2010-11 MAIL 3- RULES AND REGULATIONS
We the people of
Mail
3 is a modified basic game APBA league which consists of
twenty teams divided into four divisions (Joe DiMaggio, Bobby Hull, David Mudd and
Ken Rehme). The league's daily operations are supervised by a Commissioner. The
Commissioner’s Office prepares the statistics from the monthly updated files
supplied by each manager, posts them on the league website, reports trades and
keeps the rosters up to date in the off-season.. Any significant changes in the
league rules will be submitted to all managers and require a two-thirds vote to
become official.
Schedule.
A Mail 3 season is made of 160 games played in 20 home and road series played
over nine months. Each team plays 19 series—one against each other team and has
one series off in the last two months of play.
The first fifteen series consist of 4 games home and away with each
opponent outside a team's division, and the final four series are five home and
road games against division rivals. The season is comprised of 209 days. After each series, there is one day for
travel (an off day), so that for purposes of a pitching rotation, a manager
plays series 1 (4 games) road, an off day, series 1 (4 games) home, an off day,
series 2 (4 games road) etc. The season begins on June 1 and three series are
played in June and July after which two
series are played per month through February.
free agent and rookie Draft
The free agent and rookie draft is
conducted by the Commissioner and each Mail 3 member can participate through
the chat room set up for the occasion, telephone or by sending in a list of
players in the order he wishes them to be selected. The draft will normally be
conducted no later than April 10 and preferably the first weekend after the
major league baseball season begins. The draft is a reverse order draft
determined by a team's finish in the previous season. However no team that
made the playoffs in the season that was just completed may have a draft
position higher that a team that failed to qualify for the past season. When
two or more teams finish with identical records a coin toss will determine who
selects first in round 1. In subsequent rounds their positions will
alternate. All managers must submit a
MANDATORY written draft list that must reach the Commissioner before the date
of the draft even if they intend to participate on-line. Players eligible for
the draft are those not on any team's roster who have received an APBA card for
the up and coming season. XC's cannot be drafted but can be used during the season
if they are already on a team.
Trading
Mail 3 rosters are set on May 15 and
remain fixed for the entire playing season. Trading however is permitted from
the day after the MLB season ends until May 15. Players and draft picks can be
traded in any combination. All parts of a trade must take place simultaneously
without any limitations, options, loans, or agreement to trade in the future.
Draft picks for the next draft can be traded between the end of the draft and
May 15 and picks for the next two drafts can be exchanged between the end of
the MLB baseball season and the end of the spring draft. Trades must be
reported to the Commissioner to become official and will be reported to all
managers.
Rosters
The roster limit during the season is
30 players. Following the annual draft in April, teams will cut their rosters
to 30 players by May 8 at midnight. The Commissioner will make sure that a list
of cut players is circulated as soon as possible and hopefully within 48 hours
to all managers who can then select players from the list of cuts in reverse
order of their records for the previous season. Once a player is cut they will
no longer be eligible for selection that year. Upon receiving the list of cut
players, teams must respond within 72 hours by providing the Commissioner (or
another manager he designates to act in his place) with a rank-ordered list of
players they wish to select from the cut players and who from their 30 man
roster they would cut if each player is available when it their turn to select
from the cut players list. Managers who fail to send in a list are assumed to
be uninterested in making any selection.
Rosters are
fixed for the following season on May 15 and play begins on June 1. A player on
a roster who does not receive a current APBA card can be retained on the roster
for the following season, but he counts toward the 30 player limit. Each team's
roster must include players who can start all the games of the season at each
position, and enough pitchers to start every game while meeting the league’s
usage rules described below. In the off-season (including the annual free agent
draft), rosters can expand to 40 players. Once a team has 40 players, managers
must drop who acquire additional players in the draft or a trade must immediately
cut another to keep their roster at 40.
Manager's guide
Instructions.
Managers are expected to play the best position players and pitchers over the
course of the season and make every effort to win as many games as possible. The
visiting manager must send instructions to the home manager by the first day of
the month during which the series is scheduled to be played. This includes line-ups for all games,
starting pitcher rotation, instructions for the use of relief pitchers, pinch
hitters, defensive replacements, hit-and-run, intentional walks, and infield
positioning. Managers should make every effort to identify what the home
manager should do in most situations, and the home manager is responsible for
following the instructions as closely as possible, but should use his or her
best judgment to cover any situation which arises which is not covered in the
instructions. Instructions that provide no more than a lineup and starting
pitchers and ask the home manager to make all other decisions are not acceptable.
Scoring.
Score sheets need to be filled out so that the visiting manager can understand
how play proceeded. Putouts and assists need not be recorded. Credit a pitcher
with a save when: he finishes a game won by his team but he is not the winning
pitcher, and he either (a) enters the game with a lead of no more than three
runs and pitches at least an inning, (b) the potential tying run is either on
base, at bat or on deck, (c) or he pitches the last three innings. Any unearned
runs are recorded in the right-hand corner of the innings block on the score
sheets. The visiting manager should send the game score sheets to any visiting
manager interested in receiving them.
Series
statistics. Each manager is
responsible for reporting the stats on each home series to the League Office by
sending his updated Stat Season file and the files for each series he plays to
email address that the Commissioner designates. In the file each manager needs
to record the names, games played, at bats, runs, hits, rbis, doubles, triples,
home runs, walks, strikeouts, hit by pitches, and stolen bases for all batters
(pitchers' batting stats should be lumped together), and games, games started,
complete games, shutouts, wins, losses, saves, innings pitched, hits, runs,
earned runs, home runs, walks and strikeouts for each pitcher who appears in
the series. Please cross-check your totals as a way of checking for obvious
errors.
Protests.
Any manager can protest a game if he believes that his instructions were not
followed correctly or if he believes that the home manager made an error in
player usage or used the wrong play results. If an examination of the score
sheets for the game is necessary, the home manager should send them to the
visiting manager to to verify the results and insure that the instructions
which were sent were followed as best as possible. Any protests of games should be forwarded to
the Commissioner with the appropriate information. The Commissioner will rule
on all protests, except for those involving his own team. In this case a league
member acceptable to both managers will be asked to make a ruling.
Playing
rules. All games are played using all the playing
boards (including the hit-and-run boards) under advanced rules from the 2006
version of APBA’s 66 game. The hit-and run modification that Mail 3 formerly
used is no long necessary. Rainouts are possible; if the game is official (the
home team leading after 4 1/2 innings or more or the visitor ahead after 5 full
innings or more), the game is official; if the game is tied, play resumes from
the point of the rain delay. If not yet official, restart the game as if you
hadn't played at all. Ignore all injuries and ejections.
Visiting
Team slow runner rule. If a slow runner for the visiting team
would be thrown out running the bases because of the S, he does not try
to advance to that base. In all other cases, he advances according to the
playing boards. Note: This rule applies only when the game is played by mail and it applies only to the play result numbers 1 through 11.
If managers wish to add additional restrictions on base running, they much
include these with their instructions.
Player
usage. Players may be used only at the positions listed
on their cards. The maximum-usage number for non-pitchers is the number of
games they appeared in real life during the season. Players who receive an APBA
card as XB's or XC's as well as regulars are eligible to play up to their game
limits. Players may play up to all their eligible appearances at the position
listed first on their APBA card or at any other position at which they appeared
in at least 40 games. They may play at secondary positions in which they
appeared at fewer than 40 games up to 40 times during the season.
The maximum usage number for starting pitchers is his
number of appearances provided 2/3 of those appearances were starts. For
relievers and those starters not meeting the 2/3 rule, the maximum usage number
is the total of innings pitched if they have an A, B or C grade. Pitchers must
have a starting grade to start a game. A pitcher who starts a game much have 3
days of rest between starts. D pitchers are not limited as to appearances or
starts but must rest at least three days between starts. All the maximum-usage
numbers are listed on the roster sheets next to each player's name. For
starters with starts limitations, each relief appearance counts as a start
while for starters with innings limitations, relief innings are subtracted from
his innings totals. After a relief appearance, a pitcher must rest for three
days before a start. Starting pitchers must remain in the game for at least
five innings or until they give up four runs before they can be relieved or
pinch hit for. Players listed as both
pitchers and position players can pitch as they would have if they had only
appeared as pitchers, while they usage as fielders or pinch hitters is
determined by the number of games in which they appeared as non-pitchers.
Be sure not to overuse any player, as a
possible forfeiture may result. Starting pitchers must bat 9th. NO pitcher may
pinch-hit and a pitcher may not hit-and-run unless he has at least two 31's on
his card. No DH's can be used (nor can any games be played on artificial turf).
Playoffs
Eight teams will qualify for the
playoffs—the four division winners and the four second place finishers in each
division. Ties for playoff berths will be broken by a 1 game playoff. A coin
toss will determine which team will be the home team. Any three-way ties will
be settled as follows: Coin tosses will be used to determine which team gets a
bye. The other two teams will play and the winner will play the team that got
the bye. The other provisions (home team and who plays the games) are the same
as for two-way ties. Division playoff games will count in determining positions
in the next draft.
The playoffs will consist of three
rounds. The eight playoff teams will be seeded in the following manner: The
four division winners will be seeded 1 through 4 based on their won-loss
records and head-to-head play (and coin tosses) if the records are the same.
The four next qualifiers will be ranked between 5 and 8 based on the same
criteria. Ties for seeds will be determined by head to head records during the
season, road records and coin tosses in that order. In the playoffs all
pairings will match the highest seeded team
against the lowest remaining seed. The first round begins March 10,
round 2 opens April 1, and the championship series starts April 20.
All playoff series are seven games and
start at the home of the team with the highest seed. Each series will follow a
2-3-2 format with an off day after games 2 and 5. The winning manager of each
playoff series is responsible for sending a write up of the results to the
Commissioner for the yearbook.
Player
Usage In Post-Season Play
Division
tie-breaker. A starting pitcher must pitch at least five
innings or give up four runs before he is removed from a game. No pitcher other
than the starting pitcher may pitch more than two innings. Only position
players with 80 or more total games during the major league season may start or
appear defensively before the 7th inning of the game. If no player meeting this
requirement is available for a given position, then the player with the most
regular season games at that position must start. In addition, a player must
have played 40 or more games at a secondary position during the major league
season in order to start at that position or appear defensively before
the 7th inning. Players may pinch-hit or pinch-run at any time, and there are
no restrictions on using a player at any position listed on his card after the
6th inning.
Playoffs. Pitchers. A 3-man rotation is allowed
in post-season play. Starters must rest three days between starts, and a
starting pitcher in a playoff game must go at least five innings or give up
four runs before they are relieved. Pitchers who are eligible to start 30 or
more regular season games may start up to three games in each playoff series; pitchers who were eligible to start 17-29 regular
season games or who are eligible to pitch more than 135 innings as a starter
may start up to two games in each playoff series; and pitchers who are
eligible to start under 17 regular season games or who are eligible to pitch
under 135 innings as a starter may start one play off game in each series. Use of relief pitchers in each series is limited to
7.5% of the innings (rounded to the nearest third of an inning) they pitched in
the major league season with a maximum of 7 innings for any reliever in any
series. Starters may relieve in the playoffs and are subject to innings
restrictions based on the innings that they pitched as well and can be used for
a maximum of 7 innings in any series. A starter must rest three days before
appearing in relief, and if a starter relieves he must rest for three days
before starting again. Once a pitcher makes a start, he is limited to the
maximum of appearances for which he is eligible to pitch in the series, and once
he appears in relief he is on an innings restriction for the series. He
may pitch those innings as a starter
(after proper rest), but to start he must be eligible to pitch at least 5
innings in that game. Each playoff series as well as the division playoff (if needed) is
viewed independently. Thus managers can use a starter the last day of the
regular season, in a division tie-breaker and then in the 1st, 4th, and 7th
games of each of the three playoff rounds.
Position
players. Position players who
play 80 or more games can appear in all games; players who play 40-79 games can
appear in 4 games; and players who play in less than 40 games can appear in 2
games as a starter, pinch hitter or fielder. Players may play at the primary
position listed on their card or any other position at which they played 40 or
more games for all games they are eligible to play; players may play 2 games at
any secondary position listed on their card if they played fewer than 40 games
at that position provided they are eligible to play in the game based on their
overall eligibility as spelled out above.
Newsletter
Each month during the season the
Commissioner is responsible for sending out a newsletter and making sure the
updated statistics including the team standings, league leaders and statistics
for the players on each team are posted on the league’s website. League members
are encouraged to send the Commissioner any special newsworthy events such as
great performances of individual players, team records or just advice to be
shared. In addition there will be
special bulletins sent out from time to time during the off-season and in
connection with the draft. The Commissioner is responsible for producing a
Yearbook following each season.