1. Introduction. The BTTFBL is a continuous ownership, draft league using Diamond Mind Baseball and the newest season disk available. The main goal of this league is for all of its members to have fun. All of the rules and regulations will be to that end. The second goal is to keep the league as simple as possible. Hopefully all involved will make the need for a lot of rules unnecessary. Each member of the league MUST have registered copies of the current DMB game and the current DMB season disk.

  2. Tea ms. There will be 16 teams. 8 in the AL and 8 in the NL. Only 1 division per league. They will be the Major League franchises as they were in 1950 with the same cities, nicknames, and stadiums.

  3. Game Play.

-- The eras used will be from the same season disk as the players, e.g., the BttFL 2003 eras will be 2002 NL and 2002 AL.

-- 154 game schedule. Various numbers in this document such as usage limits are based on the 154 game season. They will be increased proportionally when we expand to a 162 game season.

-- 22 games vs. each league opponent.

-- Warm-up rule will be used.

-- Weather will be on.

-- No inter-league play.

-- No DH in either league.

-- Home team manager will play all games (Head to head with Net Meeting is highly recommended and encouraged but is not required.)

-- Results will be played on a series by series basis. Each series will be 5-6 games long and will be due weekly. The results will be due on Sundays by 9 PM EST. Late results will be simmed by commissioner. The new disk will be sent out on Monday as soon as possible.

-- Series results sent to the commissioner (and opponent) by the home team manager (or manager who played the series) include:

1. A DMB export of the series, including box scores.
2. A recap of each series played. THIS IS MANDATORY!

-- The home manager cannot start playing the games until Tue 1PM EST. This will give the away manager time to send a manager profile to the home manager and will accommodate those who have made a trade, DL or call-up the previous week. Also will give teams time to try to set up Net Meeting if interested.

-- If the home team manager is unable to play the series (vacations, etc.) the away team manager will be given the option of playing the series. We want as few simmed series as possible.

-- Play will be from March to September. Playoffs will be in October.

-- In the event of a vacant team the commissioner will run the vacant team or appoint some other league member to run the team until a new manager can be found.

  4. Rosters.

-- Each team will have a maximum roster size of 30 players.

-- Uncarded players (hitters with less than 100 plate appearances and pitchers with less than 150 batters faced) are ineligible to be drafted.  However, should a player you already own fall short of the 100 PA or 150 BF mark, you will be permitted to protect that player.  He must reach 75% of his usage to be protected and is ineligible for the postseason.

-- Only 25 players can be active at one time. We will not expand in September.

-- Only players with 100+ plate appearances or 150+ batters faced will be carded, unless they are already on a team.

  5. Draft.

-- The draft will be 10 rounds and will not be a snake format. The team with 1st pick in round one for example will have the 1st pick in all 10 rounds.

--  For teams who were unable/unwilling to protect 20 players based on the 75% eligibility rule, their draft will continue to proceed in draft order, until they reach 30 players.

--   For teams that were able/willing to protect more than 20 players based on the 75% eligibility rule, they will be permitted to draft in all 10 rounds and then cut back to 30 man rosters.

-- Cuts can be made prior to the draft.

-- After the draft everyone must cut back to 30 men rosters.

--   Free agents may be signed after the start of the season on a first-come, first-served basis; ties will be broken by the lowest winning percentage in the previous year.  The purpose of signing free agents is to cover usage issues - these players are not eligible to be protected regardless of usage percentage they end up with after the season.  Free agents cannot exceed 100% usage.  With the 75% rule that the BTTF introduced (last year - 2002 season?), it was never addressed how many players could be protected.  The only guideline to protect a player was to get them to 75%.  For the 2003 season, teams have anywhere from 16 to 28 players eligible to be protected, so I can't set a specific number of rounds for the draft.  Plus managers will want to release crappy players that made the 75% mark, but who they have no interest in keeping.  To get everyone to 30 players, I'll just extend the draft until everyone reaches 30 players, then stop.

-- All released players enter the free agent pool at the end of the season.

-- The first 6 picks of the draft will be based upon a NBA type lottery. The remaining picks of the draft will be based upon the team's record the previous year.

-- For purposes of the annual draft, ties will be broken according to the MLB draft order system in which Major League clubs select in reverse order of their league standing at the close of the preceding season. The club with the worst record selects first with the leagues alternating selections to form the rotation. The National League selects first for seasons played in even years.

-- The lottery draft will be be run like this:

-- The 6 teams with the worst records will be involved in the lottery.

-- The worst 2 teams will get 3 "chances" in the lottery.

-- The next 2 teams with the worst records will get 2 "chances".

-- The next 2 teams with the worst records will get 1 "chance".

  6. Usage.

-- All players who exceed 100% usage (total “PT%” on the player card or the “total” column in the DMB Team Roster Status report) will be placed on the disabled list for the rest of the season by a league official. At the end of the season that player will be released, unless there is a successful appeal.

-- All players who finish the season under 75% usage (the “total” column in the DMB Team Roster Status report) will be released, unless there is a successful appeal.

-- Players may freely change positions and role (e.g., starters can relieve, Mo Vaughn can play shortstop) EXCEPT that pitchers and position players cannot switch unless it is demonstrably necessary (e.g., you run out of pitchers in the 16th inning, a fielder gets injured and you have nobody on the bench).

  7. Post Season.

-- The two teams with the best records in each league will make the playoffs.

-- The League championship will be a best of 7 series. The team with the best record will be home first in a 2-3-2 format series.

-- The league championship winners will play in the World Series. It too will be a best of seven format. Home Field will be determined by best record.

-- In event of a tie for a playoff spot a 1 game tie breaker will be played. The team with the best head to head record will be home. If that is tied, the team with the most runs scored will be the home team.

-- The league play-offs will begin 3 game days after the end of the regular season.

-- The World Series will begin 3 game days after the last game of the league playoffs.

-- Overusage in playoffs.

-- Only players with 100+ plate appearances or 150+ batters faced will be eligible for the post season.

-- Players may not exceed 10% usage (total “PT%” on the player card or the “total” column in the DMB Team Roster Status report) in a postseason series. The game or remainder of the series could be replayed from the point in which the overuse occurred.

  8. Trades and transactions.

-- Trades are allowed all year except from the start of the 16th series till the end of the World Series.

-- The commissioner has veto power over any trade that looks like "dumping".   This should only be in extreme cases and the League Presidents will be consulted.

-- Only draft picks for the next draft can be traded.

-- Each team will be allowed a total of 2 free agent pickups during the season.

-- A team may release players only to bring the roster down to 30.

-- DO NOT make any player changes to the disk! The commissioner will make the changes to the disk after they have been reported to him.

-- All trades and transactions will be effective the next series, not mid-series.

-- All trades and transactions must be reported to commissioner by all parties involved by the Tuesday 1 PM EST cutoff in order for them to be effective on the following week's disk. .

  9. League Authority.

-- The commissioner may make decisions contravening the constitution such as imposition of rules or exemption of rules. However, a permanent change to the rules will happen after the season and be subject to a review process. Rule changes must receive 75% majority in order to be passed.

  10. Penalties.

-- Overuse - immediate loss of that player unless there was an MP error by the opposing manager.  The player will not be eligible for the postseason, however the penalized manager will be permitted to pick up a free agent.

-- 2 late or missing rResults - loss of 10th round pick.

--  3 late or missing results - loss of 5th round pick .

--  4 late or missing results- loss of 1st round pick.

--  5 + - loss of team .

--  The commissioner reserves the right to take a team from any manager who is disruptive and harmful to the league.

--  Please do not make me enforce penalties, as it is not fun for you, the league or me.  If you don't have time to play a series in a given week, no problem.  Send your MP to the visiting manager and let him play it.  I really hate simming series!