Constitution

Official Constitution of the Continental Baseball Mail League
Effective for 2022 Season

Preamble

I. The official name of the league is Continental Baseball Mail League (CBML)

II. The official game of the CBML is the current computer version of Strat-O-Matic.

III. League dues shall be: $25.00 per team in attendance at the draft and $10.00 for all other teams.

IV. The CBML shall consist of two leagues, the American and the National. The NL shall consist of the Berger and Haney Divisions; the AL shall consist of the Mack and Veeck Divisions.

V. The season shall consist of 162 games. Teams will play 18 games against divisional opponents and 6 games against non-divisional opponents.

VI. Changes to the Constitution will be by majority vote of the owners. Proposed changes will be discussed and voted on during the season utilizing e-mail and the message board function of the CBML web page. The Commissioner will notify league members of the proposed changes and set a date for voting.

VII. In situations not covered by the Constitution or the Rules of Strat-O-Matic, the Commissioner has the right to resolve problems at his discretion.

Draft Rules

I. An annual draft of unclaimed players will be held before the start of each season at a time and place to be determined by the league members.

II. All teams must have coverage with rated players at each position for 162 games.

III. A Player must have appeared in at least one MLB regular season game (PA, IP, PR, DEF replacement) in the season immediately preceding the CBML draft in order to be a draft eligible Free Agent or Rookie for that draft.

IV. Draft order will be in reverse order from the finish of the prior season. Ties shall be broken using the following criteria:
1. Record in head-to-head competition.
2. Record within division (if teams are in the same division).
3. Record within league (if teams are in the same league, NL or AL).
4. Record against teams in the divisions those tied teams are not in.
5. Road record.
6. Coin flip.

V. Draft choices may be traded under the following conditions.
1. Draft choices for the upcoming draft may be traded at any time.
2. Draft choices for the following year’s draft may be traded after the official trading freeze and roster reduction to 30 is completed (i.e. a 2014 pick can’t be traded until after the freeze is lifted sometime in November 2012).

VI. Players may be traded at any time, under the following conditions:
1. Players traded prior to April 1st are eligible for use by their new team at the start of the season.
2. Players traded during April through August will become eligible for their new teams in the calendar month after the trade was completed (completed is defined as announced and confirmed by both parties). Example: A player traded within the calendar month of April (before April 30th 11:59 pm Eastern Time Zone) will become eligible for his new team in the May league file.
3. Players traded after August 31st shall be ineligible for their new teams until the following season.

VII. During any time in which the league has a “Dual-Team Owner,” the following shall apply:
1. Dual team owners may not make deals directly between their 2 respective teams.
2. If an owner who runs 2 teams deals a specific player, that owner may not make any deals to acquire the player(s) for his 2nd team until the following season.

VIII. No trading will be allowed with a “League-Managed” Team (meaning no single owner has taken sole responsibility for this team). Once the team is single- or dual-owned, trading may resume with that team.

IX. The Commissioner may veto any trade that is considered not in the best interest of the league.

Rosters

I. During the course of the regular season, a team may carry an unlimited number of players with a minimum of 10 pitchers on a roster.

II. For the regular season series in April, May, June, July, and August as well as the post-season, a roster will consist of 25 players with a minimum of 9 pitchers. For the September regular season series, a roster of up to 40 players is allowed (no obligation to use all 40 roster spots, but the option is there). It is recommended a roster contain at least one backup at every position. Players must stay on the roster for the duration of the specific series.

III. Rosters must be reduced to 30 and will be frozen on November 1st of each year. 30-man rosters must be submitted to the Commissioner by November 15th at which time he will compile and issue them to league members. The roster freeze will be lifted on December 1st allowing trades to resume.

For each week that a team is late in submitting their 30-man roster after November 15th, that team will drop 1 spot in the first round of next year’s draft. (if that draft pick has been traded, then the following year’s 1st round pick will drop).

Instructions/Stats/Penalties
 
I. Within 10 days of receipt of the updated game files from the league statistician, the visiting team must send a computer manager to all scheduled opponents. Included in the accompanying message should be the starting pitching rotation and any other instructions regarding the team (eg, players to NOT play due to overusage).


II. If an owner fails to receive a computer manager from an opponent within the 10-day period, he should notify the Commissioner AND the opponent via telephone or e-mail. A 5-day courtesy will then be extended to the owner to allow for the computer manager to be sent. If nothing is received after 5 days, the owner must notify the Commissioner and may then play the series using the Contingency CM (if that owner has provided a Contingency CM to the Commissioner). At this point, it will be at the Commissioner’s discretion to issue any penalties depending upon the nature of the delayed CM. (eg, a team could drop 1 spot in the first round of next year’s draft or there could be no penalty).

III. Upon completion of a series, the home team shall send series stats for both teams to the entire league along with a copy of box scores and game files for both teams. The deadline for reporting stats is the 1st day of the month following the month in which the series was played.

Playing Rules

I. The following settings, under “Rules”, are to be used in the CBML:

Main Rules: Maximum Level
Stealing: Super Advanced Steal System
Miscellaneous: Use Miscellaneous rules
Injuries: Do not use injuries

Groundball A: Allow GBA on pitcher cards

BP/Weather/Clutch: Ballpark Effects should be checked.
Strategy: Super advanced strategy charts
Closer: Use closer rules
Pitcher fatigue: Use SADV Fatigue + pitch count

II.  The following settings, under “Lineups and usage”, are to be used in the CBML:

Visiting Team Lineup:  Primary

Home Team Lineup:  Primary

Scheduled Days Off: No scheduled days off

Auto Swap:  No Autoswap

Minor-Leaguers: Minor Leaguers – INELIGIBLE.

Overuse:  Ignore
Use ‘Super Hal’ Bullpen

Use ‘Super Hal” Lineup Subs

Use ‘Actual Pitcher Batting Cards’

III. Starters may pitch once in a regular season series.

IV. Designated Hitter will be used in all games.

V. Injury rule is not used.

VI. Fielders may not play at a non-rated position. When sending instructions all necessary precautions should be taken to avoid such a situation.

VII. Optional League Contingency Rules that the Commissioner can use if needed (this should occur rarely if ever): If no instructions are received by the 5-day grace period and no Owners Contingency Rules are on file with the Commissioner, the following shall be used. These instructions shall be considered “late” and subject to penalty.
a. Use players with most AB at each position.
b. Use starters with most starts and remove at pitch count.
c. Use relievers with most innings and remove at pitch count.
d. Do not substitute batters or fielders.
e. No stealing, bunting or hit and run. Do not take extra base, throw for runners or move defense. Hold all * runners at 1st.

VIII.  Prior to the first game of each series, both teams should be given 15 days rest.  Teams should not be rested before any other games.

Player Usage

I. All players will be limited by 105% of the number of plate appearances (PA).  For this league, plate appearances will follow the MLB definition of PA (AB+BB+SH+SF+HPB).


II. Pitchers will be divided into two categories: Starters and Relievers.

  • Starting pitchers may make up to the number of Major League starts but not exceed 120% of the number of Major League innings pitched.
  • Relief pitchers will have no limit on number of appearances but will be limited to 120% of the number of Major League innings pitched.


III. When determining eligibility all fractional numbers will be rounded up to the next whole number.

Overuse Penalties

  1. FOR BATTERS EXCEEDING 105% USAGE:

1-3% PA’s over 105% – 1 draft position 3rd round

4-7% PA’s over 105% – 1 draft position 2nd round

>8% PA’s over 105% – 1 draft position 1st round

In addition, this should be repeated for each player affected within the lineup.  Thus, if 2 players each have 2% extra PA’s, you would move down 2 spots in the 3rd round.

  1. PITCHERS:

Starting Pitchers (MLB GS & 120% IP Usage)

1 GS over – 1 draft position 2nd round

2 GS or 121%-125% IP – 1 draft position 1st round

>2 GS or >125% IP – 5 draft positions 1st round

For each additional pitcher exceeding his limit on starts, will result in a second drop for each round penalized. Since it is easy to control the number of starts for a pitcher, the penalty is more severe for Starters than for Batters and Relievers.

Relief Pitchers (120% IP Usage)

121% – 125% IP – 1 draft position 1st round

>125% – 5 draft positions 1st round

In addition, this should be repeated for each player affected within the bullpen. Thus, if 2 players have 123% extra innings, you would move down 2 spots in the first round and forfeit both players.

Pitchers who start and relieve – Pitchers who both start and relieve will be subject to the penalties for starters and relievers.

  1. In addition to the above penalties, any player overused will automatically be ineligible for post season play.  Should a player be overused and play in the post season before the overusage is discovered, said player will be ineligible for any additional post season play and may not be cut or traded.
  2. In the event that an owner does not have a pick in the round for which he is to be penalized, the penalty will take place the following year.  In addition, if an owner has overused a player and still has the pick for his penalty round, that pick cannot be traded.  If an owner has overused a player and has traded that pick prior to the discovery of the overuse, his pick for that round in the next draft cannot be traded.  I.e. A team is penalized its 3rd round pick for the 2006 draft, but has already traded that pick, he may not trade his pick for the 2007 draft.  In the event that a team is penalized and the owner drops out of the league, it will be the commissioners discretion to drop the penalty and restore the draft position for the new owner.
  3. In the event it can be demonstrated that overuse of a player is due to anything other than the negligence of the owner (HAL, an opponents failure to follow instructions, etc), that evidence may be submitted to the commissioner for review on a case by case basis and the penalty absolved at the commissioners discretion.

           
Post Season Play

I.          At the end of the regular season, the four division winners will make the playoffs. In addition, the two teams in each league with the next best record make the playoffs as wild cards. All playoff series are best of 7.

  1. The division winners will be seeded 1 and 2 and the wild card teams will be seeded 3 and 4 based on record. In the opening round the 4 seed plays the 1 and the 3 seed plays the 2, with the two division winners getting home field advantage regardless of their record. In all other series home field advantage will be determined by record. Teams with home field will host games 1,2,6 and 7.
  1. Prior to the start of each series, managers will set their 25-man roster, and this must be used for the duration of that series. Teams should be given the 15-day rest before the first, third and sixth games of the series.  This is to allow for the normal day’s rest when the series changes stadiums.

IV.        All playoff games will be played either face-to-face or using NetPlay.  Should there be a technical problem using NetPlay, the commissioner should be contacted to see how the problem should be resolved.  Technical problems shall mean computer or ISP problems, not reluctance by one team to use it. 

V.         Ties for playoff matchups and seeds will be settled using the same criteria set up for draft order ties.

VI.        When setting post season rosters, playoff eligibility will be determined as follows:

Starting Pitching usage (MLB GS):

30+ MLB GS can start 3 games per series

20-29 MLB GS can start 2 games per series

10-19 MLB GS can start 1 game per series

Relief Pitching usage (MLB IP):

>60 MLB IP is allowed to pitch 10 innings per series

40-59.2 MLB IP is allowed to pitch 8 innings per series

25-39.2 MLB IP is allowed to pitch 7 innings per series

10-24.2 MLB IP is allowed to pitch 4 innings per series

Batters usage:

400+ MLB PAs are permitted unlimited PAs per series

250-399 MLB PAs are permitted 21 PAs per series

100-249 PAs are permitted 14 PAs per series

VII.       Timing for completion of each playoff series will be as follows:

  1. CBML playoff file sent no later than: October 15th
  2. ALL Division series completed no later than: November 15th
  3. ALL League Championship series completed no later than: January 1st
  4. World Series completed no later than: February 15th

For each week that a series is late BOTH teams will have their 1st round pick dropped by one spot (for example: if the NLCS is completed on January 10th, then both teams in the NLCS will have their upcoming 1st round picks dropped 2 spots; if the upcoming 1st round pick has been traded, then the following year’s 1st round pick will drop accordingly).

  • Plaque/trophy engraved with new champ and delivered at draft by: next year’s draft. If the plaque/trophy is not engraved or delivered then the offending team will have their upcoming 1st round pick dropped 5 spots.

Commissioner’s Responsibilities

The commissioner will be responsible for enforcing all league rules.  In addition, the commissioner is responsible for seeing that someone is assigned the duties of setting up the league, keeping league stats, playing the league all-star game, the league web site and the league encyclopedia.  Should the commissioner fail to communicate with league on a regular basis, or otherwise fail to fulfill his assigned duties, he can be removed by a majority vote of those present at the annual draft.  In any problem not covered by the constitution arises, it is the commissioner’s duty to resolve the problem as he deems appropriate.