2026 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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