2025 Fantasy Baseball Rules
Note: Throughout these rules you will see the terms "player" and "manager" used frequently. The term player will always refer to a major league player and the term manager will always refer to the fantasy players in our league.
Table of Contents
Section A: League Specs
| 1. | For League Specs click here. |
Section B: League Settings
| 1. | The starting roster will consist of 1 players
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There will be a bench of -1 players. Therefore your maximum roster size is players. Your minor league roster size is unlimited. |
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| 2. | The league will run as a standard head-to-head league with playoffs. The top six teams will make the playoffs each year. Stat categories will be the standard 5x5. This is the most common type of fantasy baseball scoring structure. If you are unfamiliar with 5x5 scoring do a quick Google search. |
Section C: Auction
| 1. | The auction order will be determined by the previous year's rankings. |
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| 2. | Team managers will have a $ million base salary cap for the auction. Expansion teams will get an additional $ million salary their first year, and an additional $ million their second year. When the auction has ended managers will receive an additional $ million to spend on free agency and call-ups. |
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| 3. | The auction will be conducted using a strict time limit. The time limit structure is as follows:
a) Initial player and salary proposal – seconds
b) First counter offer – seconds
c) All other counter offers – seconds
If a manager fails to propose a player within the initial seconds the program will move to the next active manager and start his/her seconds.
At any point during the auction if a manager (either willingly or unwillingly) declines to propose a player for 1 consecutive rounds the manager will automatically be removed from the auction and will have no further action until the minor league draft.
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| 4. | During bidding, the highest monetary offer will determine who wins the player. i.e. If someone makes a bid of $14 million, a valid higher bid would be $15 million, etc. Once the bidding for a player is over the winning manager will have 30 seconds to select a contract period. The min. contract period is one year and the max. is five years. (potential future change: new bid structure, currently undetermined, where for example, $15M for 5 years is a winning bid over $16M for 1 year.) |
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| 5. | Once a manager is out of the auction, the manager cannot re-enter for any reason. This includes trading away players to free up roster spots while the auction is still happening. |
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| 6. | Managers must bid in valid increments as set forth in the following table (Live Auction Bidding Increment Table):
| Pay Class | Salary Range | Min. Valid Increments (per yr) |
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| 1 | $400,000 - $999,999 | $100,000 |
| 2 | $1 million - $4.75 million | $250,000 |
| 3 | $5 million – $9.5 million | $500,000 |
| 4 | $10 million & up | $1,000,000 |
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| 7. | Only players that do not have rookie eligibility can be nominated in the auction. All other players MUST be reserved for the minor league draft. |
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| 8. | Only players with a profile page on baseball-reference.com are eligible to be drafted in major league or minor league draft. |
Section D: Roster Moves
| 1. | Once the draft is complete, players on your team can be added to your Yahoo team by signing Free Agents in Yahoo. All roster changes throughout the season will be performed by adding/dropping players in Yahoo. The league commissioner will make any necessary changes in this system. |
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| 2. | Make sure you follow salary cap constraints when executing a transaction. Penalties for breaking salary cap restraints will be handed down by the commission at his sole discretion based on the severity of the infraction and his mood at the time. Penalties could range forfeiting a week (sitting your lineup - would have to be orchestrated to not affect other teams), being banned from potential payouts, losing draft picks next year, or buying the beer for next year's draft.
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Section E: Minor Leagues
| 1. | Minor league players will be selected during the Minor League Draft which will begin immediately after the live auction. The first year a team is in the league, they will get picks. Each year after the first, managers will get picks. Draft picks are able to be traded through the "Propose Trade" page. Any players who were not won in the auction are eligible to be selected in the Minor League Draft. (i.e. any active major leaguers as well as minor league players.)
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| 2. | Draft order is based on the standings in Yahoo at the end of the year, but EVERY game counts. Even in the loser bracket. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 8th place are determined by the results of Yahoo playoff games. 5th, 6th, and 8th-12th are determined by the reverse of Yahoo Playoff game results. Once you hit the playoffs (winner bracket or loser bracket), you have incentive to win every single game you play. You are either playing for money or to move up one spot in the draft the following year.
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| 3. | At the beginning of each season managers will have several options regarding players on their minor league roster. The first two options are always available and they are as follows:
| a) | Drop them back into the free agency pool.
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| b) | Call them up and sign them for one to three seasons at the league minimum . This will be referred to in our league as the player's Rookie Contract.
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The third option is only available for minor league players who were not called up during the course of the previous season or who still have rookie eligibility status and is as follows:
| c) | Retain them on their minor league roster for the upcoming season, up to 3 times, or as long as they have rookie eligibility status
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| 4. | Minor league players will be eligible for call-up at any time during the season. However, once called up the player must be paid a salary of $ million (the league minimum.) Therefore, you must have enough free salary to pay any player you call up. Also remember that when you call a player up during the season, that player loses eligibility to remain on your minor league roster the following year. |
Section F: Call Ups
| 1. | You may call a player up from your minor league team at any time throughout the season. Your roster size isn't fixed during the year, but you cannot start the year with a roster size greater than |
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| 2. | The number of times you may call a player up and send a player down throughout the season is unlimited. |
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| 3. | Very important. Please be aware that if you decide to call a player up the player cannot stay on your minor league roster the following year. This is especially important if your man roster is already full for the following season. In this case you will be forced to drop a minor leaguer or a member of your man roster before the beginning of the next draft to reconcile your man roster limit. |
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Section G: Arbitration
| 1. | At the point at which a player finishes his Rookie Contract, the player will be eligible for arbitration. A player can be eligible for arbitration for only two seasons. |
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| 2. | The manager of an arbitration eligible player will decide whether or not to offer arbitration to the player before the draft. The manager will select Decline, System, or Draft. If arbitration is Declined, the player will go back into the FA pool and will be available to be signed in the draft. |
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| 3. | System Arbitration: (this is how arbitration has historically worked)
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- If System arbitration is accepted, the player will receive a system generated Arbitration Salary based on the arbitration class the player falls into.
- System Arbitration Classes: hitters and pitchers will be separated into two categories with two different pay scales. There will be class A, B, and C hitters, and there will be class A, B, and C pitchers.
- Hitters who were in the top 5 of MVP voting will be placed in class A. Hitters who received at least one vote for MVP or were on the All-Star team roster will be placed in class B. All other hitters will be placed in class C.
- Pitchers who were in the top 3 of Cy Young voting will be placed in class A. Pitchers who received at least one Cy Young vote or who were on the All-Star team roster will be placed in class B. All other pitchers will be placed in class C.
- To see which class an arbitration eligible player falls into click here.
- System Arbitration Salaries will be calculated using the following formulas:
* Class A Hitter salary is the average of the top 10 hitters salaries in the league averaged over the last 3 years
* Class B Hitter salary is the average of the 11-50 hitters salaries in the league averaged over the last 3 years
* Class C Hitter salary is the average of the 51-100 hitters salaries in the league averaged over the last 3 years
* Class A Pitcher salary is the average of the top 6 pitchers salaries in the league averaged over the last 3 years
* Class B Pitcher salary is the average of the 7-30 pitchers salaries in the league averaged over the last 3 years
* Class C Pitcher salary is the average of the 31-60 pitchers salaries in the league averaged over the last 3 years
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- Players in their first year of arbitration eligibility will receive % of the salary dictated by their arbitration pay scale. Players in their second year of arbitration eligibility will receive % of the salary dictated by their arbitration pay scale.
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| 4. | Draft Arbitration:
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- If Draft arbitration is offered, the player will enter the Arbitration Draft, which precedes our Major League Draft.
- Arbitration Draft Rules:
* The team that offers Draft Arbitration is not allowed to bid on the player. If no other team bids on the player, the team that offered Arbitration will automatically pay the player a league min salary for 1 year.
* All bidding must be done using Next Min Bid, and you cannot bid if you are the high bidder.
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- Once the player receives an Arbitration Salary through the draft, the team that nominated the player for Arbitration will have an option to sign the player for the Arbitration discount. For players in their first year of arbitration, the team will have the option to sign the player for % of the salary determined in the draft. For players in their second year of arbitration, the team will have the option to sign the player for % of the salary determined in the draft.
- Valid bids are required. If a team is eligible to sign a player at a 50% discount, and the player is bid up to $1.75M, the arbitration salary after discount would be $2.75M * .5 = $1.375 which rounds up to the next valid bid of $1.5M.
- If the team that offers arbitration elects to not sign the player at the discounted salary, the team that won the bid will have the option to sign the player for up to 5 years at the salary reached in the bidding.
- If a player is bid up to the Class C FAC Salary for the current year, and the team that offered arbiration elects to not sign the player at the discount, the team that loses the Arbitration eligible player will be awarded an end of the draft compensation pick.
- Roster Limit! If you offer draft arbitration to a player, and then fill your roster before the player is nominated for arbitration, the player will no longer be eligible for arbitration and will be available to be nominated in the Major League draft. This could happen by signing minor leaguers or via a trade. Make sure you save roster spots if you offer Draft Arbitration.
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Section H: Free Agency (In-season)
| 1. | At the end of the live auction managers will be given an additional $ million (Salary Bonus) that will be added to their team's remaining available payroll. This money will be used primarily for free agent (FA) pick-ups but also for farm system call-ups (more on the Farm System in section G below.) Free agency works as follows. All un-auctioned/undrafted players will be eligible to be signed as free agents for the remainder of the season. Managers can sign up to free agents throughout the year using their remaining available payroll. Remaining available payroll is calculated by adding remaining salary from the auction plus the $ million Salary Bonus. Remember that if you fail to use all of your remaining available payroll throughout the year, it can be used to buyout contracts before the following year's draft. |
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| 2. | Any unspent payroll will turn into "Surplus Salary" and will be used to buy-out unwanted contracts prior to the following season. More on this in Section J: Salary Buy-outs. |
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| 3. | Any free agent acquisition must be proposed to the league via the Free Agent section of our site. The auction end time will be set for hours after the player is nominated. There will be a minimum of hours to bid after any future bids. The auction end time will be extended as necessary. Bids must be in valid increments via the "Live Auction Bidding Increment Table" detailed in section B. |
Section I: Free Agent Compensation
| 1. | At the time of the minor league draft it will be determined which managers lost "Type A", "Type B", and "Type C" free agents. These managers will be awarded extra picks in the minor league draft or Free Agent bonus money after the draft depending on which type of free agent was lost.
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| 2. | Players who receive a contract equivalent to 80% (or more) of the average of the top salaries (1-) from the previous 3 years ($NAN) in the current auction will be designated as "Type A" free agents. Players who receive a contract equivalent to 80% (or more) of the average of the next salaries (1-0) from the previous 3 years ($NAN) in the current auction will be designated as "Type B" free agents. Players who receive a contract equivalent to 80% (or more) of the average of the next salaries (1-0) from the previous 3 years ($NAN) in the current auction will be designated as "Type C" free agents.
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| 3. | Compensation for Type A free agents lost will be a first round "Sandwich" pick that will take place after every manager has picked in the first round but before the second round begins. Compensation for Type B free agents will be a supplemental "end of draft" pick that will take place after final round of the minor league draft is completed. There may be multiple rounds of sandwich picks and supplemental picks depending on the total number of Type A and Type B free agents lost. Draft order for these bonus rounds will follow the same order as the other rounds. Compensation for Class C free agents lost will be $ awarded at the end of the draft which will raise your mid-season salary cap for bidding on Free Agents or buying out contracts the following year.
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| 4. | Players will not qualify for Free Agent Compensation if they are traded for in the final year of their contract (after the draft is over) or if they were signed as a Free Agent the previous year. They will also not qualify if they were arbitration eligible, but not offered arbitration.
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Section J: Bonus Salary
| 1. | Bonus salary is money that is added to each manager's $ million salary cap at the end of the live auction. It can be used for free agent acquisitions or to buy-out contracts after the season is over and can be acquired in two ways. First, every manager automatically receives a $ million salary bonus at the completion of the auction. The second way to acquire bonus salary is through the loss of Class C free agents. Each Class C free agent lost will be worth an additional $ million in bonus salary. |
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| 1. | Bonus salary is money that is added to each manager's $ million salary cap at the end of the live auction. It can be used for free agent acquisitions or to buy-out contracts after the season is over and can be acquired in two ways. First, every manager automatically receives a $ million salary bonus at the completion of the auction. The second way to acquire bonus salary is through the loss of Class C free agents. Each Class C free agent lost will be worth an additional $ million in bonus salary. |
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| 2. | The total of any un-spent salary during the auction plus all bonus salary equals a manager's available payroll for the rest of the season. Once the season has ended, available payroll becomes "Surplus Salary" which can be used to buy-out unwanted contracts the following year. Any "Surplus Salary" that is not used to buy-out contracts will be lost when the live auction begins! |
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Section K: Trades
| 1. | Trade deadline is 2025-12-10 00:41:48. If the league wants to change it on a year-by-year basis (due to weirdness like Covid/Strike/etc), we can modify the trade deadline to a date that makes sense to the league then. |
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| 2. | All trades must follow the constraints of both manager's salary caps. Therefore, if a trade will put one manager over their salary cap for the current season, or any future season, the trade is invalid. All trades must be structured to comply with salary cap constraints. This is automated through our keeper league site to prevent invalid trades from being proposed. When a trade is accepted, the league receives and email alerting them. |
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| 3. | Only players who qualify for Free Agent Compensation at the end of their contract are eligible to be traded. |
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| 4. | Trades are subject to a -Hour commissioner review period and to allow other teams to voice their concerns. At the end of the -Hour period, the trade will be automatically processed. The commissioner will have the option to veto the trade anytime before the -Hour period expires. |
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| | **Traded draft picks - If a team trades a future draft pick and then leaves the league, the traded draft picks are put at the end of the round. In other words, if there are 12 teams in the league and you traded for a draft pick from a team that left the league, that draft pick would be the 13th pick of that round. |
Section L: Contract Buyouts/Player Drops
| 1. | Inevitably managers will find themselves stuck with players who are no longer active, or who no longer compete at a viable level. In these instances managers will have two options:
a) The first option is to "Buy-out" the remainder of the unproductive player's contract. When a manager buys-out a player the remainder of that player's contract must be paid in it's entirety. There are no partial buy-outs. Buy-outs are executed in the form of one lump sum payment that is equal to the yearly salary multiplied by the number of years remaining on the contract. Once "bought-out" the player will return to the free agent pool and follow the free agent guidelines of this league. Managers are eligible to re-sign players they have previously bought-out or dropped (drops covered next.) However, it would be under a new contract and any salary still owed from the previous buy-out would still be owed.
b) The second option is to "Drop" the player from the man roster. When a manager chooses to drop a player the financial obligations of the contract remain but the player is removed from the manager's man roster. "Dropped" contracts may be bought-out in subsequent seasons if the manager has enough available surplus salary to cover the remaining balance of the contract in it's entirety.
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| 2. | Players may only buy-out contracts during the offseason. The offseason in this league is defined as the period of time between January 1st and the beginning of the live auction. |
Section M: Rookie Eligibility
| 1. | All players are assigned a rookie eligibility status.
a) Hitters that have less than 150 major league at bats have rookie status
b) Pitchers that have less than 50 major league innings pitched have rookie status
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| 2. | What does a player's rookie status mean for our league?
a) The player is ineligible to be nominated in our major league auction and must be left for the minor league draft.
b) If a player in your minor league system has rookie eligibility, the player is eligible to remain in your minor leagues, even after the initial 3 year minor league contract expires, for as long as the player retains rookie status.
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Section N: Expansion
| 1. | Expansion teams play for free their first year.
| | 2. | Expansion teams will jump to the top of the draft order.
| | 3. | Expansion teams will draft minor leaguers their first year. Class B compensation picks come after these.
| | 4. | Expansion teams will get an additional $M salary their first year.
| | 5. | Expansion teams will get an additional $M salary their second year.
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