Last revision: July 15, 2017
Originally written by David Greiner;
modified by Dann Chow.
This is the official Constitution of the NABL. This Constitution is a living document and will
be changed from time to time.
Responsibility for changes lies with the NABL Commissioner, but most
rule changes will be voted upon quasi-democratically. By being an owner in the NABL, you are
agreeing to treat all other owners with respect, to be competitive to the best
of your abilities, and to be flexible enough to adhere to rules that may be
adjusted from time-to-time.
Rule change for 2018: in rule 2.3,
the number of Injured slots will be increased from 2to 4.
1. OVERVIEW
1.1
Current reigning champion
|
2016: Cold
Spell (Dann Chow) |
1.1(b) Past champions
|
2015: Pesky Polecats (Dylan White) 2014: Cold Spell (Dann Chow) 2013: Hunting for RLJ (Tim McLeod) 2012: Saratoga Spiders (Tim Haupt) 2011: High Heat (Todd Habiger) 2010: Hidalgo All-Stars (Steve Parsons) 2009: Cold Spell (Dann Chow) 2008:
Hunting for RLJ (Tim McLeod) 2007:
Mad Cows (David Greiner) 2006: StL Cardinals (Rick Griffith) 2005: High Heat (Todd Habiger) 2004:
Mad Cows (David Greiner) 2003:
Cold Spell (Dann Chow) 2002:
Daaron’s Dance Groove (Daaron Sarver) |
1.2
Runner-ups
|
2016: Pesky Polecats (Dylan White) – Div Champ Ponson’s Waistline (Bill Gipperich) – Div
Champ 2015: Hunting for RLJ (Tim McLeod) 2014: Pesky Polecats (Dylan White) 2013: Springfield Isotopes (Joe Cory) 2012: Hunting for RLJ (Tim McLeod) 2011: Bama Groove (Daaron Sarver) 2010: Hunting for RLJ (Tim McLeod) 2009:
The Batemans (Cory Delbridge) 2008:
Cold Spell (Dann Chow) 2007: Landlocked Sharks (Eric Hardman) 2006:
Mad Cows (David Greiner) 2005:
Mad Cows (David Greiner) 2004:
High Heat (Todd Habiger) 2003:
The Green Monster (David Cevero) 2002:
Mad Cows (David Greiner) |
1.2(b) Wild Card Participants
|
2016: Saratoga Spiders (Tim Haupt)
Bama Groove
(Daaron Sarver) |
|
1.3
Object of the game |
To win the league, you assemble a daily lineup
of 18 Major League Baseball players whose cumulative statistics, during the
regular season defined below, compiled and measured by the methods described
below, exceed those of all other teams in the League. Then you kick someone’s butt in the NABL
playoffs, as described below in Section 7. |
|
1.4
League size |
12 teams, separated into two six-team
divisions (Sidd Finch and Joe Shlabotnik divisions). Realignment will take
place every 3-5 years, at discretion of the commissioner. |
|
1.5
League calendar (approx) |
§ Spring Auction (March) § NABL Regular Season (Apr-Sep) § Trade Deadline (11:59 pm EDT August 31) – changing
to August 20 in 2016 § Wild Card Scramble (3rd last week of MLB
regular season) § NABL Series (last 2 weeks of MLB regular season) § Keeper Submissions (Oct-Nov) § 10-Day Fall Unfreeze (Nov) § Winter Draft (Nov-Dec) § Take-Out-the-Trash Deadline (one week before Spring
Auction) |
2. ROSTERS
2.1
Roster size requirements
|
Required roster size after Spring Auction
= 30 Maximum roster size at all times = 32
(including Injured) Minimum roster size at all times during
season = 18 |
|
2.2
Active roster (18) |
All teams must be able to field an active
roster at all times during the season (from Spring Auction to Keeper
Submissions) (using position eligibilities as listed on CBS web site). Active roster means players who are
eligible at each of the following positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 4 OF, UT, 4
SP, 4 RP. Can include players on DL or minors. |
|
2.3
Reserve roster (up to 12) |
Any player not active is a reserve. After Spring Auction, reserve roster must
be 12. During the season, this number
can go below 12, but must never exceed 12.
Any transaction that increases the overall roster size must be
accompanied by a transaction to return to maximum of 12. Each team is also allowed two additional
Injured players during the season. To
be eligible for the Injured slot, a player must be on the MLB disabled list
and so recognized by the web site.
This player should return to active/reserve duty after returning from
the MLB disabled list. |
|
2.4
Roster movement |
An owner may demote a player from the
active roster to the reserve roster or promote a player in the reverse direction,
at any time and for any reason. As noted in 2.2 above, all teams must be
able to field an eligible active roster at all times during the season (from
Spring Auction to Keeper Submissions). |
|
2.5
Position eligibility |
Players are assigned a primary position
by the web site. They are immediately
eligible at that position. To gain eligibility at an additional
position, players must qualify according to these rules: All hitters: (a) at least 10 MLB games in the preceding season or (b) at least 5 MLB games in the current season. For SP: (a) at least 5 MLB starts in the preceding season or (b) at least 2 MLB starts in the current season. For RP: (a) at least 10 MLB relief appearances in the preceding
season or (b) at least 5 MLB relief appearances in the current
season. Players eligible at more than one
position may be used at any of those positions at any time. |
|
2.6
New player eligibility |
Players are immediately eligible at the
primary position assigned by the web site. |
3. SALARIES
3.1
Salary cap
|
Each team is allowed a maximum total
salary of $400 at any time during the season. |
|
3.2
Player salary |
The salary of a player is determined at
the time of acquisition. It does not
change during the season. §
The salary of a player who is protected
from the previous season is determined by a complex formula described below. §
The salary of a player acquired in the
Spring Auction is his auction price. §
The salary of a player who clears waivers
and is claimed as a free agent is whatever salary he was when was put on
waivers. |
|
3.3
League minimum |
The league minimum salary is $1 and all
salaries must be an increment of $1. |
|
3.4
Salary increases |
After the NABL Series, all players will
have their salaries increased. These
increased salaries will apply if the player is designated as a Keeper or if
the player is selected in the Winter Draft.
After the Winter Draft, all unselected players have their salaries reset
to $1. Players will have their salary increased
by $3 or 40%, whichever is greater.
Example: Player A has a salary of $1—he will be given a raise to
$4. Player B has a salary of $15—he
will be given a raise to $21. (All
salaries will be rounded to the nearest $1 increment) As of October 2015, there will be an
exception for players who have 0 MLB career appearances. The increase for
these players will be $2, not $3. |
4. ACQUIRING AND KEEPING PLAYERS
4.1
Spring Auction
|
A Spring Auction will be held each year
about 3-4 weeks prior to MLB Opening Day.
Each team will acquire the players necessary to fill their roster of
30. Including the salaries of the
protected players, each team will have up to $400 to spend. Each team MUST acquire 30 players by the
end of the auction. After the auction,
each team MUST be able to field a valid active roster (according to positions
listed on the CBS web site – it is your responsibility as owners to track
positional eligibility, as CBS may update them from time to time). The order of nomination of players at the
Spring Auction will be determined by reverse order of standings from previous
year. The opening bid will be a
minimum of $1 for any eligible player, with bidding proceeding at a minimum
increment of $1. No team may make a bid for a player it
cannot afford. For example, a team
with $10 left and three openings on its roster is limited to a maximum bid of
$8 for one player. Any baseball player is eligible for the
auction. Eligible players include (by
way of example) previously undrafted players, minor leaguers, unsigned
players, Japanese league players, high school or college players, and the old
guy down the block named Chow with the great arm. Owners must accept that someone else may
pick their team for them in the case that they are unavailable for the Spring
Auction, for whatever reason. The commissioner will set a Roster
Activation Deadline approximately 24-48 hours after rosters are entered
online. No waiver/free agent
transactions may be made before that deadline. This is to ensure equal opportunity at free
agents. Initial waiver order will be the reverse order of standings from
previous year. |
|
4.2
Trades |
Teams
are free to make trades of any kind without limit, as long their roster can
be adjusted to stay under the $400 salary cap and they stay within the 30-man
roster limit. A few notes on trades: §
No trades involving salary or draft picks
are allowed. §
All players’ salaries will remain unchanged
if they are traded. §
Trades are effective immediately upon
submission and confirmation of all parties involved. §
Commissioner has the right to question
the intent of any trade and subsequently veto any trade. The general intention of the NABL is that
trades are allowed unless one team is purposely trying to help the other team
or harm his own team. “Trading for the
future” is permitted. §
See note on trade deadline in Section 5
below. |
|
4.3
Waivers |
Players that are dropped are placed on
waivers. The waiver period runs for 2
days (usually not counting the waive date). Players can be claimed off waivers, using
the online claim system. Waiver
priority order will reset weekly based on reverse order of standings. A successful waiver claim will send an
owner to the bottom of the priority list for the remainder of that week,
until the next reset. |
|
4.4
Free agents |
All players not on an NABL team roster
nor on waivers are considered free agents.
This includes minor league players. Free agents may be signed without
limit. Free agents are available for
the league minimum of $0.1M to the first claimant. Free agents can be picked up directly on
the league web site and no interaction with the commish’s office is
necessary. (exception: the web site
does not list the deep deep Japanese/minor league/high school player that you
want – if you would like to pick up someone who does not appear on the web
site list, contact the commissioner with your request). A team cannot exceed the maximum of 32
players on their roster, so it may be necessary to waive a player from the
roster in order to accommodate the free agent signing. |
|
4.5
Keepers |
Each owner is required to submit a Keeper
roster by Keeper Date (TBD) of each year.
It will consist of players who are kept or protected for the following
season. Keeper salaries will include the salary
increases described in rules 3.4.
These calculations will be provided to all NABL owners shortly after
the MLB season. The sum of all Keeper salaries for one
team may not exceed $180. There are no
limits on the number of players retained (other than the 32-man total roster)
or the positions they play as long as their combined salaries do not exceed
$180. If an owner fails to submit his
Keeper roster on time, the League Commissioner will select the winter roster
for that team or has the option of finding a replacement owner. |
|
4.6
Winter Draft |
The Winter Draft increases the salary
limit for each team to $230. It is
held in draft fashion, drafting in reverse order of final standings for that
year. No snaking of the draft order
occurs, each round starts with 12th and ends with 1st. All owners are eligible to participate in
the Winter Draft. Any players not on a
Keeper roster are eligible to be taken in the Winter Draft. Salaries will include the salary increases
described in rules 3.4. The Winter Draft continues until all
owners: (a) cannot
afford any more players given the $230 cap, (b) have reached
the 30 player max roster size, or (c) have
decided to stop drafting. |
5. TRADE DEADLINE AND ROSTER
FREEZES
5.1
Trade deadline
|
No trades will be permitted after 11:59
pm ET on August 31 (changing to August 20 in 2016). Trades must be submitted and verified by
this time in order to be valid. |
|
5.2
September roster moves and post-season eligibility |
These
notes apply to the period between the trade deadline and the end of the NABL
regular season: §
Free agent pick-ups can continue to be
made as usual. §
Players who have salary ≥$10 cannot
be picked up as free agents during this period. §
Players acquired after the trade deadline
are not eligible to play in the NABL Series. §
Players acquired after the trade deadline
are eligible to be Keepers. |
|
5.3
Roster freezes |
No acquisitions of any kind are allowed
between the end of the NABL regular season and the 10-day Fall Unfreeze. § End of season deadline is 11:59 PM ET of the last day
of the NABL season. § Keeper Deadline happens sometime in October/November. § 10-day Fall Unfreeze will be a 10-day period declared
by the commissioner that falls between the Keeper Deadline and the Winter
Draft. Trading and drops will be allowed during the 10-day Fall Unfreeze. Teams
can exceed the $180 keeper limit during this time, but cannot exceed the $230
Winter Draft limit. Winter Draft picks cannot be traded. § There will be at least several days between the Fall
Unfreeze and the Winter Draft. Rosters will be frozen again during these few
days. |
|
5.4
Winter unfreezing |
After
the Winter Draft, all rosters are unfrozen: § Teams are free to make trades, but must stay under the
$400 salary cap limitation and cannot have more than 30 players. § Teams must also have enough room under the salary cap
at all times to field a roster of 30, e.g. a roster of 19 players cannot
exceed $389, leaving $1 for each of the remaining 11 roster spots. § Teams can NOT pick up free agents during the winter. § Teams CAN release players during the winter. These
players will be reset to $1 before the Spring Auction. |
|
5.5
Take-Out-the-Trash Deadline |
Take-Out-the-Trash
Deadline will be approximately one week before the Spring Auction. This will be the final date for releasing
players. Rosters
are frozen again from the Take-Out-the-Trash Deadline until the Spring
Auction. |
6. STANDINGS AND STATS
6.1
Rotisserie scoring
|
The
following criteria are used to determine team performance: §
Composite batting average (BA) §
Total runs scored (R) §
Total home runs (HR) §
Total runs batted in (RBI) §
Total stolen bases (SB) §
Total wins (W) §
Total SVHO2 (Saves+Holds/2) §
Composite earned run average (ERA) §
Composite WHIP ratio: bases on balls (BB) + hits (H) divided by
innings pitched (IP) §
Total strikeouts (K) Points will be calculated
rotisserie-style across all 12 NABL teams.
The first-place team in a category receives 12 points, the
second-place team 11, and so on down to 1 point for last place. Standings, however, are done by division. Pitchers’ offensive stats are not
counted, nor are the pitching stats of the occasional position player called
in to pitch when the score is |
6.2
Tie-breaking
|
There are no ties in ERA, WHIP and
BA. All ties in those categories will
be broken. In cases of ties in an individual
category other than ERA, WHIP or BA, the tied teams are assigned points by totaling
points for the ranking at issue and dividing the total by the number of teams
tied. In
cases of ties in total points, final places in the standings are determined
by comparing placement of teams in individual categories (head-to-head
rotisserie). Respective performances
are calculated and a point given to each team for bettering the other. Should one team total more points than the
other, that team is declared the winner. Should
there be a tie between more than two teams, then head-to-head-to-head roto
will be next tiebreaker (e.g. 3-2-1 in each category if 3-way tie). Should
the point totals still be equal, then the team with the higher CF (Chow
Factor) wins. CF=1.25*RBI + Ks. This is pretty arbitrary, but it never
comes to this, and I took the liberty of inventing a formula that includes
both hitting and pitching. Should
the CF be equal, then look out above, because the sky is falling. Second tiebreaker will be HR. Third
tiebreaker will be WHIP. |
|
6.3
Official stats |
The official stats of whatever web site
we’re using are the official stats of the NABL. They usually get them from somewhere
official. Currently we use CBS
Sportsline. |
7. WILD CARD SCRAMBLE, NABL SERIES AND PRIZE
MONEY
7.1
End of NABL regular season
|
The last games of the NABL regular season
are played on the day before the last three full weeks of the MLB regular
season. Division winners and three
wild card finishers (3 best non-division winners) will be declared on the subsequent
morning. However, final standings in rule 7.3 are
determined after the end of the MLB season. |
|
7.2.1. Wild Card Scramble |
The Wild Card Scramble is conducted
between the three wild card teams over the 3rd last week of the
MLB regular season. The Wild Card Scramble teams square off with
rotisserie scoring for the one week to determine the Wild Card Winner. Points
are awarded in each roto category (3-2-1). In the case of a tie, see
tie-breaking procedure in 6.2 above (head-to-head and then Chow Factor). The Wild Card Winner moves onto the NABL
Series. |
|
7.2.2.
NABL Series |
The NABL Series features the two division
winners and the Wild Card Winner. The NABL series is conducted over the
last two weeks of the MLB regular season, including statistics from
post-season one-game playoffs (“tiebreakers”) used to determine who gets into
extended post-season play, such as Angels-Mariners 1995 and Giants-Dodgers
1951. The NABL Series teams square off with
rotisserie scoring for the two weeks to determine the NABL Champion. Points are awarded in each roto category
(3-2-1). In the case of a tie, see tie-breaking procedure in 6.2 above
(head-to-head and then Chow Factor). |
|
7.3
Final standings |
Final standings are important in
determining Winter Draft order. 1st
is the NABL Champ, 2nd is the NABL Series runner-up, 3rd
is the third place team in the NABL Series.
4th and 5th place are determined during the Wild
Card Scramble, with final placement depending on standings at end of MLB
season. 6th through 12th
place are determined by final placement in standings at end of MLB season. |
|
7.4
Prize money |
Each season, all fees shall be promptly
collected by the NABL Commissioner, who is empowered to subject owners to
public humiliation to ensure that payments are made to the League in a timely
fashion. As of 2016, entry fee is $60
US per owner. All owners will pay the
same entry fee. The funds will be distributed as follows: §
Web site fees ($150 as
of 2016) §
Commish expenses ($15) §
Division winners ($130
each) §
Wild cards ($60 each) §
Wild Card Winner ($45
bonus) §
NABL Champion ($70
bonus) |