BBFL

ALOMAR
DIVISION

2006
Notes
Keepers
2005
Final Standings
Final Rosters
Draft
Keepers
Offseason Trades
2004
Final Standings
Final Rosters
Statistics
Draft
Keepers
Offseason Trades
2003
Final Standings
Final Rosters
Statistics
Initial Draft

BARFIELD
DIVISION

2006
Notes
Keepers
2005
Final Standings
Final Rosters
Draft
Keepers
Offseason Trades
2004
Final Standings
Final Rosters
Statistics
Initial Draft

CARTER
DIVISION

2006
Notes
2005

Initial Draft
LEAGUE INFO
BBFL Constitution

BATTER'S BOX FANTASY LEAGUE CONSTITUTION

Blue text indicates changes to the constitution ratified in 2006.

I. OBJECT

To assemble a lineup of 23 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 Batter's Box Fantasy League , also known as the BBFL.

The BBFL has no prize pool; owners play for bragging rights only. If prizes are donated, or if the league agrees to change to a "pay" system in the future, the largest prize will go to the Playoff champion, with smaller prizes to the Regular Season champion, Playoff runner-up, and/or winner of the Consolation playoff tournament.

II. DIVISIONS AND TEAMS

The league shall consist of three divisions, Alomar, Barfield and Carter. Each division will be signed up under "Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Plus," which charges a fee for special statistics and real-time data not available in free leagues. Costs are pro-rated among owners, and owners are obligated to reimburse the commissioner or whoever pays the fee to Yahoo.

There shall be a maximum of 20 teams in each division. Owners must register on Yahoo, where they may remain anonymous, but must submit their real names and e-mail addresses to the Commissioner in order to receive the league password.

An owner can have an interest in only one team, subject to immediate expulsion from the league. Three recorded complaints received by the Commissioner against any owner, for other rule violations or behavior not in the best interest of the league, will be grounds for termination from the league at the conclusion of the season. Owners agree to remain active until their teams are eliminated - any owner who has not checked his roster for 30 consecutive days will be considered inactive, and the league may "advertise" on BB for someone to take over that franchise at the end of the season.

An owner may change his team name between seasons but not during the season.

III. SCORING CATEGORIES & STATISTICS

Head-to-Head style, 6x6 format, including the following Hitting and Pitching categories:

1. Hitting
a) AVG (Batting Average)
b) OBP (On-Base Percentage)
c) SLG (Slugging Percentage)
d) R (Runs)
e) RBI (Runs Batted In)
f) SB (Stolen Bases)

2. Pitching
a) IP (Innings Pitched)
b) W (Wins)
c) SV (Saves)
d) WHIP (Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched)
e) ERA (Earned Run Average)
f) K/BB (Strikeout-To-Walk Ratio)

Each week, owners compete in a matchup against one other team. The best score in each category receives a "win" and the loser a "loss" in the overall league standings. Ties are possible. At the end of the week, a series (matchup) may have finished 12-0-0, 0-12-0, 4-4-4 or any other combination adding to 12, according to how the players on the two teams performed. A team's pitchers must accumulate no fewer than 25 innings during the week. Failure to achieve these minimums will result in forfeiture of all applicable categories for that week (six for hitting, six for pitching). Stats relative to the entire league are irrelevant; only the results for your team and your opponent's determine the W-L-T record for each weekly matchup.

Daily lineup changes are permitted, but no stats accumulated by a player on a day when he is assigned a Bench spot will count in the standings. Lineup changes can be made up until the start of a game, and can be made days in advance. All scoring decisions are the responsibility of Yahoo. There will be updated stats and standings each day, and occasionally, corrections are made to "official" stats.

IV. ROSTERS

A team's active roster consists of the following 13 hitters and 10 pitchers:

1 C
1 1B
1 2B
1 3B
1 SS
4 OF
1 MI (2B or SS)
1 CI (1B or 3B)
2 Utility (DH or any non-pitcher)
4 SP
3 RP
3 P (SP or RP in any combination)

Position eligibility for all players will be determined by Yahoo, and are subject to change within the season. A player does not gain eligibility at a "new" position until Yahoo upgrades his status.

In addition to the active roster spots, there will be two Bench spots, and two DL spots. A player may not be moved to the DL unless he is on the MLB disabled list and his Yahoo status is changed. When a player is moved to the DL, and owner may select a free agent to fill his roster spot. However, before a player can be restored to active duty, there must be an available roster spot, meaning someone (not necessarily the "replacement") must be released.

V. DRAFT DAY

A player draft is conducted live, in a Yahoo draft room, on a date as near to Opening Day as is practical. The draft date will be set at or close to 9:00 pm EST to ensure the possibility of attendance by as many owners as possible. Owners who cannot attend are advised to "pre-rank" up to 500 players using the Yahoo utility. Owners must pre-rank their keepers in slots 1-5. All players listed by Yahoo are eligible; any players not listed will be added after the season begins, and will be subject to the Waiver rules.

Each team must acquire 25 players. The league will have a "snake style" selection draft. 1-20, 20-1, and so on. The order for the league's inaugural draft will be determined in a random draw by Yahoo approximately 30 minutes before the start of the draft. All subsequent seasons' draft orders will be determined by the reverse order of finish from the previous season; if two or more teams finish with identical W-L-T records, the team with the lowest pick the previous year gets the earliest pick.

VI. KEEPERS

Owners must keep exactly five players from their final roster of 25 players at season's end. These players will not be automatically added to the roster of their respective owners at the beginning of the following season; there will be an agreement to place them at the top of the pre-ranking lists. Owners are not required to announce their "keepers" until one hour before the draft, when the draft room opens. Every team must "select" their five keepers in the first five rounds of the draft. Beginning with the sixth round, the draft resumes as usual.

Owners may keep a player for a maximum of three seasons, after which time said player must be released back into the draft. That player may be re-drafted by his former owner the following season, however, starting another 3-year cycle. Owners may choose to keep a player for only one year or two instead of the maximum of three, and the owner is not obligated to declare ahead of time how many years he intends to keep a player.

If an owner acquires a player during the season and keeps him until season-end, that player is deemed to have been on the owner's roster for a full season.

All owners must list their keepers on the league message board or by email to the commissioner during the time designated the preseason. Keepers may be changed until 11:59pm PST, seven days before the draft. No changes will be permitted after that deadline.

VII. STANDINGS & PLAYOFFS

The Regular Season league standings will be updated by Yahoo after each week's matchups. In the final four weeks of the MLB regular season, each division of the BBFL will conduct its playoff tournament. The first six teams in the standings will compete in the Championship bracket, the 7th-12th ranked teams will compete in the Consolation bracket. Those finishing 13th-20th will wait until next year. In the case of ties, Yahoo's automatic tiebreaker rules will apply; there is no appeal process.

The 1st and 2nd place teams receive a bye in their group; 7th and 8th place teams a bye in their group. The other playoff teams play a one week quarterfinal matchup. Those winners meet the seeded teams in a one week semi-final matchup, then the two remaining teams in each bracket play a two week matchup to determine the winners.

The league has no inter-division playoffs.

VIII. PROMOTION & RELEGATION

The BBFL provides for the seasonal promotion and and relegation of teams. In this regard, the divisions are ranked, from highest to lowest: Alomar, Barfield, Carter. The bottom three teams in the Alomar and Barfield Divisions will be relegated to the next lowest division, and the top three teams from the Barfield and Carter Divisions will be promoted to the next highest divisions.

The "bottom three" teams are defined as the three lowest ranked teams in the standings at the conclusion of the regular season. The "top three" teams consist of the 1st and 2nd place teams at the conclusion of the regular season plus the winner of the Championship Bracket playoff. If the 1st or 2nd place team also wins the playoff, the third top team will be the 3rd place finisher in the regular season. Yahoo ranking and tiebreaker rules apply and are final.

For purposes of draft order and determining keepers, each relegated owner shall assume control of the end-of-season roster of a promoted owner, and vice versa. The order is as follows:

  • The 18th-place owner in the Alomar Division shall trade rosters with the 1st-place finisher in the Barfield Division.
  • The 19th-place owner in the Alomar Division shall trade rosters with the 2nd-place finisher in the Barfield Division.
  • The 20th-place owner in the Alomar Division shall trade rosters with the Championship bracket winner (or 3rd place team, if applicable) in the Barfield Division.
  • The same methodology applies to promotion and relegation between the Barfield and Carter Divisions.

IX. TRADES

Trades: Trades may be made at any time from the conclusion of the draft until August 10, 2003. The process is automated by Yahoo. In the event of a trade involving uneven numbers of players, Yahoo will not permit the transaction unless an appropriate number of players are released. For example, in a 3-for-1 trade, the owner acquiring the three players must have two available roster spots. The owner acquiring one player can fill his remaining two spots from the free agent pool. There will be no limits to the number of trades a team can make during the season. There is no trading of future considerations, draft picks, cash or merchandise.

Protests: Owners may protest trades they feel are not in the best interest of the league by emailing the Commissioner. Each Division has a five-member Trade Committee appointed by the Commissioner. A simple majority will approve or disallow a protested trade. Committee members may not vote on a trade involving his own team. If a protested trade involves one Committee member, the Commissioner will serve as a fifth member. If a protested trade involves two Committee members, the other three members will rule. The Commissioner may also serve if another member is unavailable so that the total number of voters is odd.

Trade Committees: The Commissioner will appoint members for each division based on owners’ activity and availability. An owner is not required to serve on a Committee if asked. At any time, the Commissioner may remove a member for not fulfilling his duties and appoint a replacement.

X. FREE AGENTS

Transactions may be made beginning immediately after the conclusion of the draft, through the end of the regular season. Free Agents in the pool may be signed, without limit, in the following manner:

There are no limits to waiver wire pickups as long as each roster does not exceed the active roster limit of 25 players. If a player from an owner's active roster is placed on the waiver wire, there will be a waiting period of two days before that player can be claimed. Any owner may put in a claim for the player, except for the owner who released him. The original owner may not re-sign said player until he clears waivers and becomes a free agent. A waiver wire priority number will be established by Yahoo after the draft, and the owner with the highest priority number will have the first option of picking up a free agent. This priority number is automatically changed after every waiver wire pickup.

XI. OWNERSHIP

When an owner departs the league during the offseason, the Commissioner shall appoint a replacement as prescribed by rule:

Upon determination of all promoted, relegated, and orphaned teams in the league, the Commissioner will contact all owners switching leagues. These owners will be allowed to choose among the ownerless teams in the order described below. Promoted and relegated owners MUST move. Other owners given the opportunity to accept an orphaned team are not required to accept, and they can keep their present teams.

Prompt and efficient handling of ownership changes is essential to the functioning of the league. The Commissioner reserves the right to bypass owners who do not respond as soon as possible.

Regarding the Alomar Division, choice of teams will follow this order (in terms of regular-season finish except as noted):
-- 1st-place finisher in Barfield
-- 2nd-place finisher in Barfield
-- Championship Playoff winner in Barfield (or 3rd-place finisher if the 1st or 2nd-place team won the Playoff)
-- Next highest-ranking team(s) from Barfield, if any are needed

Regarding the Barfield Division, choice of teams will follow this order (in terms of regular-season finish except as noted):
-- 18th-place finisher in Alomar
-- 19th-place finisher in Alomar
-- 20th-place finisher in Alomar
-- 1st-place finisher in Carter
-- 2nd-place finisher in Carter
-- Championship Playoff winner in Carter (or 3rd-place finisher if the 1st or 2nd-place team wins the Playoff)
-- Next highest-ranking team(s) from Carter, if any are needed

Regarding the Carter Division, choice of teams will follow this order (in terms of regular-season finish):
-- 18th-place finisher in Barfield
-- 19th-place finisher in Barfield
-- 20th-place finisher in Barfield
-- New additions to Carter, if any are needed will be assigned teams by the Commissioner.

The Commissioner shall maintain a Waiting List of people interested in replacing existing owners and/or filling out expansion divisions. Any person on the list who is offered a team and declines shall be dropped from the list. All new owners are subject to approval by the Batters Box roster.

XII. RESPONSIBILITY & GOVERNANCE

The BBFL Rules Committee, consisting of the Commissioner and at least four other owners, will be formed prior to each season to represent all owners, but that committee is not empowered to make changes without league approval. Any changes to these rules can be proposed by any owner. If the committee decides the proposed rule has merit, all owners (including the Commissioner) will vote on the question of changing the rule. Rules changes will be proposed, voted on, and instituted only during the "Offseason Rule Change Period" as designated by the commissioner.

75% of owners must be in agreement for any rules to be amended, added, or deleted. Any issues not covered by this Constitution will be referred to the Rules Committee.


This constitution was adopted from the original model described in Rotisserie League Baseball and from the Official Constitution of the Leagues of Alternative Baseball Reality (LABR). Batter's' Box honors LABR as the first official league of experts. Thanks also to the Greensboro Baseball League for Yahoo-specific regulations.