The ISBL Constitution for 2005

• I. About the ISBL

  • A. The ISBL consists of 28 teams, divided into two classes -- FTF (those teams that historically have played their games primarily head-to-head online) and MP (those teams that historically have primarily swapped manager profiles).

  • B. Each Class is divided into two leagues, one of which plays in the Senior Circuit, the other in the Junior Circuit.  Circuit placement is determined on a team's performance the previous season.  

    • 1. In the FTF, the Senior Circuit league is the National League and the Junior Circuit league is the Federal League.  

    • 2. In the MP, the Senior Circuit league is the American League and the Junior Circuit league is the Union League.

  • C. The ISBL Season consists of 162 games, played 6 or 7 games per week for 25 weeks.  The 2005 season will use a unbalanced schedule (20 games vs. league opponents, 6 games vs. teams in the opposing league within their circuit) with NO inter-circuit play.

  • D. The ISBL Postseason includes several seven-game series.

    • 1. The week following the completion of the regular season, the top team from each league will play their opposition in the opposing league within their circuit in a best-of-seven World Series to determine each circuit champion.  Home field goes to the FTF representative in odd-numbered years, the MP rep in even-numbered years.

    • 2.  Concurrent with the two World Series, the Senior Circuit teams with the 5th- and 6th-best records in their respective leagues will play their league opponent in a best-of-seven Relegational Series (the bottom team in each Senior Circuit league having already been relegated), with the loser relegated to the Junior Circuit league within their class for the following season.  Home field goes to the 5th-place team.

    • 3.  Concurrent with the World Series, the Junior Circuit teams with the 2nd- and 3rd-best records in their respective leagues will play their league opponent in a best-of-seven Promotional Series (the top team in each Junior Circuit league having already earned promotion), with the winner promoted to the Senior Circuit league within their class for the following season.  Home field goes to the 2nd-place team.

  • E. The ISBL Postseason also includes the Diamond Cup Tournament.

    • 1.  The Diamond Cup is a knockout tournament involving all 28 teams in the ISBL. The bottom four teams in each Junior Circuit league will play in a best-of-three preliminary round concurrent with the dates scheduled for Games 3, 4 & 5 of the Senior World Series, with opponents and home-field advantage drawn by random lot.

    • 2.  The first round of the Diamond Cup commences on the Saturday following the conclusion of the Senior World Series, and includes the preliminary-round winners, the remaining Junior Circuit teams, and the 5th-, 6th- and 7th-place finishers in each of the Senior Circuit leagues. Again, best-of-three, opponents and home-field advantage drawn by random lot.

    • 3.  Each round of the Diamond Cup commences immediately following the conclusion of the previous, with no days off during or in-between (save for those teams that manage a two-game sweep). The top four teams of both Senior Circuit leagues enter the Cup in the second round, and all rounds are best-of-three, with opponents and home-field advantage drawn by random lot.

    • 4.  Money won in the Diamond Cup is awarded in the winter with the release of the initial ISBL disk for the coming season. The monetary distribution can be seen HERE.

  • F. Rosters consist of at least 35 players (with a minimum of 18 batters and a minimum of 14 pitchers), and no more than 40.  No more than 25 players may be on the "active" roster at any given time until the final four weeks of the ISBL calendar, at which time all players who have not violated usage rules may be activated.

  • G. The ISBL is run using the latest version of Diamond Mind Baseball (DMB), available from http://www.diamond-mind.com

• II. DMB Setup

  • A. Neither league uses the Designated Hitter.

  • B. In both leagues, Injuring Ratings are enabled.

  • C. In both leagues, the bullpen warmup rule is not used.

  • D. In both leagues, weather effects are used.

  • E. Ballparks are to be used by no more than one team.

• III. League Operations

  • A. Each owner is responsible for 2 major actions per week.

    • 1. Sending reports and export files to the Commissioner

    • 2. Sending a "Manager Profile"  for the "away" games or coordinating times to play "Face to Face" games.

  • B. Each owner is responsible for their team at all times

    • 1. Informing league when they are unable to run games

    • 2. Voting on topics/issues that face the league

    • 3. Supplying an up-to-date Manager Profile to the commissioner to keep in a public-access location incase deadlines are missed.

    • 4. Meeting deadlines

    • 5. Honesty!

  • C. Gameplay

    • 1. The week begins Tuesday morning when the Newsletter/Registrar's Report is posted.

    • 2. You must send your EXPORTED Manager Profile to the owner that your team is "Visiting" that week NO LATER THAN 12:00 Noon Eastern Friday unless you have arranged "face to face" games.

    • 3. You must send all reports and stats back to the commissioner NO LATER THAN 11:59 PM Eastern Monday

    • 4. The Statistics will be compiled and results tabulated Tuesdays.

    • 5. Import a manager profile for the visiting team
      ** You may arrange "Face to Face" games on IRC servers, or other services so that both managers can have direct impact on the games.  It's wise to try and schedule FTF games a week or so in advance, so that games won't be "missed" because "there wasn't time."

    • 6. After your games have been played, select TRANSFER / EXPORT STATISTICS and export the stats for the games.

  • D. Newsletters/Registrar's Reports

    • 1. These are published on Tuesdays (unless something goes wrong).

    • 2. They show the latest Standings

    • 3. They show matchups for the current week

    • 4. They show the roster moves of the past week.

    • 5. They show the results of the past weeks' games.

    • 6. They show rules violations and ensuing penalties.

    • 7. They show DL moves, DL timings and usage overages.

  • E. Roster Moves
    ** No roster move is considered a 'done deal' until it appears in a weekly newsletter

    • 1. Moves available year-round (from initial disk release to conclusion of season):

      • a. Releasing a player from your roster to the free agent pool.

      • b. Promoting/Farming Players between active/inactive rosters. (Prior to September call-ups, such moves can only be made at the beginning or end of a week, not mid-series, except if tied to the placing/activating of a player on the DL.)

      • c. Placing/Activating players on DL. Players placed on the DL MUST remain there for 15 days. (A promotion/farm of another player to fill/open a roster spot can be made with this move, even if it is done mid-series.)

    • 2. Moves available between the start of the season through the conclusion of Week 17.

      • a. All Trades - must be agreed upon by both managers, and they must both send E-Mail to the commissioner for the trade to be valid. 

      • b. Claims - free agents may be added to the auction block by submitting the name(s) to the commissioner and the auction will take place as normal.

    • 3. Moves available between the start of Week 18 and the conclusion of Week 24 (the penultimate week of the season).

      • a. Claims - free agents may be added to the auction block by submitting the name(s) to the commissioner and the auction will take place as normal.

      • b. Waivers - owners may place "low unlimited" players on waivers. The owner with the worst record at the conclusion of the preceding week that claims said player (with Junior Circuit owners taking precedence over Senior Circuit owners, regardless of record) is then given first option to purchase the player from the original owner for an amount equivalent to that player's salary, using money from their coffers and/or lockbox. If the option is passed on, the player is offered to the claiming team with the next-worst record, and so on. The player would then join their new club the following week. 

    • 4. At the conclusion of the ISBL season, all trades are prohibited until the initial disk for the following ISBL Season is released.

  • F. Player Eligibility and Player Carryover

    • 1. Any player listed in the current player disk is available to be on an active roster - provided he meets minimum AB/IP requirements.
                ** AB/IP Requirements for 2005 - 10IP, 30PA (except where provided below) **

    • 2. Players meeting the following conditions are considered unlimited, and may be used without regard to usage limits for the balance of the season.

      • a. Batters with an overall OPS of .650 or less whose OPS does not exceed .700 vsLHP and vsRHP are unlimited. (Batters rated defensively at CATCHER ONLY can have an overall OPS of .700 or less, so long as their OPS does not exceed .725 vsLHP and vRHP.) This INCLUDES batters who do not meet the 30PA requirement.

      • b. b. Batters with at least 500 Plate Appearances are unlimited (450 PA if the batter is rated defensively at CATCHER ONLY).

      • c. Pitchers with an opposing OPS of .900 or more are unlimited. This INCLUDES pitchers who do not meet the 10IP requirement.

      • d. Pitchers with at least 700 Batters Faced or 162 Innings Pitched are unlimited.

    • 3. Players who made MLB appearances in the previous year, but who do not qualify under the above criteria and who have not met the minimum AB/IP requirements in any previous MLB season, are eligible to be selected in a special Junior Circuit Draft prior to the beginning of the season. Draft selection is determined by a weighted lottery, and each player selected is signed for $200k. These players may not be traded to Senior Circuit teams and are ineligible for the ISBL regular season and postseason, with the exception of the Diamond Cup. Those Junior Draft player who subsequently do not meet the conditions of minimum eligibility or unlimited status for the following season must be released.

    • 4. Any non-ISBL-qualifying MLB player may be retained (if you had him on your roster the previous year) as a 'NON-CARD' player, who may not be played (with the exception of the Diamond Cup, for those players who appeared in MLB the previous year) for ONE year maximum, provided you pay his salary.

    • 4. Maximum Usage for any player who is NOT considered an unlimited player remains at 110%.  Players exceeding 110% will be farmed by the LEAGUE prior to the beginning of the following week's play. The rights to these players will be retained by the club, regardless of the amount of overusage, but the player may not be traded or played again (including the postseason) for the duration of the season.

    • 5. Players MAY play out of position, but due to DMB's system, it is NOT recommended.

    • 6. In order for a pitcher to start a game, he MUST be rated as a Starting Pitcher.  Any player (Starting Pitcher, Relief Pitcher or Batter) can be used as a Relief Pitcher, whether rated or not as a Reliever.

    • 7. In order to play in Post-Season, a player must not have violated any eligibility rules.

    • 8. During the World Series, Promotional Series and Relegational Series, 25-man rosters are in play, with no substitutions, for injury or otherwise, once begun. Non-unlimited batters are limited to 10% usage, and non-unlimited pitchers are limited to 15% usage. Usage is to be checked after each game in the series. This rule is self-policing, in that owners are to check their own usage and that of their opponent after each game for overages, and then farm accordingly. If the overage is not brought to the attention of the offending owner, and games are subsequently played, they will not be replayed (though the overused player(s) will be ineligible for the Diamond Cup).

    • 9. In the Diamond Cup, 40-man rosters are in effect, and all players who did not violate eligibility can play, including Junior Draft and "Non-carded" players. Usage for non-unlimited players is limited to 100% for the duration of the Cup, checked after each round. Players exceeding 100% at the end of a round will be farmed for the remainder, with no penalty to the owner (i.e. You can play a guy without penalty above that 100% in any given round, but at the end of that round, he's farmed).

• IV. The Salary System

  • A. Players have salaries in increments of $100,000. The minimum salary for any player is $100,000.

  • B. All players have initial salaries that are determined in an auction held in February/March, with the highest bidding team acquiring rights to that player.  The player's salary remains the same for the duration of the season, unless they are released back to the Free Agent Pool, but all players have a minimum salary of $100,000.00.

  • C. On January 31, teams must decide which players they will retain for the coming season.  Players who are retained automatically receive a 10% raise.  However, there are minimum salaries for players who have been out of the free agent pool for 3 years ($1,000,000.00), 5 years ($5,000,000.00) or 7 years ($10,000,000.00).
        EG: A player is drafted at $300,000.00
            Year 1: $300,000.00
            Year 2: $400,000.00 (10% increase, but $100,000.00 increments)
            Year 3: $500,000.00 (10% increase, but $100,000.00 increments)
            Year 4: $1,000,000.00 (10% increase, but $1,000,000.00 minimum)
            Year 5: $1,100.000.00 (10% increase)
            Year 6: $5,000,000.00 (10% increase, but $5,000,000.00 minimum)
            Year 7: $5,500,000.00 (10% increase)
            Year 8: $10,000,000.00 (10% increase, but $10,000,000.00 minimum)
            Year 9: $11,000.000.00 (10% increase)
            Year 10: $12,100,000.00 (10% increase)
            Year 11: $13,300,000.00 (10% increase ... and so on)

  • D. On February 1, all teams receive their funds for the new season, based on their performance the previous season, which is added to any funds they have retained from past seasons. The monetary distribution can be seen HERE.

  • E. On February 1, all players retained on your roster are paid in full for the season. The remaining money in your bank account may be used to bid on Free Agents at auction, as added value in trades, or rolled over to the following season, EXCEPT ...

  • F. All teams are required to keep at least $1,000,000 in a lockbox for the beginning of the season. Each team will have $500,000 released to them once season play commences. The remaining $500,000 is released after the trade deadline.

  • G. On April 1, the total payroll of each team will be noted. Teams are then restricted to a salary cap no greater than 40% above the sum of their salaries as of that date. For example, if the sum of your team salaries at season's start is $50m, that sum may not, through trade or auction acquisitions, exceed $70m during the course of the season.

• V. Tiebreakers

  • A. In the event that two or more teams in a league finish the season with identical records, their order of finish will be determined using a series of tie-breakers, as follows:

    • 1. Best head-to-head record.

    • 2. Run differential.

    • 3. Runs scored.

    • 4. Record over past 81 games (then 82, then 83, etc.)

  • B. The tiebreaker will be used in all instances, EXCEPT if two or more Senior Circuit teams within a league are tied for the best league record. If such an instance occurs with two teams, the tiebreaker will be used to determine home-field advantage for a best-of-three playoff between the teams for the right to play in the Senior World Series. If such an instance occurs with MORE than two teams, the tiebreaker will be used to determine the two teams to play in that playoff, as well as home-field advantage.

• VI. Miscellaneous

  • A. Any Team without an owner will be a "Computer Controlled Team" until a new owner is found.

  • B. Issues that are voted on must be agreed upon by 2/3 of the owners to win.