The CBL 24 Rules (revised January 2004)

•Divisional Alignment: The league will consist of 14 teams and two divisions, the Red and White divisions, with teams drafting divisions in same order as “The Player Draft” below and the Webmaster will keep track.

       •The Schedule: The schedule will consist of 162 games per team, with each team meeting the other six teams in its division 20 times, and each of the other seven teams in the league 6 times, an equal number of home and away games. The schedule will be broken into 11 rounds.

       •The Player Draft: The draft order will be determined based on the previous regular season’s results, with any new teams picking last in order of the entry into the league.  The team finishing first will have its choice of draft position and division and the remaining teams will then select from the remaining draft positions in order of record.  The first, fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, twelfth, thirteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, twentieth and twenty-first rounds of the player draft will be in this order: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14.  The second, third, sixth, seventh. tenth, eleventh, fourteenth, fifteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twenty-second and twenty-third rounds will be in this order: 14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-1.

       Ties in determining the draft order will be broken in this order: (1) run differential; (2) hit differential and (3) the draft position the previous draft.

       The draft will consist of 14 rounds where each team picks one player and nine (9) rounds where each team selects two players each round, for a total of 32 players per team.

       The draft will be conducted electronically by each team posting its selections on the QuickTopic website: http://www.quicktopic.com/12/H/enMm4BuLFnj7. Draft results will be posted as soon as possible on the league’s website: http://www.stlclassifieds.com/cbltoday.html

       In each round, each owner will have 12 hours to draft from the time the preceding selection is posted on the QuickTopic webpage. If an owner does not select within 12 hours, and has not been granted an explicit waiver by the Commissioner which is posted on the QuickTopic web page, the draft will move on to the next owner in line. The “skipped” owner may make his skipped selection at any time thereafter from the pool of then undrafted players.

All teams must draft sufficient pitchers (no more than 15 however) who have at least 1,500 innings pitched. After the draft, the innings will be totaled up for each team and any team not meeting the 1,500-inning requirement shall be required to

select from the pool of undrafted players sufficient pitchers to meet the 1,500 requirement within a roster total of 32 and pitcher total of 15. The 1,500 requirement may also be met by trade so long as such trade is made before the Round 1 lineups

are due to be turned in.

Once, at the conclusion of the pre-season draft and after all teams meet their 1,500 inning requirement, but before lineups are due for the first round, owners may drop players from their roster and choose free agents from the undrafted list to round

out their full roster. Free agent moves like this are cleared by the order posted on the QuickTopic site.

       The draft for CBL 24 will consist of retired major league players who ended their careers no later than 1996. Any mistakes discovered after player draft is commenced shall be ignored unless Commissioner determines otherwise.

       •Trades: Trades may be made at any time through the beginning of the draft through Round 9 of the regular season. Draft choices may be traded for draft choices and players may only be traded for players; no other consideration is allowed. The Commissioner reserves the right to disapprove any trade if he determines it against the best interest of computer baseball. In particular, the Commissioner will scrutinize trades made by a team that is nearly out of the pennant race. No trade will be permitted by any team that is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

       •Ballparks: Each owner will be required to select a stadium at the end of the Draft. A page showing the available ballparks for CBL 24 will be posted on league’s webpage.

       •Rosters set after Round 9: Owners may expand their 25-man roster to up to 32 players after Round 9, however, only players who were on a team’s roster at some time during the first 9 rounds may participate in post-season play.

       •Playoff and World Series: The two division winners and two wild card teams will compete in the CBL 24 post-season. The wild card teams will be the teams with the best records who do not win a division title. The team with the best regular season record will meet the team with the fourth best record, and the other two teams will meet in the first round of the CBL 24 playoffs, with the two winners meeting in the CBL 24 World Series.

       All ties for divisional championships and the wild card berths will be decided by a one-game playoff game, with all players on a team’s roster eligible for a 25-man roster.

       All post-season series (playoff and World Series) will be a best-of-thirteen game format with the team with the best record getting the home field advantage. If there is a tie between teams for the home field advantage, it will be decided by head-to-head play during the regular season. If this is tied, home field advantage will be decided by run differential. Games 1 through 4, and 9, 10 and 13 will be played at the home park of the team with the best record (even if wild card team has best record). All other games in each playoff series or World Series will be played at the site of the other team.

       During each post-season series, each owner must designate a four-man rotation for each four games. The schedule will be “reset” after each four games so that all “tired” pitchers become fully rested again.

       Post-season starting eligibility: No batter may start a post-season game unless he had a minimum of 200 plate appearances during the regular season. No pitcher may start a post-season game unless he had a minimum of 100 innings pitched during the regular season.

       •Regular Season Rosters: Following the CBL 24 Draft, all teams may select up to 32 players for their CBL 24 roster. Before each of the first 9 rounds of the season, each owner must identify the 25 active players for that round. For the last two rounds, just like in the majors, each owner may activate all 32 players. However, no more than 15 pitchers may be activated at any one time, due to limitation in the computer software.

       •Player Eligibility:

       •Batters run out of eligibility to play (i.e., they must be made inactive) at the end of the round when their plate appearances run out (as determined by the S-O-M player eligibility report).

       •Pitchers run out of eligibility to pitch (i.e., they must be made inactive) at the end of the round when their innings available run out (as determined by the S-O-M player eligibility report).

       •All players become eligible again for the post-season, so long as they were on their team’s roster at some time during the regular season before Round 10.   

       •The Commissioner will resolve all disputes, except as set forth in this section, within his sole discretion, consulting the other owners if he deems it appropriate. All such decisions shall be final. Former CBL owner Fred Golden will serve as League Arbitrator for CBL 24 and will resolve all disputes presented to him by the Commissioner, particularly those where the Capitols are a participant.

Keys to Batting and Pitching Rosters:

The following should help you decipher the various columns of information shown on the batting and pitching rosters.

Batting Key:

E.R. - Estimated Run Percentage. This is the same statistic we have used for years in the CBL to rate hitters. For those who have not participated in the league before, this statistic is a very reliable way of judging a hitter’s offensive power. It is based on a combination of a player’s plate appearances, total bases, walks and stolen bases. It judges how many runs a player is likely to produce per plate appearance based on how he hits, walks and steals bases.

AB, H, 2B, 3B, HR, HR%, B.A., BB, SO, RBI, O.B., S.A. - these are well-known stats.

BAL - This shows the hitter’s tendency toward left-handed or right-handed pitchers. The higher the number, the better a batter does against one kind of pitcher. For example, a “4L” hits better against lefthanders. A “6L” bats even better against lefthanders. A “5R,” for example, hits better against right-handers. A “1R” hits better against right-handers, but not by as much. An “E” means the batter bats equally well against lefties and righties. From a practical standpoint, you will want to platoon players with high “L” ratings against left-handed pitchers and vice versa. An “E” player who has other good stats is a great full-time starter.

L% - This shows what percentage of the time the batter batted against left-handed pitching. Subtracting this figure from 100% gives you, obviously, the percentage of time the batter batted against right-handed pitching.

ST - Steal rating. Batters are rated as either: AAA (the very best), AA, A, B, C, D or E (the worst). A higher rating means the player will have a greater chance of success when attempting to steal.

BNT - This rating (from A to E) describes the batter’s bunting ability.

H&R - This rating (from A to E) describes the batter’s ability to hit and run.

RN - This rating (10 is average) describes a batter’s bas-running ability, for example, the ability to go from first to third on a single. The higher the rating, the better the base-runner.

Fielding:

The next set of stats show the hitter’s fielding positions and rating at each position:

C - This column, which is rather complicated, shows catchers’ fielding abilities. Take Mike MacFarlane as an example. His rating is 3,2(0t4p4). The first number (3) shows his overall fielding rating; 1 is the best, 5 is the worst. The second number (2) shows the number of errors MacFarlane would make if he played everyday at that position. The third number (0) reflects the arm strength of the catcher. A negative number is best. A positive number is worst. The fourth number (t4) shows how many times the catcher is likely to throw the ball into the outfield on steal attempts. The lower the number, the better. The last number (p4) reflects how many passed balls the catcher is likely to allow during the season. The lower the number the better. For an example of a fine fielding catcher from all aspects, look at Tom Pagnozzi.

1B - This column shows the fielding ratings of first basemen. The first number (from 1 to 5), shows the general fielding rating of the player. The second number shows how many errors the player is likely to make if he plays all year long at first base.

2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF -  Same as first basemen.

ARM - This column, which only has a number if the player is an outfielder, shows the outfielder’s arm strength. A negative number is better; a positive number is worse. The better fielders will keep runners from scoring from second base or advancing to third on singles.

CL - Clutch batting average. This figure shows the batter’s batting average in clutch situations, which the game defines as your team trailing in the last two innings with less than two outs. Obviously, players with high clutch figures should be selected as your prime pinchhitters.

DP - This shows how likely the batter is to hit into a double play. The number does not show how many double plays a batter is likely to hit into during the season. In fact, the Commissioner is not sure exactly what the size of the number means, only that each player’s number is relative to the other players.

Pitcher’s key:

YR - This shows the year of the player’s major league stats, either 1996 for current players or, for former players, the year their career began.

ER - This is the reverse of ER for hitters. It essentially shows how many hits, home runs and walks each pitcher gives up. The lower number is better.

B/I - This is bases per inning, another way to measure a pitcher’s effectiveness. It is a close estimate of how many bases, either through hits or walks, a pitcher gives up per inning. Obviously, a lower number is better.

TM - The Major League team the active pitcher played for in 1998. For retired pitchers, the team shown is the team the pitcher played the most for during his career.

ST - This shows the inning after which starting pitchers are likely to start tiring.

RE - This shows the inning after which relievers are likely to start tiring.

CL - This shows the pitcher’s talent at closing games. An “N” means the pitcher cannot be a closer. The higher number reflects a better closer.

BAT - This column shows the pitcher’s batting ability. The first number shows his general hitting ability; the higher number is the better. The second figure (usually a “W”) shows the pitcher’s power; a “W” is weak, an “N” is normal. The third number shows the side of the plate from which the pitcher hits.

L% - This column shows the percentage of time the pitcher faced left-handed batters. Subtract this figure from 100% to get the percentage of right-handed batters.

BAL - This column shows whether the pitcher is better against left-handed or right-handed hitters. A higher number means the pitcher has greater success against that particular kind of batter. For example, a “7L” has greater success against left-handed batters than a “4L,” but both are better against lefties than a “5R,” for example. An “E” is equally good (or bad, depending on the pitcher’s other numbers) against both righties and lefties.

*-R - Those players with a “Y” can start effectively on three days rest (i.e., in a four-man rotation). Those with a “N” typically need four days rest (i.e., should be in five-man rotation).

HD - Hold rating. This column shows the pitcher’s ability to hold runners on. A negative number is better.

BK - Balks

WP - Wild pitches

DP - Double plays (how likely the pitcher will throw one)

STL - Steal rating (if the pitcher ever reaches base!)

BT - Pitcher’s bunting ability

RN - Pitcher’s base-running speed

       •Notes from the New S-O-M Manual

       Strat-O-Matic has finally released a new manual. It contains some useful information for all CBL owners:

       •When making line-up and substitution decisions, remember that the BAL rating is not as important as the players’ primary statistics. It should be used as ONE of the factors in making decision—NOT as the only factor!

       •Pitchers might be too fatigued to start a game; but they might not be too fatigued to relieve.

       •You’ll have more managerial options available to you this year. For EVERY hitter, you can select the following (avoid lefties; avoid righties; bunt more; bunt less; hit and run more; hit and run less; steal more; steal less). Every pitcher has these options: (avoid lefties/righties; quick hook; slow hook; mop up; maximum 6 innings for start; can relieve when tired; avoid using during blowout).

       •Finally, we get some idea of what those fielding error ratings mean. We already knew that the first number (1 through 4) meant Excellent, Good, Average, and Poor. The meaning of the second number is finally revealed:

       Error Ratings                1B     2B     SS     3B     OF     PIT    CAT

       Excellent                    8      10     10     13     4      0      2                                  

       Good                         13     17     22     18     6      12     4

       Average                      17     23     32     26     9      20     7

       Poor                         25     41     48     37     16     38     16    

It is very possible that you will have questions as we go along, particularly the new owners. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions at all.

Good luck.

Roger Toppins, Commissioner

rtoppins@houston.rr.com