Rules [Click here to go to the main page] Pitching: Each team must have a minimum of a 4-man rotation. A starter cannot relieve until he has rested 3 consecutive games (see exception below). Once a starter or reliever has surpassed his tiredness inning and becomes tired, the pitcher must be removed. In extra inning games only when a manager has exhausted his bullpen, he may bring a starter into the game as a 3-inning reliever. Once a game has entered extra innings, a manager may not remove his last reliever until the player has pitched his maximum innings. A starter who has been pressed into emergency relief service may take his normal turn in the rotation, however his tiredness inning is automatically the third inning and he may not pitch more than six innings [this is essentially the official Strat-O-Matic rule]. A reliever cannot start until he has rested 3 consecutive games. A reliever may appear in no more than two consecutive games. A reliever may pitch no more that twice his innings rating in any appearance. A pitcher has made an appearance once he has faced his first batter. A traded pitcher does not automatically become rested. Rosters: The maximum roster size is 25 players. The manager's 25-man roster must be written and available for inspection prior to each game. The preferred form for documenting your roster is the template that is available on the web site. A manager retains exclusive rights to players that he/she protected, drafted, traded for or were assigned to him/her. All retained players not listed on the manager's 25-man roster are maintained in his/her minor league pool. Once a manager has begun playing his/her first game, players can only be added to or dropped from a roster because injury or trade. In the event of injury, the injured player may be taken off the 25-man roster at any time, other than during the game in which the player is injured or during any other game. In the event of a trade involving an odd number of rostered players, each manager in the trade may, directly after the trade, in one roster move (rather than multiple moves) promote and demote players to restore his/her roster to 25 players. The number of players that can be promoted from a manager's minor league pool is limited to the number needed to restore the roster size to 25. In restoring the roster size to 25, the manager is not required to promote exact positional replacements for the vacated roster slots (i.e. a pitcher may be brought up to replace an injured shortstop), however the new roster must retain backups at each defensive position and at least a four-man rotation. Injuries: The extent of a batter's injury is determined by reading the split die result from the Strat-O-Matic basic injury chart, dividing the stated number of games missed by four and rounding up to the next whole number. Injured batters miss the remainder of the current game plus the injury result. Pitchers are potentially injured when the DH is the batter and a 6 - 12 is rolled. The extent of a pitcher's injury is determined by reading the split die result from the Strat-O-Matic basic injury chart, dividing the stated number of games missed by four and rounding up to the next whole number. Unless the injury result is more than 3 games, a starting pitcher may take his normal turn in the rotation. If the injury result for a starting pitcher is more than 3 games, the starting pitcher is available to start the first game immediately following the expiration of his injury period. If the injury occurs to a relief pitcher, the pitcher is available to pitch the first game immediately following the expiration of his injury period. When the chart results states that the player is temporarily injured and remains in the game, the batter or pitcher may stay in the game, regardless of whether the pitcher is tired or is pitching beyond his tiredness inning. Should the injury occur when a relief pitcher has pitched beyond his tiredness inning, the pitcher's mandatory rest time also counts toward his injury recovery period. In the game in which a player is injured, the manager must replace the injured player with a player from his 25-man roster and every attempt must be made to play the substitute and other teammates at positions listed on their cards. Should a manager be required to play a player out of position as a result of an injury, the player playing out of position must at least be infielder playing out of position within the infield or an outfielder playing out of position in the outfield. The defensive rating of an outfielder playing out of position in the outfield is determined as his usual fielding rating plus one and his usual error rating multiplied by two. His throwing rating is unchanged. The defensive rating of an infielder playing out of position in the infield is determined as his usual fielding rating plus two and his usual error rating multiplied by two. The fielding rating of a player who is playing out of position as catcher is five, his error and T ratings are the maximum and his throwing rating is plus five. In circumstances when an infielder must unavoidably play outfield or an outfield must play infield, the out of position player's defensive ratings are all set as the maximum. Following the conclusion of the regular season, all injured and tired players are restored to full health and strength. Fights (experimental rule that is in the comment phase): In the event that a batter is beaned, the manager on offense rolls two dice and if the result is "box cars" (two sixes), the players fight. In the event of a fight, each manager rolls one die. If the result of both dice is snake eyes (two ones), the pitcher is ejected. If the result is "box cars", the batter is ejected. In the event of a second fight, a roll of snake eyes or box cars, results in the ejection of both the current pitcher and current batter. Managers may intentionally bean a batter by declaring the bean ball before the manager on offense rolls the dice. A fight resulting from an intentional beaning cannot cause the batter to be ejected. Trades: The trading period begins each year at a date declared by the Commissioner. The opening date will always precede the draft by at least two weeks. The trading period ends for each team following their respective fifth tournament game. Managers may not trade for future consideration other than players that are part of a deal out. Trades may only involve players and draft picks, and such players and picks must be from the current year's set of cards and draft. Trade back rights as part of a trade's terms are prohibited. Substitutions: At the start of every game you must have a back-up available at each position. A player who starts a game as the DH is not eligible as a back-up for any position that game. A player cannot be substituted for unless there is a back-up available. Only in the event of injury may a player play a position for which he is not rated and only for the remainder of the game. Stealing: Stealing No Hold Holding AA 17 -1 A 15 -2 B 13 -3 C 11 -4 D 9 -5 E 7 -6 In a steal attempt, should the split number drawn be within the catcher's T-Rating, all runners automatically advance one base on the catcher's throwing error. Extra Bases: Hits are to centerfield unless otherwise specified. Hits with no asterisks automatically advance all baserunners one base and allow the offensive manager the opportunity to send the lead runner to an additional base. On plays that begin with two outs, add two points to the runners' Running ratings. On hits to right field, add two points to the Running rating of a runner attempting to take 3rd base. If there are two outs at the time of the hit to right field, a total of 4 points are added. In baserunning situations where the offensive manager has the option to take an extra base, the offensive manager first declares his decision and then the defensive manager declares his decision whether to attempt to throw out the lead runner. The trail runners automatically advance one base if a defensive manager attempts to throw out the lead runner. The trail runners automatically do not advance if a defensive manager allows the lead runner to advance without a throw. Refer to the Strat-O-Matic Basic Fielding Charts for results for runners involving Groundball and Flyball A, B and C. Bunting: Chart for Sacrifices or Squeezes (Refer to the Strat-O-Matic Advanced Strategy Chart for results) Bunting Back In A A B B B C C C D D D E Mark Belanger Rule: The Advanced Strategy Chart may only be used when runners are on base (i.e. lousy hitters cannot seek hits using the charts when the bases are empty). Before play begins, the defensive manager must either bring in the whole infield or leave the whole infield back. In possible bunting situations, the offensive manager must give the defensive manager a reasonably brief amount of time or say "All Set?" before continuing on offense. Reading Results Off of The Cards: Ball Park homers are determined using the good weather rating of the home park. If a hitter rated as weak gets a N-HR off the pitcher's card, the split result, if any, for the N-HR yields a no-asterisk single to centerfield. The pitcher's card reading for the remainder of the N-HR result is unchanged. On cards with hollow triangles, we use the hollow triangle reading rather than the primary reading. All clutch-hitting notations are to be ignored.