I. The Australian Baseball League (ABL) 
A. The ABL brings together Out of the Park Baseball owners to compete for its Championship (Grand Final).

B. The ABL is free to all (althoguh an annual contribution towards Statsplus fees is appreciated and will requested via PayPal each year). 

C. The ABL uses Out of the Park (OOTP) 24 currently, and at the discretion of the commish will transition to the new version of OOTP each year.

 II. Commissioner 
A. The Commissioner will NOT be running/managing a team in this league

B. The Commissioner’s duties include: 
     1. Setting the league schedule;
     2. Running the in-OOTP game league; 
     3. Following owners’ management instructions; 
     4. Updating the StatsPlus website; 
     5. Running drafts; 
     6. Resolving all disputes and questions; 
     7. Encouraging league participation; 
     8. Improving the league;
     9. Filling ownership vacancies. 
    10. Processing trades

C. The Commissioner may change any rule. 

D. The Commissioner has final say in all matters. 

III. Owners 
A. Owners must be active, by:
    1. Submitting team exports; 
    2. Communicating with the Commissioner;
    3. Posting in the league Slack channels; 
    4. Participating in the amateur draft in a timely manner; 
    5. Responding to trade offers;
    6. Voting for awards in Statsplus;
    7. Running their organisation responsibly for the betterment of the league.

B. Owners must play fair and try to win, however rebuilding is of course allowed 

C. Owners must follow all rules. 

IV. League settings 
A. Financials ON

B. Designated hitter OFF

C. Fictional players 

D. Franchises - 20 in total (2 sub-leagues of 10 teams each)
    1. Major League and minor league team locations and team names determined by the Commissioner
    2. Two levels of minors (AAA & AA)

E. Coaches OFF. Scouts are ON

F. Rating scale
    1. Current and potential (1-10 scale)
    2. Stars for overall current and potential

H. Playoffs (no playoffs in the minor leagues)
    1. The sub-league champion plus places 2-4 make the post-season in each sub-league
    2. For the purposes of a tie-break for 1st place in a sub-league, a 1 game playoff will be played 
    3. Other seeds will be seprated by H2H record then run differential then runs scored then a coin toss if required
    4. For the purposes of a tie-break for 4th place in a sub-league playin games will be played
    5. The semi-finals and finals in each sub-league will be seeded (1st plays 4th and 2nd plays 3rd) and be 7 games in length (3H3A1H)
    6. The Grand Final series is a best of 9 played 3H3A2H2A1H
    7. Highest seed will always have home field advantage

I. Sim schedule
    1. 7 days per regular season sim
    2. Off season and pre-season sim lengths to be determined
    3. Sims to occur everyday (M, T, W, T, F, S, S) unless commish provides advance notice of absence
    4. Exports due no later than 4.30am Central Standard Time - note the sim will be run anywhere between 4:30am and 8am CST
    5. Sim times may change as Daylight Savings Time adjusts the time difference between USA and Australia (where the commish is based)

V. Stadiums & Relocation
A. No relocation allowed, however Commish may recommend relocation based on fitting league storylines

B. GMs will be allowed to adjust ONE of the SIX park factors each year.
    1. Each change cannot increase or decrease a park factor by more than 0.030
    2. No park factor can go below 0.700 or above 1.300
    3. Park factor adjustment requests can only be posted AFTER the regular season has ended and BEFORE the Grand Final series is completed

C. Maximum capacity of stadiums is defined by the capacity of the team with the lowest capacity stadium (maximum is 40% above the minimum)
    1. Current lowest capacity is 16,000 (SML), therefore maximum capacity is currently 22,400
    2. Additional seats can be added using the following rules
        a. No team can add more than 2,000 seats in a rolling 5 year period
        b. Seats must be purchased in 1,000 lots (unless 1,000 would take a team above the maximum capacity)
        c. Seat requests must be posted in Slack channel #stadium_expansions
        d. Seat requests can only be posted AFTER the regular season has ended and BEFORE the Grand Final series is completed
        e. Seats requested at the end of Season 1 will be added AFTER the end of Season 2 (i.e. ready for the pre-season of Season 3)
        f. The cost per 1,000 seats increases with inflation and is currently $661,383 per 1,000 seats as at 2022
        g. A maximum of 5 teams may request a capacity increase per off-season, first in first served
        h. Seats can be purchased with a single payment or spread over 3 years as follows
            i.    A team must have the cash available to make payments (either the upfront or annual payments)
            ii.   Cash for seats is taken before we pass into the off-season, so it will be taken before owner implments cash max in game
            iii.  If a team doesn't have the cash on hand to make the year 1 payment, the seat request will be voided
            iv.  If a team does't have sufficient cash for a future payment the league will 'loan' the money with a 20% fine
            v.   If a multi year purchase is used Year 1 must be a minimum of 40%
            vi.  Requests to be posted in the form below X seats at Year 1%/Year 2 %/Year 3% e.g.
                   1,000 seats at 100%
                   1,000 seats at 50%/50%
                   1,000 seats at 40%/30%/30%

VI. Contracts
A. Contract extentions can be offered to players at any time
B. All contracts must meet the followng criteria to be ABL legal
    1. Maximum contract length of 6 years for any player aged 23 years of age or younger (house rule)
    2. Maximum contract length of 10 years for any player aged 24 years or older
    3. No contract can have an earlier year be higher in guaranteed value than a future year, i.e. every future year must be equal to or higher than the preceeding year
    4. Bonuses are allowed, all bonuses combined must not total more than 50% of the lowest value year of a contract
    5. A maximum of 1 option year is allowed in any contract and the option year must always be the last year in a contract
C. If any of the contract rules in Rule VI. B are broken the following rectification will be acted upon
    1. If the contract is agreed between January 1st and the day before arbitration the contract will be voided and can be reoffered
        a. If the player is a free agent they will be edited back into the free agent pool
    2. If the contract is agreed between arbitration and free agents filing, the contract wil be adjusted to be legal as follows
        a. Any illegal option years will become guaranteed years
        b. Any illegal bonus will be added to each year to make the contract legal
        c. Any contract years that are lower than preceeding years will be increased to become legal
        d. In the case of a player aged 23 years or younger who signs a contract longer than 6 years, the total contract value will be divided by 6 and become the guaranteed contract amount for each year
 
VII. Free Agents
A. 3 service years required for salary arbitration
B. 6 years service time minimum for free agency
C. No minor league free agency
D. No compensation for lost FA's
F. All free agent claims are made in game with the following rules in place:
    1. Maximum contract length of 6 years for any player aged 23 years of age or younger (house rule)
    2. Maximum contract length of 10 years for any player aged 24 years or older
    3. All contract extension rules from above must be adhered to
    4. Free agents can only be signed during the regular season, off-season or pre-season window. 
    5. Fre agents cannot be signed during the playoffs by any teams.
E. Between 0 and 4 free agent scouts will either be added, or have ratings adjusted at the end of the season to ensure balance in the available pool
    1. Should a scout not want to sign you with with the message 'I don't want to work in a foreign league' DM the commissh your offer and theis will be offered in game for you

VIII. Trades
A. The commissioner may cancel a deal if it harms team or league integrity.
B. All trades must be posted in the #confirmed_trades channel in Slack, ideally via the trade tool in Statsplus
C. Both parties must agree to the deal before it is processed (either via Statsplus or in the #confirmed_trades channel)
D. Draft picks CANNOT be traded.
E. Recently drafted players CAN be traded.
F. Trading is closed between the trade deadline (9 August) and the last game of the Grand Final series
G. Veterans cannot veto trades
H. Cash can be included in trades
I. Injured players can be traded - buyer beware
J. Players in the International Complex cannot be traded, they must be promoted to AA for the Commissioner to process the trade
K. All trades are processed at the beginning of the sim, sim instructions for newly traded players for the ABL roster should be posted in Slack
L. No sim instructions for minor league players after a trade

IX. Roster Rules
A. 25 man limit on ML roster, 30 man limit for both AAA and AA teams
    1. The active roster will be extended to a limit of 40 for Spring Training, the roster must be down to 25 men for the opening day sim of each season. A special 'roster moves' sim will be scheduled between the end of Spring Training and opening day
B. 'September' callup options are not in effect, as their are no minor league option years you can freely move players between the ABL and minor leagues. However, once a player is promoted to the ABL they then carry their ABL minimum salary
C. 'International Complex' limited to 20 players
E. Minimum of 4 man rotation for regular season games and 3 man for playoffs
F. All pitchers set to start in the rotation must be set to SP, MR/CL (unless using openers) can only start if set to 'Opener' or  'Emergency starter' and the AI has them replace an SP injured during a sim
G. There is no Rule V draft

X. Amateur Draft
A. At the beginning of each season there will be an Amateur Draft (early May)
B. The draft will consist of eight (8) rounds with players for 10 rounds generated
C. Draft Order
    1. The Grand Final series winner picks 20th
    2. The Grand Final series loser picks 19th
    3. The playoff teams that do not reach the Grand Final series will draft based on the round they were eliminated in (League Cup lsoers draft 17th and 18th and so on) and then by winning percentage. ​Ties will be broken based on head-to-head record (better regular season record drafts first), then a coin flip if required
    4. The non-playoff teams will draft in inverse order of winning percentage with ties broken on head-to-head record (better regular season record drafts first), then a coin flip if required
D. The league will hold the Amateur Draft in Statsplus.
E. The draft pool will be released approx. 180 days prior to the Draft to allow lists to allow drafting to begin in the utility.
F. All picks must be made through the Draft Utility in Statsplus or by emailing/DMing the Commissioner detailed instructions

Addendum - League Settings
Scouting
1. Accuracy 'High'
2. Frequent scouting report updates
3. Stats incorporated into scout reports

Suspensions/Injuries/Fatigue
1. Suspensions ON (NORMAL)
2. Short and long injury frequency LOW
3. Delayed injury diagnosis NEVER
4. Injury rating HIDDEN
5. Position player fatigue LOW

Ratings
1. Current and ratings 1 to 10 
2. Show ratings > Max NO
3. Show Potential < Actual NO
4.STARS for overall Current and Potential ratings
5. Overall rating based on position, not all players
6. Current ratings shown for speed, position, fielding, bunt, hold runners, stamina etc.

Financials - current as at 2023 (will adjust as time progresses)
1. ABL has its own financial model with a gradual inflation model (0-5% each year). 
2. The financial model is designed to force choices about where/how to spend money.
3. Attendance baseline 22,136
4. Fixed ticket price $6.61 fixed for all teams
5. Visiting team's gate share 20%
6. Fixed national media contract $79,212
7. Average local media contract $17,160
6. Average merchandise revenue $9,085
7. Owner does NOT control budget, all revenue available (commish will adjust budget once before a new season starts to match, to the nearest $10,000) revenue from the season
8. No revenue sharing by luxury tax
9. Cash maximum $1,606,741
10. Average player development budget $1,209,000
11. Average scouting budget $1,209,000
12. No salary cap, limited by budget available
13. Average profit calculations are meaningless according to the ABL financial advisor

International and Amateur Free Agents
1. International amateur free agents (few 40)
2. International amateur signing cap $661,000 (current for 2023).
3. International scouting discoveries per team (few 1)
4. International established free agents (few 3)
5. Free agents from independent leagues (default 8)

Schedule
1. 130 games (120 games in the minor leagues)
2. Series within each league is 5 games in length (10 games against each league rival 5H & 5A) - 90 games
3. Inter-league series are 2 game sin length (4 games against each inter-league team 2H & 2A) - 40 games
4. Typically one off day per week
5. Season starts in May for ML and AAA, AA starts after the Amateur draft
6. All Star break gets its own 6 day break with only that game played to allow selections to rest for regular season ABL games

Development and Aging
1. Batter Aging Speed .600
2. Batter Dev. Speed 1.000
3. Pitcher Aging Speed .700
4. Pitcher Dev. Speed 1.000
5. Talent change randomness 100
6. Morale system ON
7. Personality ratings ON

Feeder Leagues
Feeders are not on, but will be considered in the future

Fan Interest, Loyalty & Market Size
No Commissh intervention, what the game gives you is what you get.

Other
1. Storylines OFF
2. Owner goals OFF