American Baseball League Rules
The American Baseball League (ABL) is NOT a
fantasy sports league. It is a simulation baseball league. There are coaches,
owners, and players just like a real baseball organization, however everything is
simulated using OOTP6. You are not
required to own the game or pay any money at any time; though a donation is
appreciated as the league’s commissioner spends anywhere from 30-70 hours a
week on the website, message board and league file. The American Baseball
League is in no way affiliated with the MLB or any other baseball organization.
The league was originally 16 teams strong, but soon after implemented plans to
expand by 4 teams every other offseason.
Your Role in the American Baseball League
There are many people who have given a significant amount of their time and
effort into this league. The ABL was raised from the ashes of the ASFL, a
football simulation league that was also a product of a great deal of time and
effort. Because of this, it is not unfair to ask activity from the members of
the league. There are multiple ways for you to contribute and every single role
within this league is important and relies on the others. There are three roles
that you can join the league as:
Player
Joining the American Baseball League as a player is simple and it does not take
the time or effort to manage as the coach or owner roles. If you create a
player, you will be able to watch that player enter the organization of one of
the ABL’s teams and work to develop the player.
To create a player, visit the player form page and fill
out the required information. It is extremely important that you pay close
attention to this form, as if there are any fields
left blank, the form can and will be ignored. The player must have a real male
name. The bio of the player should be focused on, as this is what will either
make or break your player. If it is obvious that not much time or effort was
put into the player creation form, chances are your player will have talent
levels that might not even take him out of the major leagues. If done correctly
and thoroughly, the bio will be enough to make your player a potential ABL
All-Star. Your player will be rated almost entirely by the bio you submit. If
you give a horrid bio in the commissioner’s eyes your player will be rated very
poorly. You need to spend time on your bio and give your players
accomplishments within the bio. All members are told the same thing prior to
creating a player so that all players are created from the same start point. This is done to keep things as fair as
possible. Your player’s age will be determined by the game engine, based
upon the current players at that position in the league. It is rare that an MCP
player will be under 20 years of age. If you ask for assistance from any other
member of the ABL with your bio then expect harsh consequences. This
includes potential banishment, the same is true of a
member copying anything from an outside source to use in their bio.
Once your player form is submitted and approved by the Commissioner, then your
player will be put into the upcoming draftee pool. This will be the limbo that
he will remain in until it is time for the Member Created Player (MCP) draft.
During the MCP draft, your player will be selected by an ABL team. Once your
player is on the team it will be your job to earn reward points (See Reward
Points Section) and use the points in order to increase the development of your
player, so that he can move from the minor leagues to the major league team.
You must earn reward points for your player to become anything of value in this
league.
Current
coaches and owners are not allowed to create a player unless they have earned
200 reward points. The league can waive this right if the person involved
barely earns enough points per season to keep their job, or simply if they
aren’t active enough in past seasons.
Members who already have created a player are allowed to create a second
player once their original player has reached his talent levels and/or turned
26 years of age. If you are eligible for a second player because your first has
turned 26, you must wait until the next draft to become eligible. The
commissioner may choose to put you into free agency directly after the draft
however.
Coach
If you are up to the opportunity of coaching for an American Baseball League
team then you need to get one of the league’s current owners to sign you to be
his coach. You can do this by going to the message board and posting under the
General Section that you are looking for a job along with your contact info and
a little bit about yourself, so that they know whether or not you are a good
fit for their organization. Prior to doing this you will need to contact the
commissioner so that he can make sure you understand how the league works.
When you accept a coaching position you are also accepting a number of responsibilities. First and foremost, let it be known that the coaching spot should not be viewed as a long term position. Your goal as a coach is to learn as much as you can about OOTP and the league from your owner. In doing this, you are molding yourself to be a future owner of a team. The commissioner determines potential owners based upon the following:
1. Your activity level on the message board. You must post regularly (at least daily) and in a respectable fashion. This is the best way for you to show that you are intelligent and know a thing or two about the sporting world and the American Baseball League.
2. Your ability to earn reward points. Most new owners come into the job with at least 15-20 reward points and at least 150-200 posts. This does vary, but without being at those levels you aren’t likely to be considered unless you show tremendous potential in a short period of time.
3. Your ability to fit in with the current members of the league. Yes there are some assholes in the league and yes there probably is at least one person that you don’t like from the get go. How you handle these people and the amount of respect you can command from the league in general help determine what the commissioner thinks of your chances at being both a successful member and owner in the league.
4. Your understanding of how the league works and of how to navigate the site. The last thing the commissioner wants is someone he has to explain things to at every turn; the type of person who can’t figure anything out for themselves and is a complete failure on a Darwinian level. These are the types of people that should be shunned from society and aren’t likely to ever own in the league. If something is clearly explained on the rules page and/or on the message board the commissioner will typically expect you to know it without having to ask him. It’s acceptable to ask him for help early on in your ownership or when he lets you know that you are being looked at as a potential owner, but you should be able to understand things after doing them once or asking him once.
5. The final expectation is that you understand who the good players are in the league and a small history of the league. You should know who did well last season (both teams and players) and what you (and the rest of the league) should expect from them this season. If you don’t become familiar with the players and the OOTP files quickly your chances of winning could be dramatically reduced. The best way to show you have an understanding of the players is through the message board; post in threads about the league and its players, and/or write an article previewing or reviewing a season- both will certainly increase your standing in the commissioner’s eyes.
The majority of the tasks that you will find yourself facing as a coach of an ABL team involve the direct handling of the organization's minor league system. You will be responsible for tracking players' stats and developments and you will be the one to set the batting lineups and pitching rotations at each level of your organization. Again, a coaching spot should be viewed as a temporary position in order to better your candidacy for ownership.
An owner has the right to fire you at any time if they feel that you are not being as active as they need you to be or if you disappear without alerting them ahead of time. If something comes up, such as a family emergency or personal event, then you can come back and look for a new job without anything being held against you.
Owner
The
position of owner is can be one of the most enjoyable and strenuous positions
in the ABL. You will have complete control over your entire organization from
coach hiring’s to signings and trades. As a coach or player, you're not given
requirements in order to maintain your position. As an owner, you are faced
with three annual requirements. Failure to meet these requirements will
ultimately end in your termination as an owner of an ABL team.
1. Earn
fifty reward points per season for your team.
2. Complete
an assignment as detailed by the commissioner
3. Write
an article earning a minimum of three reward points.
All
owners are required to stay reasonably active through the message board and
through updating your team with the various forms. If there is a period where
the owner will not be able to do this, they are responsible for getting in
contact with the commissioner through e-mail or the message board and letting
him know. All owners are responsible for submitting their team's transaction
forms at the beginning of the season and are responsible for making sure that
their coach does the same for the organization’s minor league teams.
A small side note: for all new owners, you are expected to talk to the commissioner about trading and making moves with your team before doing them. This league is known for turning new owners into easily molested choir boys rather quickly if you don’t know what you’re doing. This is one of the few times the commissioner encourages you to ask him questions with your team and not doing so can be looked at as a negative towards yourself.
All members are prohibited from recruiting members of this league to
join any other league and vice versa as it is our practice not to recruit from
other sim leagues. Any violation of this will result in probation, and/or
fines, and/or suspensions, and perhaps banishment especially for repeat
offenders.
Switching Teams
As a Player: If your player is under contract, the only way you
can switch teams is if the owner decides to trade you. Aside from when
they are initially drafted, MCP Players are in charge of who they sign with
along with the terms of their contract. However any MCP Player created by one
of the leagues owners or coaches cannot sign with his own team at any point in
time. If the MCP Player is created during the season he cannot be traded to the
creator’s team until the next season. If the MCP Player is drafted in the MCP
Draft, he can be traded to the creator’s team at any point during the following
season, but the member cannot threaten inactivity or other forms of
manipulation to create a trade. If this is found to be the case the player will
be stuck with the original team for the season.
As a Coach: There are no restrictions regarding the switching
of teams by a coach. However, it is required that the owner of your new team
e-mail the commissioner of the hiring. A coach may also be promoted to an owner
at any time by the commissioner.
As an Owner: There are only four situations in which an owner
could switch teams.
1. If
the owner is from the area where a new expansion team is being established.
2. If
a team that the owner has previously coached has an owner vacancy. The new
team's record must be worse or comparable to the owner's current team record,
and the coach will have needed to have spent a decent amount of time coaching
for the team.
3. If
the owner is from the area of an established team with a record worse than the
owner's current team that has been recently vacated.
4. If
the owner has been fired for inactivity or failing to meet the owner
requirements and has proved to the commissioner that he is ready to take
another team.
Reward Points
There are a number of ways in which you can earn reward points. Reward
points can be used to improve the ratings of a player or the talents of a
player. There is no cap as to how many reward points you can earn per season
however reward points do not carry over into the next season and all must be redeemed at the end of the season, or you
risk losing the points altogether. However, members who only have MCP
Players can hold on to their points from season to season. If a coach earns
points for one team then quits or is fired, the points stay with the team he
was on. If a coach earns points while he’s not on a team then the points carry
over to the team he signs with. Once an owner is replaced, the team’s points
are wiped out, unless the coach takes over ownership, then his points would carry
over, but the owners would be erased.
Ways For All Members to Earn Reward Points:
· 1-5 Points for every live game (PBP) attended. The exact amount of points depends on the number of people present, the time spent, and the amount of activity in the event.
·
1-5 Points for every draft attended or up
to 2 Points for lists sent in.
· 1-5 Points for every article written. The amount of points depends on the quality. Occasionally, it will be possible to earn more depending on any bonuses offered by the commissioner.
· 1-3 Points for every interview conducted. The amount of points depends on quality and length. Also keep in mind if you’re interviewing someone else, your grade will be determined almost exclusively on what you have written; not on their responses.
· 1-10 Points for every assignment completed for the commissioner. The amount of points is dependant on the assignment given.
·
1-5
Points for every rivalry update written. The amount of points depends on
the quality.
· 1-5 Points for every trivia question answered on the message board. The amount of points is dependant on the difficulty of the question.
·
An Unlimited Amount of Points is available through playing the Day to Day Pick'em game on the message board.
Reward Points Available to Players Only:
· 10 Points for being selected to any all-star team OR their nation's World Cup team.
· 5 Points for winning a championship in A, AA, AAA, ML, or World Cup.*
· 5 Points for winning the Member Created Player of the Year Award.
·
5 Points for
winning the Rookie Member Created Player of the Year Award.
(Remember that players can also earn reward points in the general ways
listed above this section)
* The
player must finish the season with that team and get at least 35 at bats or
appear in at least five games as a reliever. Pitchers must throw at least 17
innings as a starter for it to count. The player must be on the team’s roster
at least two weeks before the end of the season. For the World Cup, they must
be selected and appear in a game and not start the World Cup on the reserve
list.
Additionally, points will be distributed to the top five reward point earners among players in a season. 10 points for first, 7 for second, 5 for third, 3 for fourth, and 1 for fifth.
Reward Points Available
to Owners
· 1 Point for being the team with the most players in the all-star game.
· 1 Point for winning the best coach award.
· 1 Point for winning the best owner award.
· 5 Points for having your coach move on to owning.
·
1 Point for making the playoffs and an additional point for
each playoff series won.
There
will be 5 points given to the team that has the MCP player who earned
the most reward points in a season, 4 points to the team with MCP player
who earned the second most, 3 for third, 2 for fourth, and 1
for fifth. Additionally, it is possible for an owner to earn reward points for
winning the following trophies.
The Presidents Trophy: Rewarded to the organization with the best overall record through the major and minor leagues.
The Lords Trophy: Rewarded to the organization with the best overall
record from its three minor league teams
Rivalries: Each team can be involved in
up to 3 rivalries. These Rivalries can be formed based on geography, owner
rivalry, or divisional rivalry.
Points are earned based on the outcome of head-to-head games over the course of a season against your rival.
Option A: Winner takes all. The Winner of the season series takes all the points available for the rivalry.
Option B: Proportional. If team A wins 6 out of 10 games in the season series vs team B, they are awarded 3 of 5 reward points available. Team B gets the other 2 points. If the numbers don’t match up then rounding will be done as accurately as possible.
Option C: Set Amounts. Before the season, the two owners involved can choose to allocate the amount of points going to the winner and the amount of points going to the loser. They can also choose to determine a minimum win amount for the loser to earn their points, or to earn a lower amount of points.
In order for either team to receive their rivalry points, there must be
at least 1 preview or in season write-up and at least 1 review write-up for the
rivalry from either owner. Each owner may do a write-up of the rivalry up to 3
times in the season for up to 5 points.
Spending Reward Points
Coach/Owner Redemptions:
· 7 Points to upgrade a pitchers endurance one point. [You can only add 3 endurance points to any one player, and you can only redeem 5 total points towards endurance in a season.]
· 15 Points to increase any rating for a player vs LHP/RHP or RHB/LHB by one.
·
30 Points to increase any talent rating of a player by one.
·
30 Points to add $500k cash.
·
50 Points to add $1 mil cash.
·
125 Points to add $2.5 mil cash.
·
225 Points to add $5 mil cash.
·
450 Points to add $10 mil cash.
Player Redemptions:
· 1 Point to change your player's jersey number.
· 2 Points to give your player a nickname
· 2 Points to improve base running instincts by one.
· 3 Points to upgrade any rating vs LHP/LHB or RHP/RHB by one without exceeding the player's talent ability.
· 3 Points to improve pitching endurance by one without exceeding 120% of the original value.
· 3 Points to improve your defensive range rating by one without exceeding 120% of the original value.
· 3 Points to improve your defensive arm rating by one without exceeding 120% of the original value.
· 5 Points to improve your ability to sacrifice bunt. You can only do this twice.
· 5 Points to improve your ability to bunt for a hit. You can only do this twice.
·
10 Points to
learn a new position.
In-Season Information
Making Transactions
Trades: As an owner of an ABL organization you have free
reign over every trade. Although a coach can certainly assist you in finding
trade offers they are not permitted to actually make the transaction. There is
no limit to the amount of trades a team can make, however no trades may be made
between a season's trade deadline and the start of the new season. For a trade
to become official both owners are required to e-mail the commissioner. In the
e-mail you must also say where the
players you acquire will be placed in the organization. A proper trade e-mail
will look as follows:
The
maximum number of players per team per trade is five. If a deal has been
reached consisting of more than five players per team the team may break the
trade into two separate deals and thus two separate e-mails to the
commissioner. All trades involving players must have at least one player from
each team being traded. Any player that an owner trades for needs to have the
level he is being placed at denoted in the trade email. Besides players, teams
are also able to trade draft picks (excluding MCP draft picks) and cash. Any
traded picks must be denoted by their round and original owner; if the pick
number is known it is to be denoted in parenthesis, 2nd Round Pick
(DAL) (#42) for example. The most cash that can be traded at once is $10
million. The most cash a team can have is $100 million. If a trade appears
unfair by the commissioner, the commissioner can exercise his right to veto the
trade. Trade emails must be sent within 72 hours of each other; if they aren’t
sent in that span the commissioner has the right to delete any emails and one
or both owners may be required to resend an email- If a trade email is received
from one of the two owners involved, the first owner is allowed to back out of
the trade if the second owner takes more than 72 hours to send in his email for
the trade. All trades need to be sent
with the pieces being dealt presented in a vertical manner.
Signings: To try to sign a free agent onto your roster you
must make a post in the appropriate section on the message board. You are
allowed to sign one player per sim; though the first few sims of the season usually see the commissioner allow
for up to two or three signings. All teams must adhere to the $100 million
salary cap.
Extensions: To attempt to sign a player already on your roster
to an extension you must e-mail the commissioner the newly desired contract
amount and number of years. You can only extend the contracts of players in
their last year of their current contract. The minimum contract is $300k.
For all
of the aforementioned transactions (as well as any submitted forms), the
transaction deadline for each sim will be the day before at
Injuries/Disabled List
If a
player becomes injured you have the option of placing him on the fifteen or sixty
day disabled list. In doing this, you are enabling some other player to
possibly be called up from your farm system to take up his roster spot. If a
player is injured and the owner does not place him on the disabled list then he
will continue to take up one of the spots for your 25 man roster.
Rosters
All teams are required to keep at least twenty players on each team in all of their levels within the organization. Every minor league team must also have one player at each position and at least eight pitchers. All Major League teams must have 20 players and must be able to field a full 9-man lineup. To meet the positional requirement in the minor leagues you must have every position listed by one of the players at each level as their primary position.* The maximum amount of players at the major league level is 25; for the minors the maximum is 30. For the post season, owners have until the first playoff sim to send in their twenty-five man playoff rosters, or the commissioner will determine the team himself.
*You can have players from a
different position play another position, but unless the roster has one player
with each of the fielding positions listed you do not meet the roster
requirement.
OOTP ROSTER RULE
BREAKDOWN
Minor League Option Years are enabled: a player can play in the minors
for 3 years if he is on the 40-man roster. After that time he must stay on the
25-man roster or clear waivers.
Rule-5 Draft is disabled, This was determined
in the middle of 2004 and will be kept that way indefinitely.
Salary Arbitration is enabled, Players with more than 3, but less than 6
years of MLB time are given arbitrary salaries by the game in the offseason. Before that they get the league minimum, after
that they are free agents.
A player has qualified for a full service year if they are on the 40-man roster
for 170 days.
Minor League Free Agents are enabled, If a
player has been in the minors for 6 years and is not on the 40-man roster he
becomes a free agent after the season is over.
In addition to these rules you are not allowed to change the main position of a
player in mid-season, only in the offseason. You can
however play a player at a position different from the main one he is listed
at.
Sim Schedule
There
will be three sims per week
with ten OOTP days being simmed at a time. The days
will usually be available on the ABL website however occasionally they will be
altered, depending on the commissioner's schedule. These days typically change
from season to season and the commissioner reserves the right to change the
amount of sims or days per
sim prior to, or during, each season. Whenever there is a live PBP game it will
be announced on the message board along with a notice on the ABL website. A
real-time schedule is available in the League Info section of the message board
during each season.
Off-Season Information
Free Agency
All of
the free agency updates will be on the message board. The free agency period
consists of 30 OOTP days which will be broken into two to five physical days.
The interested teams will send in an e-mail to the commissioner stating who
they want to offer a contract to, how long the contract will be, and how much
per year the contract will give the player. Eventually, the player will sign to
whatever team gives him the best offer. However, it is important to note that a
player will sometimes simply not want to join your organization regardless of
the offer that you give them. All
non-drafted MCP Players are eligible to be free agents in the free agency
period, however you must come to an agreement on a contract with them
personally and then both parties must email it to the commissioner. The same is
true of any MCP Player who has become a regular free agent. Any MCP player
acquired via free agency must earn at least five reward points during their
first season (not in the offseason prior).
The Drafts
There are two drafts that happen every off-season: The MCP draft and the Amateur draft. The MCP draft takes all of the newly created MCP players and puts them into a pool until they are drafted by an ABL team. MCP Players that are not drafted will be put into the free agent pool following the draft. The draft is one round and the draft order is chosen semi-randomly, with the team's season record helping determine where in the draft their pick can fall. MCP draft picks can not be traded. The amateur draft consists entirely of OOTP created players and is ten rounds long. Draft picks for the amateur draft can be traded. The MCP draft order determination process with details is as follows:
16 Teams
There will be 40 numbers assigned overall,
The bottom 4 teams from the season before will be allocated 4 numbers in the
pool.
Teams with records
The best 4 teams not to make the playoffs will get 2.
Division winners will get 1.
Numbers will be drawn using Random.org's Number Generator.
The 1st group can pick as low as 8th.
The 2nd group can pick as low as 12th.
The 3rd group can pick as high as 5th.
Division Winners can pick as high as 9th.
20 Teams
There will be 60 numbers assigned overall,
The bottom 4 teams from the season before will be allocated 5 numbers in the
pool.
Teams with records 13-16 will get 4.
Teams with records 9-12 teams will get 3.
The best 4 teams that dont make the postseason will
get 2.
Division winners will get 1.
Numbers will be drawn using Random.org's Number Generator.
The 1st group can pick as low as 8th.
The 2nd group can pick as low as 12th.
The 3rd group can pick as low as 16th, and as high as 5th.
The 4th group can pick as high as 9th.
Division Winners can pick as high as 13th.
24 Teams
There will be 58 numbers assigned overall,
The bottom 6 teams from the season before will be allocated 4 numbers in the
pool.
Teams with records 13-18 from the previous season will get 3.
The best 4 teams not to make the playoffs will get 2.
Division winners & Wild cards will get 1.
Numbers will be drawn using Random.org's Number Generator.
The 1st group can pick as low as 12th.
The 2nd group can pick as low as 18th.
The 3rd group can pick as high as 9th.
Playoff teams can pick as high as 13th.
28 Teams
There will be 76 numbers assigned overall,
The bottom 8 teams from the previous season will get 4 numbers allocated to
them.
Teams with records 13-20 will get 3.
The best 4 teams that dont make the playoffs will get
2.
Division Champs & Wild Cards will get 1.
Numbers will be drawn using Random.org's Number Generator.
The 1st group can pick as low as 14th.
The 2nd group can pick as low as 21st.
The 3rd group can pick as high as 8th.
Playoff Teams can pick as high as 15th.
32 Teams
There will be 80 numbers assigned overall,
The bottom 8 teams will get 4 numbers allocated to them.
Teams with records 17-24 will get 3.
The best 8 teams that dont make the playoffs will get
2.
Division Champs will get 1.
Numbers will be drawn using Random.org's Number Generator.
The 1st group can pick as low as 16th.
The 2nd group can pick as low as 24th.
The 3rd group can pick as high as 9th.
Division Winners can pick as high as 17th.
The Off-Season Cups
The World Cup
Alternating
off-seasons with the Open Cup, the World Cup takes the eighteen countries that
all of the ABL players are from and creates a national team for each of them.
These teams are then drawn into groups for the World Cup tournament. In the
tournament 8 teams move on to the knockout round to determine the World
Champion. General Managers will be chosen for every country. Players and
Coaches are eligible to become the GM of a World Cup team and will earn 5
reward points for doing so. This is also a strong step towards ownership should
you help bring a team home with the championship.
The Countries:
Australia
Canada
China
Colombia
Cuba
Dominican Rep
England
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
Panama
Puerto Rico
South Africa
South Korea
Taiwan
USA
Venezuela
The
Open Cup
The Open
Cup takes every major and minor league team in the American Baseball League and
seeds them based on their records from the prior season. Every team at every
level of the American Baseball League participates in a traditional
single-elimination format, but with different length series being played
against another team each round. In the Open Cup, each classification could be
drawn against any other classification at any time. For instance,
Spring Training
Every off-season Spring Training takes place. This in an excellent opportunity to get some much needed points into a certain category for every player. Every player will have twenty points to distribute freely among four categories. Positional players and pitchers will have different categories. You also have the chance to teach a player a new position during spring training. Players are not allocated ratings points; these are spring training points which if used properly can help or hurt your player’s development.