SCORESHEET FANTASY BASEBALL: AL DRAFT / RULES PACKET
Draft Order
New American Leagues created by Scoresheet consist of 10 teams. Team numbers are randomly chosen, with the draft order reversing in each round (Team 1 picks first in Round 1, Team 10 picks first in Round 2, Team 1 picks first in Round 3, and so on). For continuing leagues in the second year and beyond, the draft order will go in REVERSE order of the final league standings in EVERY round (except the league's playoff winner will pick last and other division winner(s) will pick 2nd to last, regardless of won-loss records.)
All of our public continuing leagues (public meaning that Scoresheet finds the owners for the league and sets up the draft), and also all of our public root leagues, and most of our single season leagues, now use the web draft. Though there are still a couple of single season leagues that use our three stage postal draft, and a number of private leagues that hold their own drafts and send us the draft results when they are done.
For the web draft
Our web based draft is not one where you have to log on during a set time slot to make a pick, nor is it a chat room draft where you log on for hours. Instead, as each team's pick comes up our program will pick the top available player from a list that you can create, change and save to the web at any time. You will be able to make changes to your list whenever you want, but can also choose to just let it stay as is for as long as you want. But by being able to make changes at any time you can choose to adjust your list before every one of your picks if you like, giving you the same control as if you were at a live draft.
Team owners using web based drafting will start by creating their player ranking list on their league's web page. As each owner's turn to pick comes up the draft program will select the highest listed undrafted player on that team owner's ranking list, subject to our normal roster balancing procedures if you have roster balancing turned on. If you have it turned off then you will simply get the top available player on your list when your pick time comes up, regardless of what other players you have already drafted. (see below for more on roster balancing rules). With web drafting you do have an option to turn roster balancing off or on for your upcoming picks at any time during the web draft. You do that by setting a round number in a box at the bottom of your list, right next to the save button. NOTE: Your web draft ranking list needs to be entered on your team's ranking list page on your specific league's web page. So you need to be entered into a specific league before you can save a draft list to the web. Your draft list will be password protected so that only you can see it. Trades can be made during the draft, including trading of draft picks. As each pick is made that pick will be posted for everyone in your league to see, and your league roster as shown on the web will also be updated as the draft goes on.
As said above, your ranking list can be added to or changed as often you want throughout the draft. If an owner's list runs out (has no available players left at positions needed by that owner) the draft program will automatically draft the top available player as measured by playing time during the previous major league season, with one IP = 2 at-bats to distinguish between hitters and pitchers. But as long as a team owner keeps adding to his list as the draft goes on (or submits a long enough list initially to last all draft) players will all be picked from the owner's ranking list. But once again, the draft does not stop if your list has no players on it - a player is just assigned by the program to your team. So you should be sure to keep plenty of players on your ranking list at all times! You can use our usual trade form on the web to report trades of players and/or picks at any time. The trade will go into effect as soon as both owners involved report it.
For a detailed explanation of how web-based drafts are conducted, see the Scoresheet Baseball web-based drafting information page.
Roster Balancing Procedures
The Scoresheet Roster Balancing feature allows you to draft a balanced roster, receiving starters at every position before you begin receiving reserves. During a web-based draft, you have the option to turn Roster Balancing on and off for your upcoming picks at any time during the draft. If you are not going to closely monitor the draft and change your player ranking list accordingly, you should consider turning Roster Balancing on to make sure you get a balanced team. Roster Balancing is turned off by default, but you can turn Roster Balancing on by using the box at the bottom of your player ranking webpage on your league's website. If you leave Roster Balancing off when your draft picks are made, you will receive your highest listed player that is still available regardless of position needs, and the procedures below will not apply.
NOTE:The following information was written for drafts conducted by mail; however, the same concepts apply for web-based drafts with regard to Roster Balancing if you choose to turn roster balancing on.
Each round, when your turn comes up, the computer goes down your list, giving you your highest ranked available (undrafted) player, subject to the roster balancing rules. The purpose of these rules is to give you a starter at each position before you start receiving second string players. For example, if you think a good shortstop is very important you might rank 4 of them in your top 10 choices. Once you get one shortstop we skip the next shortstops listed and draft your highest ranked non-shortstops in subsequent rounds. However, since you need 3 outfielders, and 5 pitchers to fill your rotation, we will NOT skip over outfielders until you have 3 of them, and will NOT skip over any regular pitchers you've listed until you have received 5 of them. At the end of round 15, or possibly later if you've used the 'plus' option discussed at the end of this draft packet, you should have one C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, three OF's, five regular pitchers, one short reliever, and a player from our DH list or an extra 1B or OFer to bat as a DH.
After you have a starter at every position (including the 3 OFers and 5 regular pitchers), the computer starts similar roster balancing procedures for your backups. By the end of round 30 you should have 2 players at each of: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, and SS; 6 OF's; a DH or extra 1B or OFer to bat as DH; and 13 pitchers, at least 8 of which are not listed as short relievers on the draft lists. (You may feel that there are not enough good first basemen left as backups. So, instead of always assigning you a second one, we allow you to draft a fourth reserve outfielder or a second DH instead of a backup first baseman.) Once you have received a backup at every position - usually at the end of round 30 - we will once again go back to the top of your ranking sheet and start down again. These final picks can include up to: 4 more pitchers, 3 more outfielders, or up to 2 additional players at each of the other positions.
If you do not list enough players at each position, you may be assigned players to your team by default. The order in which players are assigned by default is by player number (which is set by their major league playing time last season) - if you need both pitchers and position players, default drafting is based on 1 inning pitched equaling 2 plate appearances. To avoid receiving players by default, be sure to list players on your sheet from many different positions.
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