2025 Rule Changes
Apr 21, 2016 23:46:35 GMT -5
Jeremiah:OriolesGM, marcus.dodgers, and 1 more like this
Post by thomas on Apr 21, 2016 23:46:35 GMT -5
Changes for the 2025 Season…
First sim will be Friday, April 22nd. Exports due @ 7:30 PM EDT. We will be simming THROUGH awards. All trades will be processed as well.
Simming one week daily, eventually becoming two weeks in January.
---------
Divisional Realignment
After much discussion among ourselves and through polling and posting we have decided that will be realigning divisions. We strongly believe this is really the easiest and best way to create parity in the league and was also proven in the test sim that Anthony ran. Adjusting players and finances was determined to be too intrusive and too contrary to what we value in a league as commissioners. So, how are we determining divisions? Two year win total averages. This is intended to prevent realigning based on a fluke season but is also not too long as to punish teams who entered into a rebuild part-way through a longer stretch of years. For instance, if a team was competing in season 1,2, or 3 of a 4 season stretch and decided to enter into a rebuild for season 3 or 4.
Last SBL season no division was decided by less than 5 games. 3 divisions were decided by more than 13 games. The Wild Card races, the AL and NL each had 2 teams less than 9 games out while the NL so that means 8 teams in each league were more than 10 games out of a playoff spot. Additionally we had 4 teams that had over 100 wins.
Each league will be split up into 3 divisions. “Division 1, Division 2, Division 3.” Better names to be determined. As stated previously, two year win averages will decide your division. Ties will be broken by the previous third year and if tied again, the next, etc.
Division 1 = 1-5
Division 2 = 6-10
Division 3 = 11-15
The schedule will be a standard MLB style schedule.
*Each team will play their divisional teams 19 times totalling 76 games.
*Each team will play the rest of their league between 6-7 times totalling 66 games.
*Each team will play several teams from the opposing league 3-4 times totalling 20 games to get to the 162 total.
How will the playoffs work?
Division winners from all 3 divisions will advance to the playoffs.
3 “Wild Cards” will advance to the playoffs.
The 6 playoff teams from each league will be seeded 1-6 based on records.
The 1 & 2 seeds will receive 1st round bye’s
#3 vs #6 and #4 vs #5 will play in a 3 game “Wild Card” Round. Winners will advance to play the #1 and #2 seeds.
*Note that winning the division does not guarantee a bye or one of the top 3 seeds.*
At the end of each season, the win totals will be added and divisions adjusted accordingly for the next season.
We, as commissioners, reserve the right to re-evaluate this realignment plan every season to ensure it meets our goals.
For the 2025 season, years 2023 and 2024 were taken into consideration and this is what the divisions look like:
AL
Detroit Tigers
Los Angeles Angels
Seattle Mariners
Kansas City Royals
Toronto Blue Jays
Chicago White Sox
Oakland A's
Boston Red Sox
Texas Rangers
Minnesota Twins
New York Yankees
Baltimore Orioles
Tampa Bay Rays
Cleveland Indians
Houston Astros
NL
Los Angeles Dodgers
St. Louis Cardinals
New York Mets
Miami Marlins
Chicago Cubs
Atlanta Braves
San Francisco Giants
Washington Nationals
Arizona Diamondbacks
Cincinnati Reds
San Diego Padres
Colorado Rockies
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Milwaukee Brewers
Other Changes
Effective immediately, no extensions may be offered to a player unless he has reached 4 years Major League Service Time. This was extended up from 3 years to ensure that a player has gone through at least one year of arbitration evaluation (whether he is bought out or not). All previous rules still apply regarding contracts and extensions.
Commissioners Note
We understand how hot of a topic changes were to the league and after hours of discussion we landed on the Realignment plan as the best course of action. If this results in you departing from the league we are extremely sad to see you go. We have some really great and dedicated GMs that I (Thomas) often harass too much but please know that we both really appreciate your dedication to the league and the rest of your fellow GMs in attempting to maintain one of the longer running OOTP leagues out there!
First sim will be Friday, April 22nd. Exports due @ 7:30 PM EDT. We will be simming THROUGH awards. All trades will be processed as well.
Simming one week daily, eventually becoming two weeks in January.
---------
Divisional Realignment
After much discussion among ourselves and through polling and posting we have decided that will be realigning divisions. We strongly believe this is really the easiest and best way to create parity in the league and was also proven in the test sim that Anthony ran. Adjusting players and finances was determined to be too intrusive and too contrary to what we value in a league as commissioners. So, how are we determining divisions? Two year win total averages. This is intended to prevent realigning based on a fluke season but is also not too long as to punish teams who entered into a rebuild part-way through a longer stretch of years. For instance, if a team was competing in season 1,2, or 3 of a 4 season stretch and decided to enter into a rebuild for season 3 or 4.
Last SBL season no division was decided by less than 5 games. 3 divisions were decided by more than 13 games. The Wild Card races, the AL and NL each had 2 teams less than 9 games out while the NL so that means 8 teams in each league were more than 10 games out of a playoff spot. Additionally we had 4 teams that had over 100 wins.
Each league will be split up into 3 divisions. “Division 1, Division 2, Division 3.” Better names to be determined. As stated previously, two year win averages will decide your division. Ties will be broken by the previous third year and if tied again, the next, etc.
Division 1 = 1-5
Division 2 = 6-10
Division 3 = 11-15
The schedule will be a standard MLB style schedule.
*Each team will play their divisional teams 19 times totalling 76 games.
*Each team will play the rest of their league between 6-7 times totalling 66 games.
*Each team will play several teams from the opposing league 3-4 times totalling 20 games to get to the 162 total.
How will the playoffs work?
Division winners from all 3 divisions will advance to the playoffs.
3 “Wild Cards” will advance to the playoffs.
The 6 playoff teams from each league will be seeded 1-6 based on records.
The 1 & 2 seeds will receive 1st round bye’s
#3 vs #6 and #4 vs #5 will play in a 3 game “Wild Card” Round. Winners will advance to play the #1 and #2 seeds.
*Note that winning the division does not guarantee a bye or one of the top 3 seeds.*
At the end of each season, the win totals will be added and divisions adjusted accordingly for the next season.
We, as commissioners, reserve the right to re-evaluate this realignment plan every season to ensure it meets our goals.
For the 2025 season, years 2023 and 2024 were taken into consideration and this is what the divisions look like:
AL
Detroit Tigers
Los Angeles Angels
Seattle Mariners
Kansas City Royals
Toronto Blue Jays
Chicago White Sox
Oakland A's
Boston Red Sox
Texas Rangers
Minnesota Twins
New York Yankees
Baltimore Orioles
Tampa Bay Rays
Cleveland Indians
Houston Astros
NL
Los Angeles Dodgers
St. Louis Cardinals
New York Mets
Miami Marlins
Chicago Cubs
Atlanta Braves
San Francisco Giants
Washington Nationals
Arizona Diamondbacks
Cincinnati Reds
San Diego Padres
Colorado Rockies
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Milwaukee Brewers
Other Changes
Effective immediately, no extensions may be offered to a player unless he has reached 4 years Major League Service Time. This was extended up from 3 years to ensure that a player has gone through at least one year of arbitration evaluation (whether he is bought out or not). All previous rules still apply regarding contracts and extensions.
Commissioners Note
We understand how hot of a topic changes were to the league and after hours of discussion we landed on the Realignment plan as the best course of action. If this results in you departing from the league we are extremely sad to see you go. We have some really great and dedicated GMs that I (Thomas) often harass too much but please know that we both really appreciate your dedication to the league and the rest of your fellow GMs in attempting to maintain one of the longer running OOTP leagues out there!