Rules for Rochelle Strat League
March 10, 2006, revised March, 2011
Plate Appearances Chart –
Plate Appearances are determined by adding a player’s At Bats, Walks (including intentional walks), Sacrifice Bunts, Sacrifice Flies and his Hit-by-Pitches. Determine where in the Batting Order a player is most likely to bat, then using the “Plate Appearances” Chart determine how many games that player can play in a Rochelle Strat League (RSL) Season. See attached “Plate Appearances Chart”.
Starting Pitchers –
To keep from over use of Pitchers, attached is a “Pitcher’s Start” Chart showing how many starts a Pitcher may Start in a RSL Season. The “Start Chart” is based on the number of starts a Pitcher made in the Major Leagues or the number of innings a Pitcher pitched in the Major League Season. Both these stats can be determined from the player’s Strat card for the season being used.
If the two charts on the Pitcher’s “Start Chart” result in a different number of starts, the manager may chose the number of Starts that is most beneficial to his team.
A Starting Pitcher, with no “Relief” on his pitching card, may pitch in relief. The ‘Inning of Weakness’ for this starting pitcher is the second inning he pitches in relief. According to the automatic WEAKNESS for a Relief Pitcher, this Pitcher is automatically weak on the first pitch he throws in his fourth inning in any appearance.
Relief Pitchers –
A Relief Pitcher may start a game even if he doesn’t have “Starter” on his Strat card, but a team can only do this twice in an entire RSL season. A team may use the same relief pitcher twice for these two starts or two different relief pitchers once each. His ‘Inning of Weakness’ is the first inning he pitches, potentially after the first three batters he faces. He is automatically weak on the first pitch of the 3rd inning. See “Pitcher’s Weakness” below.
In a few cases there are Relief Pitchers that don’t have ‘Starter’ on there Strat card who did start “1” Major League game. If this Relief Pitcher starts a game his ‘Inning of Weakness’ is the Relief Inning listed on his card. He would automatically become weak two inning after the ‘Inning of Weakness’ listed on his Relief card.
Pitcher’s Weakness –
All Starting Pitchers are automatically weak when that Pitcher throws the first pitch in the fifth inning after the ‘Inning of Weakness’ on their Strat card. All Relief Pitchers are automatically weak when that pitcher throws the first pitch to a batter two innings after their ‘Inning of Weakness’ listed on their Strat card.
If a Pitcher is weak, all black dots on their pitching card become ‘Singles, runners advance two bases’. Only ‘Hits’ and ‘Walks’ count towards achieving a Pitcher’s weakness, not ‘Errors’ or ‘Hit-by-Pitches’.
In any game once a Pitcher’s Weakness has been achieved, that Pitcher remains in his weakness the remainder of that game.
In extra inning games ‘Pitcher’s Weakness’ are achieved in the same manner as a regular inning game. Plus, the length of time a Pitcher must rest after the game is over,includes all extra innings.
Substitution Rule –
In each four game series with each league opponent (or opponents), a bench player may be used once in each series as a defensive replacement, substitute runner or a pinch hitter without it counting as a ‘game played’ provided that player absolutely does not play more than two innings. One batter into the third inning constitutes a full game played.
The extra innings (from the 10th inning on) in an extra inning game do not count towards a bench player being charged with a game played.
If in a four game series, that Substitute comes in for a second two inning (or less) stint, the Sub is charged with a game played. However, that Sub can then substitute in all four games and only be charged for one game played, provided he never plays more than two innings in any one game.
Trading Deadline –
The Trading Deadline is the first dice roll of your ninth game or Noon Saturday, which either comes first, when Strat Weekend starts on a Friday and schedules 4 games for most teams on Friday evening.
Extension Rule –
The RSL feels a manager should not be forced to trade for players or draft players just to fill the “At Bat” holes at a particular position, especially when a team is trying to rebuild. To avoid this a manager may extend any Batter whose Batting Average is below .220 (that’s .219 and lower) and the same player’s Slugging Percentage is below .300 (that’s .299 and below).
An Extended Player can start any number of games in the season and may substitute freely with the same fielding ratings, speed and running ratings on his card. No changes what-so-ever to his Strat card.
Extended players cannot be used as ‘Designated Hitters’. If a manager is short At Bats at DH, he must use a Pitcher, who is on the 25 player roster, as a Designated Hitter and use that Pitcher’s Hitting Card.
All Pitcher’s whose ERA is 6.06 or higher may be extended. This applies to Starters and Relief pitchers. These extended Pitchers’ cards remain just the same (no adjustments). Of course, these extended pitchers are subject to rest rules and weakness rules like all other Pitchers. An Extended Starting Pitcher could start every fifth day for the whole season depending on the team’s rotation setup.
40 man Rosters
All teams must cut there Rosters to 40 players immediately following the Draft and before any games are played for that season. This is the only time Rosters have to be at 40 (or less); if trades cause a roster to increase over 40 players, the Roster does not have to be cut till just following the next season’s draft.
One exception to the 40 man Roster, if in the course of a season a team has a player who was on a major league 60-day DL and did not play all season (no innings pitched, zero At Bats), the following year that team may have a special DL slot added to his Roster (thus a 41st player). Each team must designate the player in that slot by name following the draft and before Rosters are cut.
World Series or Playoffs
A seven game World Series is played each year between the Divisional winners. The same seven game guidelines should be used for all playoffs needed to determine participants in the World Series.
Each manager must name his 25 man roster before the first game begins. No changes or additions can be made to that 25 man roster after the first pitch of the first game.
Hitters (regardless of place in the batting order)
89 Plate Appearances or less- may only start 1 game
90 – 189 Plate Appearances- eligible for 2 games
190 – 279 Plate Appearances- eligible for 3 games
280 – 365 Plate Appearances- eligible for 4 games
366 – 465 Plate Appearances- eligible for 5 games
466 – 555 Plate Appearances- eligible for 6 games
Over 556 Plate Appearances - eligible for all 7 games
The Plate Appearance numbers are assuming a 162 game schedule in the Major Leagues. Of course, these numbers must be adjusted percentage wise for a Major League season of any other length other 162 games.
A manager may start his players in any game he wishes. If a player is only eligible to start in 4 games, he may start the first four games of the Series if the manager wishes.
If a player plays more than one pitch more than 2 innings in a game, it counts as one of the player’s starts. Any player on the 25 man roster may pinch run, pinch hit or play two innings of defense in as many games as possible without that counting as one of the games he eligible to start. Time played in ‘Extra Inning Games’ does not count against the player’s starts.
Starting Pitchers:
-Starters with an ‘*’ need to rest 3 days between starts.
-Starters with no ‘*’ need 4 days rest between starts.
-Starters with less than 100 innings pitched can only start one game in the Series, unless he is extended.
The World Series or Playoff Series is always played on 7 consecutive days. No days off between games.
Relief Pitchers:
There are no special series rules for Relief Pitchers. Follow the same guidelines for rest and usuage as used in the regular RSL season.
Home Team:
The Home Team is the team with the best winning record. If the two teams playing in the Series had identical season records than flip a coin for Home team. The Visiting Team bats last in the middle three games of the series.
Extended Players:
Any Pitcher or Hitter who qualified to be extended in the regular season is extended for the playoff series and may play as much as needed. An extended Starting Pitcher must rest four games between starts. Extended Relief Pitchers must follow all Relief Pitcher rest rules.