Greatest Baseball League Constitution
I. ORGANIZATION:
A. – The Greatest Baseball League (GBL) Organization shall consist of 20 Teams.
B. – The Organization will be divided into 2 Leagues.
C. – Each League will be divided into 2 Divisions consisting of 5 Teams in each Division.
D. – League Names will be: “North League” and “South League”.
E. – Division Names will be: “Green Division” and “Red Division” (North League), and “Blue Division” and “White Division” (South League).
F. – The GBL uses baseball simulation/replay computer software to play all league games.
G. – The GBL currently uses “Diamond Mind Baseball” Version 12b (or the most current, updated version).
H. – The most current “Diamond Mind Baseball Official Season Data Disk” of MLB Player Statistics will be used by the league.
I. – The GBL uses current Ball Park Factors. A Ball Park is owned by a team until it is traded to another team or dropped for an available Ball Park. A team can only change its Ball Park after the end of the season and before the draft.
II. MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS:
A. – A working computer that is compatible with and capable of running the computer software used by the league is required.
B. – Internet access with a working email account is required.
C. – A secondary/backup web-based email account is highly encouraged and highly recommended for all league members.
D. – Each member is required to own a legal copy of the computer software used by the league. E.- Payment of annual League Dues (if applicable) is required.
F. – A “Gentleman’s Agreement” is expected by all league members to make a commitment to attempt to honor all league rules and all membership requirements in a responsible manner. With the goal being to have fun while managing realistically and playing realistic baseball, rather than attempting to find and exploit any and every possible “loophole” within the rules to use to manage a team unrealistically and play unrealistic baseball.
G. – Failure to meet, comply with, and maintain these overall general requirements for league membership will result in penalties administered by the Commissioner. (Warning, Probation, Expulsion = “3 strikes and you’re out!” for example for members that are extreme/frequent/repeat/routine offenders.)
III. ADMINISTRATION:
A. – The League Commissioner will supervise all league-related matters.
B. – The League Commissioner will have the authority to handle any situation that is not specifically covered by the league’s Constitution.
C. – The League Commissioner is responsible to try to handle all league-related matters in a fair manner that are in the best interests of the league.
D. – The League Commissioner has the authority to enlist other league members to assist in the various league-related administrative duties as needed.
E. – The GBL is a non-profit organization. Therefore, any excess in funds accumulated from league dues (if dues are applicable) will be used to allow for a reduction in the amount of league dues for the following season. Any further excess in funds accumulated will simply be used to allow the Commissioner to buy some basic necessities for the job (IE: a cup of hot coffee, headache pain reliever of choice, tranquilizer of choice) for all of his hard work throughout the year for the league. F. – The GBL is a non-profit organization. Therefore, any excess in funds accumulated from league dues (if dues are applicable) will be used to allow for a reduction in the amount of league dues for the following season. Any further excess in funds accumulated will simply be used to allow the Commissioner to buy some basic necessities for the job (IE: a cup of hot coffee, headache pain reliever of choice, tranquilizer of choice) for all of his hard work throughout the year for the league.
IV. TEAM ROSTERS
A. – Each Team may have a maximum Team Roster size of 40 total Players.
B. – The 40-man Team Roster will be broken down as follows: a 27-man Active Roster and a 13-man Inactive Farm Team Roster.
C. – Players may be moved to/from the “Active Roster” and to/from the “Inactive Farm Team Roster” prior to each individual series throughout the Regular Season and the Playoffs.
D. – Active Roster” are “frozen” for each series during both the Regular Season and the Playoffs and may not be altered during that particular series between individual games of that particular series.
E. – At some point towards the end of the Regular Season (approximately around the 80% point), the League Commissioner will specify a date to allow all Team Rosters to be expanded up to a maximum of 30 Active Players for the remainder of the Regular Season. Managers will not be required to designate 30 “Active” Players.
F. – A maximum of 2 Players on the Inactive Farm Team Roster may be Players that are not on the current Season Data Disk. (A player having no stats from the previous MLB season.)
G. – Seven of the 40 total players are designated as 1 year rental players. 1year rental players are eligible for the playoffs. The 1 year rental players will automatically go into the league’s Free Agent pool at the end of the season.
H. – Each Team Roster is required to have enough Plate Appearances (for Hitters) and enough Batters Faced (for Pitchers) to sufficiently cover a full 162 game Regular Season schedule. Guidelines: approximately 725 PAs for Hitters per each of the 9 positions in Batting Order (more for the top of the batting order, less for the bottom of the batting order, if one uses the same basic lineup throughout a season), approximately 6400 Total Team PAs for all Hitters, and approximately 6400 BFs for the team’s entire Pitching Staff (Starters and Relievers combined). Please note: these are only approximate average general guideline numbers, your mileage may and will likely vary relative to your team’s offensive performance and pitching performance throughout the season. For example, based on the statistical results from the GBL 2008 162-game Regular Season = for Hitters: Total Team PA #s ranged from 6230-6450 with the average at 6350, and for Pitchers: Team Total BF #s ranged from 6140-6600 with the average at 6350
I. – Each Active Team Roster is required to have a minimum of 2 Players “rated” for each ‘primary’ fielding position (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF) and to have a minimum of 4 players “rated” as Starting pitchers.
- – Outfielders are grouped together as OF’ers and not treated specifically as LF, CF, RF for this purpose. You are not required to have 2 players specifically rated at LF, 2 players specifically rated at CF, and 2 players specifically rated at RF.
- – Managers can typically easily find “utility” type players that are “rated” at a variety of many different fielding positions which will help to cover a team’s roster with respect to compliance with this rule, rather than literally having 2 2B-men, 2 SS’s, 2 3D-men (6 players). If you choose “utility” type players to cover various backup positions, you will then want to have a couple of these “utility” players that are rated at a variety of fielding positions, rather than to rely solely on only one individual “utility” player to try to cover several fielding positions all by himself.
- – The intent/spirit of this rule is not to force you to literally use up 8×2 (16) roster spots with 2 C’s, 2 1B-men, 2 2B-men, 2 3B-men, 2 SS’s, and 6 OF’ers. However, the spirit/intent of this “rule” is intended more to help insure that all teams have an adequate and realistic number of backup players on the team roster that allow all fielding positions to be covered with at least 2 players that are “rated” to play each individual fielding position, and not end up with unrealistic rosters that have little or no backups and instead are loaded with an unrealistic excess of players that are rated exclusively at any particular fielding position.
V. PLAYER OWNERSHIP:
A. – Players are continuously owned by a Team until they are cut, traded, or lost due to a team’s failure to comply with the 33% Minimum Player Usage Rule, lost due to over-usage of the Player (based on PT% – which is based on Plate Appearances [Hitters] and Batters Faced [Pitchers]), lost due to player usage abuse during the Playoffs, or due to any other penalty administered by the Commissioner that might involve the loss of a player due to violating league rules. Players with less than 50 plate appearances or less than 50 batters faced do not have a minimum usage requirement.
B. – The “Rights” to Players and Draft Picks “owned” by a Team may not be sold for real money on Internet Auction Sites.
VI. PLAYER USAGE:
A. – Player Usage will be monitored based on PT% (Playing Time Percentage) from within DMB. PT% (Playing Time %) is based on Plate Appearances for Hitters, Batters Faced for Relief Pitchers and Games Started for starting Pitchers.
B. – Relief Pitchers are limited by the Player’s actual real-life Batters Faced (BF). Starting pitchers may start or relieve. Pitchers who start and relieve in a GBL season will be classified as a relief pitcher for their limits.
C. – Managers are expected to monitor player usage for all Players on their Team Rosters throughout the season. Managers are expected to limit all Players (Hitters & Pitchers) to 100% PT% usage for the Regular Season. - – When a Player reaches 100% PT%, that Player is expected to be moved promptly by the Manager from the Active Roster to the Inactive Farm Team Roster and shall remain “frozen” on the Team’s Inactive Farm Team Roster for the remainder of the Regular Season. If Managers fail to do this on their own, the Commissioner will do so.
D. – Player Usage during the Regular Season will be limited to an absolute maximum of 102% PT% (Playing Time %) (see A and B above concerning pitchers) for all Players (Hitters & Pitchers). - – If/when any Player exceeds 105% PT%, the “ownership rights” to that Player are forfeited by that Team and that Player immediately becomes a Free Agent and will immediately be removed from the Team’s Roster and immediately be placed into the Free Agent pool.
E. – EXCEPTIONS: - 1. Relief Pitchers with an Earned Run Average (ERA) of 6.00 or greater will be allowed a maximum of 600 Batters Faced (BF) -or- the Player’s actual real-life Batters Faced (BF) – whichever is GREATER. Starting Pitchers with an Earned Run Average (ERA) of 6.00 or greater will be allowed a maximum of 22 Starts (GS) -or- the Player’s actual real-life Games Started (GS) – whichever is GREATER. Pitchers who start and relieve in a GBL season will be classified as a relief pitcher for their limits. For the playoffs, all pitchers will be evaluated on their real-life Batters Faced (BF).
- All Batters whose “OPS” Production Percentage (OPS Statistic = total of Slugging % plus On Base %) is less than .600 will be allowed 600 Plate Appearances. For the playoffs, all batters will be evaluated on their real-life Plate Appearances (PA).
F. – Any Player that is not used for a minimum of 33% PT% (Playing Time %) by a Team during the Regular Season will be lost by that Team following the completion of the GBL World Series and the Player(s) will automatically go into the league’s Free Agent pool.
VII. STOLEN BASE LIMITS:
A. – Players will be limited to their actual real-life Stolen Bases Attempts. Once a Player reaches this maximum usage number of Stolen Base Attempts, the Manager is expected to move the Stealing Slider under Player Tendencies for that Player to NEVER (in DMB) and leave it at that setting for the remainder of the Regular Season. If Managers fail to do this on their own, the Commissioner will do so. Expect to be penalized by the Commissioner for excessive over-usage abuse of Stolen Bases (relative to Stolen Base Attempts).
B. – All Players will be allowed a minimum of 10 Stolen Bases (SBs) regardless of their actual real-life Stolen Base Attempts.
VIII. DRAFTING:
A. – The GBL’s annual Rookie/Free Agent Draft will be held during the “winter” at a time designated by the Commissioner.
B. – The League Commissioner will be responsible to see that this Draft is held and is responsible to send complete draft-related instructions to all Teams prior to the Draft.
C. – Any Player that is not currently owned by a Team and is in the Free Agent pool is available to be selected in the annual Rookie/Free Agent Draft.
D. – Players not found on the current Season Data Disk available to be drafted include Players having no previous Major League Baseball experience (ie: High School, College, Minor League Players that have had no Major League Baseball experience) and Players that have had previous Major League Baseball experience but did not play any during the previous MLB season (ie: Injured, Retired, Deceased) and are not currently owned by any Team.
E. – Draft order for all Rounds – EXCEPT for the First Round – will be determined by the order of finish from the league’s previous season as follows: - – The 20th Draft Pick for each Round will go to the GBL World Series Winning Team.
- – The 19th Draft Pick for each Round will go to the GBL World Series Losing Team.
- – The 18th Draft pick for each Round will go to the GBL League Championship Series (LCS) Losing Team with the better Regular Season W-L % Record.
- – The 17th Draft Pick for each Round will go to the GBL League Championship Series (LCS) Losing Team with the poorer Regular Season W-L % Record.
- – Draft Picks 13-16 will go to the 4 losing teams from the GBL League Division Championship Series (LDS) first-round playoff series in reverse order of their respective Regular Season W-L % Records. Ties will be broken with a coin flip.
- – For the Draft’s First Round ONLY: the first 12 Draft Picks will be determined by a “lottery” system (very much like the draft lottery system used by the NBA). * Those 12 Teams not involved in Post-Season Playoff play will be divided into 3 groups: 1-4, 5-8, 9-12. These 3 groups represent the Teams by their respective W-L % Records from worst to best from the previous Regular Season. The 4 Teams in each of these 3 groups will be placed together and randomly chosen one at a time to represent the draft pick order. The four worst Teams pick first, then the next two groups respectively, based on W-L % Records. The worst four Teams all have an equal chance at the 1st Pick of the 1st Round in the Draft. Ties will be broken with a coin flip.
IX. TRADING:
A. – Trading will be “open” for all Teams at the conclusion of the Regular Season. All Trades are for the next season (meaning that all Teams involved in the Post-Season Playoffs may participate in Trading, but any Trade that any Playoff Team makes does not take place immediately for the current Playoffs, but will take effect immediately following the completion of the Playoffs).
B. – The Commissioner will set the date for the end of Trading.
C. – Trades must be complete when reported to the Commissioner (nothing “to be named later” allowed).
D. – Both Team Managers that are involved in any Trade must report the Trade to the Commissioner for the Trade to be verified and considered official.
E. – The specific Trade information (Players and/or Draft Picks) that is submitted to the Commissioner by the Managers involved in the Trade must match up exactly for the Trade to be considered verified and official.
F. – At the beginning of a season, seven tradable draft picks will be allotted to each team for next seasons draft, ie 2023 draft picks will be allotted during the 2022 season. During the season until the GBL World Series is completed, a trade including draft picks must be an even swap of picks, ie 3 draft picks for 3 draft picks. This will ensure that every team will still have 7 draft picks at the end of the season. After the conclusion of the season, uneven swap of picks will be allowed.
G. – Uneven player trades can be made up to the mid-point of the season. Each participating team needs to have enough BF or PA limits to finish the season for all the positions. If the trade increases the keeper roster to more than 33 players, the team will need to cut or designate a keeper player as a 1 year rental to get back to the maximum of 33 keeper players and 40 players. If the trade decreases the keeper roster to less than 33 players, the team can add 1 year rental players to get back to the maximum of 40 players.
X. SCHEDULE:
A. – Each Team will play a 162 Game Schedule consisting of 81 Home Games and 81 Away Games.
B. – The Commissioner is responsible for making the 162 Game Schedule for the League.
C. – The Regular Season will run approximately from March to September, with the Playoffs starting as soon as possible following the completion of the Regular Season. (Note: this is based on the real life calendar, not the DMB Calendar/Schedule.)
D. – The Post-Season Playoff schedule will be determined by the Commissioner. - – Every effort will be made to get the Playoffs underway in a timely manner as soon as practical following the completion of the Regular Season.
- – Every effort will be made to maintain a smooth, steady pace throughout the Playoffs.
XI. STATISTICS:
A. – All game results, statistics, and roster changes will be done via email and file attachments whenever possible.
B. – All results for games/series played are to be submitted promptly by all league members to the Commissioner with a copy also promptly submitted to the opposing Team’s Manager.
C. – If a Manager fails to submit results prior to the deadline as specified by the Commissioner, the Commissioner will “sim” the entire series.
D. – The computer software package that the League currently uses will dictate the file format used.
E. – The schedule for file exchange will be determined by the Commissioner.
XII. ROAD TEAM MANAGERS:
A. – A “Manager Profile” (Computer AI Manager) will be used for all Road Games for all Teams – unless games are played “face-to-face” or played online via “Net Play” or some other online method.
B. – Team Managers may adjust the “Manager Profile” for his/her Team and Players at any time during the season and are encouraged to do so to help monitor player usage.
C. – A “Manager Profile” may be “customized” by each Manager for his/her Team to adjust the way the “Computer AI Manager” handles the Team. This is not required, this is optional. If no “customized” Manager Profile is created to be used by a Team, then the Team’s “default” “Manager Profile” will be used as “auto-generated” by DMB.
XIII. GAME GUIDELINES:
A. – Managers are expected to use the Designated Hitter at all times during games. The DH must be used for a Pitcher.
B. – Pitchers are not allowed to be used as Pinch-Hitters or Pinch-Runners at any time during games.
C. – Pitchers that are rated only as a Reliever may never be used as a Starting Pitcher.
D. – Batters/Hitters may never be used as a Starting Pitcher or as a Reliever.
E. – Injuries are turned off.
F. – Weather system is off.
G. – Clutch system is on.
XIV. PLAYOFFS:
A. – Playoffs will begin as soon as possible after the completion of the Regular Season.
B. – All Rounds of the Playoffs are “Best of 7 Game Series” format.
C. – Player usage rules for the Playoffs are set by the Commissioner.
D. – A 3-man Starting Pitching Rotation is acceptable during the Playoffs.
E. – The 1st place Team from each Division will automatically qualify for the Playoffs.
- Tiebreakers are as follows:
(a) Best Road W-L % Record;
(b) Best Inter-Division W-L % Record;
(c) Head-to-Head W-L % Record;
(d) Coin flip.
This tiebreaker system is also used to determine “Home Field Advantage” in the Playoffs.
F. – A total of 4 Teams from each League will qualify for the Playoffs.
- – The 2 Division winners automatically qualify.
- – The 2 Teams with the best W-L % Records in each League will also qualify.
- – Both “Wild Card” Playoff Teams can be from the same Division.
- – In the 1st Playoff Round in both Leagues (LDS), the Division winner with the best W-L % Record plays the Wild Card Team with the worst W-L % Record.
- – In the 1st Playoff Round in both Leagues (LDS), the Division winner with the 2nd best W-L % Record plays the Wild Card Team with the better W-L % Record.
- – A “Wild Card” Team may not have “Home Field Advantage” unless they are matched up against another “Wild Card” Team.
- – 27 Players will be designated as “Active” for each Playoff Series for each Playoff Team.
- – No Roster changes will be allowed during any individual Playoff Series. If a Team wins a Playoff Series, then changes to the Team’s 27-man “Active Roster” can be made prior to the next Playoff Series.
XV. MISCELLANEOUS:
A. – All Protests shall be reported promptly within a reasonable time period to the Commissioner.
B. – To make rule changes in the Constitution, a 2/3 vote of Active League Members is required in order for a vote to pass. If there are 18 Active League Members, it would take a minimum of 12 votes to make a rule change in the Constitution.
XVI. SUMMARY:
A. – Competitiveness is desired in the GBL, but FUN is the league’s main objective!
B. – Cheating of any type will absolutely NOT be tolerated at any time! While the obvious form of cheating is to win extra games, the other extreme would be to “sandbag” for a better Draft Pick. All Managers are always encouraged to always put the best team on the field for all games. The rules regarding extra player usage for qualifying pitchers and batters allows flexibility – especially for a rebuilding Team – but all Managers are encouraged to not use these types of Players to their maximum while better Players are just barely maintaining the 38% PT% minimum usage rule. Play realistic baseball!
C. – It is most important that all games are played and all reports are filed on time.
D. – Please do not become the “weak link” in the chain. We all have problems in the real world from time-to-time, so if/when a problem occurs that affects your status and ability to remain timely, please communicate with the Commissioner and other League Members as soon as possible so that things can be handled properly.
E. – Please make every effort as a Member of this League to actively participate in all league-related activities. Everyone knows that this is just a game and just a hobby for fun… but membership in anything still has its responsibilities… please keep this in mind.
F. – As a League Member – please be respectful and considerate of your fellow League Members, as well as the League Administration volunteers, and to the League as a whole.
G. – GOOD COMMUNICATION is essential in a League of this type!
H. – Comments and suggestions are always invited and welcomed
Response Magic