Rules

Updated June 13, 2018

League Website

http://mlfb.beanecounters.com/

Keepers

Each team can keep a maximum of 70 players.

Rosters (Regular Season)

Maximum roster size is 75.

  • 30 Man Active Roster (12 Hitters, 10 Pitchers, 8 Reserve)
  • 40 Man Minor League Roster (Minors)
  • 5 Man DL (Injured Reserve)
  • Minor Leaguers can be placed on your Active roster.*
  • Active Major Leaguers cannot be on your Minor League roster. Veterans returning from a demotion or rehab assignment are expected to be activated in a timely manner.

* Teams are expected to put their best lineup out there every period. Sandbagging may lead to loss of picks or removal from the league.

Active Roster

Any non-rookie promoted to the Majors or any player activated from the Disabled List must be placed on the active roster. Illegal rosters will result in Fantrax awarding you zero points.

  • Rookies: Players in the Majors but under the rookie limit of 130 AB or 50 IP are still eligible for the Minors.

Eligible Players

Only Major League and affiliated Minor League players can be owned.

Drafted Players

Players selected in the current MLB FYP draft (Rule 4, First-Year Player draft in June) are ineligible until our FYP Draft.

International Players

"July 2nd" International Free Agents (J2IFA) are ineligible until our Spring FA Draft. Any international player that is subject to the MLB International Bonus Pool (players younger than 23 and less than 5 seasons in a foreign professional league) is considered a J2IFA.

J2IFA's who sign:

  • before the FA draft are ineligible until the FA Draft.
  • after this season's FA draft go to next season's FA Draft.

Other Amateur International players who sign:

  • for the coming season before the Spring FA draft are ineligible until the FA Draft.
  • for the coming season after the Spring FA draft go to the Waiver Wire.
  • during the season for the current season go to the Waiver Wire.
  • during the season for the next season become eligible with the next Spring FA draft.

Other Professional International players who sign after the FA draft will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis until MLB comes up with a new policy on these players.

Waiver Wire and Free Agency

  • There is a one day waiver period.
  • The Free Agent period begins at conclusion of the FA Draft and runs through the end of the regular season.
  • To add a prospect that isn't available in Fantrax you must post your claim in the "Prospect Claim" thread then submit a request to Fantrax to add the player. The commish will add the player to your roster when he becomes available.

Trades

  • Trades can be made anytime, regular season or off-season.
  • Teams in the Championship Bracket can make trades but cannot trade FOR MLB players once the playoffs begin.
  • Trades are now immediate, no trade voting.
  • Only picks from the next upcoming draft may be traded.

First Year Player Draft (FYP Draft)

  • 6 Rounds
  • Begins the day after MLB's signing deadline for drafted players.
  • Only players signed by MLB teams are eligible to be drafted.
  • Next season FYP picks cannot be traded until the end of the current season.
  • Draft order is determined by the previous season's playoff brackets. The bottom 4 teams play for the #1 pick. Next 4 play for the #5 pick. Consolation bracket plays for the #9 pick and the Championship bracket plays for the #13 pick.

Spring Free Agent Draft (FA Draft)

  • 6 Rounds
  • Begins around the middle of February.
  • Teams must cut to 65 non-DL players before the draft.
  • Draft order determined by the previous regular season standings (not including playoffs).

Eligible Players are:

  • International or amateur players acquired by MLB teams outside the FYP draft. This includes but is not limited to J2IFA's, signed Cuban defectors, and players coming from foreign professional leagues.
  • Unsigned players listed as exceptions prior to the draft. These are typically Cuban players that are still in the process of being cleared to sign with MLB teams.
  • Any Major League or Minor League player not currently owned.

Limits

There are no hitting or pitching limits.

Playoff Brackets

  • Championship Bracket: four teams; the two division winners plus the next two teams with the best record, regardless of division.
  • Consolation Bracket: the next four best records regardless of division.
  • 9th Place Bracket: next for best records of the remaining teams.
  • 13th Place Bracket: bottom 4 teams by record. Winner of this bracket gets the #1 FYP pick the following year.
  • Season point totals will determine which teams qualify if there is a tie.

Playoff Tie-breakers

In case there is a tie in a playoff series (1-1-1 in the first round or 2-2-1 in the championship round) the team with the most total points in the series will be the winner.

Schedule (2016)

We have eliminated the last four scoring periods of the season to avoid deciding a championship when teams are shutting guys down or resting players for the post-season.

Periods 01-37: League Play

  • 3 games vs each team in your league for a total of 21 games
  • 2 games vs each team in the other league for a total of 16 games

Weeks 38-42: Semi-Finals (5 games)
Weeks 43-47: Finals (5 games)

Schedule (2017)

The schedule will be similar to 2016 but may be tweaked a bit due to the MLB season being spread out a bit more.