Circuit Clouts
Home of United League • Purveyors of Fine  Fake Baseball Since 2003*

The United League (UL) is an alternate history baseball universe using Out of the Park Baseball. GMs guide teams composed of historical major league players on fictional teams. The premise of the league is that the major leagues went bankrupt in 1950 and a smaller, single league emerged in its place. The UL began with eight teams in 1951 and expanded to 10 teams in 1955, 12 in 1962, 14 in 1974, 16 in 1984, and to the current 18 teams in 1990.

The Commissioner is responsible for:
• Simulating games, completing transactions, and updating the website
• Keeping owners informed of general league news
• Clarifying and enforcing league rules
• Ensuring all trades are fair
• Acting as final arbiter in all disputes and rule interpretations
• Recruiting new managers

Owners are responsible for:
• trying to field a competitive team in good faith
• submitting lineups and rosters regularly
• participating in contract extensions and drafts
Owners who disappear for an extended period may be replaced.

Important Links:
League Website

BNN
Stats+
Export Tracker
Live Sim

Contracts page
TotalUL (league encyclopedia)
TotalULPlayers (career player stats)

• After World Series - Calculation of next year's Payroll Cap
• Two days after World Series - Players/Teams exercise options
• ~November 15 - Arbitration panels - post arbitration salary offers
• ~November 17 - FA filing deadline - decide which auto-renewals to release
• ~November 18 - FA period begins, three rounds in-game (Nov/Dec, Jan, and Feb)
• February 28 - Free Agent auction (email lists, outside game, two rounds)
(to sign FAs not signed during regular FA period)
• February 28 - draft pick trade deadline
• March 1 - rookie class released
• March 1 - Draft Pick Lottery
• March 1 - Rookie Draft
• March 4-31 - Spring Training
• April 1 - Opening Day
• July 1-9 - Founder's Cup tournament (every 3 years, next one in 1995)
• July 11 - All-Star Game
• August 1 - Trade Deadline
• September 1 - Roster Expansion
• September 30 - end of regular season
• Oct. 1-20ish - Hex Series, Semi Series and World Series

The league consists of 18 teams in two divisions of nine teams.
The league plays a 160-game unbalanced schedule.
Six teams qualify for the postseason.

Regular Season:
• 160 games total
• first 136 games: balanced schedule with 8 games against 17 other teams
• last 24 games against eight divisional opponents (12 home and 12 away). So divisional pennant races will come down to the last 24 games, and every team will have 12 home and 12 away games in the final two weeks.
• Every three years, eight games in early July will be replaced by the Founder's Cup, an in-season tournament whose games will count as regular season games.

Playoffs:
• Six teams qualify for the playoffs (top three in each division).
• 1st place - #1 seed, first round bye, and home-field advantage in Semi Series
• 2nd place - #2 seed, home-field advantage in Hex Series
• 3rd place - #3 seeds, faces second place team in Hex Series
• All series are best-of-seven with home field switching 2-3-2.
• Playoff series will be spread over three sims: Games 1-2, 3-5, and 6-7.

Founder's Cup
The Founder's Cup is a triennial (1995, 1998, etc.) midseason tournament in early July consisting of a round-robin group phase and a single-elimination knockout phase.

• All 18 teams will play eight games that will count as regular season games.
• Group Stage: teams will be randomly drawn into three groups of six. Each group will have two teams from each "pool" of teams. (Pool A: the last year's six playoff teams. Pool B: next six best records. Pool C: worst six records.)
• Every team plays five Group Stage games, once against every other team in the group.
• Top 8 teams advance to the Knockout Stage (top 2 from each group and 2 best 3rd-place teams, by wins, run differential, runs, hits)
• The remaining 10 teams will play three additional games amongst themselves with no repeat opponents from the group stage.
• Prize Money: Winner gets $3 million and Runner-up gets $1.5 million.

• Each sim covers a half month of game time, to the 1st and 16th of each month, except September, which is split into three 10-day sims.

• We run sims every 3-4 days. The frequency of sims varies based on the time constraints of the commissioner and GMs. Check the #simupdates channel in Slack for the current sim schedule, including the sim deadline (typically 7pm MT).

• Lineup adjustments, roster changes, or trades submitted during the sim may not be executed until the completion of the sim.

• Make sure you are using the most current league file by updating the league file within OOTP.
• If you do not wish to make any changes for an extended period, inform the commissioner to avoid the risk of appearing to be an inactive owner.
• Lineups vs. left-handed and right-handed pitching should be completed by the owner. The DH lineups do not need to be complete since the DH rule is not in effect.
• Depth charts should be completed to instruct the game’s AI how to handle substitutions during the course of the sim.
• GMs should complete lineups and rosters for their Triple-A affiliate as well.
• Active rosters are limited to 25 players, expanding to 40 in September.
• The league default is 5-man rotations. Four-man rotations are allowed, but will increase the risk of injury.

Fair Play: GMs may not bench or demote their best players to deliberately lose games.

During the season (April 1 to October 1), your roster must meet the following requirements:
• Payroll must be below your payroll cap.
• Minimum roster size is 50 players.  If you are under 50 on Opening Day, the Commissioner reserves the right to add players.
• Maximum roster size is 55 players, but you can go over the limit to replace players with long-term injuries.
• Both your UL and Triple-A teams must have at least two "rated" players at each position, counting each OF position separately, where “rated” means a minimum position rating of 2.

PLAYER USAGE
Players may only play at positions where they have a position rating of at least 2, except in extreme circumstances, such as injuries to all players rated at a position. The exceptions are:
• Outfielders may play all three outfield positions, and
• Leftward moves along the defensive spectrum, from more skilled to less skilled positions. The defensive spectrum is 1B-LF-RF-3B-CF-2B-SS – Players may play a position for which they have no rating, provided the new position is to the left of a position where they have a position rating.
• Only players with a 2+ catcher rating may play catcher.

• Salary caps are calculated each October after the World Series. Each team’s salary cap is determined by the formula (Revenue + cash + $5 million), where revenue is calculated as a three-year average.
• The Contracts page, not the OOTP Front Office page, is the authoritative source for salary caps.
• The maximum salary cap is $75 million.
• A team’s salary cap may not change by more than $5 million each year.
• The major league minimum salary is $350k for players, which applies to all players major league rosters and minor league players with 3+ years of major league service time.
•  The Cash Maximum for each club is $8 million. At the end of each season, any cash holdings above this amount will be distributed through revenue sharing.
• The Cash Minimum for each club is $-8 million.
• No team may execute any transaction (including contract renewal or trade) that pushes its payroll above its salary cap, or its cash balance beyond the cash limits, unless the overage is eliminated on the same sim day with another transaction.

GMs may negotiate player contracts at any time during the season.

Players contracts fall into four categories:

• Minor league contracts (0) — Players on AAA rosters with less than 3 years of major league service time (MLST). As soon as this player is called up to the majors, the contract will change to 350/1.
• AUTO extension (+) — Players on major league rosters with less than 3 years of major league service time (MLST) can be automatically renewed for one year at the same salary or released. These players cannot be signed to extensions, but must remain on year-to-year auto renewals until they reach 3 years of MLST.
• ARB eligible (Arb) — Players with 3-9 years of MLST are eligible for salary arbitration. You can retain these players on a one-year contract, but an arbitration panel will determine the salary.
• FREE AGENT (FA) — Players with more than 9 years of MLST are eligible for free agency. If you do not renew this contract, the player will go into free agency.

Sequence of decisions
• After new payroll caps are released, you will be asked to decide which ARB eligible players you would like to take to arbitration. All other players will drop into the free agent pool.
• Arbitration panels will make salary decisions, which are final and irreversible, in early November.
• If arbitration decisions push your payroll over your cap, you must take appropriate measures before Opening Day (including releasing AUTO renewals, making trades, opting out of FA) to get it under the cap.
• After arbitration hearings, you will be asked to decide which AUTO renewal players you wish to keep. These players are signed to one-year contacts at the same salary. All other players drop into the pool of free agents.

• Clubs over their payroll cap may only sign minor league contracts (0) in free agency.
• Any free agent signing that puts a team over its payroll cap will be disallowed, and the player will return to the free agent pool.
• The minimum bid for a player with 3+ years MLST is $350k. Players under 3 years MLST can be signed for $0 minor league contracts.

• The Free Agency period consists of two main phases: in-game phase and auction phase. The first is three rounds of normal bidding in the game (to Jan 1, to Feb 1, to Feb 27).
• The second phase occurs on February 28 and consists of “auction” rounds outside the game engine to sign players who did not sign during the in-game process. GMs will send a list of players/salary offers to the Commissioner. Any tied bids will go to the team with the worse record the previous year. All auction round contracts are for one year.

Rationale: We created the auction round so greedy players who were not signed during the FA period would be forced to sign with somebody rather than becoming perpetual holdouts. 
• TIP: This is a good way for teams to fill out rosters on the cheap to meet the minimum 50 player roster requirement, so GMs should budget some funds for this. All remaining unsigned FAs will be allocated to Double-A teams.

Picks 1-6: Draft Pick Lottery
The draft lottery will take place on March 1, right after the release of the draft pool.

Draft order is determined by team performance the previous year. The first six picks will be determined by a draft lottery among the six worst regular season teams. Lottery chances will be allocated by order of finish according to the following table:

Lottery Chances
18th     6      28%
17th     5      24%
16th     4      19%
15th     3      14%
14th     2      10%
13th     1        5%

Tied teams will evenly share the lottery chances for the slot involved. (For example, two teams tied for 4th worse record would get 12% and 12% rather than 14 and 10.)
If teams are tied for 13th, an extra team or teams will enter the lottery and split the lottery odds for the appropriate slot.

Percentage dice will be rolled to determine picks.
d100 range
18th - 1 to 28
17th - 30 to 52
16th - 53 to 71
15th - 72 to 85
14th - 86 to 95
13th - 96 to 100

Percentage dice will be rolled until all six picks are determined. If a team has already been picked, the dice will be re-rolled.

Picks 7-12: Win-Loss Record
The best six teams that missed the playoffs will get picks 7 to 12 in reverse order of finish. Any ties will be broken by head-to-head W-L, then head-to-head run differential.

Pick 13-18: Playoff Finish
13 - Hex Series Loser with Worst W-L Record
14 - Hex Series Loser with Best W-L Record
15 - Semi Series Loser with Worst W-L Record
16 - Semi Series Loser with Best W-L Record
17 - World Series Loser
18 - World Series Winner

Eligibility: all major league players with 500+ career plate appearances or 125+ career innings pitched are eligible for the draft. Players enter the draft the same year as their real-life major league debut.

• Rookie Draft occurs on March 1.
• Rookie class will be published on March 1, just after Draft Lottery.
• The 1995 draft will be conducted in Stats+, but may be conducted in the #draft channel in Slack.
• Draft order will be Straight, 1-18, 1-18, etc. and will typically last 5 rounds (90 picks).
• A Draft Timer will kick in after the third round. All teams will default to computer picks, but can opt-in to continue making manual picks. Human GMs will be on a two-hour time limit during "core hours" (11am-9pm ET, 10am-8pm CT, 9am to 7 pm MT, 8am-6pm PT, 1600-2200 GMT). If the time limit expires, the computer will make the pick. GMs will be encourage to submit wish lists (specific players or positions) to keep the draft moving.
• Teams may not pass a round, but may switch to computer/AI picks at any time.
• Draft picks may be traded, but only picks from the next two drafts may be traded (i.e. Year 3 picks can be traded the day after the rookie draft from Year 1 concludes.)
• No draft picks may be traded on draft day (March 1), but you can informally trade picks behind the scenes and then trade the players after they are drafted.
• Undrafted rookies may be claimed after the conclusion of the draft on league minimum (350) or minor league (0) contracts. If demand for unsigned rookies is strong, we may use rank-ordered wishlists to resolve any conflicts (essentially extending the draft another round or rounds).
• Any unclaimed rookies will become free agents and be assigned to Double-A teams.

​Rookie Contracts
• All rookies are signed to one-year contracts at fixed salaries.

From 1994:
•  1st round picks: top 9 draft picks will earn salaries of $2500, $2400, $2300, $2200, $2100, $2000, $1900, $1800, and $1700 (in thousands) respectively.  Late 1st round picks (10-18) will earn $1500.
• 2nd round picks will earn $1000 (picks 19-27) and $750 (picks 28-36).
• 3rd round picks (picks 37-54) will earn $500.
• 4th and 5th round picks (picks 55-90) will get minor league contracts.

Historical salary scales are available on the TotalUL Drafts tab.

• On Opening Day, all unsigned free agents and undrafted rookies will be assigned to teams in the independent, Double-A American Association.
• Beginning April 1 (Opening Day), teams may claim any unsigned free agents or undrafted rookies on a first-come basis, to $350k/1 year  or $0/1 contracts (depending on MLST)
• Claim a player using the #freeagents Slack channel and the player will be added to your roster.
• If multiple teams claim the same AA player during the same sim, the team with the worse record the previous season will get the player.
• Double-A players will remain on Double-A teams until they retire or sign a contract with a UL team.

• Teams may trade players, draft picks for the next two drafts, and cash.
•  Trade deadline is August 1.
•  No trades may be conducted between August 1 and November 1, or on draft day (March 1).
•  Teams must honor the remaining terms of player contract, both salary and remaining years.
•  Teams may not execute any trade that causes them to exceed their payroll cap.
•  Teams may not trade more cash than they currently have in their cash balance. Teams with a negative cash balance may not trade away cash.
•  A team already over its payroll cap may not execute a trade that increase its payroll.
•  To complete a trade, one GM should post it in the #trades Slack channel and the other GM should confirm the trade. All trades will be processed as soon as possible.
•  The Commissioner may disallow any trade deemed grossly imbalanced.

• The only time of the year you can release players for free is when they are out of contract between the end of the World Series and the FA filing deadline.
• Several sim cycles will be available for releasing players between the end of the World Series and the beginning of Fre Agency.
• After the FA deadline, you may not release any players until the end of the Free Agent period (February 28). This is to keep the FA pool static.
• If you release a player under contract during the season, you will have to buy out the remainder of the contract. When you buy out a contract, the remaining salary will be distributed across the remaining years of the contract and appear on your balance sheet as "miscellaneous player expenses" and on the Contracts page as "Contract Buyouts."
• Any player released may not be signed by the same team for at least 90 days.

• Clubs may offer extensions at any time during the season.
• Only players with 3+ years MLST may be signed to extensions.
• Players with less than 3 years MLST are not eligible for extensions and  must be either released or auto-renewed at the same salary.
• Maximum contract length is 5 years.
• Veterans with 9+ years of major league service time (MLST) will be lost to free agency unless they sign a contract extension.

National TV and Local TV revenues are set at fixed amounts.
• National TV revenues are $25M per team
• Local TV revenues are $10M per team
• Merchandising revenue floats freely in the game

All "Cash from Owner" transfers inside the game will be manually reversed. These are random cash transactions that alter team finances arbitrarily.

GMs who are away for an extended period may be temporarily or permanently replaced at the Commissioner's discretion.
• Teams with inactive owners may fall temporarily into league control or "receivership" until a new GM is found. The commissioner will run the team or appoint another GM or GMs to run the team on an interim basis.
• Teams under receivership may not conduct trades.
• The commissioner will manage or delegate bidding during free agency.
• During the rookie draft, the AI will make selections for inactive teams.

Teams in "financial distress" may only make make transactions that reduce expenses. Specifically, this means they can only a) execute trades that reduce current payroll and b) only sign free agent players on league minimum (350) contracts and only up to the minimum 50 players.

The three criteria for "financial distress" are defined as:
• -5M cap change two years in a row
• -8M cash balance
• -15M in misc. player expenses per year

Teams that come close to these numbers may also be deemed in financial distress, at the discretion of the commissioner (this is to prevent a team from trading for $1 and thus being above the cash floor).

The maximum misc. player expenses of 15M per year will apply to all teams.

Rules governing construction of new stadiums and renovation of existing stadiums can be found in TotalUL under the Stadium Rules tab.

Structure
League type: Alternate historical
Time Period: Started in 1951, currently in 1990s
Players: Historical
Franchises: Fictional, historically-based on market sizes, etc.

General Game Settings
Current Version: OOTP24
Update Cycle: Fall of odd years (next upgrade OOTP26 in fall 2025)

Roster Rules
Roster limit: 55 players
Minors: Triple-A only
Rookie Draft: enabled (eligibility criteria for incoming rookies)
Waiver Rule: disabled
10/5 rule: disabled
Rule 5 Draft: disabled
Draft pick trading: allowed (up to two years)

Scouting Settings
Complete Scouting System: Disabled
Scouting Report Updates: Frequent
Current Ratings Scale: 1 to 10
Potential Ratings Scale: 1 to 10
Overall Rating: Stars
Potential Rating: Stars
Show Ratings>Max: No, cut off
BNN Top Prospect List: Annually
Coaching System: Disabled

Injury, Fatigue, Suspensions
Injuries: Enabled
Injury Frequency: Low
Delayed Injury Diagnosis: Never
Injury Ratings Displayed: Enabled
Suspensions: Enabled
Player Personality Settings:  Enabled
Player Personality Displayed: Enabled
Player Morale System: Enabled
Team Chemistry System: Enabled
Player Development Settings: All Set to Average

Financials
Attendance Baseline per Game: 21,000
Ticket Price Baseline: $7.00
Teams may change ticket price:  Yes
Yearly inflation: 0%
Service time: 180 days = 1 year
Free agency eligibility: 9 years
Compensation for Lost FAs: Disabled
Contract Opt-Outs: Enabled
League minimum salary: $350,000
Minor League Contracts: Disabled
(rookies assigned starting salary based on draft position)

Team Revenue Settings
National Media Contract: $28 million per team, fixed
Local Media Contract: $10 million per team, fixed
Merchandising Revenue: $9 million baseline, varies by team
Team Owner controls budget: No, entire revenue available
Revenue Sharing: Enabled, 20 percent of income
Owner Goals: Disabled
Cash Maximum: $8 million

Schedule Settings
Rainouts: Allowed
Spring Training: 4 weeks
All-Star Game: Yes (late June)