I. League Purpose

The league is a fantasy baseball dynasty league established to promote a competitive and enjoyable experience for its members. The league aims to foster sportsmanship, camaraderie, and long-term engagement through the continued management of a team. The league combines elements of traditional draft-and-holds with dynasty keeper leagues.

II. League Platform and Communication

The league will be hosted on Fantrax and all official league communication will take place through Discord (tentatively). Members are expected to maintain active communication and respond to league-related inquiries in a timely manner.

III. League Configuration

The league will consist of 15 teams.

IV. League Fees and Prizes

1. Entry Fee

The annual entry fee for the league will be $80 + an even distribution of the Premium Fantrax League fee (currently $130 / 15 = $8.67). The entry fee is due by October 15th of each year. Owners who have not paid by the deadline will be subject to replacement unless the commissioner is notified prior to the deadline.

All money will paid into and held by FanTrax Treasurer.

2. Payouts

All money paid into the league will be distributed to participants or used to pay for Fantrax fees. Payouts will occur as follows:

Prize Criteria Amount (Year 1) Amount (Year 2) Amount (Year 3) Amount (3-Year Cycle)
1st (Single-Season) $320 $320 $320
2nd (Single-Season) $240 $240 $240
3rd (Single-Season) $160 $160 $160
4th (Single-Season) $80 $80 $80
1st place (3-year cycle) $400
2nd place (3-year cycle) $320
3rd place (3-year cycle) $240
4th place (3-year cycle) $160
5th place (3-year cycle) $80

Any money that remains in the pool at the end of the three years will be distributed to the top three places for the 3-year cycle (1st=50%, 2nd=30%, 3rd=20%) Note: the way payouts are structured, no money should be leftover at the end of a 3-year cycle; this is just to cover unforeseen circumstances where that occurs.

V. Rosters and Positions

Each team will have a major league and minor league roster. In Fantrax, each owner’s team will contain the major league roster. A commissioner-controlled team will hold all team’s minor league players.

The major league roster will have 50 players during the Major League Baseball season except for a brief period during the All-Star Break.

The minor league roster can have up to 15 players acquired through the annual minor league draft. Teams can hold a player on their minor leaguer roster for up to 6 years. Players may remain on the minor league roster even if they exceed rookie eligibility (i.e., 50 innings pitched or 130 at-bats).

Active positions scored each week:

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, CI, MI, OF (5), UT, P (9)

VI. Keepers and Contract Inflation

1. Keeper Limits

There are no limits to the number of keepers retained by each team. A player’s keeper cost is their round in the previous year plus any arbitration raises assigned to the player. This becomes the player’s base keeper cost.

Players on the 15-player minor league roster may be kept at no cost.

2. Arbitration System

Each team will review the roster of all other teams. For each team, an owner should determine:

  • One player to assign 5 points
  • Two players to assign 4 points
  • Three players to assign 3 points
  • Four players to assign 2 points
  • Five players to assign 1 point

The total points assigned will be divided by 8 and rounded to determine the keeper round inflation applied to the player. The table below outlines the impact of the arbitration system:

Points Assigned Keeper Round Inflation Points Assigned Keeper Round Inflation
70 9 34 4
69 9 33 4
68 9 32 4
67 8 31 4
66 8 30 4
65 8 29 4
64 8 28 4
63 8 27 3
62 8 26 3
61 8 25 3
60 8 24 3
59 7 23 3
58 7 22 3
57 7 21 3
56 7 20 3
55 7 19 2
54 7 18 2
53 7 17 2
52 7 16 2
51 6 15 2
50 6 14 2
49 6 13 2
48 6 12 2
47 6 11 1
46 6 10 1
45 6 9 1
44 6 8 1
43 5 7 1
42 5 6 1
41 5 5 1
40 5 4 1
39 5 3 0
38 5 2 0
37 5 1 0
36 5 0 0
35 4

The commissioner will provide everyone a worksheet to input arbitration decisions by February 1st. Arbitration decisions will be due by February 8th. Keeper deadline for major league players will be February 15th.

If two players are assigned the same keeper round, the next lowest round will be assigned to the player who has the lower base keeper round cost. If a keeper had been assigned to that round, that player moves to the next round (and so on until all keeper rounds are determined). Note: players retain their base keeper round, and this round is used the following year (and not the adjusted round due to multiple players assigned to a round).

Players with a base keeper cost in the 1st round cannot be assigned arbitration raises.

Players with a baes keeper cost in the 1st round can only be kept 1 year.

  • Example: a player drafted in the 1st round in 2024 can only be kept in 2025 (released to free agent pool for 2026)
  • Example: a player drafted in the 3rd round in 2024 and then assigned an arbitration raise of 2 rounds for 2025 can only be kept in 2026 (released to free agent pool for 2027)

3. Minor League Players

The keeper deadline for the 15-man minor league roster is October 15th. Note: you must have empty minor league roster slots in order to participate in the minor league draft.

Teams have an opportunity to promote minor league players two times during the season:

  1. All-Star Break Promotions can can be indicated at any time during the regular season, but promotions do not take effect until the first game after the All-Star Break and are due on the day prior to the first game after the All-Star Break
  2. After Regular Season: Teams have from the end of the regular season and one week before the minor league draft to promote a player. Players who have been with a team for six seasons (based on being on the minor league roster at opening day) are automatically promoted at this time.

Promoted players will have a keeper cost determined by their current activity at the major league level based on the following formulas:

For hitters:

Players with up to 400 at-bats: 50-(.04*AB)
Players with more than 400 at-bats: 50-(.04*AB) – 7

For pitchers:
Players with up to 150 innings pitched: 50-(.086*IP)
Players with more than 150 innings pitched: 50-(.086*IP) – 7

VII. Scoring and Schedule

The league will use Roto scoring based on the following categories:

Hitting: RBIs, Runs, Total Bases (TB), Home Runs (HR), On-Base Percentage (OBP), and Net Stolen Bases (NSB)

Pitching: ERA, WHIP, SV3 (Saves+Holds/2), Innings Pitched (IP), K/BB, QA2 (defined below)

QA2 is a Fantrax-specific stat that earns points based on achieving a 4.50 ERA during the appearance and receiving variable points depending on the length of the appearance:

  • 1 point earned for 2-3.2 innings
  • 2 points earned for 4-6 innings
  • 3 points earned for 6.1-7.2 innings
  • 4 points earned for 8-9 innings

Lineup Locks

Each player will lock five minutes before their first game of the week.

If Fantrax has technical issues preventing you from inputting your lineup, you must post your roster moves in the appropriate Discord channel.

Playoffs

VIII. Drafts

Every team will participate in three drafts each year: pre-season slow draft (March), live MLB auction draft (all-star break),  and a MiLB slow draft (November).

Pre-season slow draft will use snake format. Draft pick slot will be determined using the Kentucky Derby Style (KDS) selection process. Commissioner will establish a deadline for teams to submit their preferential order for the major league draft. The commissioner will submit their preference order to another team in the league at the time the deadline is established.

For the first season, priority will be determined randomly. For each season after the inaugural season, the priority order will be based on the previous season’s final standings:

Previous Year Place Priority Order
5th place 1st priority
6th place 2nd priority
7th place 3rd priority
8th place 4th priority
9th place 5th priority
10th place 6th priority
11th place 7th priority
12th place 8th priority
13th place 9th priority
14th place 10th priority
15th place 11th priority
4th place 12th priority
3rd place 13th priority
2nd place 14th priority
1st place 15th priority

MLB Auction Draft

The auction draft will occur one night during the All-Star Break when the most teams indicate their availability. Teams who cannot make the auction may entrust one owner to make proxy picks on their behalf (by default this will be the commissioner, but teams may appoint someone else instead).

During the auction draft, teams will have a $50 budget they may use to acquire up to 10 players. Teams will nominate players based on their current league standing (i.e., the 15th place will nominate 1st, the 14th place will nominate 2nd, etc.). This order will proceed for each round (i.e., not snake format) until all teams have acquired 10 players or no team has money available.

For the purposes of keepers, each player taken in the auction draft will be assigned a round based on their acquisition cost:

Acquisition Cost Assigned Round
$45-50 11th round
$39-44 16th round
$33-38 21st round
$27-32 26th round
$21-26 31st round
$15-20 36th round
$9-14 41st round
$1-8 46th round

Teams who acquire players during the auction draft will need to cut players from their pre-draft roster (i.e, teams cannot cut players acquired during the auction draft) to reduce roster size to 50 players.

Minor League Slow Draft

Any player who has already been signed by an MLB team and not yet exceeded 130 at-bats (hitters) or 50 innings pitched (pitchers) is eligible to be drafted.

Teams may only select players during the minor league draft if they have available slots on the 15-player minor league roster. Teams may cut minor league players at any time prior to one week before the minor league draft.

Pick order is reverse order from the previous season’s final standings. The minor league draft does not use a snake format. In other words, the 15th place team from the prior season will have the 1st pick in each round of the minor league draft. The minor league draft continues until all teams have 15 players on their minor league roster.

Minor league keepers do not retain their draft positions. For example: if a team has one minor league roster slot available, then that team picks in the 1st round (and no other round).

IX. Transactions

The only way to acquire a player in this league is through one of the three drafts (pre-season slow draft, mid-season auction draft, or post-season minor league draft).

X. League Calendar

February 1st: Commissioner distributes arbitration information
February 8th: Deadline for teams to submit their arbitration decisions
February 15th: Deadline for commissioner to established keeper rounds
February 22nd: Major League Keepers Due, Non-Keepers Added to Pre-season Draft Pool
February 22nd: Minor League Promotions Due
March 1st – Opening Day: MLB Pre-season Slow Draft
May 1st (or before):Establish date for All-Star Break Auction Draft
All-Star Break: Mid-season Auction Draft
Day Before 1st Game After All-Star Break: Deadline to Promote Minor League Player In-Season (drop non-auction acquired player)
October 15th: League Fees Due
October 15th: Minor League Keepers Due
October 15th: Minor League Promotions Due (if wanting slot available for drafting)
November 1st: Minor League Slow Draft Begins

XI. Commissioner Authority and Responsibilities

The commissioner has the final say on all rule interpretations.

The commissioner is responsible for ensuring teams remain active and replacing any team that does not remain active. Activity will be judged based on roster adjustments, participating in drafts, participating in the keeper process, etc. No owner will be removed from the league without being provided at least one warning.

XII. Amendments and Changes

No rules will be changed during the season without the approval of all teams. Even then, all efforts will be made to not make changes during the season and will be considered for emergency reasons only.

Otherwise, rules will be proposed by the end of the regular season, and then voted on for immediate adoption for the following season (13 out of 15 teams) or the season after (9 out of 15 teams).

Example: If a rule change is proposed on September 1, 2024, then the rule will be adopted for the 2025 season if at least 13 teams vote yes to the proposal, for the 2026 season if at least 9 teams vote yes, and tabled for at least one year if not approved.

The commissioner will accept suggested rule changes from all owners. However, the commissioner has no requirement to put any rule suggestion up for a vote. The commissioner will make every effort to be transparent on all decisions regarding rule proposals.