EFBL Constitution

Constitution: EDGERTON FANTASY BASEBALL LEAGUE RULES

I. LEAGUE OVERVIEW

A. Ethos

This is a competitive league of experienced fantasy baseball players. All team owners are responsible for protecting the best interests of their team and the competitive balance of the league. All team owners are responsible for managing their individual teams throughout the entire season and complying with league rules. Each team in the league is responsible for paying attention to league transactions and their individual salary cap.

B. Teams

The league shall consist of 12 teams organized into 2 leagues, the National and the American. Each team’s roster shall consist of at least 15 players and no more than 28 players, plus an honorary team captain whose statistics shall not count. The teams shall play each other head-to-head on a weekly basis. Weeks shall begin on Monday at noon Central time and end at the close of the following Sunday’s games.

C. Scoring

Each week, the teams will pair off against one another and compete in the following categories:

1. Offense

a. Home Runs

b. Runs scored

c. Runs batted in

d. Stolen Bases

e. On-Base Percentage

2. Pitching

a. Wins

b. Strikeouts

c. Earned Run Average

d. WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched)

e. Saves

Each week, the team in the head-to-head matchup with the best performance in each category will receive a point for that category. For example, if Team A is playing Team B and Team A has 5 stolen bases for the week while Team B only has 3 stolen bases for the week, Team A will receive 1 point for the stolen bases category. If the teams tie in a category, they each receive one-half point. The team with the most scoring categories won for the week wins that head-to-head matchup. In the event that the two teams win an equal number of scoring categories, the team will the best fielding percentage for the week will win the head-to-head matchup.

D. Lineups

Each team must field a lineup of 8 hitters and 6 pitchers each week. The hitting positions shall consist of 1 Catcher, 1 First Baseman, 1 Second Baseman, 1 Shortstop, 1 Third Baseman, 1 Right Fielder, 1 Center Fielder and 1 Left Fielder. To be eligible at a position, a player must have played 1 game at that position in the previous Major League season or 1 game at that position in the current season. The lineup of hitters may be changed on a daily basis. Only the statistics of hitters in the team’s active lineup count towards the week’s scoring.

Each team shall set its lineup of pitchers for the week by noon on Monday. Once set, the pitchers may not be changed during the remainder of the week. Each team shall start 4 starting pitchers and 2 relief pitchers. To qualify as a relief pitcher, a player must have made 10 appearances in relief during the current or previous season.

E. Playoffs

The regular season shall run for 23 weeks. At the end of the 23rd week, the top two teams in each league will qualify for the playoffs. If there is a tie for second place in a league, the team with the better head-to-head record will make the playoffs. The next tiebreaker will be league record, followed by interleague record. During week 24, the top two teams in each league will play each other head-to-head, with the winner in each league going on to the World Series, held in Week 25. The playoffs shall use the same scoring and lineup rules as the regular season.

The World Series champion receives the EFBL Trophy Axe and cash.

II. DRAFTING AND CONTRACTS

A. Draft

Before each regular season, the teams shall meet in person for the draft. The draft order will be the reverse of the previous season’s standings (worst team goes first, next-worst team goes second, etc). Once a player is nominated, the bidding continues around the room once, in order. The bidding shall start at $1 million and may go up in increments of $100,000. Each team shall have the opportunity to bid on each player, but may pass on the player if so desired. If the player nominated has been designated with a transition tag by a team, that team shall have the last bid on the player. For all other players, the team who nominated the player has the last bid. Whichever team has the highest bid for a player is assigned that player. The draft continues until each team has nominated sufficient players to fill out its roster or until each team has spent its salary cap, whichever comes first.

B. Contracts and Salaries

After drafting a player, a team must sign that player to a contract of at least 1 year. There is no limit to the length of a player’s contract. However, the team is responsible for paying that player’s salary for the term of the contract. The amount of the salary shall count against the team’s salary cap each year that the contract is carried by the team.

Each team shall have a salary cap of $100 million. No team may have more than 28 players under contract at any one time.

At any point during a season, a team may waive a player under contract. The team is still responsible for paying the full remaining amount of the player’s contract. If the waiver occurs before May 1st of that season, the full remaining amount of the contract is counted against that season’s salary cap. If the team does not have sufficient cap space to cover the waived player’s contract, the team may not waive the player until after May 31st. If the waiver occurs after May 1st, the full remaining amount of the contract is counted against the following season’s salary cap.

C. Franchise and Transition Tags

For any player whose contract expired at the end of the previous season, the team which held the rights to that player may place a franchise or transition tag upon that player. During the 2008 and 2009 seasons, the franchise tag means that the player’s salary the year after his contract expired shall begin at $7.5 million. It shall increase by $2.5 million for every year the team elects to place a franchise tag on the player after that. Beginning with the 2010 season, a team may place a franchise tag on a player whose contract expired at the end of the previous season and that player’s salary shall increase by $2.5 million over the previous season’s salary.

By placing a transition tag on a player, a team ensures that it will have the last bid on that player at the draft. It does not commit the team to retaining that player. At the draft, the team may choose not to bid on the player, or may outbid all other teams to keep the player. If the team keeps a player upon whom it has placed the transition tag, it may not place the transition tag on another player until the initial player’s contract expires. Similarly, a team may not have more than 1 player on its team with a franchise tag.

III. IN-SEASON TRANSACTIONS

A. Free Agent Acquisitions

After the draft is complete, teams may waive players and acquire free-agents at any time. Teams are responsible for the salaries of waived players as set forth in Section II.B. of the rules. In addition, any free agent acquired by a team shall be signed to a contract for the remainder of that season at a salary of $500,000. The player’s salary counts against the team’s salary cap even if the team later waives the player. A team may not sign a free agent to a longer contract than the remainder of the current season, but may place a franchise or transition tag on the player before the following year’s draft. Otherwise, the free agent returns to the pool of available players for the following year’s draft.

B. Trades

Teams may conduct trades during the regular season up to midnight on July 31st. After that, no trades are permitted until the season is complete.

Each team owner is presumed to be looking out for the best interests of his team. Collusion is prohibited.

Teams may trade players and/or cash to other teams. A team may not exceed its salary cap through a trade. Teams must honor the existing contracts of the players they receive in a trade. A team may trade a player for cash.

Teams may not trade franchise or transition tags at any time. However, if a team trades away a player who is currently designated by that team with a franchise or transition tag, the tag disappears in the trade. Neither the trading nor the receiving team is bound by the tag once the trade is complete.

All terms of each trade must be posted on the league message board and agreed to by all teams involved in the trade. If another team in the league wishes to protest a trade, it must do so within 72 hours of the trade’s completion. If 2 or more teams post messages on the league message board protesting a trade, a league poll shall be conducted on whether the trade was proper or not. Teams should evaluate whether a trade was proper or not in good faith and based on whether collusion may have occurred or whether the trade unfairly disrupts the competitive balance of the league. If 7 or more owners vote that the trade was improper, the trade shall be voided and its terms undone.

IV. RULES CHANGES

Future changes to these rules may be initiated by any owner in the league. However, no change to these rules will be effective unless voted on by the entire league and approved by at least 7 team owners.

***SPECIAL THANKS TO THOMAS BINGER FOR PUTTING THIS CONSTITUTION TOGETHER***