Constitution
Updated 11/15/08
Updates in red

Structure     League Office     Morals Clause     Team Rosters     Draft and Player Acquisition     Playing the Game     Player Usage     Penalties     Schedule     Trades     Free Agent (FA) Pool     Post Season     Playoff Usage and Eligibility     Attrition

Structure

• The CCNL is a continuous ownership draft league and will consist of 24 individually owned teams.
• All CCNL games will be played via the internet, using the most current version of Strat-O-Matic CD-ROM computer baseball game.
• CCNL members are required to own the latest version of Strat-O-Matic CD-ROM computer baseball game, with card image, and have AOL Instant Messenger.
• All super advanced options will be used.
  • Injuries will not be used; usage limitations should take care of that.
  • The following Max Rules will be used:
    • Bunt for base hit
    • Improve base running realism
    • More base running decisions
    • Doubles and triples option
    • Realistic throwing errors
    • Pitch around option
    • Robbing a home-run
    • Limited OF mobility (but a player cannot play CF if not rated in CF on his card)
• The CCNL will consist of 2 sub-leagues, designated as the American and National leagues. Each sub-league will consist of 12 teams.
• The CCNL will be made up of 4 divisions, 2 in each league, designated AL East, AL West, NL East and NL West. Each division consists of 6 teams. As much as possible, divisions will be based on time zones. This could mean yearly divisional changes. The Commissioner will make this determination prior to each season, when the roster of managers is set and prior to the draft.
• The DH will be used in all American League ballparks.
• Team's names maybe changed prior to the draft. These names may not be changed during the season. If a team changes hands, the new owner can chose a new team name before next season's draft.

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League Office

• The League Office shall consist of:
• Commissioner – (Mark Panagos) Responsible for the league running smoothly and fairly. The Commissioner will enforce the rules but the league office will address any decisions needed that are not spelled out in the constitution. The Commissioner will also help out or fill in whenever a League Officer is unable to perform his duties.
• Rules Officer – (Keith Howard) Responsible for collecting rules proposals and overseeing the voting process, including updating the constitution. The league office may poll the league members for their opinions on rules changes. Each officer (excluding the Commissioner) would poll one division. Then the rules recommendations will be decided upon by the league office. Rules changes may be made by the officers without polling the league.
• Roster/Trade Administrator – (Don Herklotz) Responsible for maintaining team rosters and tracking all trades. Also assures that any reported trades comply with league rules.
• Game Files Administrator - (Gordy Renaud) Maintains rosters and league files within the game.
• Statistician – (Michael Marien) Responsible for maintaining the statistics within SOM. He will upload the game files as well as send out the new roster and stats files for each block.
• Website Administrator – (Mark Panagos) Responsible for maintaining the website.

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Morals Clause

• All members will treat each other with dignity and respect.
  • Under no circumstances will foul language used in a demeaning manner - whether via AIM or during any league communications - be tolerated.

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Team Rosters

• Each team shall consist of up to 40 players. A team may never have more than 40 active players at any time except from the end of the regular season until the draft cut down date, which is January 5. These players may be obtained through the draft, free agency, or trades.
• Each roster must show 720 Plate Appearances AFTER the 5% allowance for each position (including DH if AL). Trades made during the season will be audited to ensure that each team remains with in the AB limitations, prorated based on a 6 month playing season. 720 is easily divisible by 6, so you should be able to easily determine how to keep your roster in compliance.
  • The formula is (AB x 1.05)+(BB x 1.05). Round up at .5.
• Each roster must show 1524 IP AFTER the 5% allowance. Trades made during the season will be audited to ensure that each team remains with in the PA limitations, prorated based on a 6 month playing season. 1524 is easily divisible by 6, so you should be able to easily determine how to keep your roster in compliance.

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Draft and Player Acquisition

• Each year between the release of SOM's ballpark ratings and the Player Draft, a Ballpark draft will be conducted.
  • The ballpark draft is optional.
  • Any team must announce a week prior to the Ballpark Draft their intent to participate.
  • The order of the Ballpark Draft will be the same as the Player Draft.
  • Ballpark Draft picks are tradable.
  • Team owners retain the right to a new stadium if the MLB team moves to a new ballpark or city.
  • A team may never be in possession of:
    • More than one ballpark
    • More than one ballpark draft pick
    • Both a ballpark and a ballpark draft pick
    • A team does not own a ballpark draft pick until they drop their ballpark
• Managers may switch leagues (AL/NL) once in their CCNL career.
  • Existing managers will have first choice in switching leagues prior to new manager's league placement.
• The commissioner will move teams between the EAST/WEST within a league based on the time zone and geographical location that the CCNL manager resides.
• A manager does not get to request a divisional change as this could be construed as moving divisions in order to be more competitive.
• Draft-Eligible players are any players who played in MLB the previous season and received a player card for that season. COMPUTER-ONLY players ARE NOT draft-eligible.
• Prior to each season, a rookie free agent draft will be held.
  • The order of the draft will be in reverse order of the final regular season standings, with the following exceptions.
    • The World Series champ will 24th in each round.
    • The World Series runner up will pick 23rd in each round.
    • The runners up in the League Championship Series' will pick 21st & 22nd, with the order decided by reverse order of their regular season records.
    • The runners up in the Division Series' will pick 17th - 20th, with the order decided by reverse order of their regular season records.
  • Non Playoff Teamswill draft ahead of Playoff Teams, seeded in order of their playoff finish, ties broken by record, worst team first..
• The draft shall be scheduled for 10 rounds.
  • Each team will have one pick per round. This pick may be traded or waived.
  • Once a team reaches their roster limit, they may not continue to draft.
  • Teams who have not reached their 40-man roster limit after 10 rounds will continue to draft until the roster limit is reached.
• Prior to the draft, on January 5, each team will provide a list of players to be retained. You MUST cut at least 5 players. This rule goes into effect for the 2010 draft.
  

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Playing the Game

• Prior to the start of each month, teams are required to designate a number of players as Inactive, in order to bring their Active Roster to 25. Active rosters must have at least 2 players rated at each position and must contain a minimum of 5 pitchers who are eligible to START. (Must be rated as Starter or Starter/Reliever) If a team has 4 * starters, they may carry only 4 starters.
• Teams must send their Computer Manager, with “STARTERS SCHEDULE” prior to the upcoming month. The following schedule will be adhered to, with no exceptions:
  • All results, trades FA requests in by the 20th
  • New rosters/stats sent out by the 22nd
  • CMs in by 24th (No lock codes)
  • New CM rosters sent out by the 25th
• After extracting the current league files to their corresponding folders, all teams are required to run the "Schedule Batch Change" function in order to set your scheduled games to manual, while setting all other games to hold.
• All players designated as inactive, prior to the start of a month, must remain in the inactive until the completion of the current month.
• Active rosters expand to 40 players for the September/October play months.
• Required menu option menu settings will be set by the League Office prior to league files being made available each Play Month. Managers are NOT to change any of these settings, unless requested to do so by the Commissioner. Changing these settings constitutes cheating and you will be immediately kicked out of the league.
• Make sure, prior to the start of each game, that the “Create Game Files” option is turned on.
• Managers are allowed to set the following options to his or her personal preferences:
  • Offense and Defense color
  • Play by Play Color
  • Play by Play Background and Sound
  • Card image on will be the default. Only if BOTH managers agree, will the card image be turned off.
  • Also, if both managers agree, they can use the Quick Play feature. But BOTH must agree.
• Upon completion of each series, the Home team manager is required to email the Game Files to the commissioner AND the league statistician. All files must be mailed immediately upon completion of the series.
• If you pinch hit for a player, you must have a player eligible for the replaced position, regardless of point in the game..

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Player Usage

• Players are limited to 105% of actual usage (ABs plus Walks, a.k.a Plate Appearances for fielders or IPs for pitchers). Always round up at .5. The limits will be added into the league rosters prior to the start of the season.
  • You may use a fielder up to his limit for Plate Appearances OR his limit for ABs, whichever you reach LAST. So if a player's adjusted ABs are 105, and his adjusted PAs are 125, he might reach 125 PAs in our season before he reaches 105 ABs. In that case, he may continue until he reaches 105 ABs.
• Pitchers who are not rated as Starter, may not perform in that role, Pitchers who are rated as a Starter only may only pitch in relief under the following conditions:
  • It is the 9th inning or later AND
  • All of the team's remaining available Relief rated pitchers are fatigued AND
  • The team has no remaining Relief rated pitchers available AND
  • The starter being used will have sufficient rest to make his next start
• Starting Pitchers must have at least 4 days of rest, unless they are rated with an asterisk, then they may start on only 3 days rest. Any pitcher starting games with insufficient rest will be suspended for 1 Play Week. Any second offenses by an owner will result in a player suspension of 3 weeks. A third offense by an owner will result in that player being released into the free agent pool and the owner will lose a 1st round draft choice the following year.
• A player may not field a position for which he is not rated. EXCEPT:
  • If your player is rated in centerfield, he may play any outfield position at his centerfield rating, per SOM rules. If his card doesn’t rate him in centerfield, he cannot play the position. If a player is rated in leftfield or rightfield, he can play either position per SOM rules.
• If an ineligible player appears in a game, and said infraction is caught by the opposing manager before the first At Bat, then the UNDO LAST PLAY function will be used to revert to the point in the game just prior to the infraction taking place and the infraction corrected.
• If the infraction is caught after the first At Bat --the play will stand and the ineligible player shall immediately be removed from the game. If the manager does not have any players that can play that position then the opposing manager can select ANY player (excluding pitchers) to play that position. This does not apply to a mistake in making a double switch where a position player accidentally was used as the pitcher and vice versa.
• Any player who has exhausted his allowed usage will be removed from the team's SOM computer game roster for the remainder of the regular season.

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Penalties

• Penalties will be assessed for overuse, tardiness and any other behavior that infringes upon the spirit of the league, unless the league office grants specific permission to do so.
• Player Overuse: Managers are expected to act in the spirit of fair competition, as such, if a player is overused by even 1 AB or IP, the penalty will be as follows:
  • Suspension of the player for the rest of the season, including the playoffs.
  • If steps are taken to stop further overuse and if the player is not overused by any more than the 1 AB/IP, (i.e. e-mail all managers to take player from the roster, stop further use of the player, notify league office, etc.) the team will lose a 3rd round pick the following year. If the player is overused by 2 AB/IP or more, the next bullet of this rule will apply. If more than one player is overused, the manager will lose the next highest pick as well. If four or more players are overused the manager will be expelled from the league.
  • If no steps are taken to prevent overuse, or the player is overused by 2 or more AB/IP as listed in the bullet above, the manager will lose the player entirely plus draft picks as stated in part two of this rule. The manager will also be placed on probation for the following season. Any further overuse of players the following season, no matter how slight, will result in immediate expulsion from the league.
• You must complete all of your games by the 20th of each month. Since you start on the 25th of the prior month, this gives you 25 or 26 days to complete all of your games.
  • The league statistician will check the games played at the halfway mark of the play month, on the 12th of the month. At this point you should have at least 12 games played.
  • If you are not going to be able to get 12 games in by the 12th, let your opponents and the league know about it. Tell us how you are going to get all of the games done for the month on time.
  • If you do not let us know, and there is a pattern of waiting til the last half of the month to get your games played, you will be removed from the league. Stuff happens and the league understands that. So let us know what is going on or we have to assume you are not interested in playing.
• It is your responsibility to make sure your games are played. If an emergency arises notify the league and we will find someone to play your games. But this will not be tolerated on a consistent basis.

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Schedule

• Each team will play a 162 game regular season schedule. Each team will play every other team in its division 18 times (9 H, 9 A) for 90 games. Each team will play every team in the opposite division within its league 8 times (4 H, 4 A) for 48 games. Each team will play every team in the opposite league 2 times for 24 games. Home teams for interleague series' will alternate yearly.
• Each team will play 1 month on the schedule and the games must be completed during that “Play Month”. Deadline for Playing Games is the 20th of each Play Month at 8 pm Pacific. Approximately 27 games.
• Once all games are finished the rosters will be updated for trades.
• Once the new rosters are sent out, each manager MUST send the computer manager, which will include the “Starter Schedules” for the upcoming play period. The league office will then send out Rosters containing all cms for the month and up to date stats.
• League games will be scheduled within the CD Rom game itself, but the managers can play the games anytime within the "Play Month".
• ALL games in each scheduled series MUST be completed by the end of the current “Play Month”. League files for each successive “Play Months” cannot be released until all series from the previous month have been completed. Managers who are continually involved in late series will have their membership reviewed by the League Office, and may face expulsion from the league.
• ALL games must be played between two human opponents. Under no circumstances are any league games to be played one manager vs. a HAL computer manager controlled team. Teams must immediately inform the Commissioner if they are unable to manage their teams during a current, or upcoming, “Play Month”.
• Teams may elect to bring in their own fill in manager. If the team is unable to supply their own fill in manager, the League Office will make arrangements for someone to step in and manage the team’s games. All results from games managed by fill in managers are final and binding.
• ANY MANAGER FAILING TO NOTIFY THE LEAGUE OFFICE THAT HE WILL BE UNABLE TO PLAY HIS GAMES, AND FAILS TO DESIGNATE A FILL IN MANAGER IN TIME FOR THOSE GAMES TO BE COMPLETED WITHIN THE DESIGNATED PLAY PERIOD WILL BE SUBJECT TO DISMISSAL.

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Trades

• Trades may be made freely until the end of the July Play Month.
• Trade deadlines for the Play Month is the same as the Game Deadline.
• Teams may not make any trade that would place their current roster above the team roster limits (except during the off season which is after the regular season trading freeze is lifted until the draft cut down date). You may freely release players into the Free Agent Pool, in order to make room on your roster for a trade.
• Once a player has been traded from a team during the play season, he will be ineligible to play for that team again for a period of one calendar year.
• Draft picks may not be traded except during the off-season. Then, only draft picks for the immediately upcoming draft may be traded. During the off-season, draft picks may be traded up to and including draft day.
• After a trade has been agreed upon, all parties involved must submit the trade proposal to the League Office. If the trade is approved by the league office, the trade will be listed on the website. Do NOT announce your trades to the league directly.
• At the conclusion of the current Play Month, all approved trades will become Official, with the League Office actually moving the players to their new teams prior to the release of the next block league files.
• Trades which have been approved may only be rescinded if ALL managers involved agree to so prior to the roster update for that month. Teams will retain full rights to any player that they acquire through a trade, until that team either trades, or releases, the acquired player.

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Free Agent (FA) Pool

• All carded players who are not on a CCNL roster, at the conclusion of the Free Agent/Rookie draft will be placed in the Free Agent Pool.
• Free Agents may be picked up at any time, but the pickup is only effective at the end of the play month (the 20th of the month).
• Free Agents may not be used in the playoffs.
• Free Agents may only be picked up to prevent over usage. The manager must tell the commisioner why the Free Agent acquisition is necessary. The commissioner decides whether the Free Agent may be picked up or not. the commissioner may delegate this responsibility to the Roster/Trade Officer.
• Once cut from a team, a player may not be picked up by any other team.
• If two or more managers option the same player, the one with the poorest winning .pct at the end of that play month gets the player. If this occurs prior to the start of the season, then the team that had the earlier draft position gets the player.
• All free agents taken during the season will be returned to the free agent pool at the end of the season.
  • Once you pick up a FA, you may cut him later to pick up a different FA.
  • You can NOT trade a player that you picked up as a FA.

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Post Season

• The team with the best record in each division will make the playoffs. The two teams with the best non division winning records in each league will be Wildcard teams and will advance to the Playoffs to play the Division winners. Worst wild card record vs. best division winner.
• Each league’s playoff series will be a best-of-7 series, with the higher seeded teams having home field advantage, hosting games 1,2, 6 and 7. In the event that teams are tied, for purpose of determining home field advantage, tie breakers will be used in the following order: head to head record, division record, total runs scored minus total runs allowed. The World Series will be a best-of-7 series, with the winner being crowned CCNL Champions. Home field for the World Series will be determined by the current strat year being played. The NL team will have home field advantage Odd numbered years, while AL will have Home field in EVEN numbered years.
• A separate league will be created for each play off series. Teams will begin each play off series with rest and days off imported to the subsequent series. Days off will be given between series'. A pitcher may not pitch on less than 3 days rest any time during the post season. Days off will be given between games 2 and 3 and games 5 and 6 for each post-season series. A pitcher who pitches game 7 of a series can not start game 1 of the next series.
• Prior to the start of post-season play, each participating team must name a 25-man play-off roster. This roster will be used throughout the entire play-offs. No Roster moves will be permitted once the post season has begun.

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Playoff Usage and Eligibility

• Playoff usage is limited to 10% of the AB/IP listed on the card (ignore the 5% buffer). Starters may only pitch on the days rest that would normally be allowed during the regular season. For this purpose, there is an off day scheduled between games 2 & 3, and games 5 & 6 of each playoff series. Pitchers that start a game 7 of one series may not start game 1 of the next series.
  • For the purposes of determining pitching rotations in the first round of the playoffs, treat it as if there are 5 days off between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs.
  • The game 6 starter in one playoff series may start game 1 of the next series.
• Playoff dates will be scheduled at the start of the season so that the playoffs don’t drag on for months. There will be a reasonable window of time in which to finish your playoff games, so if you are in contention, be prepared to schedule playoff games.

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Attrition

• If more than one manager needs to be replaced at the beginning of a new season, an attrition draft may be held prior to the rookie/free agent draft. Only new managers will participate in the actual draft. The new managers will draft from a combined pool made up of the players from the dissolved teams. No rookies or free agents are involved in this draft. New teams will draft after the non-playoff teams in the rookie/free agent draft. The commissioner reserves the right to forego the attrition draft if it is deemed unnecessary, and continuing teams will retain their draft positions.
• If a managerless team trades a draft pick, that pick will select where the managerless team would have picked. If that pick was eligible for the lottery, it will remain a lottery pick. If the managerless team would have made the playoffs, that pick will move to a pick before the playoff teams but after non playoff team and new teams and not be eligible for the lottery.
• Managerless teams are not eligible for the playoffs. If a team is promoted to the playoffs because of a managerless team, then that team will be treated as a playoff team as any other playoff team.
  

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