Once you register and pay for your team you can create a private league for you and your friends. The commissioner can then go to the League editor on the My Account à Leagues page, select to use the League Classifieds and advertise the open league spots to the gamedayritual public.

2. What are the league size options for public leagues?

There are 8-team and 12-team public leagues available with various playoff and divisional formats.

3. Can we set up divisions for larger leagues?

Yes, during the league setup for private leagues you will have the option to have 1, 2 or 3 divisions based on whether they divide your league size evenly. In a 3 division league a wild-card system is used to decide the 4th playoff team (if playoff format is chosen).

4. How do divisional formats affect the schedule?

The divisions are for standings and playoffs purposes only. They do not affect the schedule.

5. Is it possible to play AL or NL only leagues?

No. In this year's version of the FAB you cannot do this.

6. Is it possible for the "commish" of a league to choose the date and time for the start of their league's FAB?

Yes, you can select your start date and select from a set of start times that are pre-optimized based on league size and time zones. This is done through the League editor on the My Account à Leagues page

7. Do the league creators, or "commissioners", have any "special" powers?

For new leagues, they do not. The only "special" power that they have is to determine what time the FAB starts and invite owner to fill up the league. For returning leagues they has several special roles including the ability to expand and contract the league, remove owners, allow firesales, etc.

8. I would like to take over a "orphan" team from last season. How can I do this?

An orphan team is a team from last season in which its previous owner did not return and the league's commissioner has determined that it needs a new owner. You can acquire an orphan team in the signup system by selecting "Acquire a Returning Team" and following the instructions.

9. If I buy a league will I have to just pay for the league and my friends will be able to join for free?

Yes. You can provide them with the LeagueID and password and they can join the league and set up their team for free.

10. Can you change your stadium's dimensions after the FAB?

No, however before the FAB next season you can make some modification to your stadium. We don't want any team to get hamstrung by decisions they made way back in Feb/Mar 2006.

11. Why do we build a stadium?

The stadium will have adjustment effects (i.e. park effects) on some of your player's stats throughout your weekly games. For example, if you build a park like Coors (at altitude) you will have a bonus in most offensive categories (as will your opponent), if you build a park like Fenway you will have a boost in doubles for righties (banging the ball off the green monster). This is outlined in detail in the User's Guide and Manual.

12. Can you see your opponents' stadium designs before the FAB?

Yes. If an opponent has saved a stadium it will be listed as one of the preset stadiums.

The Basics of the Free Agency Blitz (FAB)

1. How long is the Free Agency Blitz ("FAB")?

The full, normal speed FAB will take your league about 6 days to complete (somewhat analogous to your common online "slow-live-draft"). There are also 11-day (slow) and 1-day (turbo) versions. The 11-day and 6-day versions have players signing every 10 minutes during a wave's signing period (the difference being the 11-day FAB has a 48 hour On the Market period versus a 24 hour period for the 6-day version). The 1-day FAB have players signing every 2 minutes during signing periods in each wave.

2. What is the goal of the FAB?

Your goal in the FAB is to accumulate a team of 22-28 players that will represent the core of your fantasy team during the regular season. You will actually have both a 25-man and 40-man roster available to you during the regular season so even after the FAB you will be wheeling, dealing and prospect-drafting to fill up your team.

3. What is the FAB?

The best way to summarize things: pretend that you are a real-MLB GM and field manager. How would you build your team? All righties? All fleet-footed? You also should think about the effects of your stadium design!

These elements and others all affect your scoring and head-to-head match-ups during the season.

In the FAB itself you have $100 million, 50 contract years and 3 "no trade clauses" in which to spend. With that you will likely acquire about 22-28 players and you will want to have a little cash and years left over to pick up guys off free agency or trades during the season.

The FAB is essentially an auction process where you offer contracts to players, they provide you feedback on your offers, and you decide whether to make another offer or offers. It is a dynamic process as you, and other teams, make offers to players until they select the best one and sign. Throughout this process you will be receiving feedback on how good your offer is, how other bids are shaping up, how many more offers the player will accept from you, etc.

4. When does a FAB start?

For public leagues, the FAB starts no less than 48 hours after the league is filled. Generally a public league's FAB will start in the morning PST. You will receive an email the moment the league is full telling you when the FAB is about to start.

For private leagues, the league creator decides the start date of the FAB. It can be any day prior to the start of the regular season and the creator can select from a list of appropriate time slots for when the FAB starts.

5. What do I need to do before my league's FAB starts?

At first when you log in it may seem that the FAB is imposing and complicated. This is normal. In fact, it's hard to fully understand what is happening in a FAB or the information that the interface is telling you until the FAB actually starts. Having said, you should log in and play around with the interface and get your player preferences set up before your league's FAB actually starts. It is very important that you log in before the FAB starts to do a little set up or the system will start making bids on your behalf.

You are going to want to add players to your First Offer Queue (see the big warning that it is currently empty?). Follow the various instructions on the page on how to do this. One point: if the guy does not have a checkmark beside his name, he is NOT in your First Offer Queue! Add about 15-20 players in various positions. You can queue more than one player per position if you wish --- you can also sign more than one if your "max to sign" for that position is above "1".

6. How does the FAB process work?

The FAB works in "waves", each FAB has 5 waves, each a total of 24 hours long (in the 6-day version). In each wave there are a total of exactly 60 players (for a 12 team league) that are "On the Market" and can be offered contracts. At the end of the wave all of these players will be signed and a new set of 60 players are simultaneously added for a second wave. That is, each time a player signs a new player comes on the market. This way there is always an active market of 60 players to negotiate with.

7. What does it mean if I sign a player for more than one year?

This is a "dynasty league", meaning if you sign a guy for two years, you've got him next season too!

8. How do players become "On the Market?"

You decide this as a league. You take turns making "First Offers" to players until you each have made 5 First Offers to 5 unique players. This first offer is essentially like announcing to the press that you are offering a certain player a contract and them subsequently responding "I am now on the market". Your league will be making, in turns, a First Offer to a new player every ten minutes for 10 hours at the beginning of each wave. So, your team, if it is in a 12 team league, will be making a First Offer to a player every two hours.

9. How do I make a First Offer and do I need to be at my computer when it is my turn (What is the First Offer Queue)?

All you need to do is "queue" players that you would like to introduce On the Market. This is called the "First Offer Queue". When it is your turn to make a First Offer and put a player On the Market, the system will take the top player in your First Offer Queue and make him the offer that you have prescribed. Just a couple of notes:

Make sure that you have 15-20 players in your First Offer queue at the start of each wave. Since it is likely that another team ahead of you will have made a First Offer to a player that you have queued (eliminating him from your queue), your queue will shrink throughout the process. You can however add players at any time.

Make sure that you have a decent bid set up for players in your First Offer queue. The default bid is quite low (the lowest that that particular player will sign for) and he will often find it insulting if you start off at that level (and may not subsequently negotiate with you). When it is your turn to inject a player to the market he is receiving that offer first!

10. How long do I have to negotiate with a player?

After a player has been On the Market for 48 hours he will take his best offer and sign with that team. So, you have 48 hours from the time that a player is made a First Offer (and thereby put on the market) to negotiate a contract.

11. Can I bid on a player after he is On the Market?

Yes. Just click on the "Show Un-Queued Players On the Market" box in your team planner and he will appear. Then click on the [+] button and make him an offer. The longer you wait to do this the more of a possibility there is that it will have a detrimental effect on your GM Rating. You can also bid on him through the On the Market page by pressing [+] beside his name to add him to your position queues and then subsequently submitting a bid.

12. At what point are free agents acquired in the FAB?

A free agent will sign exactly 48 hours after he is injected On the Market. The moment that he signs (actually, 5 minutes later) a team injects a new player via their First Offer Queue. There is actually a rolling 8-14 hour period (depending on your league size) that players will be signing and new players will be entering the market.

This way you know who to make First Offers to in the next wave based on who you acquired in the previous wave.

This is a good time to come online for a bit to see how things are playing out in your bids and "tweak" your First Offers

13. Am I obligated to acquire a minimum number of free agents each wave?

No, you are not obliged to acquire any number of free agents at all.

Before the FAB

1. When I am queuing my pitchers, all are going into the SP1 queue even when a few of them are RP. What is happening?

When you have searched for a player in the database and wish to add him to a queue you need to select the queue that you wish to add him in the drop down box beside the checkbox before pressing "Add". In this case you are allowed to put RP in SP queues so it is defaulting to SP1 unless you select the correct queue prior to pressing "Add".

Fixing this is easy. Click on the SP1 queue (where is says SP1 in the green box on the ball diamond). This will bring up the SP1 queue as active. You can then use the MOVE drop down menu to move a specific player to a different SP or RP queue.

2. When I add outfielder to my queues they keep showing up in the OF1 queue. What is happening?

Same issue and solution as above.

3. If a player is given a First Offer by another team, and I don't have that player in my queue somewhere, does that mean I can't bid on him?

If another team puts a player On the Market by making a First Offer, you can still bid in him anytime regardless if you had him queued. Having said this, if you have that player in your First Offer Queue (i.e. he has a checkmark beside his name) then when another team injects him, you will instantly make an offer on him as well. This is why it is important to have a decent bid set up for all the players you have in your First Offer Queue, regardless if they are near the top of the list.

4. How and when can I change an offer to a player before the FAB starts?

You change your proposed bid for a player at any time up to the moment that he is comes "On the Market". Make sure that you don't low ball him off the start too much: you can annoy him and he may decide to not continue negotiating with you if he received other, much better offers off the bat.

5. What happens if I don't have any players with checkmarks beside their name (i.e. my First Offer Queue is empty)?

If your FOQ runs empty, it will invoke your preferences in the AutoBid system and make a First Offer on your behalf. The system will NOT revert to unchecked players in your queues to issue First Offers (those players are there to "monitor" only).

6. Can I place a player in a different position queue from which he plays in real life?

You can "move" a player to any position queue you wish BUT during the season he cannot play that position unless he had 15 games played at that position in either 2004 or 2005. You can see a player's position eligibility by calling up his player card (click on his name in the Team Planner)

All players, when you add them to a queue, will default to their primary position queue.

7. If a player is made a First Offer by another team, and I don't have that player in my queue somewhere, does that mean I can't bid on him?

No. If another team puts a player On the Market by making a First Offer, you can still bid in him anytime regardless if you had him queued. Having said this, if you have that player in your First Offer Queue (i.e. he has a checkmark beside his name) then when other team injects him, you will instantly make an offer on him as well. This is why it is important to have a decent bid set up for all the players you have in your First Offer Queue, regardless if they are near the top of the list.

Playing the FAB

1. How do I know if a player is a good hitter in a particular batting order spot?

In the player database view you can select "BO+" (as well as various other stat types) in the "Stats:" drop down menu. This will show the extra fantasy point the player received last season based on each spot in the batting order that he could have hit.

2. Why do I have a player in my First Offer Queue that is greyed out? What does this mean?

That player is greyed as you have other player(s) ahead of him in that positional queue in the Team Planner AND you have "Max to Pursue" set in that queue to too low of value. This means that if the greyed player moves to the top of your First Offer Queue he will not be injected. In addition, if another team places him On the Market you will not automatically bid on him.

If you want the system to bid on multiple players in the same position queue at the same time then you will need to set your Max to Pursue in that queue to a higher number. Be careful though. this is a safety mechanism to prevent you from accidentally offering contracts to too many players at the same position at the same time.

An alternative is: if the player(s) in that position queue that are above the player that is greyed out are not yet On the Market, you can move them below the currently greyed (ineligible) player by moving them down in your First Offer Queue (in the First Offer Queue page).

3. I injected a player On the Market via the First Offer Queue and he now has a red box and a zero next to his name. What does this mean?

This means that you tendered an offer significantly lower than another team (or teams) in your league had queued for that player and he considers further negotiations with your team as a waste of time. Specifically: the red means that you have a poor offer relative to the highest offer that was tendered to that player. The zero represents the number of additional offers the player will hear from you. We call this, affectionately, as the BRZ (big red zero).

The game is designed to thwart the eBay-style last minute mark-up frenzy, so, if you really want a given player you should come in with a bid that is at or very near what you would be willing to sign that player for - or risk your negotiations being cut short.

This status can change, however unlikely, by the leading team rescinding their offer or your GM Rating improving throughout the negotiation period. This is rare but possible.

4. Should I delete players in my Team Planner that have red "X"s beside their names, indicating that I lost in bidding on them?

You can, but if you do your bidding history on that player is lost as well. This means that if you wish to see your losing bid next to the winning bid for a player on the League Progress page, the info that you even bid on him will not be there if you deleted him off your Team Planner.

5. When I mouse over the players in the Team Planner some players give me bidding feedback but other players do not. Why is this?

You only get feedback from players you have offers on. It is possible to have a GM Rating so low that you don't get any feedback but you will get the same level of feedback from all players (you have offers on) at a given time.

6. Does every "On the Market" player appear green on at least one team's Team Planner?

No, there it not necessarily one team per league that is getting green feedback per each player on the market. Consider the event that two teams are tied (or close to tied) with the best bid on a player. They would both be getting yellow feedback with no other teams getting green feedback.

7. Is there a way that I can avoid making a First Offer when it is my team's turn to inject a player?

Yes. In fact, this is important to do if you are running out of, or have run out of, salary cap space, contract years or no-trade clause to offer. This can be done by going to the Auto-Bid page and selecting "AutoBid puts player who is best fit for your team* On the Market". That is, select the option that does not tender an offer.

8. If I no longer want to see a player anymore on my Team Planner (i.e. he won't accept any more bids and is just sitting there with a red zero) is there a way to "hide" him without having to rescind my offer?

No. Currently, if you rescind this player you will have a reduction in your GM Rating.

9. What is the formula behind a player's contract demands?

None aside from the fact that he will not accept anything less than his appointed "Min Bid". It is the market (i.e. the offers by other teams in your league) that dictates how much a player is going to sign for.

10. Is there a formula behind whether I get a "red zero" on my First Offer to a player?

This is a bit of a "black box" formula. It should be noted that, in an average league, 25-35% of First Offers made to players will be considered "uninteresting" by the player. This is an average based on the dynamics created by of one or more teams often bidding quite high for a player right off the bat, putting those 25-35% of offers out of contention early.

11. How many times are we allowed to change our offer to a player?

Before the player is On the Market you can change the offer as many times as you wish. Once he is on the market you can change your offer only as many times as is indicated in the small box beside his name (0, 1 or 2). This depends on the perceived relative quality of your First Offer.

12. Is there another way for me to get more feedback on how my offer is doing with a player other than the colors?

Mouse over players in the mini-queues in your team planner page - if you have a bid on them you can get Insider Info. The higher your GM Rating, the more detailed the information will be.

13. The contract demand settings seem to be set really high ... or am I cheap?

As for "contract demands", there are no real settings per se. If you get a BRZ (big red zero), that means that someone else in your league has gone with a high offer to a player to blow you out of the water at the start. When the players start signing you'll be able to see who beat you and at what ridiculous offer... You'll feel better then.

Also, keep in mind that older players "consider" contract duration more heavily than younger players. As such, if you ever really want a player that is aged: make sure the offer is for a high amount or give him an extra contract year for security.

14. I offered strong young player a two year offer at $7.0M per year but he took a one year offer at $6.5M from another team instead? What happened?

In this situation, given the player's young age and relative early success in his career, he felt that he would be better off taking the short contract at a little less money per year than the longer one. Essentially he feels that both offers are a little low and given that he would like to re-enter the free agent market next season to try his luck again.

If both offers were higher in value but still for one and two years respectively, he likely would have taken the longer term deal (assuming both teams had the same GM Rating)

some dimensions) but you will start with a brand new $100 million payroll the next season.

15. What happens if I sign a player to a long term contract and then he retires (for real) after one year?

Sorry, he will sit on your roster for the duration of his contract and will continue to collect a salary. You can, however, release him and only be on the hook for 50% of his remaining salary (just like if you waived any other player).

16. What happens if I have the bid on a player but when he signs I do not have the cash, the contract years or the no trade clauses left to fulfill the offer, even if my bid is not the highest?

At the moment of signing the system checks all offers on the table for a player (whether they are leading or not) and determines whether each team has the resources to pay. If the system finds that a team does not have the resources to fulfill the offer and it will be automatically rescinded. This will have a significant negative effect on your GM Rating.

It does not matter if you have the highest offer in this event and as such when you are running low on cash or years or no-trade clauses it is important that you don't have any single offers set up that extend you beyond these limits.

17. Why is there a set "Max to Pursue" limit on each position -- is it not easier to let owners bid on as many players at a position that they want?

The limit is in place for owners that are not at their PCs all the time and therefore want the system to prevent them from acquiring too many players at any one position. If you anticipate that you will be at your PC regularly you can increase these values if you wish.

18. If two owners issue the same bid for a player, how does the system decide who gets the player?

The tie goes to the team with the higher GM Rating. If that is tied, it goes to the team that bid on that player first.

19. I just lost out in signing a player that I had the highest bid by $2 million per year because another other team included in their offer a no-trade clause. How much is a NT clause worth?

A NT-clause can be worth between 10% and 30% in additional perceived value based on contract length. For large deals this can be very significant.

20. A young player just took a long term deal over a short term one that had the same annual salary. I thought that they preferred not to be "tied down"?

This is generally true except for the case where the annual offers in question are significantly higher than his min bid value (and thus, his expectations). This particular player figures that going back to the free agent market next season isn't going produce the type offer that he just got offered long term. As such, the big difference between his expectations and the salary that he was being offered trumped the fact that he is young and does not want to be "tied down".

21. What happens if two teams are bidding on a player and when it comes time for them to sign neither team can afford him?

If nobody can afford the offers they have made to the player in question, at the moment of signing they will both be auto-rescinded by the system. Given that the player will then have no legitimate offers on the table at time of signing he re-enter the "idle" free agent market and will have to be re-injected into the Market by anther team. The player will no longer accept offers from either team and both teams' GM Ratings are going to take a hit.

22. How do I find out my GM Rating?

It is in the top right-hand corner of the Tools panel during the FAB. You start with a 50 rating.

23. How low can my GM Rating go and how does it affect my offers to players?

The lowest that your GM Rating can go is 0 and the highest is 100 (you started at 50). We don't want to divulge too much regarding exactly the effect of this (to avoid manipulation) but we will offer the following example: if one team with a GM Rating of 50 comes in with an offer on a player at $5.0M/2Y, you would lose if you offered $5.5M/2Y but win with $6.0M/2Y on the same player. This assumes an average player (the guy is in his early 30s, the offers are about twice his "min bid" value and he weighs contract size and duration pretty evenly).

24. Do I have to rescind offers for players that I'm out of the running for?

The player will get around to rejecting you when he signs. Rescinding at this point on those guys that you think you are out of the running for (i.e. red zero) will hurt your GM Rating. Keep in mind that other teams may also be forced to pull out and you can find yourself escalating into contention again, even without bidding.

25. What is the effect on my GM Rating if I do rescind an offer to a player?

If you are still in active negotiations with a player then the effect on your GM Rating is quite high (negative). Essentially you are negotiating with a player only to arbitrarily decide to pull out of negotiations. This is not perceived well.

If, however, you have made an offer and now the player is responding with a red zero (i.e. will no longer actively negotiate with you) then the effect on your GM Rating of rescinding the offer is much less.

Be sure before you rescind an offer that you understand the effect it will have on your reputation with the players and resulting GM Rating. It is recommended that you try to rescind contracts only when it is necessary and the ramifications are fully understood.

26. Does jumping in on a player late, making your first offer to him just before he signs, cause your GM Rating to go down?

Yes. This is to prevent owners from just sitting on the sidelines and not allowing a market to develop for a player.

27. Does my GM Rating go up when I successfully sign free agents?

No, it would not. GM Rating only goes up when you make your first offer to a player. GM Rating is awarded on good intentions, not necessarily good results. It is the "market regulator" concept --- keeping owners from trying (effectively) to manipulate the mechanics and logic of the FAB.

28. What if a team outbids my First Offer after he hits the market and outbids my First Offer by a wide enough margin that my bid turns red? Will my GM Rating lower for that?

No, you will not lose any GM points in this case. Once that you have made a good First Offer to a player you can continue to negotiate at any time without fear of losing an GM Rating points with respect to that player.

Losing points can only happen if your start negotiations with a player late, lower an offer or rescind an offer. Losing in a bidding war for a player will never lower your GM Rating in unto itself.

29. If my offer is not the best offer on a player, can I reduce or rescind the offer without hurting my GM Rating?

No, if you reduce or recind the offer, regardless of the "position" that your offer ranks, you will see a reduction in your GM Rating. The reason for this is that it is very common for the leading bidder to reduce or rescind their offer, thereby putting another bidder in the top bid position.

30. If I change a player's offer to more years, but possibly a little less money per year, will it be considered a lowered offer and lower my GM Rating?

In most cases no. GM Rating is only reduced if the "perceived value" of the offer has been reduced in the eyes of the player. This is different for every player based on age and minimum bid but in the majority of cases (i.e. except very young players) such a modification will not lower your GM Rating.

31. I made my First Offer on a player with six hours left in his On the Marker period and my GM Rating went down. Why?

Late bids (i.e. in the last half of a player's availability On the Market) will have a negative effect on your GM Rating. The later the bid, the stronger the effect. This is to prevent GMs from "sitting on the sidelines" and not participating in the development of a market for a player.

32. If you don't spend your entire $100 million FAB cap, does the unused portion carry over to the following year?

If you do not use your entire payroll during the FAB (which would be a bad idea anyways), you have it available for additional manoeuvring room during the regular season in trades and signings (in addition to the $10M you are provided after the FAB). If you still have not used it all up by the end of the season (which is very common) it is lost (i.e. the profit goes towards upgrades to the owner's suite!). In seriousness, there will be a provision that allows you to use a bit of that cash to renovate your stadium (i.e. make some minor modifications to

33. Can I make trades during the FAB to free up cash and balance my team positionally?

Yes. You can do this through the Front Office Section.

34. Will the FAB system "force me" to reserve cash or contract years to account for space that I have remaining on my 25-man and 40-man rosters after the FAB?

You are not obligated to have any specific minimum number of players on either of your rosters and you are not forced to reserve any cash or contract years. If you elect to only have 25 players and use all of your contract years (and salary cap) on those 25, then that is OK. You simply will not have the resources to fill up the remaining 15 on your 40-man roster until you make a trade or waive a player. The system only prevents you from going "over" your cap limits.

In fact, it you want to spend all of your contract years and salary cap room on 15 players, you could do that. (We wouldn't recommend that though).

35. During the Regular Season is there a cap on the number of contract years I can have committed to my team?

No. During the regular season the only limitation financially is that you do not exceed $110 million spent. During the FAB you are only allowed to commit a total of 50 contract years but during the regular season this limitation is lifted. This way you can freely trade for players with longer contracts as well as sign prospects to multi-year deals.

You will be limited to 50 total committed contract years once again at the end of next-season's FAB as well.

36. Can I make trades during the FAB to free up cash and even out my roster?

Yes. You can do this through the Front Office Section.

37. Why can't I get to some of the other sections of the site?

During the FAB the only sections applicable to the FAB and the pre-season are accessible. As time approaches the start of the regular season additional areas of the site will be opened to allow you to manipulate your team and personal settings.

The Regular Season and Beyond

1. How do park factors affect hitters and pitchers, respectively?

This is best explained via example:

If a park has a 1.10 factor on 2Bs for right handed hitters then every 2B that a right handed hitter gets will be increased in value by 10%.

There are also pitcher specific factors that are handed independent. For example, if a park has a 1.05 factor on Rs then every R that is given by a pitcher is increased in value by 10%.

This will result in fractions of fantasy points that are accumulated and added up towards a team's score.

2. How do Park Factors affect switch hitters?

The effect on switch hitters in a particular Park is a factor that is set between the effect on lefties and the effect on righties. Where on the scale between those two effects is based on the ratio of lefty pitching versus righty pitching your opponent fields that week.

For example, if your opponent sends out mostly right handed pitchers against you, your switch hitter will be left-hitting most of the week. As such, he will have park effects pretty close to the regular lefty hitter park effects.

3. How does the regular season baseball linescore work for weekly scoring?

The nine inning linescore will develop over the week as your players accumulate games played. Your team will likely be entering the 7th inning going into the weekend and games on Sunday are generally always part of the 8th and the 9th innings. If is "games played" by players on you and your opponent's teams that drives the game through the innings (so that if you opponent had a bunch of players playing on Monday, and you did not, it does not inappropriately show that they are in the lead).

The linescore is based on fantasy points accumulated by your team's MLB players versus fantasy points accumulated by your opponent's MLB players throughout the week (with strategy adjustments). There are considerations for if the points came from pitching or hitting (i.e. if you pitchers play well in a week and your opponent's hitters don't, you can likely expect a shutout). Fantasy points are always the basis for winning and losing though, the linescore is simply an interesting presentation of the events of the week.

4. What stats other than errors are used to consider defensive capabilities of players?

The only stat used for defence is errors, and it is a simple -1 Fantasy Points (FPs) right now. Yes, yes, we know, a key divergence from real baseball, but as many stats folks agree there is still not a good way to quantify defensive capabilities. We didn't want to manipulate some obscure stat to more closely involve defence so, except for errors, we left it out (at least for this season).

5. How many games will my team play per week and how are they scored?

There is one game that your team plays each week, Monday to Sunday. As a result you will have about 50+ player games played, 4 or 5 pitching starts and a handful of relief appearances contributing to your week's fantasy points totals. Our experience is that in a week you will rack up 250-400 FPs per week for your team, after strategy adjustments.

6. If an owner drops his team at the end of a season will the league continue?

If an owner quits there are several alternatives (a good question given the "dynasty" element of this game). First, there will be a mechanism in place for external folks to "buy" the orphaned team. Second, if no owner can be found, it can be decided by the league to do one of two things: (a) if there are an EVEN number of teams departing the league and this does not result in less than 8 teams left in the league, all the players on those departing teams become free agents for the next FAB.

7. Do I get a full $100 million to acquire free agents in next season's FAB as well?

You will have $100 million and 50 contract years minus existing contract commitments (i.e. players that you signed to multi-year deals this season) to acquire your team.

8. How long can I sign free agents for during the regular season?

Free agents acquired during the regular season can only be signed to one year contracts. Prospects acquired in the summer prospect draft are exempted from this limit.

9. If a player goes unsigned during FAB, will his minimum acceptable contract demand decrease?

The annual min bid value will not change per se but the cost of paying that salary will erode as the season progresses, prorated to the amount of season remaining. (for example, at the half-way point of the season the cost to acquire a player will be 50% of if you got him at the beginning of the season). Basically players are paid on a weekly basis.

To be more specific, if you can't afford a player at the beginning of the season you may be able to later on as you won't have to pay him his full year's salary.

10. Is an IBB (intentional walk) a BB (walk) as well (i.e. does an IBB count as 2 FPs)?

No, an IBB does not count as a BB. There is no double-count here.

11. For an RBI Sac Fly, are there 2 FPs scored?

Yes, when a player has an RBI Sac Fly there are two points scored. The way that we see it, an RBI sac fly is virtually the same value as an RBI single and as such are both scored 2 FPs.

12. Do 2Bs, 3Bs, & HRs also get the point for H since they are hits as well?

Yes, this is correct. Therefore a HR will gross 4 fantasy points.

13. What does HO, NH and PG stand for this the pitchers stats?

Holds, No Hitters and Perfect Games.

14. Do the plans of a player's real major league team have any affect on what positions they are eligible?

No. Since crazy things can happen during spring training, etc. and we profess to have no crystal ball, a player must accumulate 15 games at his new position to be eligible at that position.

15. Can a player lose eligibility at a position during a season?

No, a player cannot lose position eligibility during the season.

16. What happens if I end up with two players at the same position? Once I sign them both, can I move one afterward (e.g. to DH)?

Yes, you can always move a player to another eligible position.

17. If I have a player in my line-up that gets injured during the week, what spot in the line-up will his backup hit?

The backup player will hit in the exact same position as the injured player.

18. Is there a way that I can change my pitching rotation and line-up during the week?

In the current version, any changes that you make during the week will take effect for the following week's game. Having said that you can set back-up players for each position and a spot-starter for missed pitching starts to provide for injuries during the week.

19. Can you have a starter change positions in the middle of a weekly match-up to fill in for another injured player?

No.

20. Is there a limit to the number of years that I can have offered in contracts during the regular season?

No, there is no limit during the regular season. You are capped at 50 years for the FAB but can exceed that number via trades, free agents (which you can only sign for one year) and prospect signings during the season. Next year, during the FAB, you will be capped at 50 years again and this will be inclusive of players still under contract from the previous year.

Technical Issues

1. What if my computer is behind a corporate web monitor (like "NetNanny")?

Normally pages should take about 3-5 seconds to load or refresh depending on your connection speed. If you are in a corporate environment that has some brands of "net-monitoring" proxy servers you may experience page refreshes that take up to 15 seconds. It is very rare but if you experience this please report it to us --- we do have solutions.

2. I see to have some problems running Safari on Mac with certain pages?

We are still working to establishing full compatibility with Mac's Safari browser but in the meantime if you are having issues we suggest using Mozilla's Firefox browser for Mac.