Rules

Gotta have them so get over it.....

Scroll down to see the complete rule book, or click on one

of the links below to go straight there:

roster / trading / usage / draft / free agency / salary cap / league files / gameplay rules / playoffs

Rosters

All teams are required to be at or under the 40-man roster limit at all points in the season. Major League Baseball requires teams to abide by the 40-man roster, thus SLN will require its teams to do so as well.

Under this rule, offending teams would have 48 hours to clear the necessary roster space. Teams unable or unwilling to do so are subject to punishment at the Commissioner's discretion. Possibly Death

On each team's contract page on the website, players who have a No Trade Clause, on rookie contracts, or cannot be traded until after the All Star Break are indicated as follows:

No Trade Clause: red, bolded, italicized

Rookie Contracts: (r)

Cannot be Traded until after All Star Break: ^

Franchised Player: blue, bolded, italicized, (F)

Trading

If you plan on trading players, the maximum amount of money that can be swapped in any deal is the highest salary of a single player involved in the transaction.

There will be no trading of players to be named later.

The trade deadline will be July 31st.

Draft picks for the next Rookie Draft can be traded.

Usage

110% Usage Limit

All players will be limited in their usage to 110% of their previous years at bats or innings pitched.

Batters:

A batter is only allowed to use up to 110% of their given number of ABs from the previous MLB season.

Penalty:

If you over use a batter, you are subject to a penalty of $0.1M for every AB over the accepted value.

**NOTE** - If you blatantly over use a player's ABs, a much stiffer penalty is in order from the Commissioner. It is the Commissioner's decision whether you blatantly broke the rules, not your interpretation.

**NOTE** - If you do not buy the game, it is your responsibility for keeping up with your usage. If your guys go over, you pay the penalty. End of story.

Pitchers:

Starters:

Starting pitchers' usage is based on games started (GS). Starting pitchers are not allowed to go over 110% of the number of games started based on their MLB statistics from previous year and their card.

A starting pitcher may go over his IP limit if he still has starts that can be used up. If a starting pitcher has used up all of his starts and still has IP to use, he may be placed in a relief role until his innings expire.

Relief:

Relief pitchers' usage is based on innings pitched (IP). A relief pitcher is only allowed pitch up to 110% of the given number of IP that he had the previous MLB season in the game.

Starters as Relievers:

Starting Pitches may be used as Relievers. HOWEVER, if you have been using a starting pitcher in relief for any part of the season and he is at his IP limit, yet still has starts to make, you CAN NOT use him as a starter. These pitchers are governed only by their Innings Pitched limits as any other Reliever.

Asterisks:

Starters with an asterisks must have three days rest between appearances. All other starters must have four days rest between appearances.

If a starter is used as relief pitcher, there must a three day rest period between the alternating starting and relief appearances.

Penalty:

If you overuse a pitcher, you are subject to a penalty of $0.1M for every IP by a reliever, and $1M for every GS by a starter.

Also, a pitcher may not start a game unless he started an actual MLB game.

*Pitchers will not be used as hitters solely for the purpose of saving usage. Pitchers should only be used as hitters in the NL.

**NOTE** - If you blatantly overuse a player's IP, a much stiffer penalty is in order from the Commissioner. It is the Commissioner's decision whether you blatantly broke the rules, not your interpretation.

Playoffs:

(See Playoff Section below.)

Draft

A rookie straight draft will occur during the off season each year, before the Free Agent Auction. It will go as follows:

- There will be eight rounds, totaling 192 players selected.

- Draft eligible players are ONLY for MLB rookies, not any person

currently on the SLN FA list

- All rookies drafted will have the same contract structure:

Year 1: $300,000

Year 2: $400,000

Year 3: $500,000

Year 4: $1,000,000

- $300k/yr is the league minimum salary for any player.

-A team may opt to pass on a draft selection if they find nobody to their liking, but they will not get any extra picks at a later date.

- The remaining players not selected, will then be placed into the free agent pool for the auction.

- The draft order is determined by a lottery between teams that did not make the playoffs. The remaining picks are reverse order of standings between playoff teams.

Draft Lottery

The draft lottery will be held at the end of the regular season based on final regular season records. The lottery will follow the rules outlined below, with teams receiving different number of "lottery balls":

Teams will be organized in reverse order of standings.
- Bottom 5 teams will receive 5 Lottery Balls.
- Teams 6-10 will receive 3 Lottery Balls.
- All other non-Playoff teams will receive 1 Lottery Ball.
- Playoff teams will recieve 0 Lottery Balls.
During the Lottery, teams can move up or down no more then 5 spots.
In the event of a tie, the tie-breaker will go to the team with the BETTER away record.

The Draft Lottery will determine the order that teams will pick during the FIRST Round of the Rookie Draft ONLY.

After the FIRST Round, all draft picks will revert back to the original reverse order of standings and proceed as normal for the remainder of the draft.

Free Agency

Before season:
A free agent auction will occur for players with expired contracts from previous year.

There will be a no-trade clause for free agents. Please see below for further details.

If a team bids more money than it has available cap space, that team is subject to have all of its winning bids for that round voided.

Any player signed during the FA period is not allowed to be traded until after the All Star break of the upcoming regular season.

During season:

A player can be picked up at anytime during the season as long as a team has money under the salary cap and roster space (maximum players 40). Any SLN player, rookie for veteran, can only be signed to a minimum of a 1-year deal at $300,000.

If a player is cut by a team, he must spend seven full days on waivers before he can be claimed. During the seven-day period on waivers, teams may make blind bids on a player. However, nothing will become official until after seven days have elapsed.

All acquired players will be put into the next blocks game files that are sent out every two weeks.

No Trade Clause (NTC):

There will be a no-trade clause (NTC) option during free agency.

Teams that win a bid and add a no-trade clause (MUST be done IMMEDIATELY), will earn 15% off of the yearly value for that contract. That player will not be able to be traded for the life of the contract.

Requirements:

Minimum contract length of 4 years.
Minimum salary per year of $5M

New owners will have a 3 month window of opportunity to revoke one NTC if he so chooses. In this scenario, the contract would revert back to its original, Non-NTC value. However, the player can then be traded. This is for one NTC only.

Home Town Discount (HTD)

There will be a Home Town Discount (HTD) of 15% for all teams to sign a player whose contract was released from their team to free agency.

The HTD will automatically be placed on the winning team's bid provided that team had rights to the player immediately prior to free agency. If a team does not like money they can request the HTD not be placed on the player, however once it is placed on the player it cannot be removed. The new contract will be the players official contract and will follow the player in the event of a trade, release or any other transaction.

Dropping Players

All veteran contracts are 100% guaranteed regardless of when they are released. However, rookie contracts are handled as follows:

Rookies:

A rookie can be cut at any point in the season, or before, with no penalty. When a rookie contract is cut, the entire contract is wiped from the team's roster.

Blind Auction

If a player is unable to be either drafted or bid on during free agency, there will be a blind auction for the player. The auction will consist of owners submitting a bid through email to the commissioner. The commissioner will determine the total "perceived value" of each bid and the winning team will receive the player.

Tie Breaker: In the event of a tie, the team with the lowest draft position as determined by the 2nd round of the Rookie Draft will win the player.

Waive 1/ Save1

Waive 1:

After the end of the season, each team can nominate one player to waivers that is currently under contract. If that player is claimed by another team, the new team will take over either: all/part/ or none of the current contract. Details will be followed as outlined below:

Scenario: A player is nominated that is under contract from Team A. That player goes into the auction and can be bid on by any team. Whichever team has the best offer at the end of the auction wins the player.

Option 1: Team B offers to take over ALL of the current contract and wins the auction. The original team then retains no rights to the player and NO contractual obligations for the life of the contract.

Option 2: Team B offers to take over a portion of the salary. Team B will pay the player for the amount he offered for the life of the contract that was determined during the auction. Team A, the original owner, will pay the player the remaining amount not covered by the new team, for the life of the contract.

Option 3: Team A pulls the player back, out of waivers, and retains all rights to the player. If the offered contracts do not meet the expectations of the original owner, the original owner can pull the player out of waivers and retain the rights to the player with current contractual obligations.

NOTES:

-- Players with No Trade Contracts or a Franchise Tag cannot be nominated to the auction

-- Throughout this entire process, the player will retain his contract and money owed. This process merely determines who will pay for the contract.

Save 1: Franchise Tag

Each team will be allowed to franchise one player with an expiring contract each offseason. A player cannot be Franchised in two consecutive years. Franchised players cannot be traded and are assigned a one year contract based on the top 3 player's contracts at their position the previous season.

Position Eligibility:

Eligibility is based on the most games played at a position the previous season. All DH-only players will be subjected to the franchise value for first baseman.

Timeline:

Franchise players must be declared to the commissioner before the Waive 1/ Save 1 Auction. The commissioner will determine the window each offseason in which Franchised Players must be declared. Franchise values will likewise be posted on the homepage before deadlines.

Salary Cap

Cap: $115 Million

This is a hard cap.

Trades Involving Cash:

All trades involving cash will only be applied to the current season. Money earned will lower your total cap space and money lost will raise your total cap space.

Deadline:

All teams must fall under the cap by the beginning of each season when the first matchup is scheduled to start.

It is important that all teams make sure they are not over the cap for future seasons. Trading for money to lower your cap will effect how caps, in regards to contracts owned, is situated in future years.

It is up to the individual owner to manage their cap and ensure future compliance to this rule. Teams will not be able to accrue additional contracts which add to the cap through any transaction while over cap.

All dropped players still count towards a teams cap. While cutting a player will earn an additional roster spot, each team will still be required to pay the entire length of the contract of the dropped player.

Retired Players

Should a player retire from professional baseball before the start of the Nostalgia League opening day, half of the yearly value of the remaining contract will be waived. The team will still be responsible for paying half of the players yearly contract however for the duration of the contract.

Should a player retire after the beginning of the Nostalgia League opening day, the team will be responsible for the player's full contract for that year. However, after the current year's salary has been paid, the remainder of the contract will be reduced by half of the players salary per year for the duration of the contract.

The player will be moved to the buy-out section of the spreadsheet and will not count against the teams 40 man roster cap.

It is also the responsibility of the individual team owners to notify the commissioner of a player from their team which has retired.

League Files

Two File System:

Each matchup will have two files: a file for creating a CM and a Game File.

CM File: On Sunday nights, the commissioner will send out a file so that all owners can create a CM for the upcoming matchup. The CM must be sent back to the commissioner by Tuesday night.

Game File: The Game File will be sent out Tuesday night after all the CM Files have been gathered and consolidated by the commissioner. This is the file that must be used to play your matchup.

ONLY PLAY GAMES USING THE GAME FILE.

If the Game File is not used to play your matchup, the commissioner will delete your games and auto-sim your matchup.

Game-Play Responsibility

It is the responsibility of the VISITING TEAM to play the series within the two week period and return the files to the commissioner.

If the files are not sent in on time, the Commissioner has the authority to auto-sim any matchups that are missing.

It is the responsibility of the VISITING TEAM to play the correct game and use the correct Game File.

Sending Game Files

Two different set of files will need to be sent in to the Commissioner.

Export Files
PAC Files

NetPlay

If two teams are going to play via netplay, it is recommended to make contact days in advance to set up a time. If there are any problems regarding the schedule, the Commissioner will arbitrarily come to a decision on how the games will be played.

The Contact's Page can be referenced to determine which owners are wanting to netplay, as well as which are capable of hosting.

If BOTH teams are not going to netplay or play a CM, the commissioner's office will sim the matchup for both teams, relying on current CMs. It is up to the individual owners to keep their CMs current, regardless of whether they have purchased the game or not.

Gameplay Rules

Roster Size:

Before August 1: Rosters have a maximum of 25 players.

After August 1: Rosters can have a maximum of 40 players.

Starting Pitchers

All pitchers must rest 4 days between starts.

EXCEPT, if the pitchers has an asterisks beside their name. Only those pitchers are allowed to pitch on 3 days rest.

Under no circumstance, whether in the regular season or playoffs, is a starting pitcher allowed to pitch on anything less than three days' rest.

A SP must pitch at least 4 innings or give up 3 runs before he can be replaced in a game

The rule is set in place to prevent any manipulation of the game itself. To illustrate, Team A starts a game with a starting pitcher and Team B has a formidable lineup in place. Very shortly after the game begins, Team A brings in a pitcher with a completely different balance rating to throw off Team B's lineup and forces Team B to either go with the bad lineup or waste all their bench players to react. It doesn't happen in MLB barring injury and it shouldn't happen here if we are looking for a realistic viewpoint of Strat baseball. It's also an ethical issue between owners as tensions can run high if the situation occurs.

Playoffs

During Playoffs, owners will play all the HOME games.

Playoff Seeding:

The Playoffs will consist of three Division winners from each League.

The Wild Card winner will be the team in each League with the best record that was not a Division Winner.

Tie Breaker: The Tie Breaker to determine the Wild Card Winner will be the team with the best Road Record.

The best record in each League will face the Playoff team with the worst record. In each matchup, the team with the better record will have home field advantage.

Usage:

All teams must have a 25 man roster CM submitted for each round.

Starters may pitch on 4 day's rest, unless indicated by an asterisks.

All batters and pitchers will have a usage cap based on regular season statistics. All series wil be 7 games.

7-Game Series:

10% of their total at bats, games started, and innings pitched based on thier previous year's cards

All players that are acquired via trade or free agency AFTER the trade deadline cannot be used in the playoffs.

For a player to be eligible to be on a playoff team, the player must have at minimum:

Hitters: 100 at bats on their card.

Starters: 6 games started.

Relievers: 25 innings pitched.