1.0 League Structure
1.1 FOD uses Diamond Mind Baseball software version 9c, the All-Time Greatest Players disc. The league is centralized, with
all games played on the Commissioner's computer. This is a full DH league, injury setting is on.
1.2 The league has 24 franchises,
divided into two leagues and four divisions.
1.3 Owners are required to check the Field of Dreams League Discussion Forum regularly,
meet all league deadlines, and respond to requests on the Forum and/or email from the commissioner within 48 hours. Where an owner
is likely to be offline for a periods exceeding 48 hours they should notify the commissioner in advance. The commissioner reserves
the right to invoke rule 1.4 for lack of communication.
1.4 Ownership of a team is a privilege allowed at the commissioner’s discretion.
The commissioner reserves the right to revoke this privilege after the owner has been warned of a league infraction and the owner
refuses to comply.
1.5 If an owner has an issue with either the commissioner or another owner, he needs to personally and directly
email the other party. The Forum is not to be used for argument, personal attack or foul language. The commissioner reserves
the right to delete / modify any post on the Forum, and invoke rule 1.4.
2.0 Rosters
2.1 The roster size is 25.
2.2 The salary cap
is $150 million.
3.0 Pre-Season Draft
3.1 A Pre-Season draft is used to choose players, utilizing an orderly system of requests and
auctions. See Rule Set 5.0.
3.2 The commissioner will publicly announce the deadline for all teams to submit a list of players
they would like to draft, before the start of the regular season.
3.3 Teams may submit a list for as many players as they like, so
long as the list, if all players were to be signed for the league minimum salary, would not put the team in jeopardy of violating
Rule 2.1. Example, Team A retained 21 players from the previous season and submits a list with 5 players. This
list would be in violation of Rule 2.1. Any list that does so will be discarded; the owner will be informed and asked to submit
another. If the owner is unable to provide another before the deadline, they will miss that round of the draft.
3.4 After each
round of the draft, subsequent rounds will be run until each team has a full complement of 25 players.
4.0 Free Agency
4.1 Free agency
will begin after the draft is completed, when announced by the commissioner, and will last until September 1st (Field of Dreams calendar).
4.2
Owners can make free agent claims weekly from the available player pool, subject to Rule Set 2.0.
4.3 In the event of an injury longer
than 15 games, the owner can immediately request a free agent as replacement. The replacement will be dropped as soon as the
injured player is eligible again. The replacement cannot have been released by another club the prior release date.
4.4, The
deadline for free agent claims will be every Saturday at 12:00 Noon CST, unless otherwise notified by the commissioner.
4.5 If an owner
wishes to sign free agent(s) they are to use the web-based form titled, "Roster Moves". Generic emailed
lists such as "Sign these 5, release these other 5" will not be accepted. Subject to Rule Set 7.0.
4.6 Claims which are uncontested will
sign the free agent for the minimum $1 million salary.
4.7 The player pool can be found in the Organization link, Pitchers and Hitters
are listed separately. Players without a team next to their name are available. These reports are updated every game day.
5.0
Auctions
5.1 When more than one club requests a free agent at the same deadline period, the commissioner will initiate an auction on
the Field of Dreams Auctions Forum.
5.2 Bidding starts at $1 million and continues in increments of $1m or more (bidders discretion
where to start and how much to raise).
5.3 Only the owners who made a claim on the player are allowed to bid.
5.4 An auction is declared
over when either all participants except the leading bidder have withdrawn or 24 hours has passed from the time of the last bid.
5.5
It is your responsibility to contact the commissioner if you will be offline and need to arrange a proxy.
5.6 Bids posted cannot be
withdrawn under any circumstances.
5.7 Each owner is responsible for monitoring their own roster and salary situation during auctions.
At no time should any bid put the team either over the salary cap or roster limits if won. If a winning bid takes a franchise
over their salary cap or roster size limits then all the owner's free agent claims for that round will be voided.
a. All
uncontested players signed by the offending owner will be returned to free agency.
b. All auctions in which the offending owner
participated but did not sign the player will be started over again without the offending owner. If there is just one team for
the auction, that team signs the player for the league minimum.
c. All auctions in which the offending owner did not participate
will continue as they were without the offending owner.
6.0 Trades
6.1 All trades take place via correspondence between the owners
themselves. Once a trade has been agreed, one owner should email the commissioner and the other owner for approval and then the other
owner is to email the commissioner to confirm. Once all owners have confirmed, the commissioner will make sure the trade meets league
requirements (Rule Set 2.0) and either advise of irregularities or process the trade. The commissioner will post the trade in
the Forum.
6.2 The trade window is closed as of September 1st (Field of Dreams calendar).
6.3 The trade window will be reopened by
the commissioner sometime after the World Series by public announcement.
6.4 There will be a short closing of the trade window,
beginning with the carryover list submission deadline and reopening shortly after the commissioner has processed all rosters and reports.
6.5
When trades are processed, the newly acquired player(s) will be placed on the active roster but not in a position. It is the
owner’s responsibility to submit a new profile to the commissioner; otherwise the DMB program will be left to fill in the void left
on the profile by the departing player(s).
6.6 In the case of uneven trades (the number of players traded to one team is
not equal to the number of players coming from the other team), each team will need to provide releases to and claims from free
agency to comply with Rule 2.1. These trades will also only be processed during the Saturday claim / release activity and not
consumated until each team can comply with Rule 2.1. If auctions for claimed free agents are required, the trade will be
processed only after the auctions are successful. This rule is only in effect during the season (see Rule 6.7).
6.7 After the
World Series and up until the end of the Player Draft, the roster size maximum will remain 25, however there will not
be a roster size minimum during this time. All teams must get to a 25 player roster before the end of the Player Draft.
Because there are no releases allowed until after the Player Draft, all teams must comply with Rule 14.3 at all times.
7.0 Releasing
Players
7.1 Players are allowed to be released once the Pre-Season Draft has officially concluded, up until September 1st (Field of
Dreams calendar).
7.2 Players released are eligible for the next claim date.
7.3 Players are released at noon Saturday CST.
7.4 A team
must comply with Rule Set 2.0 at all times after the draft; no release request can drop the team below 25 players.
8.0 Manager
Profiles
8.1 At the beginning of the season a computer generated profile will be done for each team.
8.2 Managers can submit a profile
at any time.
8.3 Manager profiles are required to be done using either the web based "Manager Profile" form or the profile template
found in the Downloads section of the website.
8.4 The commissioner reserves the right to refuse to enter a profile if it is in the
incorrect format or not easily deciphered. When this occurs, the commissioner will send the profile back to the manager with
a specific request for clarification.
8.5 Profile deadline is always noon (CST) the day prior to a series being run. If a series
is run on Tuesday and a manager wants to submit a profile for use in that series, it must be sent prior to noon on Monday.
8.6 Managers
must be vigilant to check all aspects of the profile; the commissioner will not use “common sense” or try to guess what the manager
was thinking. Profiles will be entered the same way they are submitted. Be especially careful about starting rotations
and who the next starter is to be if you want that changed or are making changes to who is in the rotation.
9.0 Spring Training
9.1
The commissioner will announce the start of spring training by issuing a deadline for the submission of managerial profiles.
If a team chooses not to submit a profile, the commissioner will run a computer generated profile for that team.
9.2 Each franchise
will play 23 spring training games (1 game against each team).
9.3 Injuries will be turned off during Spring Training.
10.0 Regular
Season
10.1 The commissioner will announce the start of the regular season by issuing a deadline for the submission of managerial profiles.
If a team chooses not to submit a profile, the commissioner will run a computer generated profile for that team.
10.2 Each franchise
will play 162 regular season games.
10.3 During the regular season the Commissioner will run games every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
If for any reason the Commissioner can't run a series on a particular day he will make an announcement and choose an alternate day.
11.0
Post Season
11.1 Eight teams, four from each league, will qualify for the post season playoffs as follows: The divisional winners plus
the two remaining teams with the best W-L record in each league. Ties for seeding will be split as follows:
W-L record
Head-to-head
Divisional W-L record
League W-L record
11.2 Ties for the last playoff spots will be broken with a single elimination game the day
after the last day of the season.
11.3 There will be a best of five intra-league Divisional Series (01102201), with the seeding as
(determined by overall W-L record):
1. Division Winner 1 (home field, plays 4 seed)
2. Division Winner 2 (home field, plays 3 seed)
3.
Wild Card 1 (visitor, plays 2 seed)
4. Wild Card 2 (visitor, plays 1 seed)
11.4 The Divisional Series winners progress to a best of
seven League Championship Series (0110222011), home field determined by overall W-L record (re-seeded).
11.5 The League Championship
Series winners progress to a best of seven World Series (0110222011), home field determined by overall W-L record.
12.0 All-Star Game
12.1
The All-Star Game players will be voted on by the owners of the respective leagues.
12.2 The rosters will include voted on players
8 position players, a starting pitcher and a closer. In addition, All Star team managers choose an additional 15 players, at
their discretion, making sure each club in their league is represented.
12.3 The previous season World Series managers will manage
the All-Star teams for their leagues, they will need to fill out the rest of the roster and submit a profile.
12.4 The All-Star
game will be held at the half-way point of the regular season, with injuries turned off.
12.5 Owners will be required to submit an
All-Star Game ballot; failure to submit will invoke Rule 1.3.
13.0 Awards
13.1 At the end of each season, each owner will be required
to submit an awards ballot for their own league. Votes will be taken for Pitcher of the Year, Closer of the Year, Batter of
the Year, Most Valuable Player, Owner of the Year and their own team's Most Valuable Player.
13.2 Owners will be required
to submit an Awards ballot; failure to submit will invoke Rule 1.3.
14.0 Retained Players
14.1 Owners are required to submit a retained
player list at the end of each season.
14.2 An owner may retain as many as 25 players, or as few as 0.
14.3 The combined salaries
of the retained players plus $1m per empty roster spot to 25 must not be more than $150m. Example: If you retain 15 players,
you will be required to draft 10 more to finish your roster, so your 15 players combined salary must not exceed $140m.
14.4 Player
salaries shall increase annually by the following formula: (# of seasons signed) X ($1 million) + (previous season’s salary) = (new
salary). Thus, if his contract is one season old, his salary shall increase from last season by $1 million dollars. Each
annual increase is added to the current salary, not the original base salary. If a player’s contract is 5 seasons old, his salary
will go up for next season by $5 million dollars, and at that point would be $15 million dollars higher than his original contract
value (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15). If a player is traded, his contract follows him, both the value and the tenure. If a player
is released into free agency, his contract is voided. If a player is signed out of free agency, his tenure begins immediately
at 1.
15.0 Created Players
15.1 This league will use the Diamond Mind Baseball All-Time Greatest Players disc. There are currently
players in the database that were not created by DMB. These players will eventually be deleted. These non-DMB created
players are noted in the player listings with a "(cp)" in their name.
15.2 When a team releases a non-DMB created player, that player
will not be eligible for claim. He will be immediately deleted from the database.
15.3 Non-DMB created players are allowed
to be traded and retained for future seasons.
16.0 Ball Parks
16.1 Only one club is allowed per park.
16.2 A complete list of eligible
ballparks is available in the Downloads section of the website.
16.3 A team can select any year (between 1901 and 2004) they want that
the park was active.
16.4 There will be an annual ballpark draft. The commissioner will announce a deadline in the off-season
for teams to email their desire to move parks.
a. Once a team announces its desire to move, they are removed from their current home
park and placed into a draft.
b. Parks vacated prior to the expiration of their 5-year lease will be unavailable for the park
draft until next year.
c. Parks vacated due to 5-year lease expiration will be available immediately in the ballpark draft.
d.
Draft order will be selected at random after the announcement period has concluded.
e. The available park pool will consist of all
previously vacant parks and those vacated due to the 5-year lease expiration.
e. The first team to choose may choose from any unoccupied
park in the available park pool.
16.5 Teams may stay in a ballpark for a maximum of 5 seasons, at which point they will be required
to relinquish their park and enter the ballpark draft. They can choose the park they had to relinquish if they desire and if
the park is available when that team’s turn in the draft comes back up.
16.6 Teams can change the year of the ballpark they currently
have. The park is not released, the team retains the same lease tenure. The deadline to notify the commissioner of this
change is the same as the date of the ballpark draft declaration.
16.7 Teams may trade ballparks in the off-season, the deadline for
these trades will be the same as the ballpark draft deadline. Park lease terms follow the trade.