SCORESHEET FANTASY BASEBALL: AL DRAFT / RULES PACKET
Playing Limits
A player in Scoresheet Baseball can only play approximately as much as he played in the major leagues that week. Playing time is measured by plate appearances for position players, and innings pitched (and games appeared in) for pitchers. In some weeks, your players can not play as much in Scoresheet Baseball as they did in the majors that week, and Scoresheet has to make adjustments as a result. For example, in some weeks, three or more of your pitchers may start twice in the majors, but all of them will not be able to start twice in the same week on your Scoresheet team. Therefore, Scoresheet will allow your players a few more at-bats or innings pitched in some weeks to balance out the playing time over the course of the season. Unused pitcher starts are also carried into future weeks, if necessary.
The playing time limitations explain why a substitute may start a game, or why a pitcher may be taken out before his hook number is reached. If a player is injured or benched in the majors, he will play less for you in Scoresheet Baseball, as well. This means it is important to draft players, at all positions, that you believe will play a significant amount of time in the major leagues during the upcoming season. A major league player who gets very few at-bats in the majors will not help you much in Scoresheet Baseball regardless of his batting average! In general, any starting position player is more valuable than a top pinch hitter that only gets a limited number of at-bats. You should also make sure to draft plenty of pitchers because there are A LOT of pitcher injuries every season. We strongly recommend beginning the season with at least six pitchers who are slated to start in the majors. And while many middle relievers have good ERAs, the pitchers who play more innings can often be more helpful to your Scoresheet team.
Running Out of Eligible Players
If you run out of eligible players at a position in Scoresheet Baseball, we automatically shuffle positions for you. Players will be moved between second base, third base and shortstop; players on the bench with the highest pinch hitting rank will be moved to first base and/or designated hitter; and the top listed players will be moved to outfield. Shuffling of players only occurs when no one else on your team qualifies at a particular position. If there are substitute outfielders on the bench, the top listed substitute outfielder will be moved to the starting lineup. NOTE: Such shuffling changes incur the fielding penalties discussed later in the Fielding Numbers section of the draft/rules packet.
If you are subject to a large number of injuries, Scoresheet will assign you an anonymous replacement. These replacements, appearing as Catcher(AAA), Outfielder(AAA), Pitcher(AAA), etc., will be hitters of roughly .180 (or worse) batting average, or pitchers with an ERA two times the league average (an ERA of about 9!). (AAA) players will bat differently depending on the position at which they appear. (AAA) outfielders and first basemen hit about .185, with a .230 slugging percentage; (AAA) catchers hit about .135 with a .180 slugging percentage; and (AAA) infielders hit about .170, but with only a .200 slugging percentage. These are the same types of players that are called up from the minors when injuries occur on a major league team. The use of (AAA) players enables your team to continue playing, but certainly decreases your chance of winning games - you should try to get solid backup players with plenty of playing time at as many positions as possible in Scoresheet Baseball!
Miscellaneous Limits
- "Short relievers" (as designated on Scoresheet player lists) cannot pitch more than three innings in a single game.
- A pitcher listed as a short reliever on Scoresheet player lists can not start a Scoresheet Baseball game unless/until he starts a game for his major league team during the same year (at which point he is considered to be removed from the short reliever list). Also, pitchers listed on the Scoresheet short reliever list can not appear in a Scoresheet game until the 4th inning.
- Any pitcher who did not start a game in the majors that week can not pitch more than four innings in a single game in Scoresheet Baseball (even if he starts for you).
- For pitchers who pitch in more games during a week for their Scoresheet team than they did in the majors, an appearance in a Scoresheet game counts roughly as an inning pitched against their playing time limit. For those pitchers, each appearance in the majors adds an inning to the amount he can pitch in Scoresheet that week; and therefore, each Scoresheet appearance costs him an inning.
- If a pitcher did not have a complete game during the week, he will be taken out after eight innings pitched in a Scoresheet game.
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