The RTCBL Constitution

 

LEAGUE FORMAT

 

Setup

The RTCBL will be made up of 2 Leagues : the American League and the National League. Each league will have 3 Divisions : East, Central, and West. Both the National League and the American League will have 12 teams.

 

Schedule

Each team will play a 162 game schedule ( 81 Home - 81 Away ). Currently, the schedule will be created by the Commissioner.

 

Playoffs

In both the NL and AL the 3 divisional winners and 1 wildcard team will make the playoffs. The Wild Card team will be the team with the best won-loss record that did not win a division. In all 1st Round and Championship Series the Home Field Advantage will belong to the team with the Best record during the season. Exception: Wild Card teams cannot have the Home Field Advantage at anytime during the AL or NL playoffs. Home Field Advantage for the World Series will be determined by the RTCBL Season and will alternate. The American League team has the Home Field Advantage during odd numbered seasons and the NL during the even numbered seasons.

 

Player Awards

After the season, a ballot will be sent out and all managers will vote for awards given to players. Awards: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Mgr. of the year, etc..

 

Rosters

Each team will have a 40 man roster. 27 Players will be assigned to their active Major League team and 13 to their Farm League team. Players may be moved between the two teams before the start of any series. There is no limit as to how many times a player can be promoted/demoted. Every team must have a minimum of 2 rated players at every position on their active roster and sufficient coverage for each position for the entire season overall.

 

Player Ownership

The RTCBL is a continuous ownership league. Once a player is drafted, he is yours until you either cut or trade him.

 

Drafts, Releasing Players, and Uncarded Players

The Draft will be conducted on a date to be determined by the Commissioner. Each team has a maximum of 10 potential draft choices.  Prior to the draft a team will be allowed to cut up to a maximum of 10 players.  A team is allowed 1 draft slot for every player he cuts to a maximum of 10.  A team must cut a player in order to secure the draft slot. All cuts lists will be turned in prior to the draft and any team with a full 40 man roster will be unable to participate in the draft. The cut lists will be distributed to the League prior to the draft. The cut list deadline date will be determined by the Commissioner. Uncarded players can be kept but they count as a player on a team’s roster.

 

End of Season Cuts

If a manager desires, he may keep all 40 of his players at the end of a season and not participate in next years free agent draft. To keep some continuity to the rosters, a manager may cut a MAXIMUM of 10 players at the end of each season in order to participate in the draft.

 

Draft Order

The draft order will be determined by the REGULAR SEASON won/loss records. The team with the worst record will draft first. The team with the best record will draft last. The order will stay 1-24 for all rounds of the draft. It will not reverse. Ties in W/L records will be broken as follows:

1) head to head record (if applicable)

2) record within a division

3) road record

 

Trades

At this time the only restiction on trading is that once the season starts it must be an even player for player transaction.  All trades must be confirmed to the Commissoner by both managers before the trade is official.  Trades between series will go into effect with next available series after the trade is confirmed by both managers.

 

Eligibility

Only players on the current seasons disk will be eligible to play that season. Any player who has ever played MLB is eligible for the RTCBL. A players eligibility starts when he reaches 50 IP or 130 AB in a single season and he is drafted by a team. Once a player is on a league season disk, his career advances chronoligcally from that year forward. If a player has "gaps" in his playing career, the team that owns him has the option of retaining the rights to him for his uncarded years. He will count toward their 40 man roster during those years.

 

Injuries and A.I.M

Advance Injury Management will take care of all injuries, games played, and games pitched.

 

Normalizing

Every season, the player disk will be normalized to the RTCBL MLB all time averages respectfully.

 

MANAGERS

 

Responsibilities

Be on time when sending in your files after you play your games.

Play all games fairly.

 

Requirements

League Manager 4.0 or higher

Advance Draft

APBA BBW ( duh? )

 

Memberships

Each member owns one franchise.

 

DH Rule

American League has it....National League does not.

 

Pitcher Starts

The ability of a pitcher to start will be determined by League Manager/AIM. If he's ready or rested he can start. No relievers are to ever start a games unless he has a split grade or in the case of an extreme emergency.  Every manager should ensure that he has sufficient starters to cover his games in a series when he creates his F-File.

 

Position Players

Players may only play positions they are rated for. Players may only play out of position because of injuries.

 

Micromanagers

Any A.I.M rated Micromanager may be used. If a manager does not have a certain MM, the opposing team must furnish that MM or choose another

 

BASEBALL COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE

 

Commissioner

The RTCBL Commissioner is currently Brian Devine.

 

CLARIFICATION ADDENDEM

 

1. A player/pitcher is not eligible to be drafted in the RTCBL until he has completed a season where he has 130 at bats or 50 innings pitched. Thus, any rookie phenoms in the current Major League cannot be drafted until they have completed a MLB Season and reached those requirements.

 

2. A player/pitcher's first season that he is eligible is the season where he reaches 130 at bats or 50 innings pitched. (Ex. Harmon Killibrew had 5 seasons in the majors (1954-1958) before he reached the 130 at bats requirement. Thus, his 1st season in the RTCBL was 1959.)

 

3. Once a player/pitcher is drafted and placed on an RTCBL Team's roster his "career" progresses yearly. If a player/pitcher is cut from a roster his "career" continues to progress as though he were still on a RTCBL roster. If he is redrafted he picks up his "career" in the year that his "career" would've progressed to at that point.
(Ex. John Doe's first year on an RTCBL roster is 1960, the next season he is cut and is not redrafted, (2) RTCBL Season's pass before he is redrafted. He is redrafted in the next season, he would now be on his 1963 season.)

 

4. The following are the League's where players may be drafted from:

National League
American League
Federal League
American Association
Players League
Union Association

The following League's were determined through the use of the BBW Wizard which is used to created the yearly RTCBL Data Disk.

 

SEASON 6 RULE ADDENDUM

 

Stolen Base Limitations Rule:

 

The amount of stolen base attempts for every player in the RTCBL will be determined by the player's stolen base letter rating AFTER normalization. The RTCBL Web Site will contain a report listing the number of Stolen Base attempts allowed per player. Once the player reaches or exceeds his number of stolen base attempts he will have his stolen base rating adjusted to N00 and his stolen base and caught stealing statistics will be set to zero. The stolen base rating, stolen base and caught stealing numbers will be restored to their initial settings if the player makes it into post season play.

(Note- a player can only exceed his stolen base attempts on the road by a MM. Ex. a player goes into a road series with 1 SB attempt remaining. The MM then attempts 2 steals with the player and puts him over his limit. After that series the player would then have his rating and numbers adjusted with no penalty to the manager.)

 

A players maximum attempts is derived by multiplying the players plate appearances by their RTCBL steal allowance modifier. Modifiers are given below:
A - 0.170
B - 0.130
C - 0.097
D - 0.069
E - 0.044
F - 0.025
R - 0.015
N - 0.000
This RTCBL modifier has been derived from the Wizard edit function. To see it for yourself, load any player into Wizard edit. Go into Options and change their league to the ALL-TIME baseline and uncheck normalize, then save. Now note the players Steal Allowance rating. Click on Batting Stats and change their SB + CS so they equal the value on the report and save. Then click Generate and the steal allowance will stay the same. Re-enter Batting stats and add one to SB, save and click Generate and the steal allowance should increase to the next letter. This describes the maximum attempts for that steal allowance for the specified plate appearances for our ALL-TIME baseline league.