1.0 Basics
Entry Fee and Prizes
Added 11/11/13
See the
full rule
Some changes and clarifications:
- Basic entry fee now $60. Will be $65 in 2015.
- A new "rookie rate" for first-time owners and their
first team = $35 in 2014.
- As new owners come into the Hall of Fame League,
which had a lower season fee for charter players of BWB,
they will be charged at the going standard rate (after
any Orphan season). Existing league owners from
2013 season will retain the special reduced fee as long
as they own that team.
- Package rates increased for 2014 as well.
- Clarified that there is no franchise movement for
packages; when users join as a division or conference,
those franchise slots are locked.
3.0 Postseason
The Benchwarmer Bash
See
the full rule
Change coming: Will update this section to reflect 2013
changes and then for 2014 as the number of leagues are set.
5.0 Lineups
Preventing Manipulation of Known Results - First Stats
that Count for Starting Pitchers
See the full rule
Added 12/21/13
Slight change: When pitchers are moved from the minors or
the taxi squad to a *spot starter* role, any stats that fall
within the proper MLB-to-BWB game mapping will count,
regardless if the start occurred before that week's lineup
deadline (this is how things worked from about 2002-2012).
September Call Ups
See
the full rule
Change coming: Will add clarification to this rule
implementation and possibly change that implementation.
Here's the clarification...but no change in 2014. I
can't fit in the time to change the program code and - just
as importantly - test it to get it changed for this season.
Also, there are some user suggestions on how starting
lineups and bench players are used and I want to see first
if we're going to change these rules so that I can rewrite
the code at the same time.
The existing rule:
Following the normal lineup process, if there are any
holes in a team's lineup, the taxi squad will be checked to
see if there are any eligible game performances to fill in.
Following that, if any spots are still open, the minor
league roster will be checked
2014 Clarification (how this has been
done since implementation in 2006): "if any spots still
open" is a literal interpretation of this rule. BWB
runs a process with your starters and bench players to find
the best possible lineup. Then, if there are still
holes in your starting lineup, we check your taxi squad and
minor leagues to see if someone can fill an open position.
We DO NOT rearrange your lineup/bench from scratch.
For example,
- You are short at 1B and 3B. You have a guy on
your bench who can play both spots and the lineup
process finds that putting him at 1B is the best lineup
option
- No one else on the bench can fill 3B, we initially
put a Benchwarmer there
- Now we look through your taxi squad and minor league
roster for a player with stats who can play 3B
- If there's no guy that can fill 3B, but you have
someone in the minors who could play 1B, at this time we
DO NOT move your other bench player to 3B and let your
minor league guy go to 1B - you'll still have a
Benchwarmer
Here are some additional notes made in August 2013:
- In order to automate setting lineups, some
assumptions must be made. The primary assumption
here is that the "best" lineup of available options when
choosing between choices that will leave a Benchwarmer
Batter is to have the Benchwarmer(s) as low as possible
in the lineup - even if it means filling the DH spot
with a bench player and leaving a position open (with 2
automatic errors) -- this may be something to change,
but the idea here is to have a hole in the bottom of
your lineup and not in the 4th or 5th spot.
- It may happen in some cases that the DH stays at DH
and a bench player fills a position spot...again
something in the future that may need fixing as it goes
against the spirit of moving the DH into a position
first. Still - the more important idea here was to
leave open spots in the batting order at the end.
- There's a huge loop in the lineup-setting process
that checks as many possible lineup solutions as we can
in filling all the open lineup slots with bench players.
However, that same resetting of the entire lineup DOES
NOT happen with
callups of taxi squad players and minor leaguers.
We use the best available lineup after checking all the
bench players - and then if there are any remaining
holes in the lineup, we try to fill those specific
openings - we don't try to rearrange all the
previously-placed bench players as well. (We're
literally just trying to fill any remaining holes, not
redo the entire lineup).
- This may leave some Benchwarmers in place if a
minor-leaguer can't fill a specific open position.
- It's not perfect - it might be fixed in the future -
but it's worked that way since the September callup rule
was added in 2006 and the lineup-setting process was
automated in 2003.
7.0 Scoring
Batting Score
Added 8/7/14
This is not a change, but a CORRECTION of what the
batting score
formula should be. The correction is in the
Adjusted Total
Bases (ATB) part of the formula. Note: Games have been
scored with this formula since 2001 - but in transferring the
calculation from spreadsheet to text several years ago, I missed
this.
Was
Now
ATB = (∑(zTBi + SBBi))/3
i=1-9
Where:
- TB = Adjusted total bases for a player: TB + BB
+ HBP + SB
- z = Total bases multiplier – based on batting
order
- = 1 except for batters in positions:
- 1 & 2= 1.3; 3 = 1.1; 8 & 9 = .9
- SBB = Stolen Base Bonus - based on
batting order
- = (SB * .25) for players in batting order slots
1 & 2
- = 0 for players in batting order slots 3-9
The Stolen Base Bonus is the
point of clarification. You get a small bonus for
stolen bases if they come in the top two spots of your
order. Checking back at seasonal score sheets, this
got added in between the 2000 and 2001 seasons. I seem
to remember the change was announced via email, but my
archive doesn't go back that far anymore and it looks like
the original scoring formula document from March 2000 was
never updated for that.
Pitching Score
Added 7/18/14
This is not a change, but a CORRECTION of what the
pitching
score formula should be. The correction is in the saves
part of the formula. Note: Games have been scored with this
exact formula since BWB started in 2000 - but in transferring the
calculation to text several years ago, I messed up. I
made a correction in 2009 to make this
appear correct, but yet again, I screwed up in converting from
program code to the rule book.
Was Pitching Score: P = ER + (BP * BI) – a ( K + BK) – ((b * S) / (NumBP * BI)) + HBB + c (E)
Where:
- ...several things listed
- BI = Number of innings pitched by the bullpen
- S = Accumulated saves by 1st and 2nd relievers
(counted only if they are used in a game)
- b = saves multiplier = .25
Instead, ((b * S) / (NumBP * BI)) should be replaced by:
((b * S) / NumBP * BI)
The parentheses around "NumBP * BI" are significant -
implying that those two values are multiplied together
before the division takes place. Instead, execution
proceeds left to right. b multiplied by S (as that
part is enclosed in parentheses) - then divide by NumBP,
then multiply by BI.
Again - this is NOT a scoring change - but I know caused
some confusion in how saves are scored. There is no
actual scoring change that will take place in the final 2/5
of the 2014 season.
That being said, as I look at this again, I'm not sure
that's really the effect that I want for saves (either in
the 2009 version or the 2014 version). I'll take a
look at this again for 2015 and may modify it.
8.0 Finances
Team Revenue Sources
See the full rule
Regular season - Team Performance
Change coming (potential): May make some updates in how
much cash is awarded for BWB wins and division placement.
Regular season - Extra Cash Disbursements
Change coming (potential): May reduce the amount of extra
cash handed out during the season.
9.0 Building a Team - The Startup Draft
Phase One Draft
Added 12/24/13
Phase One - Resolution
See the full rule
Resolution Order
- Uniquely drafted players automatically go the team
that picked them. But their salaries and roster
spots will not count toward the tiebreakers below in
determining contested picks.
- NEW for
2014 Season - Contested selections of all
players with salary 100 will be resolved using the
process and tiebreakers below. Once those players
are awarded, team salary balances and roster composition
will be reset to zero temporarily in order to resolve
contested picks of players with salaries > 100.
(Added 12/24/13)
- Contested picks of players making more than 100 in
salary will be resolved using the process and
tiebreakers below.
Why the change in 2014 to do Salary 100 players
separately? Years of processing drafts made
it clear that the process for resolving contested picks led
to:
- Once a team received a
player with salary > 1000 or so, they were largely out
of the running for prospects and young players.
- When the first
tiebreaker for resolution is cap space remaining to
spend, once a team is in a position of having only
signed a few players with salary 100-200, they often
could get in a run of being awarded 4-5 prospects in a
row...and might end up with a large majority of the
future stars when the draft was over.
- Some drafts were
starting to turn into teams listing 20-40 prospects
instead of a balanced roster/lineup and the results
could be skewed. Several people had requested a
"minimum salary requirement" for a draft list - this is
an alternate attempt to even the playing field.
15.0 Player Salaries and Salary Cap
Salary Formula and Salary Cap
See the full rule
No rule changes here, but BWB began calculating average
ERA for MLB differently (correctly!) beginning with the 2014
season. This will generally result in lower salaries
for elite pitchers.
Along with the pitcher salary correction, BWB found an
error in the salary cap calculation spreadsheet that's
existed for 10 years or more - these two changes will mean a
slightly lower salary cap than might have been the case (and
for 2014, that would have been lower anyway based on overall
performances).
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