Tier 1

Rule Changes 

 

-You can't pull a pitcher twice mid-inning in a game or else he is no longer able to re-enter the game. You can still freely rotate pitchers inning by inning.

 

-All playoff games will be played at parks with little to no obstructions. Dragon's Den, Oakridge and Hodgson.

 

-A team that is 30 minutes or more late to a game will automatically forfeit the game. In the event they have 2 of their team members on hand they must start the game and the other teammates can join the game up until the 5th inning.

 

-With the possibility of 9 teams in Tier 1 this year, 1 team will miss the playoffs. This creates a more meaningful regular season and more competitive games from beginning to end. It also gives teams more incentive to field their best possible team for every game.

Notes

 

Rosters must be handed in to Adrian by April 1st. If theres anyone you have in mind who may play for you who isn't currently listed on the website roster, send the names in. This is to avoid bringing random buddies out and having them be called "ringers" If they are on the roster it's all fair game.

 

We will experiment with the sac fly double play rule in scrimmages. Any ball caught beyond the doubles line with a man on 3rd base can be thrown without a bounce into the box to get a double play. If you miss the box the runner simply stays on his base at 3rd.

 

We'll be making an effort to schedule multiple games on the same day at the same parks. This allows other TBL members to arrive early to their game and see another game or stay after their own game and watch another. It's a great way to get more league members together and have some spectators at games.

 

There will be minor changes to the boxes at Earl Haig and Courcelette. Earl Haig will be made short and the Beaches will get a slightly more narrow box.

 

Any players with specific requests for days they can't play or planned vacations etc should notify their managers ASAP and managers need so send this information to Adrian for scheduling purposes.

Manager Votes

 

How many innings will be played in the playoffs?

With 6 of the 9 votes, the option to play 9 innings throughout the playoffs won the vote.

In case of a tie after 10 innings...

With 5 of the 9 votes, the option to cap the innings at 14 was voted on. If a game goes 14 innings and is still tied both teams will be credited with a tie. However if both teams agree to continue playing and the conditions allow for it, you are free to continue after 14 and try to get a winning team.

When to schedule weeknight games?

With 7 of the 9 votes, the option to only play weeknight games in an emergency was voted on. Regardless of this vote, there will be no weeknight games after August 1st due to lack of daylight.

 

What's new for Tier 2?

For Tier 2 they weren't alot of rules or votes to be decided but they were some minor changes and they are as follows

All teams must now keep stats for their games. If you are unclear about which stats you need to record, simply check out the stats column on the site and you will see all the categories we keep track of.

 

The sac fly double play rule was overwhelmingly voted in. Same rules as noted above will apply.

 

Uniforms are now mandatory. Most teams already have them but they are now a must.

 

Tier 2 will be getting a bump to at least 12 games per team for the season.

 

In previous winter meetings alot of bigtime votes and decisions needed to be made but this year the votes were fairly easy to make and even if managers didn't vote for something they could understand why most others did. The biggest changes will be not being able to bring in your ace constantly to bail out another pitcher. This puts emphasis on having a solid secondary pitcher and even a serviceable 3rd pitcher for some teams. Also, for the first time in TBL history one team will not make the playoffs. While this seems like a bummer in a league about fun, it will great for the league as a whole because we'll see far less of those games where teams brought a B squad and got blown out. At the end of the day that's not really fun for anyone and hurts the integrity of the league.

Please make sure all of your teammates know about these new rules and make everyone individual copies if you can as it will lead to less drama on the field if we're all up to date on everything at all times. One more  month, let the games begin!