Benchwarmer News

9/17/23

• Week Twenty-five Transactions Posted
  • Week Twenty-six deadline for lineups/transactions is TBD, but is currently set for Sunday night, October 1 at Midnight Eastern
  • See season deadlines

9/10/23

• Heading into Week 23, the final 18 games of the season are all against teams in your division. Here's a look across all of Benchwarmer Baseball at close races

9/8/23

• Free agent signings are closed; Transactions for the next 2 submissions are for only cuts and IR moves

9/3/23

• Roughly about the same time every year, from the September 1 posting for Games 124-126...congratulations to our first Division Champions: (See standings for all leagues) - this time it's 4 teams clinching a playoff spot
  • A League About Nothing - Kramer Division: NYC2ATL Pee Wee Blackbirds (owner Ricardo Alexander) - Repeat division winner; 6th overall
  • American Association - Philadelphia Athletics Division: Cleveland Spiders (owner Michael Rudolph) - 4th consecutive division title; League champ in 2021 and 2020
  • Redbirds League - Dean Division: Orion's Solar Kings (owner David Henning) - 9th division win; 2 league championships (2018 & 2015)
  • Marxball - Groucho Division: Sanity Clause & the Seven Elves (owner Sherman Wan) - Repeat win, 5th overall; 2017 league champion

9/2/23

• Reminder - this is the final week to sign free agents. Week 25 transactions are only for cuts and IR moves.

8/30/23

• This week is the final week to sign free agents

8/24/23

• Ohtani and the "Extra" slot in your lineup - This will be something that will get written over the winter and it's partially the result of moving in a rule change really quickly and not thinking through all possible outcomes:
  • The "Extra" slot on your active roster is meant to be used to allow Ohtani to both hit and pitch for you.  While he's just one guy, for lineup and game play purposes he has to look like two different players.
  • With the announcement that he's done pitching for 2023, it's likely that many of you will want to move Ohtani the pitcher onto your taxi squad. However, at that point your team will still show the Extra lineup slot available and now potentially you've got an advantage over other teams by actually having one more player to use than they do.
  • To move Ohtani the pitcher out of the way, you'll need to move him into the Extra slot.  If you put him on Taxi, I'll adjust it manually during transaction processing.
• September roster expansion
  • In Weeks 23-25, your taxi squad and minor league players can fill in for your lineup if there are any empty spots.
  • Optionally, you can place your taxi/minors players in priority order - otherwise we fill them in randomly.  We're setting lineups now for Week 23 (deadline 8/30)

8/18/23

• We've got some magic numbers appearing in the standings, so some teams are getting close to locking in a division title

8/17/23

• September roster expansion comes into play for game lineups during Week 23. However, since several of you have lots of teams, you can begin ordering your taxi squad and minor league players a week early.

8/11/23

• This is the final week that you can move players to the Prospects Roster (deadline 8/16)
• Every 5 weeks we change the transaction deadline day to better match the mapping between MLB games and BWB games.  Starting this week, and through the end of the regular season, our lineup/transaction deadlines are due on Wednesdays - see Season Deadlines

8/10/23

• Today is the final day for trades - deadline is 7 PM Eastern
• Check all your teams to see if you have any pending trade offers

8/7/23

• With Game 100, we've hit the 2/3 mark of the regular season

8/6/23

• Check all your teams to see if you have any pending trade offers

7/21/23

• First round draft picks of 2023 are now in the player list.  You can sign them this week.
  • Not all players have signed contracts yet.  Players who do not sign will be removed from the player list. Good for us - the signing deadilne is July 25, so you'll have time to change your picks before the deadline.  We'll skip an unsigned player if he's still on your list (that won't waste a pick).
  • How to find the picks?  On the player selection screen, use the "Other" filter and you'll find an option for "First Round (2023)"
  • You'll also find them by looking for players who are new to the list in Week 18, although they will be mixed in with other players added this week by making their first MLB appearances.

7/17/23

• Normally, transaction order and weekly cash payments for game results and division position are on a 2-week delay. For example, the Week 16 transaction order was based on the standings after Week 14 and the cash for Week 14 game results were credited during the Week 16 transactions.  With the All Star break, we're now off a bit.  The earliest that I can finish Week 15 games is Friday so that means the earliest I can set a new transaction order based on Week 15 is Saturday - and the weekly deadlines are shifting to Thursday.  So there's no change in transaction order this week and there will be no cash distributed for game results or position this week.  We'll be on a 3-week lag until MLB catches up.  This was mentioned as a possible side effect when moving the weekly deadlines a few days earlier at the start of the season.

7/11/23

• Upcoming dates/deadlines of note:
  • Friday, July 14 - During Week 16 processing, all teams get an extra 1000 in cash
  • Thursday, July 20 - We switch weekly deadlines to Thursdays - Week 17: the contract extension deadline
  • Thursday, July 27 - Week 18: The week that 2023 first round draft picks will be available to sign
  • Thursday, August 10 - Week 20: Trade deadline
  • Wednesday, August 16 - Week 21: Final week to add players to the Prospects Roster

7/10/23

• For Week 16 lineups - you may reorder your pitching rotation from scratch - we will not check on games of rest between Weeks 15 and 16 - it's our version of the All Star Break.  Lineup deadline is Friday night.
• All teams will get a cash distribution this week of 1 million Benchwarmer Bucks (1000) in advance of the contract extension deadline on Week 17 (deadline July 20)
• To be clear, I floated potential rules changes in the spring that might affect the playoffs and the off-season transaction order. There are no changes coming in these areas for this year's playoffs or for the off-season between 2023 and 2024. If you still want to weigh in on any options around that or read what others have said, visit the Benchwarmer Baseball Blog and check out the comments on the two topics.

7/8/23

• Next week's transactions - for Week 16 - would normally mark a week where we move the transaction deadline a day ahead - from Friday to Thursday.  Since there are no MLB games on Thursday and I didn't have the transactions done earlier on Saturday, we'll keep Week 16's deadline as Friday night.

7/2/23

• At Game 75 we're at the halfway mark of the regular season
• Reminder - this is the final week to get a prorated salary rebate for any players you release.

See the News Archive for older headlines.