Changes for 2026 season shown in blue italics.

Preamble

We the Commissioners, in order to form a more perfect fantasy baseball league, establish fair play, insure league tranquility, provide for the common enjoyment, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of baseball to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Get a Life Baseball League.

League Structure

League

The GET A LIFE BASEBALL LEAGUE is a part of Get a Life Sports and was founded in 1988. It may be referred to as “the league” or “GLBL” throughout these Rules & Regulations.

The league is comprised of 10 teams, which are all parts of the league and cannot be sold. If an owner or ownership group decides they no longer want to be part of the league, that team reverts to the league and the Commissioner will seek new ownership.

Teams may not use the nickname or logo of any MLB team or the name of any team in any of the other Get a Life Baseball Leagues. In order to promote a professional and consistent look and feel, all logos will be in the approved format.

The league is divided into two divisions of five teams each. Division names are chosen by the defending Division Champions.

Prior to the auction each year, the defending Division Champions will hold the Division Draft to choose which teams will be in their division.

Commissioners

The office of Commissioner is not voted upon, but is occupied by an unimpeachable tyrant. Term of office is forever, or until the Commissioner loses interest.

The Commissioner appoints a Deputy Commissioner prior to each season. The Deputy Commissioner assists the Commissioner when necessary, and in the case of a calamity involving the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner assumes the duties of the Commissioner.

All functions of the league are handled by the Commissioners in conjunction with CBS Sports, unless delegated to another individual.

If a situation arises that is not adequately covered by the existing Rules and Regulations, the Commissioner will make a ruling that he feels is in the best interest of the league.

Disputes that cannot be handled within these Rules & Regulations, or resolved by a ruling from the Commissioner, are decided by an outside arbitrator agreed upon by all parties involved. The arbitrator's decision is final.

Teams and Owners

All owners must be approved by the Commissioner. There is no limit to the number of owners that a team can have. Unless the Commissioner is told otherwise in advance, it is assumed that any owner listed for a team is authorized to perform any functions for that team.

The Commissioner may remove an owner or owners if he feels there is sufficient cause. Causes include, but are not limited to: collusion, inactivity, or gross mismanagement that affects league play.

If an owner disappears during the season, their team may be considered an "abandoned team." The Commissioner will attempt to find new ownership for the abandoned team, or may appoint an owner from one of the re-draft leagues to act as interim owner for the remainder of the season. Any money won by an abandoned team is split equally among all remaining teams in the league. Any owner that abandons a team will be banned for life from all Get a Life Sports leagues and pools.

Calamities

A "calamity" is defined as death, illness, injury, relocation, or other unforeseen circumstances preventing an owner from completing the current season.

In the case of a calamity the Commissioner will appoint an owner from the dynasty league to run the affected team for the remainder of the season. After the season any money due the affected team is forwarded to the owner or their family.

Suspension of a Game or Season

If a player strike, owner lockout, or any other unusual event causes a season to end prematurely, the team with the most wins at the point the season is declared over by the MLB will be awarded the League Championship. All other finishes will be determined the same way.

League Fees and Prize Pool

Prior to the season, each team will pay a Franchise Fee of $200, creating a treasury of $2250. $125 is for the League Admin Fee (covers web hosting for the league, league championship T-shirt).

The remaining $1875 is the Prize Pool and will be disbursed at the end of the season as follows:

▪ $650 for League Champion
▪ $300 for 2nd Place
▪ $200 for 3rd Place
▪ $115 for 4th Place
▪ $100 for Division Champions
▪ $50 for the winner of the Best of the Rest tournament
▪ $10 for best record each week
▪ $2 for winning a week
▪ $1 for tying a week

If there is a tie for the weekly prize, tiebreaker will be wins.

Draft

Teams have a $260 budget to acquire a 24-man roster. Teams are not required to spend the full $260, but each team must have a full 24-man active roster. The salaries of a team's retained players are totaled and subtracted from their draft budget. The remaining amount is what the team has available to fill it's active roster.

Bidding is in increments of $1, with $1 being the minimum bid. There is no set maximum bid so long as each team always has at least one dollar left for each open spot remaining on their roster.

An owner is selected to begin the draft and names a player to be bid upon and offers an opening bid. This can be any National League player not on another team's roster. This process is known as throwing out a player. Bidding continues until there is a winning bid. The team that wins the bidding announces what position the player will fill, and the amount of the winning bid is subtracted from their draft budget. Players are thrown out by owners in turn until all teams have a 24-man roster. If a team still has open spots on their roster, they may not pass. Once a team has filled their roster, they are done and will not throw out any players or bid.

Players eligible at more than one position may be moved to a different position during the draft.

Teams may not throw out or bid on a player who is not eligible for one of the remaining spots on their active roster.

Teams may not throw out player who is not on a major league 26-man roster (except DL players).

Teams may throw out a player who is on the IL, except for players 60 day IL.

All players kept or acquired during the draft must be played the first week of the season, no transactions after the draft replays injured or suspended players.

Keepers

Teams may keep up to five players who are under contract from their off-season roster. Any player from the off-season roster may be kept so long as position requirements are met (example: teams can't keep four second baseman).

Keepers must be designated at the CBS website prior to the deadline for keepers. There is a countdown clock on the main page at CBS to let teams know the keeper deadline. To designate their keepers, teams must place a check mark in the box for keepers next to the players they want to keep, and hit SET LINEUP. A team that does not select any keepers at CBS does not have any keepers going into the draft. If a team is unable to set their keepers at CBS they can submit them by email before the deadline.

Teams may trade keepers up until 11:59 p.m. PST of the day before the draft. However, teams must still have seven keepers or less.

Players who retire, die, get traded to the AL, or get put on the 60-day IL, between the deadline for naming keepers and draft day, may be released.

Roster Management

Active Roster

A legal active roster is comprised of 24 players with these positional requirements:

▪ Catcher (x2)
▪ 1st Baseman
▪ 2nd Baseman
▪ Shortstop
▪ 3rd Baseman
▪ Middle Infielder (2B or SS)
▪ Corner Infielder (1B or 3B)
▪ Outfielder (x5)
▪ Utility Hitter (any non-pitcher)
▪ Starting Pitcher (x4)
▪ Relief Pitcher (x4)
▪ Utility Pitcher (Starter or Reliever) (x2)

If a team has an illegal roster when the new week commences, and Commissioner intervention is necessary to correct the roster, the offending team will be fined $10 in FAB money.

Inactive Roster

The Inactive Roster contains all of the players a team controls, but does not have on their active roster. This includes the Reserves, Minors, and Injured List.

▪ Reserves (Bench): Teams have 2 reserve (bench) slots that may be used for players at any position. These players may move freely to the Active Roster and back.
▪ Minors (Farm Team): Teams have 10 Farm Team slots that may only be used for players in the Minor Leagues.
▪ Injured: Teams have an unlimited number of Injured List spots that may be used for players placed on any of the MLB Injured Lists.

If there is a question about a player's eligibility for any of these lists, the team owner must provide proof that the player is eligible for that slot.

Players called up from the minors by their MLB team or activated from the MLB's Injured List must be moved to either the active or reserve roster before the beginning of the next week of play, or they will be released by the Commissioner.

Position Eligibility

Hitters can be assigned to any position played at least 20 times the previous season. If a player did not play 20 games at any position, he is eligible at the position he played the greatest number of times. A hitter becomes eligible for a new position during the season once he has played that position five times.

If a DH does not have eligibility at a real position, they may only be used in a Utility slot.

A pitcher is considered a starting pitcher if he started at least 10 games, and a relief pitcher if he had 20 relief appearances the previous season. If a pitcher did not reach either of these requirements the previous season, then he is eligible at whichever role he pitched in the greatest number of times. A pitcher becomes eligible to be a starting pitcher after five starts, or a relief pitcher after 10 relief appearances during the current season.

If a player did not play any games at the Major League level the previous season, he may be assigned to the position shown for him at his highest minor league play. Players of this type will be eligible at whatever position(s) are shown by the CBS web site.

A player may be eligible as both a hitter and a pitcher, but will only accrue stats in whatever position they occupy on the active roster, not both. Players of this type may be moved to different spots on the active roster for each new week of play (Ohtani rule).

Player Salaries

The salary of a player is determined by the means of their acquisition and does not change unless that player becomes a free agent.

The salary of a player purchased at the auction is the amount of the winning bid.

The salary of a player signed as a free agent is the amount of the winning FAB bid.

The salary of a player acquired in a trade remains the same.

The salary cap for each team during the season is $300. This amount only applies to the Active Roster, salaries of the players on the Inactive Roster do not count towards the salary cap

Player Contracts

Players acquired at the draft are bound by the standard player contract. The standard player contract is for two years.

Players signed as free agents during the season have a one year contract, plus one option year.

In determining the contract status of a player, a "year" is a full season or any part of a season.

The contract of a player acquired in a trade remains the same, the contract goes with the player to his new team.

When a player is released, his contract is void. He becomes a free agent and begins a new contract when signed.

Free Agency

Any National League player not on the active or inactive roster of any other team is considered a free agent.

Teams may submit sealed bids using the Free Agent Budget (FAB) auction process at CBS Sports. Though teams may bid on free agents any day of the week, CBS Sports will determine the winner of the sealed bidding on Sunday nights and assign players to the teams with the winning bids.

Teams begin the season with a $200 FAB to use for signing free agents. If a team depletes their FAB, they will not be able to sign any more free agents. A player must be on an MLB team's 26-Man roster, 7-day IL, 10-day IL, or 14-day IL, to be signed through the FAB auction. Minor League players and players on the 60-day IL may not be bid upon.

For purposes of GLBL free agency, a minor league player is not eligible to be signed until they have been called up and have appeared in at least one game. If the player is sent down later, their status as a minor leaguer is reset and must again appear in one game before they can be signed.

Players can be signed through the FAB auction for the Active Roster only, no player can be signed directly to a GLBL team's Inactive Roster.

Teams must have a legal roster by the roster deadline for the next week of play following any transaction.

If a team signs an illegal player, that player will be released by the commissioner. Any player released in the illegal transaction will be reinstated. The offending team will be fined $10 in FAB money.

Trades

From the end of the draft through 11:59 p.m. PST on the final night of the 10th week of the season, teams are allowed to trade freely with any other team(s).

Beginning at 12:00 AM on the first day of the 11th week of the season, teams are allowed to trade a maximum of two players to any other team. This is not per trade, it is cumulative.

At 12:00 a.m. PST on the first day of the 19th week of the season, no more trading of any kind is allowed.

Trades are made using CBS Sports, and become official when a proposed trade is accepted. Trades can also be made by notifying the Commissioner, and those trades become official when all teams involved in the trade have reported the details to the Commissioner.

Trades may involve players from the active roster and or inactive roster. Trades cannot involve contingencies, cash, property, first born children, or any other considerations outside of the league.

Trades are effective with the commencement of the next week of play. Teams must have a legal roster by the roster deadline for the next week of play following any transaction.

Outright Release

Players can be released at any time. However, their stats continue to accrue until the end of the current week of play.

Teams must have a legal roster by the roster deadline for the next week of play following any transaction.

Players Traded to the American League

Players traded to the American League will be allowed to complete the season with their GLBL team and will continue to accumulate stats. If an AL player is released by his GLBL team, he may not be resigned. American League players finishing out the season may not be traded.

Rules of the Game

Head-To-Head Play

Each week teams will play Head-to-Head against another team in 10 statistical categories. The winner of each category will be credited with a win. If a category is tied, both teams are credited with a tie. Each weekly matchup produces 10 results for each team in the league standings. The categories are:

▪ Total Bases
▪ Stolen Bases
▪ Runs Batted In
▪ Runs Scored
▪ On Base Percentage
▪ Quality Starts
▪ Saves plus Holds
▪ Strikeouts
▪ Earned Run Average
▪ Walks plus Hits /Innings Pitched (WHIP)

The spirit of the rule is that owners have a staff with four starters, four relievers, and two pitchers of their choice. To help achieve this a minimum innings rule is in place to dissuade owners from exploiting eligibility rules to load up on either starters or relievers.

Team pitching staffs must pitch a minimum of 30 innings per week. Failure to meet the minimum for a week will result in losses in ERA and WHIP for that week.

In the event a team does not meet the minimum innings requirement for a week, the Commissioner will look at the team's pitching staff. If the Commissioner can see that a team clearly started four healthy starters (currently starting games, not just eligible), and four healthy relievers (currently relieving games, not just eligible), but rainouts and/or unexpected injuries caused them to fail to meet the minimum, the Commissioner will waive the penalty.

Statistics

The league statistics are compiled by CBS Sports and published at their web site.

Statistics for a player are assigned to a team only when that player is on their active roster.

A “week of play” begins each Monday and ends with the conclusion of all games the following Sunday. The first week of the season may be longer if the season does not begin on a Monday. The week of the All-Star Break will be two weeks long.

Any errors detected by league owners must be reported to the Commissioner immediately.

Standings

There are two divisions or five teams each. Teams are ranked from best to worst within each division based on record. For purposes of ranking, a tie counts as half of a win.

At the conclusion of the regular season the best team in each division is crowned the Division Champion and advances to the playoffs. If there are ties in the divisional standings, the following tiebreakers will determine the winner of the division:

▪ Most wins
▪ Best head-to-head record in games between the tied teams
▪ Best divisional record
▪ Coin toss

After determining the Division Champions, the two remaining teams with the best records will be the Wildcards. If there are ties when determining the wildcard teams, the following tiebreakers will determine the winner of the tie:

▪ Most wins
▪ Best head-to-head record in games between the tied teams
▪ Coin toss

Playoffs

Teams play a single elimination playoff to determine the League Champion. All playoff games are two weeks long. The Division Champion with the best record will play the Wildcard team with the worst record, and the other two playoff teams will play each other. In the second round, the two first round winners will play each other for the League Championship and the two first round losers will play each other for 3rd and 4th places.

Rosters may not be changed for the two week duration of each playoff game. Free agents can be signed, and players may be moved to and from the inactive roster between playoff games.

The next four best records compete in a similar single elimination called the Best of the Rest tournament.

The two teams with the worst records play head-to-head twice during the two playoff rounds. Records for the two weeks are added together and compared. The team with the worst record is declared Toad of the League.

Tiebreakers for all playoff rounds will be:

1 Best regular season record.
2 Best regular season record in games played between the tied teams.
3 Best record in three categories selected at random.
4 One additional category selected at random until one team enjoys an advantage.

Final Thoughts From the Commissioner

COLLUSION BETWEEN TWO OR MORE TEAMS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!

While it might be difficult to prove that owners acted in concert to affect the outcome of a season, any owners who exhibit behavior that strongly points to such conduct will be removed from the league and banned from any future Get a Life Sports activities.

This league requires a season long commitment. It is expected that all owners pay a reasonable amount of attention to their teams at all times. This includes, but is not limited to: prompt response to emails from the Commissioner, timely responses to trade proposals, and generally just paying attention.

The purpose of this league is to compete and have a good time doing it. There are ten teams, and they are all going to run things how they best see fit. Someone else's idea of a good player/trade might be different than yours. Some teams might make a lot of moves and/or trade a lot, some not much at all. The Commissioners will run the league, you run your team and let others run theirs.

All that having been said, let's have some fun!