available. Relievers who are not rated as a closer may be used in the role of a closer but, in accordance with the rule in 4.01H if he is not rated as a closer he may not be as effective as a pitcher rated as a closer.
4.12 - Hitters with less than 50 AT BATS and pitchers with less than 25 INNINGS may only be used during the final two blocks of the season. The final two blocks equate to the month of September in a summer league. During the final two blocks of the regular season the active roster size expands from 25 to 40 players.
4.13 - Pitchers must pitch at least 5 innings or allow three runs (earned or unearned) before being pulled from any game.
SECTION 5.00-AMERICAN ASSOCIATION DRAFT
5.01 - Each team may retain up to 25 players from previous years roster.
5.02 - Draft will be in reverse order of the standings from previous year.
5.03 - Only players listed as free agents in the league files will be eligible to be drafted.
5.04 - Draft rounds one through six will involve all teams in the league.
5.05 - Draft rounds seven through ten will involve only teams that did not make the playoffs the previous year.
5.05A - Each team with a pick in rounds seven through ten will pick one player per round. These draft picks are not tradable.
5.06 - Draft rounds eleven on will involve all teams in the league and will be a supplementary draft to fill each teams 40 man roster. These draft picks are not tradable.
5.07 - 2003 AABL DRAFT-THE INAUGURAL DRAFT - Will be somewhat different in format. Since it will be a 40 round draft to begin the league.
5.08 - The rules for the inaugural draft are as follows:
5.08A - The draft will be serpentine meaning that the team that gets to pick first in the first round picks last in the second round and then first in the third round again. This is so the inaugural draft will be more fair.
5.08B - The first round will be by email draft beginning on Friday, September 5, 2003
5.08C - Rounds 2-6 will also be by email draft (one round per day) beginning on Tuesday, September 9, 2003
5.08D - Rounds 7-10 will be a draft in the yahoo group chat room on Saturday, September 13, 2003
5.08E - Rounds 11-24 will once again be by email draft (one round per day) beginning on Sunday, September 14, 2003
5.08F - Rounds 25-40 will be a draft in the yahoo group chat room. These rounds will be held on consecutive days beginning Saturday, September 27, 2003 and finishing up on Monday, September 29, 2003.
5.08G - To see a full schedule of this draft view the Draft Schedule on the league website.
5.09 - Drafting on time- It is important while we do the email portion of this inaugural draft that we all post our draft picks in a timely manner.
5.10 - Penalty for not posting draft picks on time- The only penalty for this is that if you miss your time to pick (each owner has a 30 minute window with a five minute grace period) you will not be able to make your selection until the make up time after the last team has posted that day until 9pm. After this 9pm deadline the remaining teams that have not posted or contacted the commissioner will have their draft pick for that round drafted by HAL (This will be done by utilizing the Draft Best Player available function on the Strat-o-matic cdromm baseball game.
5.11 - Any questions about this draft process should be addressed to the commissioner.
5.12 - NON-COMPUTER players are ineligible for the draft. If a player was not carded by stratomatic he is not eligible for the draft. *(In other words any player who has a card on the CDROMBB game whether it is in the ML league or the non-carded league is eligible. Anyone not in either of those two categories is not eligible)
SECTION 6.00-BALL PARK DRAFT
6.01 - Ballpark draft will be held one week following the player draft.
6.02 - The order of the draft will be according to the standings the previous year.
6.02A - The team with the best record will be rewarded with the first choice of their stadium.
6.03 - Those who wish to retain their current ballpark are not eligible to participate.
6.04 - In some instances when a penalty has incurred on a team for rules violations that team may be moved to the bottom of the draft list regardless of position in standings the previous season.
SECTION 7.00-TRADING
7.01 - Trades can be made by any combination of owners for any combination of the following:
7.01A - Players
7.01B - Draft picks (Only draft picks from rounds 1-6 are allowed to be traded.
7.01C - Stadiums (in the off season only, stadiums can not be traded during the season)
7.02 - Trading deadline will be determined on a yearly basis but generally it will be after day 105 of the season.
7.03 - Trades can be made after the deadline with the commissioner's approval.
7.04 - Players traded after the deadline are not eligible for the playoffs.
7.05 - All transactions must be complete as is and there will be no trading of players to be named later.
SECTION 8.00-WAIVERS AND FREE AGENTS
8.01 - Players may be acquired from the free agent pool.
8.02 - Process for acquiring free agents.
8.02A - Waiver request made to commissioner for a specific player.
8.02B - Commissioner places a posting on the group website showing waiver request.( Posting will be emailed to all members)
8.02C - Other owners may place a waiver request for the same player within 48 hours of commissioners posting.
8.02D - The waiver request will be granted to the requesting team with the lowest winning percentage at the time of request
8.03 - Free agent list:
8.03A - Players undrafted will remain in the free agent pool
8.03B - Players uncarded during the previous season will be removed from the free agent pool before any waiver requests are made.
8.03C - Only players that were carded are eligible for any waiver request.
8.04 - When a teams receives the waiver request he must verify that he has 40 players on his roster.
8.05 - If a team has more than 40 players on his roster that team must cut down to 40 players. The cut player will then be added to the free agent list and is eligible to be picked up by another team via the waiver process.
8.06 - Any free agent picked up after the annual draft has been completed will remain the property of the team for the remainder of the season only and will enter the draft pool the following season.
SECTION 9.00-ROSTERS
9.01 - Strat-o-matic has a limit of 75 players on each team.
9.02 - Once a team has reached 75 players on their season roster through trades and waiver requests there can be no more transactions made by that team.
9.03 - This is strat-o-matic's rules not mine. There is no way to change this absolute so please be mindful of how many players you aquire throughout the season.
9.04 - It is NOT mandatory to carry a backup player at every position. It is however recommended.
SECTION 10.00-LEAGUE SCHEDULE
10.01 - The American Association will be an annual fall league and will begin each season one week after labor day.
10.02 - The 162 game schedule will be played in 11 blocks. Each block will be approximately two weeks longs. (Some may be shorter or longer depending upon holidays and other considerations).
10.03 - Each block will consist of either 12 or 15 games.
SECTION 11.00-OFF SEASON
11.01 - Trade embargo begins at the end of the regular season each year and ends immediately following the last game of the World Series.
11.02 - Player retention lists are due two weeks before the American Association Draft.
11.03 - Trade embargo begins two weeks before the draft and ends when the team with the number one pick is on the clock.
SECTION 12.00-MANAGER/GM RESPONSIBILITIES
12.01 - All manager/gms are responsible for the operation of their team. This includes but is not limited to the following:
12.01A - Setting up computer manager for their own team. The CM must include the starting pitcher schedule for each block. The starting pitcher for each game may not be changed once the block has started. If a mistake happens to be made in the starting pitcher schedule reguarding USAGE then the commissioner must be informed immediately and the commissioner will make the appropriate change to said teams starting pitching schedule.
12.01B - Filing CM on the league group site for their opponents to download.
12.01C - Playing all games within the cycle by the game file due date.
12.01D - Obeying all rules set forth in the constitution.
12.02 - Owners must conduct themselves in an ethical manner.
12.03 - Owners that are viewed to be breaking any rule or acting unethical may be removed by the league.
12.04 - Owners must show the same manner of respect and consideration for others in the league as they wish to be shown in return. Disrespectful language directed toward any owner, even in response to the same, will be grounds for immediate removal from the league without the possibility of reinstatement.
12.04A - There will be no tolerance for the following:
- Cursing at another owner via instant messaging, e-mail or any other contact medium
- Virulent criticism of another owner
- Any written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression about another owner
SECTION 13.00-TEAM VACANCIES
13.01 Any team that becomes vacant will be operated by the league until such time as a new owner takes over operations.
13.02 The commissioner will set up the computer manager for any vacant teams.
13.03 The commissioner is not authorized to make trades or make waiver requests for a vacant team.
13.04 Any team that becomes vacant will be auto-played until a new owner is found. Managers with scheduled games against a vacant team will be allowed to play said games against the vacant team's computer manager.
SECTION 14.00-DESIGNATED HITTER
14.01 - The DH rule as it exsists in the American League will be used in this league.
SECTION 15.00-STRAT-O-MATIC CORRECTIONS
15.01 Any corrections that strat makes to the game that is currently being used by the American Association will be corrected for in the official league files.
15.02 Examples of corrections:
15.02A - Player e ratings
15.02B - Arm ratings
15.02C - New Patches required by the American Association will be downloaded before league play
SECTION 16.00-BLOCK PROCESS
16.01 - The Commissioner sends out the game files. Games aren't played as of yet. The CMs are created.
16.02 - CMs will need to be posted on the Yahoo group site within two days. The CMs must be uploaded to the correct file folder on the yahoo group site. Each file folder will be clearly marked as to the block #. Please make sure if you can't post your CM on time to inform the commissioner. If a team is late in posting and hasn't communicated with the commissioner the CM will be HAL'd (auto created) and place in the file folder.
16.03 - Play ball files (with all the CMs in it) will be sent out by the commissioner and he will notify you of when the game files of this block are due.
16.04 - All visiting teams will be responsible for sending out an email to the teams they will be playing in this particular block. The visiting team will cc the commissioner as well. This email should include what teams they play and what days they are available to play. Please be certain there is some form of communication between teams that are playing each other. Communication is the key to getting in your games.
16.05 - Example of 16.04: I play Cincinnati and Akron in this block. I am available after 5:00 pm on Friday and Saturday and all day Sunday. Let me know your availability this block.
16.06 - All home teams will respond to the visitors with their availability and cc the commissioner. If the home team does not send back an email within two days of the email sent by the visiting team the visiting team should notify the commissinoer and the commissioner will attempt to contact the home team for availability. In the event a deadline is looming and either team has been unavailable to the other team the commissioner may allow the one team the opportunity to play the CM of the other team. This is a last resort and will not be utilized unless completely necessary.
16.07 - Once the games in a series have been played the home team must zip the game files and post them on the AABL yahoo group within the correct file folder.
16.08 - Process for exporting game files from the cdrombb game and zipping them
16.08A - Select League (AMERICAN ASSOCIATION)
16.08B - Click on Statistics
16.08C - Select "EXPORT GAME RESULTS OR SUBSETS"
16.08D - You will be promted to select which game files to export (should be the games you just played)
16.08E - Then you will be prompted to insert a 3 ½ inch floppy into your disk drive. (Copying the files from the export folder is also permissible provided you have enough experience to do so).
16.08F - When you have finished exporting the game files to your floppy disk open your winzip utility
16.08G - Create a new zip file
16.08H - Type in a name for your zip file (preferably something like AABL GAME FILES POR @ ANT block #)
16.08I - Then add the files from the floppy disk to the zip (there should be a total of 6 files)
16.08J - You may also add the box score files if you wish but they are not required
16.08K - Then ZIP the file and either post it on the yahoo group site in the proper game files block file or email to me and I will post it for you.
SECTION 17.00-MISCELLANEOUS RULES
17.01 - When you create your CM for each block you MUST schedule a pitcher for every game in said block.
17.02 - No matter how many starting pitchers you decide to schedule during said block, each starter scheduled MUST remain on active 25 man roster for the entire block. Example: My rotation is Maddox, Washburn, Lidle, Lieber and Valdes. Each of them must be on my active 25 man roster (MUST BE IN MAJORS) for the entire block. I can not put Lidle down to the minors and bring up a hitter or another relief pitcher to replace him on the active roster for a series he may not be scheduled to pitch in. He must occupy a spot on the roster even when he is not scheduled to pitch.
17.03 - You may promote/demote at will with any other players on the roster (hitters and relief pitchers) in between 3 game series only.
17.04 - A pitcher that starts a game in a given series may not relieve in the same series and vice versa a relief pitcher may not start a game if he has relieved in the same series.
17.05 - The pitcher that you schedule for a game MUST start that game he is scheduled to start. You MAY NOT replace him when you setup against your opponent.
17.06 - Exception to this will be as follows: Late in the season when pitchers begin to run out of IP (usage limitations) if you schedule a pitcher to start on your CM and realize afterwards that he will be out of innings you may make a request to the commissioner prior to playing the opponent that said pitcher will start against, and the commissioner will allow a change to be made. This is the only instance a substitution will be allowed. It will not be allowed if the owner does not make a request to the commissioner. Refer to section 12.01a for more information on setting up a CM.
* Clarification of Section 5.12 added to the constitution August 8, 2006.
