Welcome to the ICBL

I. Rosters/Trades

A.       All teams have a limit of 30 players on their roster— 25 active, 5 in
minors for each game as designated by manager. Roster may expand
above 30 players in off-season only. All teams must be down to 30 or
less by the trade deadline.

B.       Unlimited roster moves are allowed during the season, but starting
pitchers cannot be placed in the minors between starts ten or fewer
days apart.

C.       A cut-down to 24 or less players is required by November 25^th.
Eligible players who are cut are put in the upcoming draft pool. Any
team that has made its cuts and makes a trade with a team who has
not becomes responsible for making its cuts again, unless that trade
involves only draft picks. All rostered players are a manager’s to keep
until he cuts them.

D.      In addition to the 30-man roster, each team is allowed to keep up
to 2 ineligible (un-carded) players. A team may keep additional
ineligible players as part of the “eligible” roster, but eligible players may
not be kept as ineligibles.

E.       Unlimited trading is allowed during the off-season.

F.       No trade is official until recorded by the commissioner.

G.      No trades involving picks or players not possessed by a team,
trades involving the loaning of a player to another team for any
period of time, nor any other trades involving “assets” other than
picks and players will be allowed.

H.      Teams may trade the current year’s draft picks and those
corresponding with the upcoming season, but none beyond that. 

I.        Upon joining the league, new managers will have their first round
pick for the following season frozen during their first off-season. The
pick will be returned to them at the beginning of the next off-season.

J.        The league office reserves the right to void any trade deemed to
be unfair or not in the spirit of the rules.

II. Draft/Waiver List

A.       The draft will take place on a date to be announced by the league
office (usually the 2^nd or 3^rd Sunday in January, on the same day as
the NFL’s conference championships).

B.       Players eligible to be drafted will be published by the league office.

C.       Draft eligible players not carded by SOM cannot play, but can be
kept on the roster.

D.      Draft will consist of up to seven rounds, as needed until each team
reaches the 30-man limit, but only the first 6 rounds of draft choices
can be traded.

E.       All trading will be suspended before the beginning of the draft until
after its completion.

F.       For the first six rounds, draft order for both the American and
National League portion of the draft is the reverse of the previous
season’s win-loss record. For the purpose of settling ties, the team
with the better winning percentage in a head to head match-up with
the other tied team shall select after the team with the worse winning
percentage. If that still results in a tie, then intra-divisional records
will be used.  If that still results in a tie, then run differential will be
used. For the seventh round, after the remaining draft-eligible
players are pooled together, draft order remains the reverse of the
previous season’s win-loss record, but that each league shall
alternate picks. The American League will pick first in
even-numbered years; the National League will pick first in
odd-numbered years.

G.      The waiver list consists of draft eligible players not selected in the
draft, and eligible players released after the draft.

H.      Players can be selected off the waiver list by selecting such player
from the league website.

I.        Only teams whose roster size is less than 30 can select players
from the waiver list.

J.        Waiver list transactions are permitted from the conclusion of the
draft until the trade deadline.

III. Players

A.       All batters are given a number that designates the number of
regular season games they can start.

B.       Teams are required to have enough batter game starts on their
roster at the beginning of the season to cover each position for the
entire season (for NL teams this is somewhere between 1299 and
1308, for AL teams between 1449 and 1455, depending on where all
the team’s IL games are played). Further, for each fielding position,
teams must have a player or players rated at that position equal to
162 game starts. 

Finally, each team must have 250 relief appearances available to it,
whether those appearances come from relievers, starters converted
to relief, or starters who have not used their full number of starts.

C.       During the regular season, batters on the active roster who do
not start a game can appear in that game in the 7th inning or
thereafter in any capacity. Batters cannot appear before the 7th
inning unless the batter is an injury sub or the batter is used as a
pinch-hitter for the pitcher and does not stay in the game. During
the playoffs, a batter can appear before the 7th inning and stay in
the game, but such use counts 1 game against the total allowed by
the playoff tables.

D.      Batters and pitchers can only start a game at a position they
are rated at, except that any outfielder may play an outfield position
they are not rated at, subject to Strat-O-Matic’s outfield defense
penalty.  Further, any batter or pitcher can appear in a game at any
position in the 7th inning or thereafter. 

E.       The DH rule is used in American League parks, and the pitcher
must bat in National League parks.

F.       Switch hitters must bat right-handed against left-handed
pitchers and left-handed against right-handed pitchers.

G.      Starting pitchers are given a number that designates the
number of regular season games they can start.

H.      Starters may also be used in relief, and are allowed 3 relief
appearances per unused start (to a maximum of 84 RP appearances).
Starters used in relief without a relief rating on their card are treated
as “4-dot” relievers with no closer rating.

I.        A starting pitcher can only be removed from a game after
allowing 3 runs, reaching his POW (fatigue level 8 or less), or reaching
his “dot” inning. He may be pinch-hit for if the following inning would
be his dot inning.

J.        Each team may have a starting pitcher start a game on 3 days
rest twice each half of the season (per team, not per pitcher);
otherwise, all starting pitchers must have at least 4 days rest
between starts.

K.       Starters can pitch in relief on three days rest, and may start
a game on three days rest following a relief appearance.

L.       Relief pitchers can only pitch in relief, and are given a number
that designates how many regular season games they can appear in.

M.      Players who are placed on the disabled list at some point during
the actual baseball season will have a number in parenthesis following
their names. This number, which can be any combination of 1-12,
represents a 16 day period of the schedule during which that player
cannot be used in any capacity.

N.      Players who play in both leagues must use the Inter-League card.

O.      A team may request RL status for any player. Upon the close of
the off-season, the League Office will grant such a request as long
as that team does not have at least 162 starts at every position. In
determining whether a team does not have at least 162 games at
every position, the League Office will presume that players who are
rated by Strat-O-Matic to play multiple positions shall be used if
necessary at all such positions. Each team may request RL status
for up to three players. When RL status is granted for a player, that
player’s card will be adjusted according to League Office guidelines,
will be eligible to play all 162 games, and will have all their injury
slots removed. Teams using an RL player are not eligible for the
playoffs.

IV. Regular Season

A.       Managers play all their team’s home games.

B.       A team schedule, which includes any designation of day/night
games and the month that games are played, will be published by
the league office at the beginning of February. Managers are
responsible for filling out the entire season’s rotation and
returning it to the league office no later than March 25^th. The
league office will then process and return each team’s schedule
complete with all opponent’s starting pitchers.

C.       Managers are responsible for submitting road game
instructions to all their road opponents by the Sunday of the
week after the League Wide Get Together or May 31^st,
whichever is later.  These instructions may be as simple or
complex as the manager decides, but must include lineups and
inactive players for each game. Managers who do not receive
instructions from an opponent may play that team without
them, choosing lineups and assessing game strategy as they
wish, but are requested to manage the opposing team with
reasonable competency and fairness.

D.      Managers must report their game results to the league
office (via phone, mail, or e-mail) in a timely manner. At
least half of a manager’s home games must be reported
by July 26^th, and all home games must be reported by the
end of the actual baseball season. Managers are also
required to send either boxscores or actual scoresheets
to each of their opponents as they complete their games
against that opponent. Any manager who fails to complete
their games on schedule as above immediately forfeits
control of that team. The League Office will be
responsible for making any arrangements necessary to
complete the remaining games.

V. Playoffs

A.       All 3 division winners, plus the non-division-winning
team with the league’s best record make the playoffs
in each league.

B.       The first round matchups are as follows: The wild
card team will be the visiting team against the division
winner not in their same division with the best record.
The other two division winners face each other, with
the team having the better record receiving home
field advantage. The series is 5 games, the first 2 in
the “home” team’s park, then a day off, then two in
the “visiting” team’s park, and finally one more in the
“home” team’s park.

C.       The second round consists of the matchups of
the first round winners, with the teams with the best
records having home field advantage (exception:
the wild card team can never have the home field
advantage). The series is 7 games, 2 games in the
home team’s park, a day off, 3 games in the other
park, another day off, and two more games in the
original park. The second round begins two “rest days” 
after the conclusion of the longer of the two first
round series.

D.      The World Series consists of the matchup of the
two pennant winners, with home field advantage 
alternating each year. The American League will have
home field advantage in odd-numbered years; the
National League will have home field advantage in
even-numbered years. The format is the same as the
league championship series.

E.       The home team’s manager determines whether
each game is a day or night game, but all games are
in October.

F.       The visiting team manager announces his starter
for each game first.

G.      A playoff schedule will be created by the league
office at the conclusion of the regular season.

H.      All usage rules from the regular season apply to
the playoffs.

I.        Notwithstanding Section V(H), starting pitchers
may start on 3 days rest as many times as the
manager wishes during the playoffs.

J.        Players are limited to a number of games in the
playoffs based on the following tables (Injury slots
do not apply in the playoffs):

1st Table is for a 5 game series, 2nd is for a 7 game series.   

 VI. Penalties

A.       Penalties may be assigned to managers who have failed to meet preset league deadlines or committed any other action which is deemed by the league office to be detrimental to the league.

B.       Penalties may consist of a reduced number of protected active roster slots at the end of each year. Such a penalized team would be required to cut their active roster size to the lower specified limit by the November 25^th deadline. Also, that team loses all its trading privileges until these cuts have been made.

C.       If a penalized team changes managers, the penalties against that team will be lifted.

D.      Managers are responsible for using the players on their roster consistent with the number allocated them by the League Office.  The League Office shall review each team’s overusage at the end of the year.  When appropriate, a penalty will be assessed for each player overused.

VII. Game Rules

A.       Home manager chooses computer/dice version of the game.

B.       All super-advanced and ballpark/weather rules except injuries apply. All maximum rules except home-field advantage and force daily injuries apply. In any other game instances not covered by this constitution, the SOM game rules and/or the rules of Major League Baseball should be followed if possible.