Updated, March 2022
The United League of Moderate Gamers was created in 1986 so that ordinary people could experience the thrill of operating a Major League baseball franchise without the bother of spending countless millions of dollars for the pleasure.
After incomplete seasons of face-to-face Strat-O-Matic play in 1986 and 1987, the charter members – Todd Burkes, Darren Grasse and Rick Senften – re-formed the league into a 12-team, play-by-mail format beginning in 1989. The inaugural members were:
- Todd Burkes (Houston)
- Darren Grasse (Seattle)
- Rick Senften (Cleveland)
- Scott Harrington (Chicago-N)
- Terry Dunn (California)
- Willis Ringen (Milwaukee)
- J.P. Wright (Oakland)
- Gavin Reitnauer (Cincinnati)
- Steve Trainor (Detroit)
- Ed Nosenzo (New York-A)
- Robert Tierney (Montreal)
- Bobby McClelland (Minnesota)
In 1990, the league expanded to 16 teams. During the first four seasons, Todd Burkes was commissioner. Rick Senften assumed that role from 1993 to 2021. R.B. Brenner is serving as commissioner for the 2022 season.
Each team maintains three rosters: Major League, AAA and AA.
Carded players used for all or parts of a 162-game schedule. Each manager will personally play half of those games; the other half is played by his/her opponents through use of a computer manager. Carded means that the player had League statistics that Strat-O-Matic factored into a replay season.
Carded players who can be called up to the Major League roster in the event of injury or for strategic purposes. Unprotected veterans (V-level players) on AAA rosters during the first half of the season are exposed to selection by other teams during the midseason draft.
Carded or uncarded B-level players (see definition of levels below) are considered future prospects, including high school and college players, international prospects and minor leaguers. Each team must have a minimum of 20 B-level players. If this requirement is not met, the manager must inform the commissioner and arrangements will be made to adjust the roster.
United League teams are divided into two eight-team conferences, each with two divisions. Below are the current conference and division alignments. If a team’s home stadium is different from its MLB affiliation, the ballpark is listed in parenthesis. Each manager is allowed one ballpark move every three years, and that move must be made by Dec. 31 of any year.
- Pittsburgh Pirates: Jonas Fortune
- Alaska Sourdoughs (Seattle): Joe Fox
- Atlanta Crackers (Tampa Bay): Jeremy Bowers
- Carolina Coyotes (Milwaukee): Jon Wile
- Cleveland Clementes: Rick Senften
- Kansas City Beefsteaks: M.L. Schultze
- Detroit Voyageurs: Bob Fernandez
- Louisville Sluggers (Oakland): David Thorley
- Chicago Scofflaws (Washington): Jeff Bowen
- Albuquerque Redbirds (Phoenix-NL): Vic “Rus” Staniec
- Adirondack Ash (St. Louis-NL): Justin Huyck
- Windy City Hawks (Chicago-NL): Scott Harrington
- Long Island Ducks (New York-NL): Justin Bank
- Peninsula Pressmen (San Francisco): R.B. Brenner
- New York Highlanders (New York-AL): Steve Orzol
- Cincinnati Reds: John Bowen
Official positions in the United League, as well as their functions, have been created, reshaped, made temporary or permanent, and abandoned as the league has evolved. This will continue in the future. At present, the following positions exist:
The commissioner’s primary duty is coordination of league activities. The relationship between the commissioner, league officers and managers should be one of mutual consultation, respect and fairness. The commissioner, however, has final authority to resolve issues that arise, His/her decision shall be undertaken with the best interest of all members in mind. While the commissioner has authority to shape league policy and to arbitrate disputes, he/she shall seek the guidance of other officers and members when making important decisions. Any ruling by the commissioner that is not covered by this document, or subsequent league documents, is appealable by any member of the league. A written appeal is to be made to the commissioner; a United League member agreed upon by the commissioner and the complaining member shall be appointed to oversee this appeal. If the grievance cannot be resolved by that appointed member, the issue shall be put to a vote of league members. Three-fourths of voting members must support the appeal to require a change of the commissioner’s initial ruling. The same three-fourths majority is required for changing the Constitution or any previously adopted rule.
The deputy commissioner offers advice on important decisions and acts in the commissioner’s place when he/she is unavailable.
The statistician compiles stats for each team to determine player usage and to keep track of league standings and records. He prepares the Strat-O-Matic league file of computer managers for distribution and play for the season’s 1st and 2nd halves, plus the playoffs.
The draft administrator organizes and oversees the league’s offseason and midseason drafts. If there are any draft-related disputes, the administrator consults with the commissioner.
The transactions administrator keeps team rosters updated on the league website and records trades of players and draft choices for every team.
The website administrator maintains a site where owners can manage their rosters and prepare for upcoming drafts. Additionally, the site serves as a living history of the league.
- Submit 35-man roster for V and A players
- Offseason Open and AA drafts
- Cut roster to 75 players following offseason draft
- Apply 1st half protections
- Create Major League and AAA roster for 1st half play
- Create and submit computer manager for 1st half play
- Play 1st half of season
- Midseason Open and AA drafts
- Cut roster to 76 players following midseason draft
- Apply 2nd half protections
- Create Major League and AAA roster for 2nd half
- Create and submit computer manager for 2nd half
- All-Star Game (2022 experiment)
- Play 2nd half of season
- Check regular-season usage to ensure eligibility for playoffs
- Create and submit playoff rosters
- Play playoff series
- Champion crowned
Each team will have no more than 75 players, except for the special “76th player” taken during the AA midseason draft (see “Drafts” for details).
A manager may protect one veteran (V) pitcher, one veteran (V) catcher and one veteran (V) position player during each half. No veteran player may be protected for consecutive halves. In addition, one veteran (V) may be placed on all-season reserve each season. The all-season reserve may not play for his team at any time during that season, and he may not be traded to another team for the purpose of allowing him to play.
Veterans protected during either half of the season may not be brought up to the Major League roster during the half in which they are protected. All protected players are counted in a team’s 75-player total.
Prior to the offseason draft, on a date set by the commissioner, each manager must submit a complete roster of no more than 75 players. That roster will include the 35 Type V and Type A players whom the manager declares off-limits to other managers during the Open Draft. As of the 2020 season, managers use the league website to submit their rosters.
Strat-O-Matic Baseball originally was — and continues to be for an ever-shrinking population of old-school devotees — a card-and-dice game. When the company began producing a computer version, it continued to produce a computer “card” for each player who played in the majors, even those whose playing time was minimal. In fact, you can order this “card” visual function for your computer screen; it allows you to see the correlation between the computer results and card-and-dice results. Non-carded players are eligible for use during a season but cannot exceed their real-life plate appearances or innings.
While owners must have a minimum number of Type B players on their roster, there are no other floors. Managers may go over the cap for players during the offseason or midseason pause in play, either through trades or drafts. However, rosters must be trimmed to their 75- or 76-player cap by various deadlines throughout the season. All trims will be executed on the league website.
The United League conducts the following drafts annually: An offseason Double-A Draft; an offseason Open Draft,; a midseason Open Draft,; and a midseason Double-A Draft. The selection order of the offseason Double-A and Open drafts is the inverse order of the previous year’s final standings. In other words, worst to first. When two or more teams have the same record, the draft administrator will determine the order based on a coin flip. The tied teams will take turns picking first and second in subsequent rounds.
Drafts are principally handled via a Slack channel and an interface on the league website. However, there is room for flexibility here as managers find themselves unable to participate via the standard process. Managers can draft by phone or text or, in a worst-case scenario, by supplying the commissioner, the draft administrator or another league member with a list of players he/she would like to have selected.
The offseason double-A draft is five rounds and allows managers to select carded or uncarded Type B players whose rights are not owned by another United League team.
The offseason open draft is five rounds and allows managers to select players of any level (V, A or B), provided they are not on the 35-man protected rosters of another United League team. Unprotected Type V and Type A players may be selected by opposing teams during the Open Draft. Unprotected players drafted from another team’s roster must remain on the Major League roster of the selecting team for the entire season, even if that player’s at-bats, plate appearances or innings limits become entirely exhausted. If such a player is released before the end of the season, his spot on the roster will remain vacant and he will be returned to the team from which he was selected during the offseason Open Draft. No team will surrender more than three unprotected players, and each player surrendered will entitle the relinquishing team to an additional draft choice. These “compensation” selections will follow the rounds in which the players were drafted from their original teams. The team that first loses a player in a particular round will be first to take a compensation pick (the second, the second pick, etc.).
The midseason open draft is three rounds. To qualify for participation, a manager must complete all of his/her first-half games by the official end of the half. Players chosen during this draft must be placed on the Major League roster in the second half of play. Only players who have cards from the previous season may be drafted, regardless if they are Type V, Type A or Type B players. Type V players left unprotected on other teams’ rosters may be chosen. Carded players previously unclaimed who are not kept on the Major League roster of the selecting team will be returned to the free agent pool, and those taken from rosters of other teams will return to those respective teams. Teams that lose unprotected veterans in the midseason Open Draft are not compensated for the loss, as they are in the offseason Open Draft.
The midseason double-A draft, which is one round, gives managers a chance to draft a special “76th” player, which must be a B player. This gives managers a chance to add a minor league player having a hot first half, or a player selected in the recent Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. The order of this draft is determined by the order in which managers finished their first half games. A manager who does not finish playing his/her games on time receives no bonus draft pick.
Generally, each manager may trade any player as he/she sees fit. Some limits exist, however:
- No manager may trade or receive No. 1 draft choices for any of the upcoming season’s drafts until he/she has filed final statistics with the league statistician and sent all of his/her series results to the appropriate opposing managers.
- “Players-to-be named later” trades are barred.
- Only draft choices in the upcoming year’s drafts may be traded or received in a trade. In other words, managers during the 2022 season may not trade 2024 draft spots, but they may trade 2023 picks in the offseason or midseason draft.
- The commissioner reserves the right to overrule a trade that he/she deems damaging to a team and/or the league. This power will be used in only the most egregious cases.
- Each trade must be reported to the league as a whole via Slack or email. Each manager involved in a trade must confirm the initial announcement. Once confirmed, the transaction administrator will make the trade live on the site.
The preseason trading deadline typically is in February, on a date set by the commissioner. The midseason trading deadline is midnight on the day of the midseason draft, following that draft.
Each United League season is built on the previous year's MLB statistics. In typical years when the previous MLB season was 162 games, that will be the length of the United League season. When the MLB season is shortened, the league will revisit the length of its season as well. Each manager plays his/her road games according to a schedule provided by the league. Each manager personally plays 81 games; the other half of a team’s schedule is by its computer manager. Managers are expected to play fairly, of course; failure to play fair can result in loss of draft picks or expulsion from the league.
The season is divided into two halves, the first covering the earliest available date in April and ending in June. The second half starts in July and ends in September. Inner-season deadlines will be imposed by the commissioner on any team that is not on pace to finish its half in a timely manner.
Self-policing deadlines are preferable to rigid rules. Therefore, a couple of suggestions on pace of play:
- Set deadlines for yourself.
- If you find yourself struggling to finish, contact the commissioner for help. The commissioner or his/her designee will play games for managers unable to play.
Since 2006, the United League has evolved into a computer manager league, in which managers set their strategies, usage rules and other instructions using a file that is built into the Strat-O-Matic game. The computer manager, in a nutshell, is programmed by a manager to make the decisions he/she would make if physically present. As we are now entering the era of online face-to-face play, we’ll likely use computer-managers less and less in favor of personal interaction, But for now, it still is the primary means to play games.
Writing a proper computer manager usually solves the problem of misinterpretation by an opposing manager, but only if the manager building the CM pays close attention to preparing it. Too little attention can rob the league and the season of the competitive quality we hope to achieve.
It is the responsibility of every league manager to get to know and understand the computer manager function in the game, not only to achieve the highest competitive level but also to avoid overuse of players. It is the responsibility of each manager to file a well-considered computer manager to the league statistician by the deadline he/she sets each season. From those computer managers, the statistician writes the league files that direct a season’s play.
While the United League generally follows Strat-O-Matic usage rules, the league does make some allowances to provide flexibility to managers. Following are the usage rules:
Any starting pitcher may pitch every fourth day. However, each starting pitcher is limited to his actual number of Major League starts, or to the number of starts allowed by ULMG rules, whichever is greater. United League limits for starting pitchers are as follows:
- 200 or more innings = 35 starts
- 175-199.2 innings = 30 starts
- 150-174.2 innings = 27 starts
- 125-149.2 innings = 23 starts
- 100-124.2 innings = 20 starts
- 75-99.2 innings = 15 starts
- 50-74.2 innings = 10 starts
- Under 50 innings = actual number of real-life Major League starts
A reliever with 70 or more innings may pitch 150 percent of his real-life number. For example, a pitcher who pitched 70 actual innings the previous year may pitch 105 innings in the United League season. Relievers with fewer than 70 innings are limited to their actual number of Major League innings.
Pitchers who start and relieve are limited to their actual number of innings if they perform both as starters and relievers. If they are confined to relieving, they are eligible to be 150 percent relievers.
Batters with 500 at-bats and/or 550 total plate appearances (at-bats plus walks, hit-by-pitch, sacrifice flies and sacrifice bunts) in real life are unlimited in the number of times they can hit in a season. Otherwise, players are limited to their actual at-bats or plate appearances.
The following penalties are enforced for substantial overuse:
- If a player plays more than 10 percent beyond his limit, his manager will lose his/her first-round offseason Double-A draft choice.
- If two of a manager’s players are overused by more than 10 percent, both of the team’s first-round offseason selections will be lost.
- A player used more than 10 percent beyond his limit will be ineligible for the playoffs.
- A player used more than 20 percent beyond his limit will become a free agent, available in the general pool of players during the following Open Draft. A team with a player, or players, 20 percent or more beyond his usage limit will not be eligible for the playoffs.
To purposely use a limited player beyond his real-life limits, even if it’s within the penalty framework, is a violation of the spirit of the rule. It is recommended that managers using players with few plate appearances or innings not include them on their rosters entering a half, opting instead to bring them up as a roster move from its AAA roster. It also is recommended that managers keep close watch on their statistics to avoid overuse.
Each manager will oversee as many as 76 players, each of whom will fall into one of three classification categories (defined below):
- Type V: 2,500 or more career plate appearances
- Type A: 300-2,499 career plate appearances
- Type B: 0-299 career plate appearances
- Type V: 126 or more career starts
- Type A: 21-125 career starts
- Type B: 0-20 career starts
- Type V: 201 or more career relief appearances
- Type A: 31-200 career relief appearances
- Type B level: 0-30 career relief appearances
Some players with a combination of starts and relief appearances fall short of the Type A or Type V classification for either starting pitcher or reliever but have a significant number of both. The statistician and website administrator will generate a report for the commissioner at the end of each season with a list of players who are close to each classification but did not exceed the limits. The commissioner and deputy commissioner will make a decision about the resulting classification of each player for the upcoming season.
During away games, injuries that occur to a player on the home team will keep that player out of action only until the end of that particular game. Home player injuries must be reset afterward (see below for instructions). Away players will be injured for the duration of the time indicated during the game in which the player was hurt. This means some injured away players may miss subsequent series.
In some cases, when players are injured for long periods, a manager may go to his/her AAA roster for a replacement. There is no limit on the number of injury replacements a manager can make, though non-injury “roster moves” are capped at 10 per half under a rule adopted for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. No player can stay on the Injured Reserve List more than four games after his injury time expires. For instance, a player injured for six games cannot be on the Injured Reserve List for more than 10 games. Each manager is to report via email or Slack those players on his or her Injured Reserve List and the player who will fill his spot during that time.
Winners of each division will be determined by the best winning percentage of teams that have completed their full schedule, or as determined by the commissioner if finishing such a schedule is not possible. This will be extremely rare, as the commissioner can order the completion of games by autoplay.
Playoff games will be scheduled no later than the second week after the completion of the regular season. The delay is to allow the league statistician and/or the commissioner to determine whether players to be involved in the playoffs have been used beyond their limits. Again, players who were overused by more than 10 percent will not be eligible for any round of the playoffs.
Conference championships will determine – by way of best-of-seven series – which teams reach the United League Championship Series. The playoffs will not begin until the contending teams have submitted their statistics. This is to allow the statistician and/or commissioner to determine possible over usage that might keep a player from playoff action.
A wildcard series will occur if the second-place team in either conference division has a record that is superior to the first-place winner in the conference’s other division. In such a case, the first-place team that has the best record in the conference will draw a bye and a five-game wildcard series will be played to determine the contestants in the conference championship series.
Managers in any playoff series will prepare and submit their computer managers to the league statistician, who will then prepare a playoff league file and send the file to playoff managers so that play can begin promptly.
Regular season rules will be in effect during the playoffs, with these exceptions:
- Managers will play home games, unlike the regular season when they play their away games. Managers are strongly encouraged to play all playoff games via Zoom or over the phone.
- To be eligible for a team’s 25-man playoff roster, players must have been rostered for at least one half on a team’s Major League roster. A player cannot be a roster-move callup only.
- Injuries for both teams will last only for the game in which they occur.
- One pitcher rated by Strat-O-Matic as a starter-only can be designated for relief work only during a playoff series. A starter designated as a reliever may not start.
- Starting pitchers can start every third day during a playoff series (for example: Games 1, 4 and 7; Games 2 and 5; Games 3 and 6).
- Home field advantage will be determined by record. The playoff contender with the best regular season record will host the first two games, followed by three games in the park of his/her opponent, followed by two in the original park. For wildcard teams, the first two games are hosted by the team with the better record, followed by two in the park of his/her opponent, followed by one in the original park. Should both teams have the same record, the commissioner will flip a coin to determine home-field advantage.
- Unless they are unlimited by United League usage rules, players during the playoffs cannot exceed 10 percent of their real-life usage.
The United League champion will receive the Todd Burkes Trophy.
Teams play their road schedule. You may view your schedule by highlighting your team in the United League file, clicking on “Team” in the menu bar, then on “Display Reports, and finally on “Schedule Report.”
But the game makes playing your schedule easy through the “Schedule Batch Change” setting. Click on “League” in the menu bar. Click “Schedule Batch Change.” Highlight your team and select the last option on the list, “Some Teams Road Games Manual, Others Hold. Click “OK” and then “Yes.”
When you’re ready to play a game, choose “New Scheduled” from the “File” menu or click on the icon for playing a scheduled game. This will automatically draw up your next road game/series. Series vary in length. Teams start with four 4-game series against teams in the other conference. Then teams play two 3-game series against teams from the other division within your conference. Then teams play one or two 4*-game series against teams in your own division. (*some teams could be scheduled to play one 5-game series). Then you resume with two 3-game series, ending with one or two 4-game series.
Prior to every new series, you are entitled to rest your pitching staff and the pitching staff of the opposing team. Highlight your team, select “Team,” click on “Give Team a Day Off,” and select “Reset All (15)” CAUTION: This command will also restore injured players on your roster to health. See “Injuries” later.
Upon completion of each GAME, choose to view the boxscore. Viewing the boxscore automatically saves both the boxscore and the Play-by-Play Account.
Upon completion of the SERIES, send results to every member via email. You send the email with two types of files: Statistic files, also referred to as Game Result Files (GRF) and Boxscores and Play Account, also referred to as Print Files.
GRF are located in your “C:/Strat-0-Matic Baseball/Export” folder. There are two files available for each game in the series. The files are in the form 2021ULxy.H01 and 2021ULxy.V01 for each game, where 2021UL is the league name; x is the code for the road team; y is the code for the home team; and H is the home team stats for game 01 in the season series, and V is the visitor stats for the 01 game in the season series. Attach all GRF for the series to your email.
Also send the boxscore and the play account for all the games in the series. Attach these from the “C:/Strat-o-Matic Baseball/Print/2021UL” folder. The file names are in the form BOXdateRoad@Home and PACdateRoad@Home.
Tip: after you attach the GRFs from the Export folder, move the files out of the Export folder to keep the folder uncluttered so you don’t have difficulty in finding the right GRF to send the next series. The file names tend to look similar.
After sending the files to the rest of the league, rest your team and play the next series.
Make note of the injury and restore the opponent’s health before playing the next game in the series. Procedure: Select the opponent’s team in the 2021 UL; Click “Statistics” in the menu bar; click “Update Statistics”; select the injured player from the Team Info drop box; scroll to the bottom and overwrite the number in the “Injury Days Left” box with a zero (0) and save.
The game will keep your player unavailable for as long as the stated injury lasts. You are permitted — but not required — to replace the injured player with one of your non-roster reserves.
If you choose to make an injury roster move, you are limited to selecting either 5-, 10-, or 15-day DL moves. You cannot shorten or lengthen the days the called-up player stays on the active roster.
A player hurt for 3 games cannot be replaced for 10 or 15 games. You are limited to keeping him on your roster while injured or replacing him for 5 games. A player hurt for 7 could remain on your roster or be replaced for either 5 or 10 games.
Suggestion: Play your games with an injury notebook at hand or a file saved on your computer’s desktop. You can jot down reminders to fix an opponent, and you can manually track your own injuries and roster moves. As stated earlier, when you rest your team, injured players are restored to health – IN ERROR. Without the notebook, you will be challenged to track the player’s availability and the called-up replacement’s last day in the majors.
You are entitled to make up to 10 non-injury roster moves per half under a rule adopted for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. This is a handy way to protect overuse of low AB/IP players.
Roster moves you make are limited to changes on your own machine and for games you play only on your road schedule. You must announce moves, but that is for information only, and provides a record for the number of moves you make and when you make them.
The timing of the “free” roster move is relevant: a player called up via a free roster move must stay on the active roster for 15 road games. If the player is called up with fewer than 15 games remaining on your road schedule, the player’s time in the majors expires with the end of the half – in effect, late call ups are not subject to the “15-game stay” rule.
- 2022: Atlanta Crackers (Jeremy Bowers)
- 2021: Chicago Scofflaws (Jeff Bowen)
- 2020: Long Island Ducks (Justin Bank)
- 2019: Long Island Ducks (Justin Bank)
- 2018: Long Island Ducks (Justin Bank)
- 2017: Long Island Ducks (Justin Bank)
- 2016: Washington Coyotes (Jon Wile)
- 2015: Chicago Black Sox (Jeff Bowen)
- 2014: Detroit Voyageurs (Bob Fernandez)
- 2013: Cincinnati Reds (John Bowen)
- 2012: New York Highlanders (Steve Orzol)
- 2011: Northwest Woodsmen (Ron Senften)
- 2010: St. Louis Cardinals (Steve Trainor)
- 2009: Florida Scuppers (Vic “Rus” Staniec)
- 2008: San Diego Surf (Jim Correll)
- 2007: Cleveland Clementes (Rick Senften)
- 2006: Cleveland Clementes (Rick Senften)
- 2005: Philadelphia Phillies (M.L. Schultze)
- 2004: Cleveland Clementes (Rick Senften)
- 2003: Detroit Voyageurs (Bob Fernandez)
- 2002: Philadelphia Phillies (M.L. Schultze)
- 2001: Windy City Hawks (Scott Harrington)
- 2000: Atlanta Braves (Jay Legner)
- 1999: N.Y. Skyscrapers (Robert Tierney)
- 1998: Cleveland Kirboons (Rick Senften)
- 1997: Cleveland Kirboons (Rick Senften)
- 1996: Houston Astros (Ron Senften)
- 1995: San Diego Padres (Jim Rush)
- 1994: Boston Red Sox (M.L. Schultze)
- 1993: Chicago Cubs (Scott Harrington)
- 1992: Milwaukee Brewers (Willis Ringen)
- 1991: Chicago Cubs (Scott Harrington)
- 1990: Chicago Cubs (Scott Harrington)
- 1989: Oakland A’s (J.P. Wright)
- 1999: N.Y. Skyscrapers (Robert Tierney)
- 1998: Cleveland Kirboons (Rick Senften)
- 1997: Cleveland Kirboons (Rick Senften)
- 1996: Houston Astros (Ron Senften)
- 1995: San Diego Padres (Jim Rush)
- 1994: Boston Red Sox (M.L. Schultze)
- 1993: Chicago Cubs (Scott Harrington)
- 1992: Milwaukee Brewers (Willis Ringen)
- 1991: Chicago Cubs (Scott Harrington)
- 1990: Chicago Cubs (Scott Harrington)
- 1989: Oakland A’s (J.P. Wright)
All United League members are responsible for reading this Constitution and following its rules and procedures. The commissioner and deputy commissioner encourage questions for the benefit of all.