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News Archive

Just in case you might have missed anything throughout the season, important notes that appear on the home page or other messages will be posted here as well.  Other places for information include the rules and frequently asked questions.

7/28/21

• First round draft picks of 2021 are now in the player list.  You can sign them this week.
  • Players that do not sign contracts with their MLB teams by the August 1 deadline will end up being ineligible to be signed and will be removed from the player list next week.  The good news this year is that deadline happens before the first transaction deadline to sign them.
  • How to find the picks?  On the player selection screen, use the "Other" filter and you'll find an option for "First Round (2021)"
  • You'll also find them by looking for players who are new to the list in Week 18, although they will be mixed in with other players added this week by making their first MLB appearances.

7/26/21

• Note - a couple of people have pointed out to me some odd data on the team stats for starting pitchers.  When I can find time, I'll poke into this.  It's not affecting game scoring - there may be some issue in how I'm pulling together the stats at the end of each week.

7/23/21

• In case you missed Thursday's email, a reminder that this week is the final week to submit contract extensions.  Deadline is Monday, July 26 at 5 PM EDT.

7/20/21

• Important deadline dates coming up
  • Sunday 7/25, Week 17: Final week for contract extensions (with delayed processing of Week 16, this deadline will likely be extended)
  • Sunday 8/1, Week 18: This week will be the first week that 2021 first round draft picks will be available to sign
  • Sunday 8/15, Week 20: Trade deadline
  • Saturday 8/21, Week 21: Final week to place players on the Prospects Roster

7/15/21

• For Week 16 lineups - you may reorder your pitching rotation from scratch - we will not check on games of rest between Weeks 15 and 16 - it's our version of the All Star Break.  Lineup deadline is Sunday night.

7/14/21

• Reminder - every 5 weeks our transaction deadline days change to sync with MLB - starting this week, deadlines are on Sundays at 7 PM Eastern

7/7/21

• This is the final week to get a salary rebate for players you cut. Deadline is Monday at 7 PM Eastern.

7/5/21

• We've reached the halfway point of the season with Game 75

6/29/21

• We start 3 weeks of games back in your division

6/18/21

• Reminder - every 5 weeks our transaction deadline days change to sync with MLB - starting this week, deadlines are on Mondays at 7 PM Eastern

6/15/21

• Warning - the upcoming week for transactions/lineups will be short.
  • Most likely I'll post the results of transaction submissions for Week 11 late on Wednesday night.
  • With Week 12, we'll move our weekly transaction/lineup deadlines to Monday nights
  • Plan accordingly - those of you with many teams may have to cut back on what you normally do each week.  Please put your priority toward getting your new signees into your lineups.
• Important deadline dates coming up
  • Monday 7/12, Week 15: Final week to get a prorated salary rebate for any released players
  • Sunday 7/18, Week 16: All teams get an extra 1000 in cash prior to the contract deadline
  • Sunday 7/25, Week 17: Final week for contract extensions
  • Sunday 8/1, Week 18: This week will be the first week that 2021 first round draft picks will be available to sign
  • Sunday 8/15, Week 20: Trade deadline
  • Saturday 8/21, Week 21: Final week to place players on the Prospects Roster

6/12/21

• With Game 50, we've reached the 1/3 mark of the regular season.

6/9/21

• Next week - we can't process transactions again until Wed night, so we're going to delay the shift to Monday deadlines at least one week.  Week Eleven deadline is Tuesday night, June 15 at 7 PM Eastern - see Season Deadlines

5/31/21

• Two Mets rainouts this weekend are causing a bit of havoc in our schedule.  The next set of games won't post until Wednesday now.  We need to finish those games in order to get the transaction order and the financial results for the next set of transactions.
• The Mets play only 5 games next week, so we're not going to catch up any time soon - it gets better after mid-June when they start playing some doubleheaders to make up the missed games.
• But be prepared - we're going to have to try to keep our transaction/lineup deadlines as much as possible (so that for the most part you're setting lineups before the pertinent games are played).  This may mean we can't post transaction results and reset for the next week until a couple days after the deadline.
• This will mean at least a couple of very short weeks - be prepared.  For those of you with 20+ teams you may not be able to do as much as you would typically like to do.

5/14/21

• Orphan Clearance - Any orphan team is available for free for the remainder of the 2021 season.
  • Current list of orphan teams
  • Normal charges will apply for next season
  • If you'd like to take over one of the Expert League teams, let me know.  This will be for 2021 only, unless your team wins the division (or another one of your teams wins the Benchwarmer Bash or is the Winners Circle League champion in 2021).
  • If you're new to BWB and want an orphan team, your first step is to sign up for a site ID.  Otherwise send me an email with your team choice.

5/11/21

• Reminder - Weekly deadlines have moved to Tuesdays!  This week's transaction/lineup deadline is tonight Tuesday 5/11 at 7 PM EDT.

5/6/21

• We start 8 weeks of games outside your division with the beginning of Week 4
• Note: Every 5 weeks we change the transaction deadline day to better match the mapping between MLB games and BWB games.  Starting this week, and for Weeks 6-10 our lineup/transaction deadlines are due on Tuesdays

4/30/21

• 14-0: Jason Kiernan's team in Scooby Doo League - Where Are You? - is still undefeated.  And we're down to 3 teams still looking for their first win - see Around BWB
• I stated yesterday that the next score update would be on Saturday.  Actually, we still need to wait for the Mets to play 2 more games, so instead look for that update on Sunday

4/27/21

• We're down to 1 undefeated team (Jason Kiernan, Scooby Doo League) but still 8 teams without a win.

4/26/21

• After 10 games, there are 2 teams across BWB who are undefeated.  Unfortunately, there are still 12 teams looking for their first win.

4/24/21

• It's a little early in the season - 14/15ths of the regular season still remains - but here's our 1-page look at comparing teams across all the leagues in the BWB universe: Around BWB

4/17/21

• New page: See all the new position assignments made during the season

4/16/21

• It's BWB Opening Day!  Week 1 Begins - Game 1 posted - See results
  • The next score update - for Games 2 & 3 - is expected on Saturday.

4/11/21

• 2021 Schedule posted - you can see this in a number of ways:
  • Weekly schedule for your entire league - this is the link I'll post on the home page when we score games, it's also available on your league's home page and in the footer of every web page - the "Results" link.  This page will show the results and links to box scores.
  • Full season schedule for your league - a text representation of each 3-game series for this year.  It's also available as a link on the league home page and on the weekly schedule.  This page will not show game results.
  • Full season schedule for your team - A running record of all your games (or check out another team), including YTD record at each game, a link to the box score, and a look at upcoming pitching matchups.  This is available from a link at the top of the weekly schedule page.

4/4/21

• Week Zero Transactions Posted
  • Any teams with cash balances above 5000 were slated to be cut down to that level (exceptions: new leagues, new owners taking over orphan teams, and orphans adopted on or after Week -2) - however, see the special extension below
  • Teams were then provided with an extra 2000 in Opening Day cash
  • Players may start getting added to the player list from here on out - as they appear in their first MLB game
    • Players are only added at the time of the posting of transaction results - so you don't have to be searching daily for new additions.
    • You'll find the new players in the player/free agent list - find the drop down box for "New in 2021" - players are listed by the first transaction week in which they can be signed.
• Week One Transaction/Lineup Deadline - modified from Wednesday to Saturday, April 10 at 1 PM Eastern
• Maximum Cash Balance - enforcement delayed - this will eventually get codified into the rules as something we'll do every year
  • Because of the nature of blind transaction submissions - teams may have planned out to get the balances below the limit, but after perhaps not being able to sign the players they wanted, the cash balances are now too high.
  • In trying to cut people a break, this list of teams that are over the maximum cash balance still have a chance to use their cash before losing it.
    • Because all teams have been given 2000 in cash for Opening Day, the new maximum balance is 7000
    • The teams on the list can only work their cash down via contract extensions - no additional player signings are available
    • Use the normal contract extension form to submit your choices
    • Before we process Week 1 transactions, we'll run a special contract extension round only.  After those extensions are processed, any of the teams that still have balances over 7000 will be cut down to that amount.
    • Then we'll move on to run the remainder of the Week 1 transaction submissions as normal.
    • The deadline to complete this is the same as the Week 1 transaction deadline - Saturday 4/10 at 1 PM EDT
    • Only the teams on this list need to be concerned about this

4/3/21

• Deadline Extension: Week Zero transaction lineup deadline pushed back to tonight at midnight Eastern
• Assuming Washington is able to start playing on Monday, the Nationals won't play their 6th game until Sunday, April 11.  This now makes our current target for the first BWB game to post on Monday 4/12.

4/1/21

• Happy MLB Opening Day!  You might be asking...when do we start playing games?
  • First, understand the Five Game Gap - if you're new to BWB or just need a reminder, check out the explanation of how MLB games map to BWB games
  • So we need to wait until all teams play MLB game #6 to get to BWB game #1. 
  • Most MLB teams are scheduled to play their game #6 on Wed., April 7.  However, Cleveland is not scheduled to play #6 until Friday 4/9.
  • So we're going to target Saturday, April 10 as the first day to post BWB scores.  Of course, weather and postponements due to Covid-19 can affect the schedule.

3/31/21

• Reminder: your teams' cash balances need to be below 5000 after processing this week's transactions or the balance will be cut down to 5000.  Need to take a quick pass again to see where you stand?  Check out the all my transactions page which displays the estimated cash balance for you after the transactions.  Changes in cash balances due to trades are not part of that calculation estimate. Cash balances above 5000 are displayed in red (I apologize to anyone who is colorblind).

3/30/21

• Game Night League Draft - Phase Two Draft, Part Two is complete
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Rosters populated and finances updated
  • The Phase 2 draft is now complete - your league moves into weekly transactions (next deadline is Saturday 4/3).

3/29/21

• British Invasion League Draft - Phase Two Draft, Part Three is complete
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Rosters populated and finances updated
  • The Phase 2 draft is now complete - your league moves into weekly transactions (next deadline is Saturday 4/3).
• Week -1 Transaction Results Posted
- Week Zero deadline is Saturday night, April 3 at 7 PM Eastern
• This is an extension from the planned Thursday deadline because two leagues are just finishing up their drafts.
• Week 1 lineups will be due on Wednesday, April 7 - start getting them set now.
• Week Zero transaction order
  • For returning leagues, it's the same as it was in the Redistribution Draft
  • For new leagues, once they are done with their drafts, the order will be sorted by team total payroll (ascending)
  • The order does not change for Weeks 1 and 2 - then starting in Week 3 it will change weekly depending on 2021 standings

3/28/21

• Game Night League Draft - Phase Two Draft, Part One is complete
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Rosters populated and finances updated
  • There are still a few teams that do not have a legal roster yet, so we continue with Phase Two of the draft - your next set of picks are due on Monday night, March 29 at midnight Eastern - This is a quick turnaround in order to give you more possible time for one week of free agency/trades before the season - if you cannot do picks by Monday night, please let me know ASAP and I can extend the deadline.

3/27/21

• 2021 Weekly Transaction/Lineup Deadline Schedule posted
  • Every 5 weeks, the deadline day shifts to try to stay in sync with the MLB schedule
  • I hadn't really analyzed the MLB schedule in the last few years, so after doing that, our weekly deadlines for Weeks 1-5 are on Wednesdays instead of Thursdays
  • When we get to Weeks 16-25, our deadline days are actually 1-2 days ahead of schedule for most MLB teams - so for 2021 our transaction deadlines on Saturdays and Sundays will be at 7 PM Eastern instead of Noon Eastern. Deadline time is 7 PM for all of Weeks 1-25 unless there are extensions
• Reminder - be careful of cutting guys with high salaries in Week -1 and Week Zero.  You need to have your team's cash balance below 5000 after the transactions in Week Zero.  If you cut an injured player like Nick Anderson or Kirby Yates you're going to get 80% of the salary rebated to you immediately.  If that cash puts you above 5000 and you don't spend it on another player or on a long term contract, you're going to lose any cash in excess of 5000.  Cut the guy in Week 1 or later, and you'll keep the entire rebate.

3/26/21

• We're getting down to the wire for the final touches on your rosters heading into the season.
  • Week -1 transactions are due Sunday night at midnight EDT
  • Week Zero transactions are likely due Thursday, April 1 (but with drafts just finishing, this may get extended) - teams in returning leagues will lose any cash balance left over 5000 at that time (and then all teams get an extra 2000).  Starting a few of years ago, there are exceptions to this rule:
    • Any orphan teams acquired by an owner for his/her initial season of BWB are not subject to the maximum cash balance
    • Any orphan teams acquired where the extra 4000 cash is credited on Week -2 or later does not have to quickly reduce (We're currently in Week -1, so pick up an orphan now and your cash is safe)
    • And - any teams currently in orphan status will not be subject to a cut.
    • See the rule
  • Week 1 lineups will be due TBD - I'm spending some time this weekend to look at the MLB schedule and line up the BWB deadline dates accordingly.
• 2021 Roster/lineup clarifications
  • We increased the size of the Taxi Squad this season from 4 to 10 to help get around the potential for more players sitting out due to Covid and because of some of the oddities of salaries based on the 2020 season that makes some guys unable to be put in the minors.
  • The IR spot on your roster - where a player will sit out for the remainder of the year - will stay at it's normal size of 1 and not the expanded 2020 size.
  • If any player opts out of the season due to Covid, we'll follow the 2020 special rule for how that was handled.  This may need some adjustments to the rules around those items based on the season schedule, but let's see how much this happens.  To this point, only Ian Desmond has opted out and he was only on one BWB roster.
  • Lineups and game scoring will be normal this season - we will not use the expanded roster rules that allowed Taxi Squad and minor leaguers to fill in.  Expanded rosters will be used as in normal seasons in Weeks 23-25.

3/25/21

• British Invasion League Draft - Phase Two Draft, Part Two is complete
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Rosters populated and finances updated
  • There are still a few teams that do not have a legal roster yet, so we continue with Phase Two of the draft - your next set of picks are due on Sunday night, March 28 at midnight Eastern

3/24/21

• Game Night League - Live Draft Results Posted
  • See the league draft index for details
  • Rosters loaded and finances updated
  • Phase Two draft is now open - access the draft list from your team roster - deadline for Phase Two, Part One list submission is Saturday night 3/27 at midnight Eastern
• Orphan Team Blowout - We're past the Redistribution Draft and several weeks of free agency - so let's try to move the remaining orphan teams for 1/3 the price.
  • Check out the current list of orphan teams
  • Adopt any orphan team for 2021 for just $10
  • Check to see if you have any free bonus teams leftover as rewards for the 2020 season - you can use those for orphans too

3/15/21

• During the Week -4 financial updates, I mistakenly deleted the fees that were to be deducted from teams to move players to IR and move players to the Prospects Roster.  There is a special financial update, dated 3/13/21, to reinstate those fees.  Sorry to mess up anyone's Week -3 transactions as a result.
• British Invasion League Draft - Phase One Draft is complete
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Rosters populated and finances updated after the results for Phase One.
  • We now enter Phase Two of the draft - your first set of picks are due on Friday night, March 19 at midnight Eastern
  • Note: It looks like you'll be able to change your lineups right now even though the deadline for other leagues has passed.  However - any changes you make now before transactions are updated for the other leagues later on Monday will likely be overwritten - so you should probably wait until that happens.

3/14/21

• British Invasion League Draft - Phase One Draft - contested pick resolution complete
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Coming on Monday night - we'll populate the rosters and open up Phase 2
• Live draft time set for Game Night League - Sunday, March 21 at 5 PM Eastern - just 1 spot left

3/13/21

• Last call for new leagues!
  • Great Lakes League will not run in 2021 - not enough teams and not enough time left to run a list draft
  • But we still have 4 open slots for Game Night League
    • This is a live draft - drafting the first 20 players of your roster using the ESPN system
    • Draft date will be Sunday, March 21 - time TBD, but we'll settle on that soon (start time will probably be somewhere in the range of 6-8 PM Eastern)

3/12/21

• British Invasion League Draft - Phase One Draft is underway
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Posted now - unique picks by team and a listing of the contested players
  • Coming this weekend: We'll start to resolve the contested picks

3/11/21

• Covid-related changes for the 2021 season:
  • The taxi squad size will be increased by 6 - from 4 to 10 players
  • There is no decision yet on whether "expanded rosters" will be used for the season
  • Transaction warning messages are not yet updated for the new limits - those updates will be in place by this weekend

3/2/21

• Redistribution Draft 2021 - Rounds 3-5 posted
  • Redistribution Draft is complete
  • Quick view of the players added to all your rosters this week via the draft
• We now move on to normal weekly transactions - in the preseason, deadlines are Sunday nights at midnight Eastern
• All transaction types are open - signings, cuts, trades, and contract extensions
• Next deadline is for Week -4, Sunday night, March 7 at midnight Eastern

2/22/21

• Redistribution Draft 2021 - Round 2 posted
  • You may now modify your draft list for Rounds 3-5.  This is the final chance to change your list; we'll run the final 3 rounds at one time next week.
  • Next deadline is Sunday night, Feb. 28 at midnight Pacific
  • View all of your teams' Redistribution Draft lists
  • Quick view of the players added to all your rosters this week via the draft

2/16/21

• Welcome to Benchwarmer Baseball - It's a unique form of fantasy baseball as we play 150 individual head-to-head games in a season simulated from daily MLB stats - this isn't a Rotisserie game.
  • New leagues to start in 2021 are open - sign up now!
  • This is fantasy baseball 365 days a year.  Teams have cut down their 40-man rosters to a maximum of 28 players that they can carry over onto their 2020 squads.  And they are currently in the Redistribution Draft that gives teams with bad records in 2020 a good advantage in rebuilding.  After that, they'll be putting their finishing touches on their 2021 opening day rosters with free agent signing and trades.
  • Check out the Benchwarmer Baseball Tour for an introduction.
  • Check out our list of new leagues for 2021 that you can join to begin your dynasty.  Or, if you'd like to attempt to turn around a struggling team, view our available orphan teams ...pick up an existing team and rebuild it, rather than start from scratch.
    • If you're a first-time owner, you play under the "rookie rate" of $35 for your first team (normal price, $65)
    • Orphan teams are also just $35 - about 1/2 the normal price.
    • If you're interested, your first step is to sign up here.  Then go ahead and pick out a new league or check out the orphan list again.
  • Are you already a BWB team owner and want to add teams?  Check first to see if you have an available bonus team from 2020 or else add new teams here.  Email us if you want an orphan team and we'll set you up.

2/14/21

• Redistribution Draft 2021 - Round 1 posted
  • You may now modify your draft list for Rounds 2-5
  • Next deadline is Sunday night, Feb. 21 at midnight Pacific
  • View all of your teams' Redistribution Draft lists
  • Quick view of the players added to all your rosters this week via the draft
• Redistribution Draft lists collected - and I'm working on processing them.  In the meantime, see the list of players selected most often

2/13/21

• Deadline extension - for now, the deadline for the first Redistribution Draft picks is pushed out 12 hours until tonight -  Saturday night, midnight EST
  • You can check all your lists for errors (and remember it's OK to leave some of your list with Round = 0 as those players will be kept on your list until next week).
  • Are you skipping the draft because your cash balance is too low?  Don't forget that this is your first chance at players picked in the first round of the 2020 draft plus any players added from the 40-man rosters in mid-January.
• Reminder - Are you getting "deceptive site" warnings while using Chrome to visit BWB?  One quick suggestion is to try a different browser.  However, you can also change your security settings in Chrome to prevent the constant warnings and perform your tasks without interruption.

2/12/21

• The first submissions for the 2021 Redistribution Draft are due tomorrow afternoon.  Deadline is Saturday 2/13/21 at Noon EST.
• A reminder - if you are seeing an error for your draft list that indicates some of your picks are still listed with Round Zero - that's OK and not a true error.  BWB will retain those picks on your list for the adjustments for Rounds 2-5.  This allows you to queue up a bunch of potential picks and then after we do Round 1 you don't have to add them again.  Between weeks, BWB will remove players from your list if they've already been picked by another team.

1/29/21

• How do you pick players for the Redistribution Draft?  Visit your team roster and just above the list of players you'll see the link "Choose Redistribution Draft Picks."
• We're going to toss around a few rule change ideas including size of the taxi squad and the allowable salaries of minor league players.  With continued existence of the Covid virus, we might also be looking at expanding the taxi squad size again this season (maybe not as much as in 2020).  However, for the duration of the Redistribution Draft, we're going to work with the standard 40-man roster limits and the standard limits on the number of players you can have on your roster making over 250 in salary.

1/28/21

• Results of carryover choices posted.  View the Transactions page to see the cuts in your league.
• The 2021 Redistribution Draft is now open.  You'll have a little over 2 full weeks to make your selections (see the link on your team roster).  Deadline is Saturday 2/13/21 at Noon EST.
• For more information, see the rules regarding the Redistribution Draft
• There are 2 weeks to do your list for Round 1, but you should consider building for all 5 rounds - or at least as much as you can, because if any of your listed picks/alternates are gone by your turn in the order, we'll pull up picks from Round 2 and beyond to make sure you get 3 selections.
  • After Feb 13, we post the results of only Round 1 only - any drafted players will be removed from the remainder of your lists.
  • You'll have almost 2 weeks to redo draft lists (if you choose), then we post the results of only Round 2 (again removing drafted players from your rounds 3-5)
  • Then one more week for an optional redo of your draft lists, and we post the results of Rounds 3-5
• The season calendar of deadlines is not yet updated for 2021, but the deadlines for the Redistribution Draft are:
  • Sat 2/13 Noon EST - First submission - we post results for Round 1
  • Sun night 2/21 Midnight PST - Adjust your lists for Rounds 2-5 - we post results for Round 2
  • Sun night 2/28 Midnight PST - Adjust your lists for Rounds 3-5 - we post results for the remaining 3 rounds
• Any players on your Prospect Roster have been moved back to your 40-man roster.  You can begin to move players to prospect status again after the Redistribution Draft.

1/26/21

• There are still some teams to get legal rosters.  I'm not home tonight so I'm physically unable to process the cuts until very late Tuesday night or on Wednesday, so I'm extending the deadline for now until tonight at midnight Eastern (this was originally midnight Pacific but the person with the most teams to fix just completed).
• We'll adjust the deadline for the first redistribution draft picks accordingly.  Some of you ask for extensions when the deadline is Super Bowl Sunday, so this way we avoid that.
• With this little extension, this also gives everyone a shot to reconsider any decisions about Masahira Tanaka
  • At the time the roster cuts are processed, all 2021 salaries are deducted for the players you keep
  • If Tanaka later signs with a team in Japan - you can cut him after the Redistribution Draft, but you will only get an 80% rebate for his 2021 salary.
  • Your choice is to keep him and take the chance he finds a home in MLB and risking losing 20% of his salary if he doesn't - or cut him now and risk that he does in fact stay in the US and you've lost the pitcher.
  • Obviously if you have Tanaka under contract for 2021 or beyond, you've already paid for him and you won't get that money back, so you only risk taking up a roster spot by keeping him, you're not risking any cash.
  • Where do you have Tanaka?  You can view all your rosters and search for him on the web page or check the all your players page
  • To be clear, if the deadline passes but a Tanaka signing in Japan is announced before I process the cuts, Tanaka will be removed from all rosters at that time and teams will not be charged for his 2021 salary

1/25/21

• While we wait for tonight's extended deadline for roster cuts, I've reset the transaction order for the Redistribution Draft and the off season.  Remember that we had a Covid-season change that, among other things, put the winner of the Bottom Feeder Open in the first spot of the order rather than the team with the worst record.
• There are still some teams that are not at the 28-man limit.  Some it appears haven't started, some are over one of the limits.
  • Check your teams for errors
  • I don't want to do the cut downs for you - so I've extended the deadline until 1 AM Eastern time tonight.  Depending on the feedback I get it may go a little later, but every extension will cut into the time that everyone else has for the first set of Redistribution Draft picks that are due on Sunday, Feb. 7.

1/22/21

• Are you getting "deceptive site" warnings while using Chrome to visit BWB?  One quick suggestion is to try a different browser.  However, you can also change your security settings in Chrome to prevent the constant warnings and perform your tasks without interruption.
• Reminder - you must cut your rosters down to 28 or fewer players by Sunday night (midnight Pacific Time)
  • You'll have to pay the 2021 salary for the players you keep at that time.  You will not receive additional cash until Opening Day, so keep enough for the Redistribution Draft and for pre-season free agency.
• If you're going to be paying for individual teams and not one of the packages, you can save $5 per team if you pay by Saturday night at midnight Pacific (or shown on the site as 3 AM EST on 1/24/2021).  See your payment summary.

1/20/21

• New leagues are open for 2021.  We're listing only 3 to begin with - if there's additional demand later this winter we can add more.
• Do you want to try to resuscitate a troubled franchise rather than begin one from scratch?  There are a number of orphan teams that you can adopt and attempt to rebuild.
• Did you win a league championship or win one of the other postseason tournaments (or be named a conference champ)?  Then you earned a free bonus team that you can use in 2021 for either a brand new league or as an orphan.  You can check to see if you have any bonus teams in your list. (Bonus teams weren't added to any Cooperstown Club members - you can grab an extra team for no additional charge at any time).

1/18/21

• Week 30 Transaction Results Posted
- Winter Trade Period #2
• Next deadline is for your roster reductions to 28 or fewer players - deadline Sunday, January 24 at midnight Pacific Time
• With the trading period done and everyone about to cut down your rosters, all the trade rumors have been cleared out to start fresh for a new season.
• 119 New players added to the game based on the 40-man rosters for MLB teams
  • This is the only player addition until after Opening Day
  • To find them - In the filter/search area of the player lists, look for the "New in 2021" menu - See the list of new players

1/17/21

• Anyone who paid over $100 in total team fees in 2020 got missed in calculating the credit due back to you for the shortened season.  That's been fixed and you'll find an updated payment summary.
• New leagues are open for 2021.  List draft leagues draft when they fill - deadline dates are estimates and targets for filling.  Live drafts have tentative dates and times set aside for them already.

1/12/21

• 2021 team fees are posted
  • Check your payment summary
  • Because about 2/3 of the 2020 season was wiped out, there are discounts for 2021
    • For teams paid on a per-team basis, roughly 2/3 of your 2020 payment has been credited to your 2021 fees.  Typically the discount was spread across your teams - look in the "Other Discount" column with the heading "OD" on the summary page.
    • For team owners who purchased a full-price Season Ticket in 2020, you'll have the chance to get a 2021 Season Ticket for $150 - about half off the normal $295 cost.
  • Pay by January 24 and get an early payment discount
  • If you're adversely affected by the pandemic and recession and will have trouble with your 2021 team fees - please contact me and we can arrange something.

1/9/21

• Winter Deadlines - CHANGES: (pushing things back one week)
  • Sunday, January 17: Winter trade period #2
  • Sunday, January 24: Rosters cut down to 28 or fewer players
  • Sunday, February 7: Redistribution Draft - picks for Round 1
  • Subject to change. All deadlines are at midnight EST.

12/23/20

• Team finances updated - this includes playoff awards and awards for Players of the Year

12/4/20

• Winter Deadlines:
  • Sunday, December 20: Deadline to indicate you're keeping your teams for 2021
  • Sunday, December 20: Winter trade period #1
  • Sunday, January 10 January 17: Winter trade period #2
  • Sunday, January 17  January 24: Rosters cut down to 28 or fewer players
  • Sunday, January 31 February 7: Redistribution Draft - picks for Round 1
  • Subject to change. All deadlines are at midnight EST.

12/3/20

• The system is now open and ready for you to start picking your player cuts and for trades - the first trade deadline is Sunday night, December 20 at midnight EST.
• First step before you can do any trading or pick your carryover players - indicate if you're keeping each of your teams in 2020.  You must answer "yes" before you may submit any trades or before anyone can contact you for trades.  Deadline is December 20 or we assume the unanswered teams become Orphans.
• Are you having problems with constant warning messages about BWB being a potentially dangerous website?
  • This happens primarily on Chrome and I think some on Firefox.
  • I changed some security settings on my browsers this summer and so the warning messages went away for me.  I apologize that I then kind of forgot about it and some of you were frustrated in working on your teams.
  • Plans are that over the winter, we'll gradually move the BWB site to a new host and a new web domain - combining with some other changes, this should fix the situation.
  • In the meantime - what about picking your player cuts?  It's not a great solution long-term, but while you work on BWB, you can change some security settings in the browser and the warnings stop.  Let me know and I can guide you through the change - at some point this weekend I'll post some directions.
  • I hope you'll stick it out through the changes this winter - thanks for playing Benchwarmer Baseball!

11/30/20

• And we are underway for prep into 2021:
  • Salary cap cash has been distributed.  The 2021 salary cap is 40651 (was 40259 in 2020).
  • 2021 salaries are posted and are final
  • 2021 player positions are updated
• We're not quite ready to open up the teams for trades and to start listing your player cuts.  There's some additional setup work to do first - will try to get everything open by Tuesday night.

11/29/20

• Salaries are done - not yet posted.  I had to spend some time with some rule changes around salaries before I could move on.
• Figuring out positions comes next - that should be fairly quick and done by Monday.
• I'll post the new salaries and positions at the same time - and then we'll open things up for 2021 prep.

11/24/20

• So, what's new?  What's going on?
  • I'm currently working on finalizing player salaries - the base salaries are done and I'm calculating the premium bonuses.  The salary cap has been determined - this should all post this weekend.
  • Also - hopefully by this weekend, we'll have position updates.
  • After those are all up, we'll open things up for you to start cutting back your rosters to 28 players and start up 2 early winter trading periods.

11/16/20

• Benchwarmer Bash Final Results: Stargell's Spectacular Slammin Spectacle (Steel City League) defeated Three Blind Mouse-ketiers (Three of a Kind League) 4 games to 2.
  • Congratulations to team owner Jason Kiernan, who actually is the owner of both teams in the final.
  • This is Jason's 2nd win in the BWB ultimate tournament.  He won with his team from Marxball in 2018.

11/15/20

• We're down to our 2 final teams in the Benchwarmer Bash, but no matter which team wins, Jason Kiernan is the champion as he owns both teams.
• Series completed
• Bash Bracket

11/14/20

• Benchwarmer Bash 2020 Semifinals - Games 1-7 posted
• Bash finals coming on Sunday

11/13/20

• Benchwarmer Bash 2020 - Quarterfinals - Games 1-7 posted

11/11/20

• Benchwarmer Bash 2020 - Federation finals complete - Games 1-7 posted
• And we're down to 8 teams remaining in the Benchwarmer Bash.  Quarterfinal games are next.

11/10/20

• Benchwarmer Bash 2020 - Federation semifinals complete - Games 1-7 posted
• Look for the "Federation Results" links on the Bash main page to see the matchups and the game scores.

11/9/20

• Benchwarmer Bash 2020 - Association finals complete
• We've reduced the field from 128 teams to 32 - these series winners now move on to the Federation round where we'll cut the teams down to 8.

11/4/20

• Benchwarmer Bash 2020 - Association semifinals complete.

11/2/20

• Cash for final division placement was distributed - check the team finances.  Playoff awards come after the 2021 salary cap distribution.
• Moving on to 2021 - prep work is beginning:
  • Roster pages have been changed to the off season version in prep to start cutting players.  The dates on the page and the roster limits aren't yet updated/reverted back to normal numbers - that will come later this week.
  • Lineup slots and lineup positions are cleared out
  • 2020 contracts expired
  • All the players who sat out for Covid reasons are back on their BWB teams.  Any contracts they had were extended 1 year.
  • I will start work on 2021 salaries and positions later this week
  • Post-season trading will open soon - but perhaps not until the preliminary salaries are posted.  Roster pages are currently still locked - you won't be able to start on making changes just yet.

10/31/20

• Benchwarmer Bash
  • All the league champions plus a bunch of wild card teams now move on to the annual BWB tournament of champions.
  • The brackets and schedules for the association semifinals are now posted.
  • Teams involved have one final lineup change available - the lineups you set will run all the way through the Bash finals.  The deadline is Sunday night at midnight Eastern.
  • Games will probably begin on Monday night.
• Meanwhile - starting soon - preparations for 2021 - stay tuned.

10/30/20

• 2020 Playoffs - Championship Week is Complete!
  • Games 4-7 posted
  • Playoffs for all leagues - includes a list of all the league champions
  • Playoffs for all of your teams
• Pages for the Benchwarmer Bash are up
  • The Association level has been expanded from 2 teams to 4 teams - that will be 2 league champions plus 2 wild cards.
  • For this season, teams in the Big Red Machine League, the only league so far in the Koufax Federation, will compete in the Cobb Federation - the Eddie Collins Association
  • As the league championships finish up, the field posted will be updated with the new league champs and the updated wild card status.
• Teams that are playing in the Benchwarmer Bash have one last chance to change lineups - at that point the lineups will lock for the full scope of the Benchwarmer Bash.  The deadline to change lineups is Sunday night, November 1 at midnight Eastern.

10/29/20

• 2020 Playoffs - Championship Week - Game 3 posted
• Someone discovered an error in using the minors and the taxi squad to fill in lineup holes.  Something in converting the process from regular season to playoffs didn't work and it was possible to place the same guy to fill in more than once.  I apologize for this - it likely extended into the previous rounds, but at this point I can't go back and fix all of that.  Finding it now, I was able to re-score about 6 games from Game 1 & 2 in the current week.  The results were the same except Game 1 in the Bottom Feeder Finals of Batman League went the other way.  The owners of the affected teams have been notified by email, so if you haven't received a message, there was no change to your games.
• I've found the program error and we can move on with the remainder of the series - Game 4 will be up Friday morning.

10/28/20

• 2020 Playoffs - Championship Week
  • Game 2 posted
  • There's going to be a delay in Game 3.  We've discovered a lineup error and might need to redo a handful of games from Games 1 & 2.  Game 3 won't be up until Thursday.

10/26/20

• 2020 Playoffs - Week 3 - League semifinals, Gore Cup, and Bottom Feeder Open
  • Games 5-7 posted
• Reminder - tonight is the deadline to change your lineups for the finals week in the playoffs

10/25/20

• 2020 Playoffs - Week 3 - League semifinals, Gore Cup, and Bottom Feeder Open - Games 2-4 posted
• For the Big Red Machine League - your playoff pages were showing the wrong league for this week's games - that's now fixed.
• Some quick stats on the league semifinals:
  • Overall, only 60% of the division winners in the 65 leagues advanced from the first two rounds into the semifinals these were the teams seeded 1-4 in the tournament.
    • Only 47 of the 65 #1 seeds (72%) are still alive
    • 44 #2 seeds
    • 36 #3 seeds
    • 29 #4 seeds
  • The lowest seed advancing to the semis was a #14 seed: California from Fenway Fenatics (Craig Burke).  The team finished the regular season 22-32 and defeated Cincinnati (#3 seed, 31-23) and Centauri (#5 seed, 29-25) to get this far.  They are up against Skeleton (38-16), the league's top seed, in the semifinals.
  • Other low seeds getting this far include 3 #13s, 5 #12s, 8 #11s, 8 #10s, and 10 #9s.  These teams all pulled an upset in the first round and repeated the upset in the quarterfinals.
  • Only 7 leagues had all 4 division winners advance to the semifinals
  • No league had all of its division winners fail to make the semifinals, but 9 of the 65 leagues have only 1 division winner in the final four.

10/24/20

• 2020 Playoffs - Week 3 - League semifinals, Gore Cup, and Bottom Feeder Open - Game 1 posted
• The random game selection and the starting pitching games used was reset for the next 2 weeks.  It's possible that your league will use one of the same random games used in the first 2 rounds or that one of your starting pitchers will use the same game as before - but there are no repeats over this week and the week of the league finals.
• All teams are "back in it" as the Gore Cup and the Bottom Feeder Open fields are set
• We're utilizing the structure of the conference championships for the league semifinals.  In most cases this won't line up with the real conferences that teams play in.  I contemplated trying to play with the setup to get them as close as possible, but it was just more efficient to fill them without worrying about the conferences.
• This season, without real conference play, the final team standing in a conference will be designated the conference winner.  Should all remaining teams be eliminated in the same week, initial playoff seeding will be the tiebreaker.
• Teams that advance to the finals can change their lineups again for the next round.  Lineups are open again and the deadline to make changes is very short: Monday night at midnight Pacific (shown on the web as Tuesday, 10/27 at 3 AM Eastern)

10/21/20

• 2020 Playoffs - Quarterfinals complete - Games 6 & 7 posted
• Reminder that lineup changes for the next round of playoffs are due tonight at midnight Eastern
• You'll start to see seeding/matchups on your league's playoff pages for the conference championships and the Gore Cup.  This preliminary listing may have some errors as I'm doing it quickly by hand.  I will be running some verification checks to look for mistakes and correct them before the schedule is set for the next steps.  The official schedule should be up on Thursday.
• The teams that lost in the first round will now come back for the Bottom Feeder Open.  You have something on the line - the winner of that tournament will have the top spot in the draft/transaction order for the off-season.

10/20/20

• 2020 Playoffs - Quarterfinals - Games 2-5 posted

10/19/20

• Lineup changes are open again for anyone who wants to change their lineups for the next week of the playoffs (the league semifinals plus the start of the Gore Cup and the Bottom Feeder Open).  Deadline is Wednesday night, October 21 at midnight Eastern.
• 2020 Playoffs
  • Schedules for the league quarterfinals will go up later today - I hope to have some results up Monday night
  • In the meantime, some notes from the first round:
    • In 520 7-game series across BWB, the low seed won 134 times (25.8%)
    • Of 260 division winners, 25 were upset and did not advance to the quarterfinals (9.6%).  Most of these were 3-4 seeds, but there was one top seed and and five #2 seeds that didn't move on.
    • 3 of the 4 division winners in Fenway Fenatics were defeated.  The Beer League lost 2 division champs.

10/18/20

• 2020 Playoffs - Round One Complete: Games 5-7 posted
  • Remember, in Round One, the division winners started with 1-game lead before any games were played.
• For teams advancing to the quarterfinal round, your deadline to change lineups is TONIGHT at midnight Eastern
• My goal is to be able to start posting quarterfinal results by Monday night.
• If you lost, you'll now go into the Bottom Feeder Open - those games won't start until we move to the league semifinals.

10/17/20

• OK, we're going to try this again.  When I set up the playoff scoring program to use expanded rosters, I missed a change that I needed to make when copying the process from the regular season scoring (using random games throws in some twists).  As a result, a significant number of spots that had benchwarmers should have been filled by players from the taxi squad and minors.
  • So - we will re-score Game 1 to get it right
  • The new Game 1 results will be on the site on Saturday - probably late morning.
  • Thanks to Jason Kiernan for noticing the problem.  If you see something you think is wrong, I always want to know.  In most cases it allows me to recheck and confirm that everything works as intended, but it also helps me find issues that need to be fixed.

10/16/20

• 2020 Playoffs - there will not be a game 2 tonight...
  • Someone noticed that one of his taxi squad players should have filled in the lineup instead of getting a benchwarmer in the first game - I did some spot checking and this happened at least a few times.  I need to go back in and fix that - and I may have to re-run Game 1 on Saturday
• This doesn't happen often (or ever), but I'm actually moving the next lineup deadline earlier.  I'll have at least 2 playoff games posted by late Friday and we'll be done with the first series by Sunday.  Any lineup changes you have for the 2nd round are now due Sunday night, October 18, at midnight Eastern.
• 2020 Playoffs - Brackets posted for the 1st round of all 16 teams playing for the league championship.
  • Sorry for the extra time - setting up two new rounds of playoffs takes a bit of time to set up pages to display those results and set it up for all the leagues.
  • You can see the link to the playoffs on your league's home page - however the fastest way to get there - particularly if you have multiple teams, is from one of these pages:
    • Playoffs for all leagues
    • Playoffs for all of your teams
  • I am still working on some set up tasks to adapt the playoff scoring to allow for expanded rosters.  I am hoping to begin posting results by Saturday.  Look for the first 2 games to be posted late Friday night.
  • If you notice any problems or mistakes - like links that don't work or pages that load the wrong league - please let me know.

10/15/20

• Week Ten Transaction Results Posted
• There are no more transactions this season.  There may be certain pages that allow you to try to sign/cut players/move players to IR, but we're currently setting for Week 11 and normally you can sign players on Week 11.  If you get through to any transaction submissions, they will be ignored this week.
• You can change your lineups again for the 2nd week of the playoffs.  The deadline is Monday, October 19 Sunday night, October 18 at midnight Eastern
• See the season list of deadlines

10/13/20

• 2020 Playoff Tiebreakers - all the seeding ties are decided and I can move on to setting up the brackets.

10/12/20

• I haven't explained the pitching rotation correctly enough (and my opinion on that is backed up from the multiple questions I've received), so let me try again.
  • Note the changes to the playoff format for the Covid-19 season of 2020
  • All 16 teams are in the league championship tournament with the 4 division winners seeded 1-4
  • For the first round only, division winners will start with a 1-0 lead in the series.  The lower seeded team must win 4 games to advance, while the division winner only needs to win 3.  This is a change that a few people have suggested over the years for the "regular" playoffs and, while I don't think I agree with that overall, in this wide open season that seemed like a reasonable reward for the division winner.
  • So, will BWB just count game 1 as a win for the division winner without playing it?  Or will the division winners play game 1 just like everyone else but with a 1-0 lead in pocket?  To be honest, I don't yet know completely how this will work.
  • However, for your purposes, figure out your rotation P1-P5 just like you normally would.  We won't be skipping the P1 spot - put your best pitcher in P1 (if that's how you do it).  P1 will start in the first game your team actually plays.
  • This way, particularly since I'm still working on the seedings, you don't have to guess if you're playing a division winner in the first round - and you won't have as much time between the series to set your lineups after we start playing,so you probably don't have to redo your rotation for the next round.

10/11/20/

• 2020 Playoff Tiebreakers - the first pass through this is to break ties in the divisions and this is now posted.  There may be slightly different results when checking the entire league if there are multiple teams with the same record - that's the next step to determine.

10/10/20

• Still working on league tournament seeding and setup - so I'll keep passing that time back to you - deadline for playoff lineups extended to Tuesday night, October 13, midnight Eastern
• To answer a question....with the new format for the Covid season where division winners start the first round with a 1-0 advantage in games, which pitchers will play in Game 1....P1?  Or P2?  - The answer - we'll start those series with P1 in Game 1 and move forward from there (but there will only be a maximum of 6 games played in those series).

10/9/20

• Week 9 Statistics and Players of the Week - Players of the Year rankings are final

10/7/20

• And we have our final division winners - Games 58 & 59 posted in Hall of Fame League and Motor City League - See results
  • See standings for all leagues
  • Around BWB
• You will have a chance to change lineups in between playoff series - although once the brackets are set and ready to go the time between deadlines may be shorter - perhaps only 2-3 days - more to come as that becomes more clear.
• Reminder - you can set your pitching rotation without any regard to when your pitchers last started in the regular season.  Each series in the playoffs is a fresh start for determining games of rest.

10/5/20

• Tiebreaker Games - Week 9 continues - Games 55-57 posted - See results
  • See standings for all leagues
  • Around BWB
  • 25 Two-way ties were broken by a single winner-take-all game in Game #55
  • 2 divisions had three-way ties and the first step for resolving those is to play a 3-game round robin schedule in Games 55-57
    • Hall of Fame League - Cobb Division: California, San Diego, and Seventh tied
    • Motor City League - Greenberg Division: Bee Em, Mt. Pleasant, Oklahoma tied
    • In both leagues, the three teams all went 1-1 in the round robin phase - the ties are not yet resolved
    • The next step is single elimination - here's how that works and here's how the pitching matchups are different in this season
      • For Hall of Fame League the teams are ranked:
        • 1. California - 10-4 record against the other 2 teams
        • 2. Seventh (6-8)
        • 3. San Diego (5-9)
        • So it's San Diego at Seventh in Game 58.  The winner plays at California in Game 59 for the division title
      • In Motor City:
        • 1. Mt Pleasant - 9-5 in the combined head-to-head
        • 2. Bee Em (6-8, 5-2 vs Oklahoma)
        • 3. Oklahoma (6-8)
        • Game 58 is Oklahoma at Bee Em.  The winner plays at Mt Pleasant for the crown
• It's been a bit of a challenge adapting the division tiebreaking games to this Covid season, but I'm almost there.  The single-game tiebreakers are done as well as 2 of the 3 round robin games in the 3-way ties.  Nothing is posted yet, and I still have some work to do in order for those games to show up correctly - but it should all be up by this afternoon.
• Meanwhile, here are the rule adjustments for the tiebreaker processes

10/1/20

• For the 1-game playoffs, because St. Louis and Detroit didn't get to Game 60, which would correspond to BWB Game 55, I've decided that we'll do random MLB games for the batters and bullpen stats for those games.  Starting will be handled by the next queued start for your P5 slot, which would be up next in the rotation.  The 3-team ties require a few extra games beyond #55 to settle.  This presents a challenge for setting up the lineup and scoring - as the programs that handle those for the regular season aren't designed to use MLB games out of sequence.  I'm still figuring out how to do that. 
• Consequently, the deadline for setting playoff lineups is extended, for now, until Wednesday, Oct 7 at midnight Eastern.  That may get pushed back again depending on my progress.

9/28/20

• Week 9 complete - Games 52-54 posted - See results
  • See standings for all leagues
  • Around BWB
  • We're not quite done with the season - there are some ties to break...including two divisions ending in a 3-way tie.  Details to come.

9/26/20

• As I write this, the doubleheader between St. Louis and Detroit that would be made up on Monday is still not certain to be played.  If they do not play - which would mean they don't play a game #59, used for BWB game #54, we'll still have the final game of the season - without any stats from players on either team.

9/22/20

• Players selected in the 1st round of the 2020 draft are now included as part of the BWB player list.  Your first chance to sign them will be in the Redistribution Draft in January 2021.
• Week Nine Transaction Results Posted
  • Week Ten Transactions/Lineups - for now setting the deadline to Saturday, October 3 at Noon Eastern - this may be extended depending on how long it takes for playoff setup (with a completely unique format for 2020, there's going to be a lot of manual work to do that).
• This is the FINAL week for transactions until the winter:
  • Week 10 transactions are limited to cuts and IR moves in preparation for the playoffs.
  • Usually you'd be making IR moves at this time of year only to make room on your 26-man roster for other players in the playoffs.  We're using expanded rosters this season for the playoffs, so this might not be needed as much this season.
  • However - this is your LAST CHANCE to cut players who have a contract for 2021 and beyond before roster carryover selections in December.  You must keep all players under contract as part of your 28-man carryover squad.  If you have regrets about a contract, you either have to cut the player now or trade him away in November/December.  Of course, this also means you won't have him for any playoff games past the first week.
• Your lineup changes this week are for the first week of the playoffs - the first round of the 16-team bracket.  You may reorder your pitching rotation now without concern for rest between starts between Week 9 games and the playoffs.
• You will be able to change your lineup/rotation for future playoff weeks.  Dates TBD.
• Note - Week 8 was the last week to sign free agents - all the existing web pages are set to close that off each year in Week 25, not Week 9.  I thought I got everything, but a few signing attempts got through - those were deleted.  Same goes this week - if a page still lets you try to sign players, those attempts will be discarded.
• See the season list of deadlines

9/21/20

• We had 5 teams clinch division titles during the last round of games.  Congratulations!  Normally, every year I post division champs and information plus a rundown of close races around BWB.  This season, everything is moving fast and I'm not going to have time to put those up.

9/18/20

• Reminder - Contract Extensions are due this week - deadline Sunday night at midnight Pacific.  Here are some updates/clarifications:
  • You're doing this to save cash in future seasons for players who will have higher salaries in 2022 and beyond
    • You do not have to do this in order to keep players - you will choose 28 players to keep on your roster in December.
    • You must have enough cash on hand to pay the full contracts right now, up front.
    • Any player under contract MUST be kept in December when you make your roster carryover selections.
    • You are not currently in a use-it-or-lose-it cash situation.  Any cash you have on hand at the end of the season will be yours through the fall/winter.  You don't have to worry about maximum cash balances until March/April 2021.
  • Team cash - Your cash balances were just updated to include Week 6 game results/placements.  Week 7 games will be completed before we process the Week 9 transactions - the results/placements for Week 7 WILL count toward your cash balances when signing contracts, but will not appear on the website before the deadline.
  • What happens if you try to sign more contracts than you actually have cash for? (Say that you misjudge how much cash you're going to get for Week 7).  I checked in the rules and on the blog and this isn't outlined, so let me tell you how this has always worked:
    • The first consideration is that I take care of next year before future years - this theoretically will have more immediate effect to your team, but might really be to your disadvantage. So, if you try to spend too much money, everyone you attempt to sign for 2021 will take precedence over future seasons (and 2022 will take precedence over 2023 and beyond - etc.)
      • So, for example, you try to extend Byron Buxton for 2021 for 577 and extend out to 2025 for Fernando Tatis (2025 will cost you 6000) - but you are short in cash by 100.  The Buxton signing will go through and the Tatis contract will only go out to 2024.
    • If everyone is at the same extension year, the second consideration is to give precedence to the player with the higher current salary.
      • Given a similar example, you try to extend Tatis through 2021 for 881 and Buxton for 577, but you're short in cash by 100.  In this case the extension for Tatis prevails.  That's generally what you'll want because the 2021 salary for Tatis will be much higher than Buxton's.  But beware if Tatis is the lower-priced player in that scenario.
      • This is the same if you're extending multiple people for multiple years and say, the trouble comes with players extended to 2023 - the player(s) with the higher 2020 salary will have precedence.
    • If it comes down to players with the same 2020 salary, I'll try to use some judgment - Which player will likely have the higher salary in 2021 (or the extension year in question)?  I'm not going to try to do an actual calculation but will use my best guess.
    • If multiple contracts have to be denied/cut back, I'll always go back and see if once a contract is stricken to get the team balance out of the red, can any others be restored?
    • There's generally too many people to work with - I don't go back to teams and ask which contracts they want to keep/drop to keep the balance in the black.  Think carefully if your cash balances are projected to go negative.
    • It should be a bit easier this season - there are no trades or free agent signings going on at the same time.  However, contract extensions are technically the last thing to be processed in any week - if you are submitting an IR move this week, the 250 charge for that move will take precedence over the contracts.  Maybe save your IR moves until next week.
    • You should always do a final check on transactions for all your teams and see the final balances.

9/14/20

• All teams just received an extra 1000 in cash to help with contract extensions
• This is the final week to submit contract extensions for 2021 and beyond
• There are no free agent signings allowed this week - only cuts, IR moves and contract extensions

9/12/20

• Remember - transaction/lineup deadlines are now on SUNDAYS.
• However - because I'm messing up some teams' plans by adding Isan Diaz (see below) back to their rosters at the end of the week, this week's deadline time is extended from Noon to 7 PM Eastern.
• Isan Diaz opted back in from sitting out all season.  He's been added back to his original rosters and available to put into lineups for Week 8.
  • His prorated salary for 2 weeks will be charged to the teams.
  • I think this only puts one team immediately over the 50-man limit (Mt. Airy in Geek Pride) - because he was added so late, that team has a week grace period to get the team back to 50 players.

9/8/20

• With Game 27, we've reached the halfway point of our regular season
• Playoffs in the Covid-19 world
  • Clarification - Playoffs will use the expanded rosters that we've been using for the entire season.
  • Don't forget that the team with the worst 2020 record will not automatically draft first in the 2021 Redistribution Draft.  Results of the playoffs will play a role in setting the offseason draft order
• Deadline day change: Transactions/Lineups are now due at Noon Eastern on Sundays
• There are no more salary rebates for cut players this season
• Prospect Rosters are locked - you can't move anyone there for the remainder of the season
• This upcoming transaction week is the final chance to sign free agents for the 2020 season
• All orphan teams that are still unclaimed were awarded the 4000 in orphan cash (in normal seasons this happens in early July)

9/4/20

• Upcoming deadlines - see the season schedule of deadlines
  • Monday, September 7 - this is the final week to get a prorated salary rebate for cut players and it's the last chance to move anyone to the Prospects Roster
  • Sunday, September 13 - at Week 8 we shift to Sunday deadlines and this is the final chance to sign free agents
  • Sunday, September 20 - unlike normal season when contract extensions end in July, this year you can wait until this final week of regular season transactions to sign players to extended contracts.

9/1/20

• I incorrectly calculated the financial awards for the results and division placement in Week 1.  See league finances
  • Financial updates listed for 8/29: reversed the awards on 8/25 (Big Red Machine had no cash given out for Week1, so nothing changed for that league).
  • On 8/30 - credited the proper amounts for Week 1
  • On 8/31 - Results of Week 6 transactions and Week 2 games

8/27/20

• Any remaining orphan teams are free for the remainder of the 2020 season and you'll also get the orphan rate for the team in 2021.
• We're down to just a few teams with zeroes:
  • 2 teams still are 12-0: Underground from Beatleball (Michael Quinn) and Lampoon's from Chevy Chase League (Jason Kiernan)
  • One final team is without a win: New Riverside from Gone But Not Forgotten League (Dave Matter)

8/26/20

• Deadline day change: Week Six Transactions/Lineups due Monday, August 31 at 7 PM EDT
• This week is the trade deadline

8/25/20

• Entering our next set of games, there are 9 teams across BWB with a perfect 9-0 record.  At the other end, 8 teams are still looking for their first win.
• Sorry for any problems that this may have caused in planning your transactions - the salary rebate calculation for your players in transactions was incorrectly showing an 80% rebate for players you cut.  This has been fixed to the actual value of 44%.

8/24/20

• A few updates on the Covid-19 rules covering team finances, first round picks, BWB entry fees
• Quick note on the starting pitching stats for Week 2.  Because the deadline was pushed back for the Week 2 lineups from 8/5 to 8/8, the cutoff date for starts for players you moved from some other roster spot to P1-P5 would also have been 8/8 - anything before that would have been ignored.  This would have put a lot of teams in some tough positions for games.  So, I allowed starts from 8/5-8/7 that would have been included with the original deadline.  We should be on track the rest of this season for staying on schedule, so this should be the only time that's needed.
• A reminder that with the short season, we're fast approaching some deadlines - see the season schedule of deadlines
  • Monday, August 31 - we shift to Mondays for transaction/lineups at Week 6 and this is the trade deadline
  • Monday, September 7 - this is the final week to get a prorated salary rebate for cut players and it's the last chance to move anyone to the Prospects Roster
  • Sunday, September 13 - at Week 8 we shift to Sunday deadlines and this is the final chance to sign free agents
  • Sunday, September 20 - unlike normal season when contract extensions end in July, this year you can wait until this final week of regular season transactions to sign players to extended contracts.

8/23/20

• There's not a lot that can be told from 1 week - but here's our 1-page look at comparing teams across all the leagues in the BWB universe: Around BWB

8/21/20

• Week 5 transaction order is now set - it's based on the standings after Week 1 games

8/18/20

• And we have Game 1 in the books!  I usually just run one game to start off to work out the kinks of the process in starting up for the new season - check back on Wednesday night for more game scores.

8/17/20

• We have a season schedule!  Check out this week's games and a view of your team's schedule for the entire season.
• Some explanation of the schedule format:
  • Originally, the plan was to have the final two weeks of the season be games within your division.  However - seeing what's been going on with the game postponements due to Covid-19 testing results - the idea of whether all teams are going to get 59 or 60 games played seems up in the air.  Should too many teams fall short of a full 60-game season, BWB will have to cut off a few games from the end of the season.
  • So, I pulled out the original Week 6 from the planned schedule - the final week of inter-conference play - and moved that to Week 9 - moving up the original Weeks 7-9 a week earlier.
  • It's not ideal - if we play the full 54-game schedule, your last games of the season will not be in the division.  However, if we have to cut games - it allows us to make the decision as late as possible and still keep your divisional games at a full 6 games against each team.
• St. Louis has enough games played now for us to score BWB games.  I am trying to get that done as soon as possible!  I would expect right now that Tuesday night will be the *soonest* I can get the first games up - it may take a little longer.

8/13/20

• As mentioned below, the transaction order for Week 4 is now set to a random order.  Fingers crossed that this is the only week we need to do that.

8/12/20

• Marcus Stroman was removed from all BWB rosters before running Week 3 transactions as he opted out for the season due to Covid-19.  His salary was rebated a prorated amount or his contract was extended by a year.  He'll be returned to his original rosters after the season.
• Stroman's choice has brought up the need for a clarification to the rule of players opting out - the provision that a player who opted out would have his BWB contract extended another year was originally intended with the idea that the list would close on Opening Day.  Looking ahead - if any players opt out in September, you've already had him for about 2/3 of the 2020 season, so players opting out after August 31 will not get a contract extension.
• In an email sent to all owners last week, I mentioned that by Week 3 we are typically using current season standings to set the weekly transaction order.  It's usually 2 weeks apart - so, for example, Week 1 standings sets the order for Week 3.  With the delay in St. Louis games, we haven't even started Week 1, let alone finished it.
  • In the email, I said that for Week 3 we'd still use the transaction order based on 2019 standings, but would likely change that moving forward.
  • Beginning with Week 4 (deadline 8/18), until we can set transaction order based on 2020 standings, BWB will set each week's transaction order via a random draw that will change from week to week.
  • In some cases the transaction order might be set a few days after the transactions for the previous week post - depending on further developments with the MLB schedule.  We are probably looking at a gap of more than 2 weeks between standings and setting the order when we first start out.
  • For Week 4, the order will be random and will be posted here on the website by Thursday night.

8/11/20

• I am getting close to posting a 2020 BWB schedule.  I have it all laid out - I just need to set it up for all 65 leagues.  Just a peek behind the scenes: I use the same basic 150-game schedule structure since 2000.  And in a normal season thanks to some computer programming I did years ago, I can generate the full BWB season schedule in an hour or two.  To do a shortened 54-game schedule, I had to figure out all the matchups first by hand, so that took me some time.
• Speaking of schedules...St. Louis still is hampering our season.  A couple of days ago I was ready to say we'll just skip St. Louis or artificially change their game numbers to allow us to start the BWB season. But on the off chance that they start playing on Friday and try to make up many/most/all of their games, then by the end of the season it would start to match up better.
• Something to prepare for - if it turns out that a significant number of the Cardinals games are not made up, we may have to cut a week out of the BWB season.  We'll need 59 MLB games to play 54 BWB games - and if St. Louis doesn't play all of their games, that will mean that some of their opponents won't get to 59 games either, which would leave our final games missing several teams' players.  More to come on that.

8/8/20

• OK, so St. Louis has foiled our plans to be able to start scoring games this weekend.  The Cardinals have to play one more game for us to be able to start the BWB season.  Stay tuned.
• We do have to keep up with our normal transaction deadlines as the goal is to have you set lineups before most of the actual game performances occur.  This will mean we're going to be flying blind a little bit in regards to your team's results by the time you need to set lineups.  This season will be different in many ways.
• So prepare for a very short turnaround - I'll process Week 2 transactions on Saturday night and then the next deadline is Tuesday night at 7 PM Eastern.  After that we'll be to our standard 6-7 days between deadlines.
• However, I'm going to be away from home a little longer than I thought this afternoon - so I'll pass on that time to you - the Week 2 transaction/lineup deadline is now 5 PM Eastern today.

8/5/20

• You might be asking...when do we start playing games?
  • First, understand the Five Game Gap - if you're new to BWB or just need a reminder, check out the explanation of how MLB games map to BWB games
  • So we need to wait until all teams play MLB game #6 to get to BWB game #1
  • Based on the current MLB schedule, not accounting for killer viruses or weather problems, it looks like:
    • Miami and Philadelphia will play game #6 on Wednesday
    • St. Louis will play game #6 on Friday
    • So - if everything goes well, Saturday will be the first chance to score BWB game #1.  However, with my time on Saturday evening, I'll be working on the Week 2 transactions. (I will try, but cannot guarantee, that game 1 results will be posted on Sunday)
  • Maybe just pretend this year we're back in the old days of Robot Baseball (for those of you who played our predecessor game)...back in the 90s...when game results were mailed out a week or two - or longer! - after you submitted your lineups by mail.

8/2/20

• If there's any kind of announcement about an interruption of the 2020 season by Monday evening, BWB will still process the Week 1 transactions - however, there may be a push back on the deadline.
• This has already been a crazy start to the season - and based on what has already happened, we're going to have to be flexible and sometimes play things by ear.  I've attempted to try to line up everything in advance, but things may change.
• Among the changes put in place is that players who opt out throughout the season - not just by Opening Day - will be put on the "Covid list."  That and other changes/additions - like the structure of the playoffs and the offseason draft order - are found on the Covid 2020 page.

8/1/20

• There's a lot up in the air and rumors of a shutdown of the MLB season - I'm pushing back the Week 1 deadline to Monday evening at 7 PM Eastern.  For now - you should still be working on setting your lineups for our first games.
• Taxi squads will increase by 4 players immediately - pushing rosters up to 50 total players.  All teams will get an extra 2000 in cash this week - there's more to come on any additional cash distributed in the regular season.
• Nick Markakis is coming back off the Covid list - I'll be putting him back on rosters this weekend.  Isan Diaz is opting out - I'll pull him off of rosters before processing Week 1 transactions.  For our purposes, the "Covid list" will apply to anyone who opts out before our Week 1 (BWB Opening Day) deadline.
• Sorry - I created the list of teams who have to reduce cash a couple of days ago, but didn't post it.
  • After Week Zero transactions, teams should have had their cash balances at or below 13000 (11000 + the 2000 extra cash given to all teams).  Like we did in 2019, teams will get a final chance to get their balances below that number.
    • This is the list of teams that still need to get balances below 13000
    • These teams still have a chance to use their cash before losing it.
      • Because all teams have been given 2000 in cash for Opening Day, the new maximum balance is 13000
      • The teams on the list can only work their cash down via contract extensions
      • Use the normal contract extension form to submit your choices
      • Before we process Week 1 transactions, we'll run a special contract extension round only.  After those extensions are processed, any of the teams that still have balances over 13000 will be cut down to that amount.
      • Then we'll move on to run Week 1 transaction submissions as normal.
      • The deadline to complete this is the same as the Week 1 transaction deadline - Sunday night 8/2 at Midnight EDT
      • Only the teams on this list need to be concerned about this

7/25/20

• Reminder: your teams' cash balances need to be below 11000 after processing this week's transactions or the balance will be cut down to 11000.  Need to take a quick pass again to see where you stand?  Check out the all my transactions page which displays the estimated cash balance for you after this week's transactions (does not include the effects of any trades).
• And we've got a regular season schedule for transactions and deadlines
  • Week Zero deadline should have been Fri 7/24 and Week 1 should have been Wed 7/29, but with my delay in getting some of the Covid measures in place and delaying the posting of Week -2 transactions, we'll have some adjustments and will have to have some short weeks to get back on schedule:
    • Week Zero: due Tuesday 7/28 at midnight Eastern
    • Week One: due Saturday 8/1 and extended to midnight Pacific
    • Week Two: due Thursday 8/6 at midnight Eastern
    • After that, weeknight deadlines are 7 PM Eastern and Sunday deadlines are noon Eastern
  • Some other notes on the condensed schedule
    • Salary rebates and assumptions decrease roughly 11% each week, but the maximum salary rebate is 80% and toward the end of the season, the minimum salary you'll pay is 33%
    • Trade deadline: Week 6 - Monday, August 31
    • Final week for salary rebates: Week 7 - Monday, Sept. 7
    • Final week to add players to the Prospect Roster: Week 7 - Monday, Sept. 7
    • Final week to sign free agents: Week 8 - Sunday, Sept. 13
    • And in a weird season, you'll have all the way until Week 9 to sign multiyear contracts (due Sunday, Sept. 20)

7/21/20

• Quick reminder - players who have opted out of the season entirely have been pulled from rosters - and will show up now on free agent rosters - but they cannot be signed as free agents.  Attempts to sign those players will be discarded.  You'll see "Covid" in the status column in the free agent list for those players.

7/18/20

• Now on your roster page: If you had players on your roster who opted out for 2020 and removed from your roster for the season, they are now displayed at the bottom of the page.

7/17/20

• Some changes on the site to accout for the Covid-19 rule changes: (there may be some missing things - let me know if you find any problems)
  • The warning message for Week Zero maximum cash balance has been changed from 5000 to 11000
  • The checks on roster limits and lineups should be OK now to allow for: 46 total players / up to 10 players on the Taxi squad / up to 36 players making salary over 250 / up to 24 hitters over salary over 250 / up to 22 pitchers over salary over 250
  • Transaction page should now allow you up to 8 rounds of picks instead of 4 (good for the next 2 weeks)
  • The lineup change page shows options for setting expanded taxi squad slots for T5-T10

7/16/20

• Now posted - How will BWB function during the 2020 season of Covid-19?
  • For those of you who have emailed or posted on Facebook or various blogs, I've taken your thoughts into consideration.  I couldn't implement them all - some were counter to my thoughts - some of you contradicted each other - but many of them did play a role in setting up this season.
  • A large part of what I'm trying to accomplish is to have a fun season in 2020 (if it lasts) without teams having to completely blow up their rosters and long term plans.
  • Some highlights:
    • Players opting out for the 2020 MLB season were removed from BWB rosters and will be returned after the season - all transactions for these players in Week -2 were discarded.  Their salaries have been refunded for 2020 and any contracts extended for an extra year.
    • Taxi squad will increase from 4 to 10; IR will increase from 1 to 3.
    • Transactions for Week -1 and Week Zero will allow for 8 rounds of picks instead of 4.
    • All teams were just given an extra 6000 in cash.
    • The maximum cash balance your team can carry into 2020 on Week Zero is increased from 5000 to 11000 with the new cash just provided.

6/21/20

• Week -3 transaction deadline pushed back to Sunday, June 28 at midnight EDT.
• First round draft picks?  Some of you have asked when they will be added to the player list.  Like a lot of things right now - this is TBD - but this won't happen in the near future - probably not until after we reset the transaction order again to reflect the 2019 season results.

6/11/20

• Sorry for slow posting of transaction results - a combination of timing and technical issues.  I hope to have those up soon - the next deadline will NOT be this Sunday night (a July 4 opening day seems impossible now).

5/20/20

• Thanks for your patience as we wait to see what's going to happen with Major League Baseball in 2020.
• Obviously, there's not a June 1 start for MLB, so it's time to readjust the preseason calendar.
  • At the moment, we'll shoot for a July 4 MLB start date as that's been one that's been thrown around a lot
  • The next transaction week will have the deadline, as previously scheduled, of Sunday, May 31 - so nothing you'll need to do on Memorial Day weekend.
  • After that, we'll schedule transactions again to be weekly on Sundays, with a potential Week Zero deadline set for Saturday, July 4.  The Week Zero deadline typically lines up with Opening Day - so we'll be flexible with that.
  • This adds 5 more weeks of transactions.
    • All previous transaction weeks have been renumbered by 5.  Week -11 is now Week -16, and so on.
    • The deadline just passed on 5/17 is now Week -6 (I'm working on those transactions tonight)
    • The next deadline on 5/31 is now Week -5
  • The schedule for the regular season will be determined once we know when MLB will start and how many games will be played.
  • If Opening Day is stretched out past July 4, we'll adjust deadlines accordingly with more time in between them - my hope is to not have to renumber again.  If there is no baseball in 2020, then we'll figure out what comes next.
  • See the updated schedule of transaction deadlines

5/6/20

• So, what happens in BWB for salaries in 2021 and for multiyear contracts?
  • At this point, any major decision/change will have to wait to see what MLB will do - but for 2021 salaries:
    • If MLB plays some sort of schedule in 2020, we'll probably adjust the salary formulas to extrapolate the reduced stats to be equivalent to 162 games.  Most of the components of the salary formula are based on raw stats - the number of games, plate appearances, innings pitched, hits, etc. - There's one 1 or 2 components that are average-based.
    • If MLB doesn't play at all in 2020, this is still TBD, but my general feel is that 2021 salaries will then be exactly the same as 2020 salaries
  • How about multi-year contracts?
    • Much like in MLB, if a contract expires in 2020, it's done.  We're not going to extend any expirations for contracts.

5/5/20

• Meanwhile, with at least a glimmer of hope that there will be a partial MLB season to be played in 2020, we're looking to fill up 2 more new leagues:
  • British Invasion League is a league drafting via the list format - we need to fill 4 more teams
  • Mile High Leauge will use live drafting - we need to fill 5 more teams there
  • See our list of new leagues for 2020 for more information along with links to sign up to take the teams.
  • Or, we still have a number of orphan teams available who need good new owners ready to take them over and build them back to playoff contenders.

3/29/20

• Big Red Machine League Draft - Phase Two Draft, Part Three is complete
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Rosters populated and finances updated
  • The Phase 2 draft is now complete - your league moves into weekly transactions (next deadline is Sunday 4/5).

3/27/20

• BWB Plans and Schedule Updates
  • We're still in a holding pattern to know what's going to happen with the MLB season.  Until that's announced, we can't do much more than speculate what that will do to the BWB season and schedule.
  • Had we been on the normal schedule, Thursday would have been "Week Zero" - the date at which all teams must have a legal roster and the last chance to add any players for BWB Opening Day.  The Week One deadline was to be next Thursday, April 2.
  • Thursday night we just posted the results of what was originally supposed to be "Week -2" - meaning that if we hold with the schedule format, there would only be 2 more transaction weeks (-1 and Zero) before Opening Day.
  • Just as a guess, I can't see the 2020 MLB season starting before June 1, although a lot of opinions would put it much later than that.
  • So we're going to make some adjustments:
    • Add 3 more preseason transaction weeks.  To do this and make the records/history work out, all the previously posted transaction weeks were changed by 3.  Starting with the roster carryover choices, which were marked as Week -8 - they have been converted to Week -11.  And so on.
    • Space things out a bit.  There's not a lot to act on right now.  Some teams may be ready to go.  Some teams might be out of cash.  I have a lot on my plate personally.  We don't have to do this every week.  So the remainder of the preseason will be scheduled, for now, every two weeks.
    • This updated schedule of transaction deadlines is geared toward a June 1 MLB Opening Day.  We'll adjust as the situation changes.
    • The schedule for the regular season will be determined once we know when MLB will start and how many games will be played.
  • What else will we do before MLB starts up again?
    • We still plan to draft 2 more new leagues - one list draft and one live draft.
    • I hope to have some postings up to discuss some rule change suggestions.
    • And I'm kicking around the idea of holding some kind of preseason tournament for all BWB teams using 2019 stats.  But, the structure of the BWB season is automated - to now try to set up a structure and play the games for over 1,000 teams might be too much for me to attempt.  More to come...

3/12/20

• Obviously, with today's news of a delayed start to the MLB season, we're going to be in somewhat of a holding pattern.
  • Yet to be determined is whether the affected games in March/April will be made up or cancelled outright.
  • We'll look at the adjustments to the BWB schedule once we have definitive news from MLB on its plans.
  • For now, Week -2 Transactions submissions will still be due on Sunday, 3/15.  After that, we'll take a look at the schedule and maybe go at a more relaxed pace.
  • I would still like to start up 2 more new leagues for 2020 - one with a list draft and one with a live draft, but we'll see how that progresses.  That's probably the limit for what we can kick off this season.

3/9/20

• Welcome to Benchwarmer Baseball - It's a unique form of fantasy baseball as we play 150 individual head-to-head games in a season simulated from daily MLB stats - this isn't a Rotisserie game.
  • New leagues to start in 2020 are open - sign up now!
  • This is fantasy baseball 365 days a year.  Teams have cut down their 40-man rosters to a maximum of 28 players that they can carry over onto their 2020 squads.  And they participated in the Redistribution Draft that gives teams with bad records in 2019 a good advantage in rebuilding.  For the next few weeks, they'll be putting their finishing touches on their 2020 opening day rosters with free agent signing and trades.
  • Check out the Benchwarmer Baseball Tour for an introduction.
  • Check out our list of new leagues for 2020 that you can join to begin your dynasty.  Or, if you'd like to attempt to turn around a struggling team, view our available orphan teams ...pick up an existing team and rebuild it, rather than start from scratch.
    • If you're a first-time owner, you play under the "rookie rate" of $35 for your first team (normal price, $65)
    • Orphan teams are also just $35 - about 1/2 the normal price.
    • If you're interested, your first step is to sign up here.  Then go ahead and pick out a new league or check out the orphan list again.
  • Are you already a BWB team owner and want to add teams?  Check first to see if you have an available bonus team from 2019 or else add new teams here.  Email us if you want an orphan team and we'll set you up.

2/29/20

• There is an extra 1000 in cash to distribute to teams after the Redistribution Draft to cover added costs for moving players to the Prospect Roster.  That 1000 will get credited this week during transactions - so you can consider that part of your balance as you're making your moves.

2/24/20

• Redistribution Draft - Rounds 3-5 posted
  • Redistribution Draft is complete
  • Quick view of the players added to all your rosters this week via the draft
• We now move on to normal weekly transactions - in the preseason, deadlines are Sunday nights at midnight Eastern
• All transaction types are open - signings, cuts, trades, and contract extensions
• Next deadline is for Week -4, Sunday night, March 1 at midnight Eastern
• See the season list of deadlines

2/23/20

• Big Red Machine League Draft - Phase Two Draft, Part One is complete
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Rosters populated and finances updated
  • We continue with Phase Two of the draft - your next set of picks are due on Tuesday night, March 3 at midnight Eastern

2/20/20

• Did you know that we start some new leagues with a live draft?  Instead of using our list format, we draft the first 20 players for each roster live.
  • I'm trying something new this year: Instead of waiting until a league fills and trying to determine a workable draft date, I've scheduled dates ahead of time to let you plan ahead:
    • Mile High League: Saturday, February 29 - 2 PM EST
    • Mods and Rockers League: Sunday, March 1 - 4 PM EST
    • Family Night League: Friday, March 6 - 10 PM EST
  • If leagues don't fill, they will have to be pushed back to an alternate time or not run at all.
  • Check out the full list of new leagues and if you want to join one of these live drafts, you can sign up here if you're new to BWB or add a league to your current list.

2/18/20

• Redistribution Draft - Round 2 posted
  • You may now modify your draft list for Rounds 3-5
  • Next deadline is Monday morning, Feb. 24 at 9 AM Eastern (the deadline should be Sunday night, but this week was pushed back a bit so I'll add a few more hours)
  • View all of your teams' Redistribution Draft lists
  • Quick view of the players added to all your rosters this week via the draft

2/13/20

• Big Red Machine League Draft - Phase One Draft is complete
  • See the league draft index for more information
  • Rosters populated and finances updated after the results for Phase One.
  • We now enter Phase Two of the draft - your first set of picks are due on Saturday night, Feb. 22 at midnight Eastern

2/5/20

• Redistribution Draft - Round 1 posted
  • You may now modify your draft list for Rounds 2-5
  • Next deadline is Monday night, Feb. 17 at midnight Eastern (I'm out of town Feb 14-17, so passing the extra time back to you instead of setting the deadline on Sunday night)
  • View all of your teams' Redistribution Draft lists
  • Quick view of the players added to all your rosters this week via the draft
• Redistribution Draft lists collected - and I'm working on processing them.  In the meantime, see the list of players selected most often

2/3/20

• Our first league is full for 2020!  Big Red Machine League is full and ready to go!
  • View the league draft index, which includes links to past drafts as examples
  • This is a list draft - the Phase One Draft lists are due Saturday night, Feb. 8 at midnight EST.

2/2/20

• Another deadline extension!  I am unable to work on the draft on Monday, so I'll pass that time on to you.  Redistribution Draft lists now due on Tuesday morning at 9 AM EST.
• Check out all of your teams' draft lists on page - including error checks

1/22/20

• The draft/transaction order has been updated to put playoff teams at the end of the order - the league champion drafts 16th, the runner up 15th, and the other 2 division winners are 13th and 14th,

1/20/20

• Results of carryover choices posted.  View the Transactions page to see the cuts in your league.
• The 2020 Redistribution Draft is now open.  You'll have just about 2 full weeks to make your selections (see the link on your team roster).  Deadline is Sunday night 2/2/20 Midnight EST.
• For more information, see the rules regarding the Redistribution Draft
• There's nearly 2 weeks to do your list for Round 1, but you should consider building for all 5 rounds
  • Then, after Feb 2, we post the results of only Round 1 only - any drafted players will be removed from the remainder of your lists.
  • You'll have 2 weeks to redo draft lists (if you choose), then we post the results of only Round 2 (again removing drafted players from your rounds 3-5)
  • Then one more week for an optional redo of your draft lists, and we post the results of Rounds 3-5
• The season calendar of deadlines is posted, but the deadlines for the Redistribution Draft are:
  • Sun 2/2 - First submission - we post results for Round 1
  • Sun 2/16 - Adjust your lists for Rounds 2-5 - we post results for Round 2
  • Sun 2/23 - Adjust your lists for Rounds 3-5 - we post results for the remaining 3 rounds
• The draft order is not yet updated to account for division/league champions - check back later this week
• With all the cuts - the Trade Rumors list is cleared out in our annual deletion of everything.
• Any players on your Prospect Roster have been moved back to your 40-man roster.  You can begin to move players to prospect status again after the Redistribution Draft.

1/17/20

• Deadline approaching! - your roster cut downs to 28 or fewer players is due Sunday night at midnight Pacific
  • If you have multiple teams, you can check all your teams for errors on the roster limits on one page
  • Reminder about how the Prospects Roster works: (see the full rule)
    • Prospects don't count against the 28-player maximum that you may retain on your roster for 2020.  So you can keep up to 28 players AND some or all of your prospects.
    • You may cut some or all of your prospects, you're not mandated to keep them.
    • After the roster carryover decisions (January 19), all prospects will revert to be part of your standard 40-man roster.  Keeping prospects will reduce the total number of players you can pick up in the Redistribution Draft.
    • After the Redistribution Draft is compete, you can then make moves to put players onto the prospects roster for 2020.

1/8/20

• New leagues are open for 2020.  List draft leagues draft when they fill - deadline dates are estimates and targets for filling.  Live drafts have tenative dates and times set aside for them already.

1/6/20

• Fall trading period 2 - Transactions Posted
  • Trades are now closed until after the Redistribution Draft is completed in February.
  • Your picks for which players you'll keep on your roster in 2020 are due on Sunday night, January 19 at midnight Pacific (1/20/20, 3AM EST)
• 122 New players added to the list based on the 40-man rosters for MLB teams
  • This is the only player addition until after Opening Day
  • To find them - In the filter/search area of the player lists, look for the "New in 2020" menu - See the list of new players

1/2/20

• Happy New Year!  It's been quiet from me recently, but I have been doing some prep work for the new season (and taking some time off).
  • Position data is now final - I went through 740+ players without MLB stats in 2019 to update their current position based on minor league play.
  • During that search on positions, I've pulled 242 players off the current BWB player list.
  • Most of those deleted players were not on any rosters, but these 5 were still on at least one roster in BWB and have now been deleted from those teams automatically:
    • J.T. Chargois
    • Neftali Feliz
    • Ian Kinsler
    • Kyler Murray
    • Bruce Rondon
• Coming soon - I'll be going through the current 40-man rosters for MLB teams and finding new players to add to the BWB list.