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2007 UFS Baseball Prizes
$25 - Team Of the Week, Each League, Every Regular Seaason Week
$75 - Each League Division Winner
$500 - Each League Champion - One Year Leagues
$550 - Each League Champion - Lifetime Leagues
$150 - Each League Runner-Up

Lifetime League Overall Prizes
#1) $150
#2) $100
#3) $75
#4) $50
#5-10) $25

2007 BASEBALL RULES

The MLB and UFS seasons starts Sunday, April 1st. The first week will count the NYM/STL game on 4/1/07.

LEAGUES: Each league consists of 16 teams in two divisions of eight. Each Division is broken down to East and West based on where each owner resides.

ULTIMATE LEAGUES: (UL) are lifetime leagues in which you keep your entire roster from year to year. To be eligible to participate in an Ultimate League, you must have either played any part of a season in any UFS sport or be able to prove that you have played in a fantasy service and then received permission from the UFS commissioner. The current UL league owners are some of the best fantasy sports owners in the country.

UFS wants owners in its UL leagues that are committed to improving their team(s) every week of the season. Please play in one-year ML leagues if you can not make this commitment. If you are a first time UFS customer, you may be asked to make a  deposit of $50 towards your next years franchise fee.

In all UL leagues, all prizes will be paid as a credit towards future UFS leagues. (UFS will send out balances upon request after all UFS UL team fees are covered for one year and owner has made payments on time and not given back any teams within the last 12 months. A W-9 tax form must be filled out on payments over $600 and a 1099 Form will be issued to the IRS) No new UL leagues will be formed until existing "open" teams have been sold. If for any reason you do not keep your UL team, you will be billed a $60 re-stocking fee. 

UFS UL leagues are very competitive! Owners are expected to field the best lineup possible every week and owners neglecting their team(s) will have them taken over and operated by UFS without refund.

MAJOR LEAGUES: (ML) are one-year leagues that compete for only one year. After owning your first UFS team (either UL or ML), all additional Major League teams can be drafted at a $50 discount. Also, if you are a first time UFS customer, you get $50 off your first team ML team!

DRAFTS: Drafts are conducted via Internet Chat Room at our partner site, www.MockDraftCentral.com. We recommend that you carry 9-11 pitchers.  After the

DRAFT ORDER using KDS: KDS stands for "Kentucky Derby Style." In past years, we randomly assigned the draft slots from 1 to 16. Starting this year, you will be able to leave a "KDS" list where you get to list your preferred draft slot order. When we pull the random numbers as in the past, we will then consult your list and give you your highest ranked slot left on your preference list. This gives each owner just a little more control on where they want to draft. An example of two "KDS Lists" - (1,2,3,4,9,10,11,12,5,6,7,8,13,14,15,16), (1,2,4,3,16,15,14,5,6,7,8,9,13,12,11,10)

SCHEDULE: You will play a 156 game head-to-head schedule. The regular season will last 21 weeks. You will play the seven teams in your division twelve times for a total of 84 games.  (Weeks 1/2/4/6/8/10/12/14/16/18//20/21). You will play the eight teams in the other division nine times each for the other 72 games.(Weeks 3/5/7/9/11/13/15/17/19)

ROSTER SIZE: Every team MUST field a complete starting lineup of hitters and pitchers. UFS reserves the right to take any action necessary to field a proper lineup for neglected teams.

ML Leagues - 25 man active, up to 10 on DL, up to 3 on ML.
UL Leagues - After 17 years of play, the following parameters have been set for UL Leagues:
Initial Draft - 25 players (must draft a full starting lineup of pitchers and hitters and at least four of the six backups)
*** Thursday Transaction deadline before start of last week, Week 21 - 29 active, 10 DL, 11 ML.
*** Off-Season Limits - 29 active, 0 DL, 11 ML
*** Thursday Transaction deadline before start of Week 2, 25 active, 10 DL, 11 ML
*** Thursday Transaction deadline before start of Week 3, 25 active, 10 DL, 6 ML

Disabled List: (DL) You can have up to 10 players on your DL. Any one of the following four criteria needs to be met for a player to be eligible:
1) Placed on 15-man DL.
2) Placed on 60-day DL.
3) Injured and has not played 14-straight days during the regular season. Real MLB teams have DL limits and sometimes cannot put a player on DL, or choose not to in September.
4) At the time of injury, an Associated Press (AP) reports that the players is out TWO weeks or longer. "2-3 weeks out" is acceptable. "1-3 weeks out" is not acceptable.

UFS reserves the right to make any judgement necessary on either side of the fence.  When a player meets one of the above criteria, we activate his "DL" capabilities within our online system. 

When a player plays in his first game after being a "DL" player, he'll have his "DL" status deactivated in our system and he will automatically be placed on your bench unless you already have him in your lineup. If this puts you above 25-man active limit, you'll be forced to make a roster move on the next transaction deadline, or lineup deadline, before you can make any further moves.

Minor Leaguers: (ML). Any player currently in the minors is designated with "ML" next to his name.
When a player plays in his first game after being a "ML" player, he'll have his "ML" status deactivated in our system and he will automatically be placed on your bench unless you already have him in your lineup. If this puts you above 25-man active limit, you'll be forced to make a roster move on the next transaction deadline, or lineup deadline, before you can make any further moves. The opposite also applies If a player on your team is sent down, and it then puts you over "ML" limits posted above.  Note: Players on "rehab assignments" are not allowed to be put on "ML" status.

Failure to activate DL/ML players: First, our system will not allow you to submit a transaction or lineup if over the  active or ML roster limits posted above. If you fail to get back down to the 25-man active or ML limit and both a transaction and lineup deadline has passed, any owner in the league can send an e-mail to the UFS Commissioner and notify us that a team is over the 25-man limit. We will then notify the owner in question. If no move is made on next lineup or transaction deadline, UFS will waive, in our opinion, without recourse, the worst player on the team. We've been running leagues for 22 years now, and 95% of the time, this will happen because someone is on vacation. Please drop us a line before you leave and let us know when you'll be back.

POSITIONS: All players may ONLY be used at their designated UFS positions (except that any hitter may be a DH or backup DH). For players listed at TWO or THREE positions, you must designate which position you want your player to play for that week. Ex: C.Figgins is listed as a 3BLF. You must choose each week whether he starts at LF or 3B. He can only play one of them in a given week. The same rule applies if you choose to use him as a backup.

As soon as a player "starts" 10 games during the season at a new position, it will be added for games that start the following Monday.

UFS tries to keep player positions as realistic as possible. Therefore, we will have complete position adjustments in the middle of March before the season starts. Another that will be effective at the start of Week 10. There are four scenarios for position these Week 10 adjustments:

  • A player with ONE position will have a second or third added if they move to another position.
  • Players with TWO/THREE positions will be adjusted down to ONE/TWO if it is obvious they're not playing previous listed positions.
  • Players with TWO/THREE positions that are now playing a different position than listed will have that position added if they are not playing one of their previously designated positions. Any position(s) they are not playing will be deleted.
  • ANY player that has played A VAST MAJORITY OF HIS GAMES AS "DH" through Week 10,  will be moved to "DH only" at the start of Week 10, regardless of his listed positions to start the season. 

IMPORTANT "DH" NOTES: Any player listed as "DH" only will be automatically changed to a "field" position as soon as he starts in a field position in at least 10 games. The change will go into effect the Monday following the 10th game he appears in. Also, if any player has less than 3 positions, he will have a position he currently is not listed at added, effective the following Monday, when he starts his 10th game at a new position.

MINOR LEAGUERS THAT GET CALLED UP: When a ML player gets called up to MLB for the first time, his position will be adjusted to those positions he has played through the end of the games in each of his first two weeks of playing. Ex: ML player is listed as CF when called up on a Wednesday for first time ever. He plays RF only in all games first week through Sunday. He will become a RF only the following week. During the next week, he starts a few games in LF also. LF will be added for the following week. 

WEEKLY LINEUP/ROTATION: A complete weekly lineup will consist of 9 hitters (one at each position), 6 backups, and 6 pitchers.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You can have as many relievers on your roster as you wish, but you must use 5 starting pitchers and 1 reliever each week. Common sense will dictate which pitchers are starters or relievers. Changes in status can happen during the regular season and any updates will be posted on log-in page.

THE LINEUP DEADLINE IS ALWAYS MONDAY AT 10AM (PT). The exceptions are Week 1 if it starts on a Sunday or any week where the first game of the week is before 10am PT.

STARTING LINEUPS: The FIRST seven games in which your starting hitters appear in will count towards your score. Only games they actually start in will count. If your starting hitter does not appear in seven games, then your necessary backup(s) will be used (see Backups rule). All pitching appearances will count towards your weekly score.

BACKUPS: If a starter plays less than seven games in a week, his backup will be used. Backups may only be used for a maximum of the first seven games they appear in. Each team can use a maximum of six backups.

  • Backup C backs up Starting C, must be a Catcher.
  • Backup DH backs up Starting DH, may be any hitter.
  • Backup INF#1 backs up 1B & 3B, must be listed as 1B or 3B.
  • Backup INF#2 backs up 2B & SS, must be listed as 2B or SS.
  • Backup OF's #1 & #2 back up starting LF, CF, RF.
    • Must be listed as a LF, CF, or RF. The TWO OF backups back up all three OF positions. Ex: Starting LF plays 4 games, CF plays 6 games and RF plays 3 games for a total of 13 OF games. In this case, backup OF#1 plays up to seven games and backup OF#2 plays any necessary games so that all OF games played by starters and backups add up to a total of 21. If OF#1 played 5 games, OF#2 would have played 3 games in the above scenario.
       
      The use of backups is not to be manipulated in any way that is not consistent with normal baseball. i.e. No sandbagging the any position by leaving it blank or by leaving an injured player in the starting lineup that is known for a fact to be out two weeks or more, or has already missed parts of three weeks of play eventhough his status has been "day-to-day". This could result in in a score of zero for all seven starting games at that position. Our position is if it looks and smells like a rat, it's a rat. After running this game for 22 years now, it's pretty obvious when it's done on purpose. Each case is reviewed independantly of any other case before being judged.

PITCHERS: You can have as many relievers on your roster as you wish, but you must use 5 starting pitchers and 1 reliever each week. Common sense will dictate which pitchers are starters or relievers. Changes in status can happen during the regular season any week.

1) If you start 6 starters and 0 relief pitchers, the pitcher that scores the most points for that given week will have ALL of his points taken away and score a zero for your team.

2) If you start more than one relief pitcher, only the score from the LOWEST scoring RP that week will count towards your score.

In either case, the change will be made as soon as UFS is aware of the problem. We do not code them differently as roles can and do change all the time.

TRANSACTIONS: There are two transaction periods each week.
1) THURSDAY 2PM PT DEADLINE. 
These moves can be submitted from Tuesday 9am to Thursday 2pm PT each week. They become effective for the upcoming week, the following Monday.

Each Thursday at 2pm PT, we process the moves that have been submitted.
Trades, waives, ON DL, OFF DL, ON ML, OFF ML, and FREE AGENT priority list of up to five players will be processed on this transaction.  A maximum of one free agent can be signed.

2) FRIDAY 2PM PT DEADLINE.
These moves can be submitted from Thursday 3pm to Friday 2pm PT each week. They become effective for the upcoming week, the following Monday.
    
Each Friday at 2pm PT, we process the moves that have been submitted. A maximum of one free agent can be signed AND room for this player MUST be created by Thursday NOON PT.

The only type of transaction permissible on Friday deadline is the signing of one player.  No waives, On DL, Off DL, On ML, Off ML moves are accepted on this transactions. Players waived the day before on the Thursday deadline can not be signed until the following Thursday.

WAIVERS: Once a player is waived, he is a Free Agent and cannot be signed until the following week. There are no "conditional/if" waivers. The reason this done is the rich only get richer with conditional waives as they can only improve their team under that scenario.

FREE AGENTS:  Any player not on a league roster is a Free Agent. In weeks one through before the start of playoff Week 1, you can sign up to two Free Agents per week as described above. You may leave a list of up to FIVE players in order of preference. If two or more teams request the same player, his rights will be awarded to the team with the worst record, or least total points, if still tied. You must make room (waive, 2-1 trade) on your roster before a Free Agent can be signed. On the Internet system, you can change your list as many times as you like before the deadline. Also, no player can be signed to your team until they have been drafted or signed by a Major League team.  A signing is deemed official when an AP report lists the player as signed pending a physical. A player drafted in the June draft will stay in the UFS system as long as one UL team has him rostered. No UL team will lose a player that is drafted, and then does not sign within a year, and goes back into the draft.

GENERAL MANAGER: Being a good GM for your team is a vital part of the UFS game. All players acquired in trades and signed as Free Agents are placed on your BENCH until you put them in your lineup. Nothing is ever assumed.

TRADES: Team owners are free to contact each other regarding trades. Please be considerate and try not to call a person after 10pm in their time zone! Please remember to be cordial in  your e-mails as tone is often lost in them. Once a trade is agreed upon, BOTH OWNERS MUST SUBMIT THE TRADE EXACTLY THE SAME on the Internet system. E-mails of lineups and trades are not accepted. The trade is official when you see it on your league transaction report posted on the Internet system each Thursday/Friday night.

You may then use newly acquired players in your lineup if you call in a new lineup before Monday 10am (PT). Multiple player deals are allowed. You may acquire up to five players per week via trades. You may trade away up to five players per week via trades. Players acquired in trades can not be traded or waived until the following week. You must keep the player for a week. If you trade a player away, you cannot get him back in any trade until FIVE TRANSACTION PERIODS have passed. The UFS Commissioner has the power TO VETO any trade deemed too one-sided or not in the best interest of the league. Trades between friends and between contending and non contending teams are very closely scrutinized. A non contending team trading its best or better players for players of lesser value will decide no UFS league. In One-year leagues, no trades will be approved between contending and non contending teams. This means that owners that have no realistic chance of becoming the last playoff seed can't make trades. Any player on UFS DL can not be can not be traded. It does not matter where you have him on your roster.

TIP- Quality over quantity! The trading deadline is Thursday before Week 16.

WEEKLY WINS/LOSSES: Your team's score will be compared to that of your scheduled opponents. At the end of Sunday's games, your total score for the week is compared to your scheduled opponent's. You will get a win for every team you outscore and a loss for every team that outscores you. In case of a tie, the team with the highest individual point total will earn the win. During the playoffs, ties will go to the team with the best seed.

PLAYOFFS: The UFS playoffs are held from Week 22-25. The two division winners and the next best six teams regardless of division will make the playoffs. The division winners are seeded #1, #2. The Wild Card teams are seeded #3 through #8. In Round One, #1 vs #8, #2 vs #7, #3 vs #6, #4 vs #5. Teams will be re-seeded after each round. The first and second round will last one week. The championship round will last two weeks with each team able to change its lineup each Monday. The final MLB week is not used for UFS purposes.

CONDUCT: UFS reserves the right to remove any team/owner from any league, without refund and void of all prizes, for any reason, if actions of said owner compromise the integrity of the league in any manner. Any legal matters pertaining to UFS must be conducted in the state of California.