Official Rules of the Antiquity
League of Parallel Baseball Universe
Released
Introduction to the Antiquity League
The Antiquity League of the Parallel Baseball Universe is an organization
designed for the competitive enjoyment of its members. Each league members is expected to adhere to
the standards of fairness that are contained in this document. The league is designed with the ultimate
intent of mirroring Major League Baseball, and the general intent is to add
features that shape the league in the direction of MLB.
I. The
Commissioner’s Office and the Rules
A) Maintaining a fair and even hand, the commissioner
is ultimately responsible for decisions in all Antiquity League affairs and
shall arrive at them in the best interests of the League as a whole. The league is not a democracy but more of a
benevolent autocracy. The Commissioner is underpaid (if paid
at all) for his efforts and works simply for the love of the league. While this document is intended to be
thorough, it is not perfect. There are
many instances where rules can be misinterpreted, so please consult the
Commissioner immediately if you have a question about something.
B) The Commissioner
reserves the right to override this document at any time if the text contained
does not clearly represent its intent at the time of documentation. The Commissioner will not make arbitrary
decisions that adversely affect the league and it is not his intent to have
these rules cause anybody any intentional grief or stress.
C) Regularly, the
Commissioner may solicit input from, and make every effort to accommodate the
wishes of, franchise
owners and may even call for a league-wide public or confidential vote. However, input will be used only as a guideline
for his decision. In situations where
there is a severe threat to the league’s play important rules changes can be
implemented and become effective immediately.
Franchises may request changes to the rules at any time. The Commissioner will hold the final say on
whether the request is implemented. To
help the Commissioner in making his decision, it is suggested that each request
be put to League Forum prior to official request.
D) To the best
of his ability, the Commissioner will maintain a website dedicated to the
league. The website will include, at
least, league schedules, standings and results, player statistics routinely
updated, and all players available in the free agent pool.
II. Fees and Participation
A)
There are no set fees for the Antiquity League. Owners have on occasion provided the
Commissioner with remuneration, either in cash or in the form of DMB season
disks. The Commissioner is not too proud
to accept such donations. Currently, the
Commissioner’s Office pays these annual operating expenses:
1) Hosting of Antiquity
League website. (free but will move to a
better server eventually which will bring the fee to approximately $12-15 per
month)
2) Software to maintain
and improve the league website (Front Page and programming books)
3) DMB Updates (Season
Disks ~$90, Upgrades ~ $30 every two years)
B) There may be a time
when the Commissioner will call on owners to contribute an annual fee to
supplement league expenses. The
Commissioner will alert owners if this comes to pass.
C)
Antiquity League
owners are encouraged to be as active as possible. While there are no
participation requirements, absentee owners are frowned upon by the Office of
the Commissioner and clubs. If owners feel they are unable to stay involved in
Antiquity League activities it would be greatly appreciated if they surrendered
their franchise. This would allow prospective owners the opportunity to join
and participate. Remember, openings permitting, you can always join again when
you have more time!
D)
Participants are
expected to have a reliable means of electronic correspondence. This is
essential for participation in the league and to allow the commissioner to
affect the smooth operation of league activities.
E)
Unless the
commissioner is made aware that an owner will not be available for a given time
period (e.g., vacation, illness, etc.), if an initial request for information
or contact goes unanswered, two follow-up requests for contact will be sent
over a period of 14 days. If all three attempts to establish contact go
unanswered, it will be assumed the owner is no longer interested in remaining
in the league. In such cases, the commissioner reserves the right to employ the
league's most extreme sanction — franchise revocation. Revoked franchises will
be awarded to the first person on the waiting list.
F)
If ownership of a
club is relinquished during a season, the commissioner will become
interim-manager until the franchise has been awarded to a new owner.
III. The League
A. Organization
-- The Antiquity League will maintain at least eight clubs grouped into leagues
and divisions at the discretion of the commissioner.
B. The season
-- Each Antiquity League season will include the following:
a)
Spring training -- Spring training will allow
clubs to configure and tailor their lineups and pitching assignments defined in
their manager profiles. To allow for multiple profile changes, spring training
will be run over the course of two
or more clusters, a cluster consisting of one or more games. The total number
of preseason games played will vary depending on the number of clubs
participating.
b)
Regular season -- The
league will play a full slate of games even in those seasons when MLB failed to
complete their schedule ( for example 1972, 1981,
1994, 1995). A full slate will consist of between 154 and 165 games per season,
depending on the number of teams in the league.
c)
Post-season playoff (from
1927-1946 and then when necessary)
d)
Championship series
C. At the conclusion of at least a 154
game regular season, the division-winning and, if applicable, wildcard team(s)
will advance to the playoffs. With eight teams, the First-round playoff series
will be a best-of-five format between the teams that finished second and third
in the standings and the League Championship will be best-of-seven series. In case of a tie, there will be a one game
playoff with the home team being selected based upon:
1. Head to head
record..
2. Pythagorean
winning percentage.
3. Random.
With ten teams, there
playoffs will consist of a single seven game series between the two division
champions. In case of tie for a division
championship, there will be a one game playoff.
D. Approximately
six (6) seasons will be simulated per calendar year (approx. 60 days per season
including post-season, awards and rookie draft)
1. From the 1927 through the 1946 seasons the
following shall apply:
·
One eight team
league
·
We will use a
combination of the statistics for the two 1927 leagues as our era
·
No Designated
Hitter
·
Clutch ratings system for pitchers or hitters
·
Players injury
ratings will determine chance of getting hurt
·
The use of
closers will be restricted to historical norms. The current setting for closers cannot be more than frequent
that the “less frequent” setting in an owner’s manager profiles. Any setting calling for more frequent use of
closers will be reduced to “less frequent.”
Do not expect this setting to change before the 1961 season, when it
expected to go to “average.” It is
likely that all limits will be dropped before the 1981 season. You can still have a single closer but he
probably won't save more than 25 games.
·
154 game schedule
with each team playing every other team 22 times (Double-headers will be
scheduled).
·
All-star teams
will be selected during the post-season awards.
·
The post season
championship will consist of two rounds:
1) #2 and #3 placed
teams will play
2) #1 team will play the
winner of the first round
2. The League is
scheduled to expand in the following ways:
a. Add two teams for the 1947 season (~ July 2005)
b. Add five teams for the 1962 season (~ January 2008)
c. Add three teams for the 1969 season (~ May 2009)
d. Add two teams for the 1993 season (~ May 2013)
Owners will be restricted only to choosing cities that
were large (~400,000 people) in 1930.
That would leave major league cities, like
Owners will choose at lest one nickname for their
franchise that is appropriate to the era.
Owners may alter their team nicknames on a short term basis,
however, the original team nickname will remain with the club.
Every team shall decide upon a home ballpark by the
beginning of the 1927 regular season. Owners will be restricted to choosing
only ballparks that were actually being used during that era. However, it would be okay for a team that
played in
All teams must remain in their initial ballpark for
five seasons. After that owners may move to a new park. Whenever an owner changes
to a new park that team will be required to stay in the new park for a minimum
of 25 seasons. A team may NOT
relocate their franchise if they still have part of this 25 year “lease”
remaining. If a team’s chosen park is no
longer in service, then that teams owner MUST switch to a new park. However, if
a team’s park was altered in real life or if its factors change for whatever reason,
that team is NOT entitled to change facilities.
The DMB game engine shall determine all ratings for
ballparks. Park factors are based upon three-year running averages, therefore all
owners should be aware that park may affect play differently from year to
year. These ratings will surely change
to a greater or lesser degree from season to season to season. Any change in ballpark ratings is usually
slight.
Owners are encouraged to personalize their teams. For example, creative owners may hire a
particular manager, name their ballpark, design the team’s uniforms, declare a
team captain, issue the team jersey numbers, or construct elaborate team
histories. Such details make the league
more enjoyable. On occasion, the
commissioner may add to any or all team histories through the writing of
articles for the website.
V. Major
League Rosters
A. Designated hitter use
The Antiquity League does NOT currently use the designated hitter rule.
B. Major league roster requirements
All clubs will have 25 players on their major league
roster at the conclusion of the draft.
Clubs are limited to 25 players on their major league roster during regular
season play (until September call-ups are permitted, see Section VII).
Additional players acquired via trades, the waiver wire or the free agent pool
can be assigned to either the major or minor league roster as long as the
25-player limit is not exceeded.
There are no minimum requirements for the number of batters and pitchers on the
major league roster on Opening Day. Depending on managerial preference, a team
may field, for example, only 10 pitchers and have the remainder of the roster
filled by batters or vice versa. However, clubs must be vigilant in monitoring
injuries that deplete their rosters and ensure their team is never so stretched
that it could jeopardize the smooth operation of the league (see Appendix I for
further explanation).
C. Player eligibility restrictions
1. Clubs are
encouraged to be creative in their use of players,
however, the Antiquity League is determined to maintain a realistic
environment. Therefore,
a. Position players
who accumulated less than 550 real-life plate appearances are restricted to
110% of their real-life plate appearances.
b. Position with more
than 550 real-life plate appearances are restricted to
133% of their real life plate appearances.
c. Pitchers with
fewer than 190 real-life innings pitched are restricted to 110% of their real
life batters faced or their actual innings pitched, whichever is greater.
d.
Pitchers with more than 190 real-life innings pitched are restricted to 133% of
their real-life batters faced or their actual innings pitched, whichever is
greater.
2. Players who
accumulated 10 or more simulated win shares (rounded down) in the previous
season are required to appear in at least 33% of their real-life playing time
(determined by plate appearances for batters and batters faced for pitchers) in
the immediately subsequent season. If a
player does not reach at least 33% of their real-life time in their first
season after accumulating 10 or more simulated win shares then that player will
be released into the free agent pool at season’s end.
3. The free agent pool is the authoritative source for
determining a player’s position eligibility.
The game penalizes player who play out of position in several ways,
including by increasing the likelihood of errors and passed balls and by
limiting the players range. The penalty is more severe for players moving from a easier position to a harder position. The best way to
think of it is by picturing defensive spectrum like this: SS-2B-CF-3B-RF-LF-1B. For a general rule of thumb, players can move
to the right on the defensive spectrum with only minor penalties but in moving
to the left they would incur much more severe sanctions.. For example, Center Fielders can play any of
the outfield positions and Shortstops can play any of the infield with a
minimal penalty. However, players moving
from Left Field to Center Field, for example, and from First Base to any
position, especially, are more stringently penalized. Catchers can move to
First Base and, perhaps, Left Field but find the transition to other positions
much more difficult.
In an
effort to enforce a realistic use of players, the commissioner will change the
injury rating to “prone” for any player who has appeared in 150% of his
real-life playing time. This will
increase the likelihood of an injury and loss of playing time for this
player. It will NOT guarantee an injury
or loss of playing time.
D. Releasing players and waivers
Any player released from a major league or minor league roster will be placed
on the waiver wire. Every team will have
a chance to claim this player, with teams being given priority in the reverse
order of the current standings. During
the first two sims of a
season, the waiver wire is the reverse order of the previous year’s standings.
VI. Minor League Rosters
A. Minor league roster requirements
In addition to the major league roster, all clubs maintain a minor league
roster. Stocking your 'farm system' with
the right balance of role-players to complement your major league roster is
essential to surviving injuries and can be the deciding factor in a tight
pennant race.
At no time may a teams total
team roster (majors, minors and disabled list) exceed 40 players. Until 1947, a player who does not qualify to
play in the current year DOES
NOT count against this 40 man limit.
After 1947, all players
will count against a team’s 40 man roster limit
At the start of the season, minor league rosters will
consist of a minimum of seven players and can contain any combination of
batters and pitchers (see Appendix 1 for further explanation). It is up to
clubs to ensure they have the mix of players and skills they may need to call
on in the event of injuries, establishing beneficial pitcher-batter match-ups
in key series, September call ups, etc.
During the regular season, a club's farm system may
have no fewer than five players as a result of trades and mid-season
acquisitions. Minor leaguers who have
not played in the current season do not count as one of the five players.
B. Promoting and demoting minor leaguers
Clubs are free to demote any player on their major league roster and replace
him with a player from their farm system, so long as the major league roster
requirements (see Section IV) are met at the conclusion of the roster move.
Players promoted from the minor league roster to the major league roster must
remain on the major league roster for at least one cluster of games. After the
minimum number of games, clubs are free to keep him on the roster or return him
to the minors.
Players demoted to the minor leagues must remain in
the minors for a minimum of ten days. After the minimum number of games, clubs
are free to keep him on the in the minors or return him to the parent club.
Players in the farm system are available for September call ups (see Section
VII).
C. Injury replacement and the farm system
Together with players available on the major league roster, the farm system is
the primary means by which clubs replace injured players (see Section VIII) and
clubs should take this into consideration when drafting their minor league
roster.
Players may be signed off the free agent list or
claimed off waivers to replace an injured player.
VI. The
Draft
A.
Initial team draft
The 1927 season of the Antiquity League will be
proceeded by a 32 round draft to stock all teams with 25 major leaguers and
seven minor leaguers. The draft order
will be determined randomly. The draft
order will flip with every round, so that the team that drafts eighth will also
draft ninth. Players may not pass on a
round.
1. Following every season, the Antiquity League will
conduct a draft of all eligible new players and any remaining free agents.
2.
The first two picks in the first round of each draft will be
determined by lottery. Every team except
the division winners will get one ball in the lottery for every two wins during
the regular season.
3. Following the first two picks, the draft order for the
remainder of the first round and in all subsequent rounds will correspond to the
reverse order of the standings from the just completed year. The draft order will be consistent from round
to round.
4. The draft will last
no more than five rounds.
A player must have actually played in the year in
question in order to be drafted. Players
will be eligible to be drafted into the Antiquity League in the year that they
made their major league debuts, even if that debut was of a very limited
nature. A player does NOT actually have
to qualify as a “rookie” to be drafted.
Player that were active before 1927 will be
eligible to be drafted in the first year of their return to the major
leagues.
Teams are allowed to
trade their draft picks under the same conditions as all other trades.
VII. Trades, Mid-Season Free Agent
Acquisitions, and September Call-ups
A. Trades
All transactions must be in written form, preferably
by e-mail although in a pinch a note through AOL Instant Messenger will
suffice.
Trades are permitted once the preseason has concluded and are subject to the
sanction of the commissioner, though trades meeting the conditions defined
below will not be interfered with.
Clubs are free to trade injured players as they would any other player, so long
as the agreed deal meets the trade requirements described above. Clubs
acquiring an injured player are required to follow the normal procedures
regarding injured players (see Section VIII).
The commissioner will inform all clubs of the trade deadline once the regular
season begins. The current trade deadline is July 31.
B. Mid-season free agent acquisitions
During the regular season, free agents will sign with whichever team offers
them a contract first. If two or more teams request the same free agent on the
same day, the team requesting his services first will be awarded the player. If
necessary, the commissioner will use time-stamp information contained in the
message source of the competing requests to determine which was sent first.
During the season, players claimed off of the free agent list may NOT be
immediately placed in the minor leagues.
Free agents must join the active roster and other roster moves must be
made to accommodate the new player. Once
a player has returned from the disabled list or is called up from the minor
leagues then the recently signed free agent can be demoted.
The commissioner will inform all clubs of the deadline
for signing free agents once the regular season begins. There is no current deadline, however any free agent signed after July 31
must be freed back into the free agent pool at the end of the season.
C. September
call-ups and players eligible for post-season play
During the final weeks of the regular season, clubs are free to expand their
major league rosters to include any or all players in their minor leagues by
calling up said players from their farm system. These players may be any
combination of batters and pitchers and are eligible for the playoffs should
the club qualify.
Clubs must send a list of those minor leaguers joining the expanded major
league roster before the September call-up deadline. Consider this list
carefully, because it is the list of players eligible to participate in
post-season play. If a club qualifies for post-season play, they must return
their roster to 25 players by deciding which of the 25 eligible players on the
expanded September roster will be carried on their roster as they compete for
the championship. A player must be on the active roster
or disabled list on August 31 to be eligible for a postseason series. If one of these players are
injured then any player who appeared on the 25-man roster prior to September 1
may replace the injured player.
Clubs will be notified of all impending roster expansion and contraction
deadlines by the commissioner and allowed appropriate time to prepare and
respond.
VIII. Player Injuries
A. Injury ratings
The Antiquity League uses the player injury rating specified in the player
profile. Therefore, clubs should be aware that injury prone players are more
likely to experience injuries than players with normal or iron ratings.
B. Player injuries
If a player is injured for an extended period of time, clubs have two options:
·
Keep the injured
player on the major league roster and use an eligible major leaguer at his
position
·
Place the injured
player on the 15-day disabled list and promote an eligible minor leaguer. Only
after the player has recovered from his injury and has spent a minimum of 15
days on the disabled list will he be permitted to return to active duty on the
major league roster. At that time, the club must decide whether the recovered
player will return to active major league duty or be sent to the farm system
while his replacement remains on the major league roster.
C. Handling in-game injuries
If a regular starter is injured during a series of
games being run by the DMB game engine, the computer manager will use any player
on the roster able to fill the open spot. This may include players normally
ineligible to fill a position.
If a replacement assignment has not been received by the next series of games,
the commissioner will assign a replacement at his own discretion based on the
player injury rules. Clubs should bear in mind that this may involve the
commissioner signing a free agent on behalf of the club, adding player(s) to
the team’s disabled list and using his judgment in selecting an appropriate
player. This is most likely in cases where there is no eligible catcher on the
major or minor league rosters. If the
commissioner is required to assign a replacement, he will accept no
responsibility for the quality or performance of the player selected (see
Appendix I for further explanation).
D. Trading injured players
Clubs are free to trade an injured player to another club as described in
Section VII.
IX. Manager profiles
All owners will be required to submit to the
Commissioner:
·
a valid 25 man roster, with at least one player at each
position, and a 7 man minor league roster.
·
a starting lineup
vs. both LHPs and RHPs
·
a four- or
five-man starting rotation
·
18 managerial
tendencies that the computer will use to make in-game decisions.
Owners must provide the commissioner with any changes to their manager profiles
in a timely fashion. During the
preseason and regular season, any profile changes that clubs want activated for
the next cluster of games must be received by 9:00pm EST.
X. Ballparks
Appendix I (Notes Regarding Rules)
On references to dates (Section III.B)
To prevent confusion, all references to dates are based on the in-game calendar
used by the DMB software. Owners may access the calendar by clicking on the “boxscores” link on the website.
On major league roster requirements
(Section IV.A)
The DMB engine has been known to experience problems when faced with a
situation in which injury and ejection has thinned a roster so severely that,
with no active players available to field a legal team, the software
hard-crashes. There is currently no direct penalty for a club's lack of
vigilance leading to such an incident. However, one will be added if this
proves necessary.
On player injuries (Section VIII.B)
It is strongly recommended that all clubs prepare deep
and flexible major and minor league rosters during the draft. Most of the time,
the players on your rosters on opening day are your only recourse in the event
of injuries. You will have to use your ingenuity and cunning to successfully
juggle your rosters to overcome injuries and obtain victory!
Appendix II (Possible Rule Additions and
Changes)
The league will eventually go to an
economic system, including revenue generation, free agency, and player
development budgets. The tentative
schedule is for this to happen with either the 1962 or 1969 expansion. At that time, the rookie draft will be
eliminated in favor of a player disbursement.
Appendix III (Charter Members)
The following franchise owners are the charter members
of the Digital League:
Anthony Giacalone (St. Louis Flyers)
Dan
Szymborski (
Erik
Avery (
Scott
Maconomy (
Curtis
Boewer (
James
Oliphant (
Wayne
Giacalone (
Brian
Nowotny (
Replaced by Chris Dial (