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2022 CONSTITUTION

I. OBJECT

To assemble a roster of Major League baseball players whose cumulative statistics, compiled and measured by the methods described in these rules, exceed those of all other teams in the League.

II. TEAMS

There shall be a minimum of 12 teams in this League, composed of players from all 30 Major League organizations.

III. ROSTERS

A team's active roster consists of the following 23 players:

2 catchers

1 firstbaseman

1 thirdbaseman

1 corner infielder (either first or third baseman)

1 secondbaseman

1 shortstop

1 middle infielder (either second baseman or shortstop)

5 outfielders

1 Designated Hitter or Utility Player, defined as a player who may play any non-pitching position

9 pitchers (who may be either starters, relievers or both)

Each team will also have a reserve roster of 17 additional players, for a total team roster of 40 players.

IV. POSITION ELIGIBILITY

A player may be assigned to any position at which he appeared at least 15 times in the major leagues in the preceding season.

Designated Hitter is considered a position. A player who only qualifies as a DH may only be assigned to the DH roster slot.

If a player did not appear in 15 games at any position, he may be drafted only at the position at which he appeared most frequently.

If a player appeared in less than 15 games at 2B or SS, but 15 games or more at those two positions combined, he may be draft eligible for the middle infield slot. This exception would also apply to 1B, 3B and the corner infield slot.

If a minor league player did not appear in 5 games in the majors at any position, he may be drafted at the position at which he appeared most frequently in the previous minor league season.

If a player did not appear the prior season in the majors at all, he qualifies at the position he played most frequently the prior season in any league(s) he played in. If a player sat out the previous year for any reason, his eligibility will be determined by the last season in which he played professional baseball in the United States.

These eligibility rules shall only be used to determine the positions at which a player may be drafted. Once the season begins, a player becomes eligible for any additional positions he appears at in the major leagues at least 5 times.

V. STATISTICS and STANDINGS

The following statistical categories will be used to determine team performance and league standings:

Composite on base average

Total home runs

Total runs batted in

Total runs scored

Total stolen bases

Composite pitchers baserunners ratio (hits plus walks divided by innings pitched)

Composite ERA

Total wins

Total saves

Total strikeouts

Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the ten categories and given points for their respective ranking (15 points for 1st place, 14 points for 2nd place, etc.)

The team with the most overall points at the end of the major league regular season will be deemed the league victor. Statistics from any tie-breakers required for MLB playoff determination do count.

In the event of ties in an individual category, the tied teams will share the ranking points of the two positions in the standings.

There will be no minimum inning or at bat requirements.

VI. PLAYER ACQUISITION

Stage One: A player auction will be conducted during the annual First Pitch Arizona fantasy baseball symposium at the Arizona Fall League. At this auction, each team must fill out its 23-man active roster at a total cost not to exceed $260.

Each owner will receive a set of league depth charts and a list of multi-positional players prior to the start of the auction. The depth charts will list players by position within major league team according to the eligibility described above, but include no statistics or player values. These documents, a pen/pencil, and a blank roster sheet will be the only support materials allowed at the auction. However, owners may mark players on these depth charts with single color highlighting in advance of the draft as long as no other statistics or notations are used. Laptops, magazines, books or any other pre-prepared materials of any kind are prohibited.

In the case where a team has multiple owners, only one person is permitted at the auction table.

There will be one or more Auctioneers who run the proceedings. All decisions of the auctioneer are final.

The Auctioneer will award the player to the team that is the high bidder. The team acquires the player for that amount and announces the roster position the player will fill.

The process is repeated, with successive team owners introducing players to be bid on, until every team has a completed roster of 23 players, by requisite position.

Players eligible to be acquired at this auction include any player on the 28-man roster at the conclusion of the just-completed major league regular season, players who finished the season on the various MLB injured/inactive lists, and 40-man roster players who appeared in the Majors during the just-completed regular season. Also eligible are selected free agents who missed the entire just-completed season due to injury or suspension, as determined by the commissioner.

Players eligible at more than one position may be shifted during the course of the draft.

No team may select a player who qualifies only at a position (or positions) that the team has already filled.

The winning bid for each player shall be considered his salary for the duration of that season. A player's salary is fixed for that period, no matter his status, be it active, reserved or released into the free agent pool.

Stage Two: Player acquisition for the purposes of completing the remaining 17 reserve spots will be done in the form of a straight draft, conducted online prior to Opening Day at a time to be determined.

Draft order will be conducted in a serpentine fashion, with the top-seeded team having first selection in round one, last selection in round two and first again in round three, etc.

In the league's initial draft, seeding will be determined by random draw. In subsequent seasons, seeding will be determined by the previous year's standings. A 15-team league would draft in the order of 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,1. Other league sizes would be determined using a comparable method. Expansion teams would be seeded at the beginning of the list.

Players eligible to be acquired at this draft include:

Major league players not already selected in the Stage One auction

Minor leaguers at any level

College and high school players

Players who are on the Injured List (IL)

Players from foreign leagues

Retired major leaguers

Any person who wears a baseball uniform and is breathing at the time of the draft.

All players acquired during Stage Two will have a salary of $1 (except farm players, who have no salary until they lose their farm eligibility). The $17 maximum salary of the reserve roster will not count against the $260 active roster limit.

Farm Players: Players acquired during Stage One, Stage Two or in-season supplemental drafts that have fewer than 50 AB or 20 IP of prior major league experience at the start of play on the day of the draft may be designated as Farm Players. Farm Players that are drafted and retained may be kept at an annual salary increase of $3 per year. Farm players' salary clock will begin when the player is activated by their XFL team or reach 50 AB/20 IP, whichever comes first. When that clock begins, they become $1 players.

If a Farm Player is acquired during Stage One, the salary at which he is drafted is his starting salary upon which the annual $3 increase is applied.

If a Farm Player is acquired during Stage Two, his starting salary is $0 and he is added to the team's reserve roster. There is no limit to how many Farm Reserve players a team may have on its reserve roster. Once a farm player on reserve is promoted to an active roster, his salary increases to $1.

If a Farm Player is acquired during an in-season supplemental draft, his starting salary is $1 and his subsequent season annual increase is $3.

After he is promoted, a farm player loses his farm eligibility (+$3) once he is dropped into the free agent pool.

VII. THE RESERVE LIST

At any time prior to the weekly transaction deadline, a team may reserve a player from its active roster and replace that player from his reserve list.

A player placed on the major league IL may be moved to the reserve roster just like any other player move. ILed players will be considered as part of the 17-man reserve.

A player may be activated from the reserve list only if he is on the active roster of a major league team. ILed players may be activated even if they have not yet been activated by their major league club.

Players on a team's reserve list who are on a major league team's active roster may remain on the reserve list indefinitely during the course of a season.

VIII. FREE AGENTS

On the first Sunday of each month, from May through September, players in the free agent pool may be acquired by each team, in the following manner:

A straight draft will be conducted online, in a serpentine fashion, beginning in reverse order of the league standings as of that Sunday before first pitch. This draft should commence no later than 9 PM Eastern Time.

If an owned player is released into the free agent pool during a free agent draft, he may not be redrafted until the following month's free agent draft.

The salary of each acquired free agent will be $1. If an owned player had been previously released into the free agent pool and re-drafted during a monthly free agent draft, his new salary will be his salary at the time of release. If a player is farm eligible at the time of the free agent draft (less than 50 ABs or 20 IP in the majors), his salary will be $1 but his annual protection increase will be +$3.

Only players who are active on a major league roster or on the IL at the time of the transaction deadline may be selected. A player may not be drafted if he is on another active or reserve roster during the transaction period.

There is no limit to how many players may be acquired via the monthly free agent draft. All players may be added to the acquiring team's active or reserve roster. For each free agent that it signs, a team must at the same time release, trade or reserve a player from its roster. At the conclusion of the draft, all team rosters must be settled at a maximum of 40 players.

If a team owner is unable to attend the online draft, he may appoint a proxy to select his players for him. Teams that are unrepresented at the time of the draft will be able to select free agents after the conclusion of the draft, but no more than 24 hours after the conclusion of the draft.

IX. TRADES

Trades may be made at any time except for the period between the last Monday in August and the conclusion of the major league season.

Any player may be traded to another team's active roster or reserve list. Uneven trades are permitted; reserve players may be activated to settle a team’s active roster, even if it leaves a team’s reserve roster short of 17 players.

Teams are free to make trades of any kind so long as at least one player is exchanged on each side of the deal, and the active rosters of the teams involved in the trade reflect the required position distribution by the next transaction deadline. For off-season trades, the next transaction deadline is defined as the conclusion of the March supplemental draft.

Single or multiple monthly free agent draft picks for the upcoming month's draft and the next March supplemental draft may be traded as part of a current deal. Draft picks in free agent drafts beyond the upcoming month may not be traded. If upcoming March picks are traded, an equal number must be exchanged.

Statistics will take effect at the normal reporting period.

Illegal active rosters from a trade in the transaction period preceeding a monthly draft can be made legal with a free agent acquisition. If this is necessary, the SWAT will announce the impending illegal roster before the draft with the owner in question required to pick an appropriate player before the end of the draft.

Illegal active rosters from an off-season trade must be made legal by the conclusion of the March supplemental draft. If this is necessary, the SWAT will announce the impending illegal roster before the March draft with the owner in question required to pick an appropriate player before the end of the draft.

All trades are subject to review by the Commissioner, who has the power to overturn a trade if he deems it as being against the best interests of the league.

X. TRANSACTIONS

The transaction deadline will be Mondays prior to the first pitch of the first major league game scheduled that day.

For purposes of statistical calculation, transactions will be effective commencing with games played on that Monday.

Reserve/recall transactions may be entered online by each team owner directly. Trades must be transmitted to the Secretary of Waivers And Transactions (SWAT) and e-postmarked by Monday at noon Eastern Time.

Reserve/recall transactions may be made beginning the first Monday after the conclusion of the March supplemental draft.

Mid-week intra-roster transactions may be made for players placed on the MLB IL, or players demoted to the minors, effective the day after the reporting of the transaction.

Performance stats of a player shall be assigned to a team only when he is on the active roster of that team and on the active roster of a major league team.

XI. ROSTER SALARY COMPOSITION

At the conclusion of the Stage One player acquisition, each team’s active roster will have a combined salary of no more than $260.

The total salary of all players on a team’s active roster may never exceed $300 at any time.

XII. ROSTER PROTECTION

Two weeks prior to the beginning of a new season's Stage One auction, all teams must designate no more than 15 players that they will retain ownership of for the upcoming season. This information must be reported to the SWAT. The SWAT will then distribute two reports to all owners for approval:
a. a roster grid indicating each team's protected players
b. the final MLB depth chart report with all protected players noted. An unmarked copy of this report is what serves as the draft day material, as noted above.

These 15 players may originate from a team's active or reserve roster. All must be promoted to the active roster prior to the beginning of the Stage One auction, with the exception of Farm Reserve players.

Farm Reserve players who are protected may occupy a team's bottom-most reserve roster slots. In this way, unused Stage Two picks would be given up at the end of that draft.

Retained players must have their salary level increased by $5 each year, with the exception of players originally drafted as farm players whose salary would increase by $3 each year.

If a player dies some time between the roster protection deadline and the day of the draft, he may be cut from the owner's roster. No replacement may be named, but this will open up a roster slot.

Decisions on retention are made on a season-by-season basis. There are no limits to how long any player may be owned by the same team.

XIII. TIE-BREAKERS

In the event of a tie in the standings, the tiebreaker is the number of categories in which each of the tying teams beats all the other teams with which it is tied. This should be used to break ties in the final standings as well as any interim standings for purposes of determining free agent seeding.

If there is still a tie after using this method to determine the final standings, the teams tied in the tiebreaker share the championship.

If there is still a tie after using this method to determine interim standings, the tie will be broken by a coin-flip by the Commissioner.

XIV. OWNERSHIP and EXPANSION

Team ownership is perpetual. An owner deciding to leave the league may transfer ownership to another person; however, existing owners must vote to approve any new owners into the league.

Teams abandoned during a season will have their rosters frozen until the completion of the season. New ownership must be approved by a vote of the remaining league owners. If no owner is found by the time of the subsequent Stage One draft, all players on the abandoned teams will become free agents.

Existing owners may elect to expand the number of teams in the league. New owners must be approved by a vote of existing owners. Expansion rosters are stocked after the existing teams announce their freeze lists and prior to the Stage One draft. Expansion teams can choose from among any non-protected player on all existing teams, and select their 15 keepers. Salaries of these players will be at current season rates, not increased protection slot rates.

Ownership for abandoned teams must be found before any expansion takes place.

XV. INFORMATION

For the purposes of all transactions contingent upon events in Major League Baseball, the official information source will be the transactions page at mlb.com. All transactions are to be based on the CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE as of the 12:00 ET deadline. MLB transactions that occur prior to 12:00 ET but are not reported at mlb.com by that time, are NOT ALLOWABLE.

XVI. QUALIFICATION

Owners are eligible to participate in the Xperts Fantasy League if

they have been information providers in the baseball industry for at least 10 years, or

they have been playing fantasy baseball for at least 15 years and are at least 40 years of age.

XVII. RESPONSIBILITY and GOVERNANCE

All illegal player moves will be nullified according to these guidelines:

For an illegal player purchase during the Stage One auction, the player will be immediately released back into the free agent pool.

For an illegal player purchase discovered after the Stage One auction, the player will be made available during the Stage Two reserve draft at a salary equal to his Stage 1 purchase price, minus $1. The owner who selected the illegal player will receive one extra draft pick in the 18th round of the Stage Two draft to enable his roster to return to 40 players. (The Vlad Guerrero Rule)

For an illegal roster move during the season, the transaction will be nullified and any affected statistics will be recalculated back to the date of the offense.

Any player that is erroneously omitted from the Stage One draft pool will be unavailable for the duration of that season. (The Chone Figgins Rule)

The commissioner is empowered to interpret the rules. Any decisions he makes in this regard, and/or to resolve conflicts, are final.

Any issues not covered by this Constitution will revert to the rules as stated in the Official Constitution of Rotisserie League Baseball.

Any act that is not expressly permitted in these sources is illegal.