The Echelons of American Baseball is a fast sim promotion / relegation league featuring teams in cities from the Americas (North, Central & South). The league consists of five Echelons (levels) stacked on top of each other with each Echelon containing six teams, all in the same division. A 120-game schedule is played against the teams in their own Echelon. A 7-game series is played between the top two teams in each Echelon to determine the champion. The champion gets promoted to the next upper Echelon and the last place team gets relegated to the next lower Echelon. There are affiliate leagues (AAA, AA, A) per Echelon which play 90-game seasons with no Championships.

Sim Schedule (M-W-F @ 5:OO AM CST):
1 – New Season League File Upload / Contract Buyouts
2 – Free Agency #1
3 – Free Agency #2 / Spring Training
4 – Regular Season #1 (First Quarter: 32 days) / Express Waivers
5 – Regular Season #2 (Second Quarter: 33 days) / Draft Pool Is Revealed
6 – Regular Season #3 (Third Quarter: 32 days) / Trade Deadline
7 – Regular Season #4 (Fourth Quarter: 33 days)
8 – Championships / First Year Player Draft
9 – Arbitration / Contract Options

League Settings:
Current Ratings: 1-10
Talent Ratings: 1-10
Other Ratings: 1-10
Overall Ratings: None
Coaches/Scouting: No
Designated Hitter: Yes
Waivers: No (see Express Waivers below)
Rule 5 Draft: No
Expanded Rosters: No
Secondary Rosters: No
Arbitration: Yes (3 Years)
Free Agency: Yes (6 Years)
Minor League Free Agency: Yes (6 Years)
Payroll Cap: $90,000,000
Cash Cap: $15,000,000
FaceGen: Yes
Ghost Players: Yes
Personality Ratings: Yes
Morale Ratings: Yes
Player Fatigue: High
Injuries: No
Suspensions: No
Drug Suspensions: No
Draft Pick Compensation for Lost Free Agents: Yes (limited to teams in your Echelon)
129 Days = 1 Year Of Service Time

Every GM is highly encouraged to export for every Sim or post in the 'On Leave' section of the forum if you will be unable to. The rules apply to consecutive exports, every time you do send a successfully uploaded Export, your missed Exports are reset to zero. Note that if you post in the 'On Leave' section of the forum, you will not be marked for any missed Exports. The fines are listed below.

If a GM misses 3 exports in a row, he will receive a $250,000 fine.
If a GM misses 4 exports in a row, he will receive a $500,000 fine.
If a GM misses 5 exports in a row, he will be removed from the league.

This Rule is in effect at ALL times.

There is no reason at all to use DFA in this league but if for some reason you do leave a player on there you will be fined $250,000. The Commish will then make an attempt to put the player on the Active Roster. If the Active Roster is full, he will be placed in the minor leagues. If he refuses to be sent to the minor leagues, he will be released in which the remainder of his contract will be paid in full.

1. Incentives, Bonuses & No Trade Clauses ~ You may only offer what they ask for. If they don't ask for one, you may not offer them one.
2. A player’s salary must be for the same amount every year of the contract. Example: A three year contract for $9,000,000 must be $3,000,000 per year.
3. The maximum number of years you can offer a contract for is 5 unless the player asks for more years, then you may offer equal to or less than the number of years he is asking.
4. You may not offer an Extension unless the player is on your 'Possible Free Agents' list in your Front Office.

A player’s contract will be void if he was signed by a GM who broke one of the rules above and each contract that has to be voided will result in a $250,000 fine. More importantly, you also risk the player not talking to you anymore after the contract is voided.

During the regular season and Championships your ticket price must be between $10-$20, if you are above or below that range you will receive a $250,000 fine and your ticket price will be set to $15. The prices are checked immediately after the Exports are uploaded for the Sim.

The maximum number of starts a pitcher can make in the regular season is 30. If a pitcher reaches this before the end of the season he will be manually 'injured' for the remainder of the regular season as result of his 'dead arm.' The pitcher will be healed in time for the Championships. Note...having a 5-man rotation using 'Start Highest Rested' should keep you under the 30 start limit.

Express Waivers is a quick annual event run via the 'Express Waivers' section of the Forum in which players are placed on waivers and claimed off waivers within the same short time period...between the Free Agency #2 Sim and the Regular Season #1 Sim. This helps teams shed unwanted payroll/players at the same time giving weaker teams a chance to improve their rosters. Note...the waiver claims are processed at the beginning of the Regular Season #1 Sim.

1. You can place no more than two players on waivers and they must be listed in separate posts. For the subject line please put his position, full name and team. (SS Joe Unknown, The Unknowns)
2. To make a claim on a player simply reply to the appropriate thread stating your claim number. Meaning the player you want most would be 'Claim #1', the next would be 'Claim #2', etc. Even if you are only claiming one player you must reply with 'Claim #1'. If you don't follow this rule your claim will not be accepted.
3. You must be able to afford the contract of the player you are claiming. As in, if it shows that you have $2,000,000 available for '$ for Free Agents' (found on the Front Office > Finances Page, in-game) you can't claim a player who makes $5,000,000 a year.
4. The priority of claims is based on the EAB Rankings...meaning the lowest has first priority and the highest has last.
5. Players that are claimed cannot be traded until the next Off-Season.
6. Once you make a successful claim on a player, you will move to the bottom of the priority list for any other claims you may have made.
7. Players without major league contracts cannot be placed on waivers.
8. Waiver claims take precedence over Trades.
9. The deadline for claims is 5:00 AM CST the day of the Regular Season #1 Sim.

When a Trade has been reached, one team posts the trade in the 'Completed Trades' section in the Forum and the other replies with confirmation. The trade has to be confirmed by 5:00 AM CST the day of the Sim in order to be processed at the end of the upcoming Sim. Please post the players position, full name and current roster status (SS Joe Unknown, AAA). If you fail to do so, the trade will not be processed.

1. There is absolutely no trading of Draft Picks.
2. Trades may be made with any team, in any Echelon.
3. Cash may be traded for Players.
4. You may only add to your Payroll via trade the amount shown for '$ for Free Agents' which can be found on the Front Office > Finances Page, in-game.
5. Any Free Agent signed (to a Major League Contract) in the Off-Season cannot be traded until the Trade Deadline which is the Regular Season #3 Sim.
6. Any Free Agent signed (to a Major League Contract) during the Regular Season cannot be traded until the next Off-Season.
7. The only Sims that Trades are closed (not processed) are the Regular Season #4 Sim and the Championships Sim.

Because of the unique structure of the league, the only way you will receive compensation for a Type A or B player lost to Free Agency is if a team in your Echelon signs your player.

The First Year Player Draft is 10 rounds in length and is conducted via the Draft List Utility in-game. Each Echelon will have their own 6-team draft and the draft order will be determined by the EAB Rankings. The lowest drafting first and the highest last.

The EAB Lottery is an annual event held at the end of each season (after the Arbitration / Contract Options Sim) in which the winner gets to choose one of the Mods listed below. There are two ways to receive an entry in the lottery but only one entry per GM is allowed...
1. If you make it through the entire season without receiving a Fine or missing an Export (On Leave or not). Note, they have to be successful Exports...meaning a 'Wrong Date' or "Wrong Version' error does not count as a successful Export.
2. If you win your Echelon.

Baserunning Instructor - Add 1 point to Speed, Steal or Baserunning.
Fielding Instructor - Add 1 point to any Fielding Rating or 2 points to a Pitchers Hold Rating.
Hitting Instructor - Change a player's Hitting Type (Normal, Spray or Pull) or change the players Bunting Ratings by a total of 2 points (can be split up).
Personality Specialist - Add/subtract 2 points from any Personality Rating (can be split up).
Stadium Renovation - Add/subtract .020 stadium factor points. The .020 may be split up between factors.

Contract Buyouts

If at the end of the season of you earn enough Revenue that puts you over the Cash Cap you may use that money to buyout the remainder of a players contract in its entirety (no partial buyouts) for 75 cents on the dollar, aka a 25% discount. It's a use it or lose it deal, the money does not get carried over to the next season...you have until 5:00 AM CST the day the new league file is released to let me know which players contracts you would like to buyout. Note, a player has to be on your roster for at least one calendar year (in-game) in order to be eligible for a buyout.

Every team will always have Market Size of Average and a Media Revenue of $25,000,000.

Visiting teams will receive 20% of the home team gate.

Fan Interest will be determined by AI.

The EAB uses custom finances for Merchandising Revenue to keep the average Total Team Revenue to around $75,000,000 each season. The custom Merchandising Revenue is based off your Fan Loyalty, Fan Interest and Market Size.

1. Fan Loyalty will be based on a three year accumulative point system. You will earn or lose points each according to how you finish each season.

2 . The example below is how the points are accumulated each season:

3 . The chart below is the point based system in relation to the Fan Loyalty Ratings:

4 . If your Team falls into the Almost Non-Existent Category, you will be fired as the GM and the team will relocate to a different city and all the ratings will be set to Average once again.

Your Team Budget for each new season will be your Total Team Revenue from the previous season. The exceptions being that your payroll cannot be increase or decrease by more than 10% from the previous season.