League Constitution

I. League Overview

The Rounding Third Baseball League is a collection of 20 teams dedicated to building a long-running history.  To that end, the rules are crafted towards having long-running franchises with less roster turnover than in a Rotisserie-style fantasy league, where the decisions owners make during a given season will help - or haunt - them for years to come. We will begin the inaugural season with a full draft for all 20 teams using the DMB 2005 Player Disk, expected to be released December 16, 2005.

Commissioner: Jeff Rynott

Software: DMB Version 9a

Season Length: 162 Games, beginning on the first day of the MLB season

American League: 10 teams, 2 divisions of 5 teams each, DH in use

National League: 10 teams, 2 divisions of 5 teams each, no DH

Interleague play: No

Injuries: No

Weather Effects: No

Split effects: Yes

Team assignment:  For the inaugural season, team assignments will be given in first-come, first-server order.  New owners will request a league and division (East, West) preference along with a home park preference.

Parks:  American League teams must use AL parks while National League teams must use NL parks.  Owners must keep their parks for a year at a time and cannot change from the time of the draft until the conclusion of the World Series.  Between the World Series and the Draft an owner can exchange his park for any other park not currently in use by another team.

Eras:  The latest league-appropriate era on the DMB player disk will be used; for the 2006 season, 2005 N will be used for the National League and 2005 A will be used for the American league.

Regular season: All games will be simulated by the Commisioner using the MPs submitted by owners. To this end, lineup 1 must be set in the MP as the vs LHP lineup and lineup 2 as the vs RHP lineup - no other lineups are allowed or will be used. AL teams should include the DH in these lineups. Owners can play regular season games vs each other via NetPlay if they both notify the Commissioner of their intent to do so no later than 8 PM CST the night before the game is scheduled, so that the Commissioner knows to skip the sim of that game. The owners involved must then send a stats transfer file that can be imported into the league disk.  Owners who will be competing via NetPlay will be responsible for sending each other and the Commissioner their MPs.

Simulation schedule: Games will be simulated Monday to Friday of each week, with Sunday/Monday games being played Monday and Friday/Saturday games being played Friday.  In the event that the Commissioner needs to change this schedule for vacation, work or other non-league reasons, he will notify the league in advance whenever possible and will try to get all simulations for the week done in advance of week's end.

Results schedule: Results and statistics will be posted to the website daily by the Commissioner. When he is unable to do so, he will notify the league in advance whenever possible.  New league files will be e-mailed to league members whenever there is a trade.

Roster changes: MPs may be submitted to the Commissioner at any time, but only those received by 8 PM CST the night prior to a sim will be incorporated for use in the next day's sim. All MPs must have 25 active players, 5 man strict rotations, and lineups 1 (vs LHP) and 2 (vs RHP) filled out (as these are the default lineups that DMB selects for sims). Owners will be notified of invalid MPs and will have to fix them and resubmit them for a later sim. If an owner wants to use different lineups or pitching matchups per day, he will have to submit a new MP by 8 PM CST each night prior to the game - remember that only lineups 1 and 2 can be used. Pitchers can also be substituted in the rotation, but must have 4 days rest between starts (tired pitchers cannot start).

II. Rosters

Size: 40 players from Draft Day to February 1 of the following year, at which time all roster cuts will be due.

Keepers: 25 players maximum may be retained on February 1 prior to a season and the rest must be released for the league draft. Owners may keep fewer than 25 and will be awarded an additional draft pick for each player below 25. These draft picks will be added on after the 40th round of the draft.

Roster qualifications: Any player appearing on the DMB player disk that will be used in that year's simulations is eligible to be drafted/kept on a league roster. If a player was on a league roster in the previous season, but does not appear on the DMB player disk for the current season, that player cannot be kept by his previous owner and will be made available for future drafts should he reappear on a future DMB player disk.

Active roster qualification: Any batter with 200 or more at bats (AB) is eligible to be on an active roster. Any starting pitcher with 40 or more innings pitched (IP) AND 5 starts is eligible to be on an active roster. Any relief pitcher with 35 or more innings pitched (IP) AND relief appearances is eligible to be on an aciver roster. 25 players can be active.  There are no further breakdowns - if a player is eligible to be on the active roster, there is no limit on the number of games that player can appear in other than the limits in Position Requirements below.  Remember that DMB enforces catcher fatigue, so at the very least the backup catcher should get some playing time.

Reserve roster qualifications: Any player who appears on the DMB player disk is eligible to be part of a team's 15 reserves, even if he cannot appear on the active roster.

Position requirements: Players can only play at positions at which they are listed as having either A) a DMB defensive rating or B) played a game at a given defensive position on the DMB player disk, but no defensive rating was assigned. The same rule holds for pitchers: pitchers with starting and relieving ratings can do both provided that they have 5 appearances in the role (for example a reliever who started once cannot start), while all others must stay in the roles for which they were assigned ratings.

Roster breakdowns: Since the injury setting will be turned off, there will be less need to require teams to carry specific positions. All teams will be required to carry at least one player at every defensive position, two catchers (to account for catcher fatigue), and five starting pitchers.

Player Movement

Trades: Players can be traded at any point in the season or offseason except for a gap between midnight EST August 1 of a given season and the conclusion of the playoffs for that season.

Free agent signings: There will be no free agent signings in the league. Since injuries will be off, there will be less need, and this will also provide a better level of talent in the next year's draft as well as encouraging trading.

Roster moves: Once a trade is made, both parties must e-mail the Commissioner that they agree to the deal and a notification will be made on the league's Transactions page. The Commissioner will send out a new league file that includes the trade, after which the owners involved can send their new MPs based on the new league file.

Draft picks: Only picks for the draft following the current season may be traded. For example, for the 2006 draft, 2006 draft picks can be traded, then during the season 2007 draft picks can be traded. After the 2007 draft is completed, then 2008 draft picks can be traded. Any team short on draft picks as a result of trades will have additional draft picks given to them after the 40th round of the ensuing draft until they draft a full 40 man roster.

Roster limits: No team may have more than 40 players at any time. If a team has more than 40 players due to a trade, the owner must also submit the player(s) he wants to cut. During a draft, the draft will end for each team once they reach 40 players, so if the owner acquired extra draft picks prior to the 40th round, his draft will end when he reaches 40 players.

Postseason

Participants: The division winners in each league will automatically get playoff berths and home field advantage. The next two best records regardless of division in each league will qualify as wildcards.

Format: Each playoff series will be a best of 7 following a 2-3-2 format. There will be 5 off days before each series (to let rotations rest so each can start with their ace) and an off day before each change of venue. This creates 3 rounds: Wildcard Round, League Championship Round, and World Series. In each round, teams with the better records will have the home field advantage, with the exception that a wildcard cannot have a home field advantage over a division winner.

Roster requirements: Teams must specify 4 man strict rotations, but can opt to use fewer starters if the owner wants to disregard the DMB penalties given to tired pitchers. Games played in AL parks will use the DH and those in NL parks will not.

Drafts

Draft process: The draft will be 15 rounds spread over three weeks (5 weekdays per week, 1 round per day). It will be conducted via email. Each team will send an email to the commissioner by 6 AM CST each morning, listing the players (in order of preference) they would like for that day's round. The commissioner will then go through the lists in inverse order of finish and take the top player still available on each team's list. The day's results will be posted on the website and emailed. Any owners who miss the 6 AM CST cut off will then have until 6 PM CST to send a list of makeup picks for that day's round. Owners who also miss the 6 PM CST cut off will then have their choice made for them via the DMB Auto Draft feature. After makeups are posted, owners can send in lists for the next day's draft.

Draft order: For the inaugural draft, this will be determined randomly by December 31, 2005. For all other drafts, teams will draft in inverse order of finish, worst record to RTBL champion. In case of a tie for draft position or playoff position, the first tiebreaker will be divisional record, followed by record against the other league division, run differential (runs scored - runs allowed), and finally a coin flip by the Commissioner.

Time: After the inaugural draft, drafts will take place between February 15 and March 31 of each year based on owner availability, no later than March 31.

Location: Drafts will be done via email as described in Draft Process above.