A shoutout once again to ronthegenius and schwarze for being a great committee in suggesting and refining these. Blame all of us equally if you don’t like any of it. We’ve gone with two drafts, one of which is shorter. We think the caps make the others good challenges. We created one that relies more on baseball-reference research for those who like that. So with no further ado…

2025 WIS Championship - Round 2 Themes

All leagues will have:

1. No Waiver Wire
2. No AAA
3. No Trades
4. Injuries ON
5. No restrictions on split season players (can use either combined or partial)
6. No 300k exception (except $120m theme)
7. Team name requirements (see individual themes, as some have them)
8. ***NEW*** no 2025 players can be used in any league even if released before the final deadline

$80 Million - Eight Men Out There

Choose any 8 players. Clone each of them at least once. The remaining 9 players must be additional clones of any of your 8 players (so you could theoretically use 11 versions of one player).

Seasons: All

DH: No

Clones: Yes

Ballpark: Use any park one of your players called home in a season you use

Alignment: Random

Combined seasons: You can use partial or combined seasons

300K exceptions: No

Team name: No restrictions

Res for Q&A

$90 million - Season Draft

There will be a 4-round draft (1 thru 24, 24 thru 1, 24 thru 1, 1 thru 24). Draft order will be random. Each owner will select one season with each pick. Your roster must contain at least six players from each of your four seasons. Your 25th player can come from any of your four seasons.

Seasons: All

DH: No

Clones: No

Ballpark: Any park active during one of your seasons.

Alignment: Based on draft order (1-4 in NL East, 5-8 in NL Central, etc)

Combined seasons: You can use partial or combined seasons

300K exceptions: No

Team name: No restrictions

Res for Q&A

$100 Million - Baseball Connections

Choose a captain who will be the source of all your Connections. You will use his home ballpark. Your roster consists of groups of players who have something in common with your captain. You can only use any connection category once. Teammates can qualify under multiple categories. Baseball-reference offers sorting tools for all of these categories except names, which WIS does.

You can choose:

1. 3 categories with 8 teammates each
2. 4 categories with 6 teammates each
3. 6 categories with 4 teammates each

Categories are:

A) played for the same franchise (any season)

(E.g., https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/OAK/bat.shtml)

B) played in the same season (any team)

C) share a first or last name (must match exactly in WIS, as in John and Jon are different names)

D) attended the same college or university

(https://www.baseball-reference.com/schools/)

E) born on the same date (any year)

(https://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/birthdays.cgi)

F) born in the same state or country

(https://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/)

G) wore the same uniform number

(https://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/numbers.cgi)

H) born in the same year

(https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/1997-births.shtml)

Seasons: All

DH: No

Clones: No

Ballpark: use the home park of your captain

Alignment: Random

Combined seasons: You can use partial or combined seasons

300K exceptions: No

Team name: Include your captain’s name

Q&A for $100m

Q: "F) born in the same state or country" … Country is only for non-Americans, correct?
A: Correct. If your captain is born in the US then his category F connections would be from the same state. If he was born outside of the US then his connections would be from that country.

Q: For the 100M theme, are the names Ed and Eddie considered to be the same or different?
A: They are different. Must be exactly the same in WIS.

Q: For the $100M theme, for these categories:

A) played for the same franchise (any season)
B) played in the same season (any team)
G) wore the same uniform number

Do these apply for every season of the captain's career, or only the season that you roster? For example, if my captain is Bobo Newsom, and I use his 1944 Philadelphia A's season, for category A would anyone who ever played for any franchise that Newsom ever played for be eligible, or just players from the Athletics? For B, anyone from any of his seasons, or just anyone from 1944? For G, anyone who ever wore any uniform number he ever wore, or just players who wore the number that Newsom wore in 1944?

A:
A) This applies to your selected season. So in this case As franchise.
B) This also applies to your selected season. Players from 1944.
C) Here I think we should be broad. Pick any number your guy ever wore, and all the selected teammates must share that number. So you can’t have two teammates who wore one number and two who wore a different one. But what they wore the specific season you use for each is not an issue. Just at some point in their careers.

Q: For the $100M theme, do we have to pick first or last name (ie: Only Johns, or only Smiths), or can we have a mix of both?
A: Pick one. Either Johns or Smiths but not mixed.

Q: I do not understand this statement: "You can only use any connection category once." The rules seem to imply that we will in fact be RE-USING 3, 4, or 5 of the categories.
A: What that means is that you can’t double up and choose, for example, 3 categories with 8 teammates each and use same state twice and use 16 of them as teammates. In that case, you’d use any 3 of the 8 categories one time each with 8 teammates from each of them.

$110 million - Franchise Boxes

Use one player from each box. You may use any season for your chosen players.

Seasons: All

DH: No

Clones: No

Ballpark: Any

Alignment: Random

Combined seasons: You can use partial or combined seasons

300K exceptions: No

Team name: No restrictions

Athletics	Braves	Orioles	Red Sox	Cubs
Lefty Grove	Greg Maddux	Jim Palmer	Roger Clemens	Mordecai Brown
Catfish Hunter	John Smoltz	Mike Cuellar	Pedro Martinez	Jake Arrieta
Dennis Eckersley	Warren Spahn	Zack Britton	Jonathan Papelbon	Ed Reulbach
Eddie Plank	Craig Kimbrel	Dick Hall	Koji Uehara	Bruce Sutter
Jimmie Foxx	Hank Aaron	Cal Ripken	Ted Williams	Gabby Hartnett
Mickey Cochrane	Chipper Jones	George Sisler	Carlton Fisk	Sammy Sosa
Al Simmons	Eddie Mathews	Ken Williams	Carl Yastrzemski	Hack Wilson
Rickey Henderson	Andruw Jones	Brooks Robinson	Bobby Doerr	Ernie Banks
Eddie Collins	Freddie Freeman	Frank Robinson	Wade Boggs	Ryne Sandberg
Frank Baker	Rafael Furcal	Eddie Murray	Tris Speaker	Ron Santo
White Sox	Reds	Indians	Tigers	Astros
Eddie Cicotte	Dolf Luque	Stan Coveleski	Justin Verlander	Mike Scott
Joe Horlen	Noodles Hahn	Shane Bieber	Hal Newhouser	Larry Dierker
Ed Walsh	Eppa Rixey	Corey Kluber	Tarik Skubal	Dave Smith
Hoyt Wilhelm	Aroldis Chapman	Emmanuel Clase	Willie Hernandez	Billy Wagner
Frank Thomas	Johnny Bench	Albert Belle	Ty Cobb	Cesar Cedeno
Luke Appling	Pete Rose	Nap Lajoie	Lou Whitaker	Jose Altuve
Nellie Fox	Joe Morgan	Kenny Lofton	Alan Trammell	Jeff Bagwell
Minnie Minoso	Edd Roush	Joe Sewell	Hank Greenberg	Craig Biggio
Joe Jackson	Joey Votto	Lou Boudreau	Harry Hellmann	Lance Berkman
Jose Abreu	Barry Larkin	Manny Ramirez	Charlie Gehringer	Alex Bergman
.
Royals	Angels	Dodgers	Brewers	Twins/Senators
Zack Greinke	Jered Weaver	Sandy Koufax	Corbin Burnes	Walter Johnson
Kevin Appier	Frank Tanana	Clayton Kershaw	Josh Hader	Johan Santana
Bret Saberhagen	Dean Chance	Dazzy Vance	Rollie Fingers	Bert Blyleven
Dan Quisenberry	Troy Percival	Eric Gagne	Devin Williams	Joe Nathan
George Brett	Mike Trout	Roy Campanella	Christian Yelich	Rod Carew
Willie Wilson	Doug DeCinces	Duke Snider	Robin Yount	Goose Goslin
Carlos Beltran	Darin Erstad	Jackie Robinson	Ryan Braun	Joe Mauer
Wade Davis	Vlad Guerrero	Don Sutton	Paul Molitor	Harmon Killebrew
Bobby Witt jr	Bobby Grich	Mike Piazza	Prince Fielder	Kirby Puckett
Darrell Porter	Shohei Ohtani	Hong Chi-Kuo	Cecil Cooper	Joe Cronin
.
Mets	Yankees	Phillies	Pirates	Padres
Dwight Gooden	Lefty Gomez	Robin Roberts	Babe Adams	Jake Peavy
Jacob DeGrom	Ron Guidry	Pete Alexander	Deacon Philippe	Dinelson Lamet
Tom Seaver	Spud Chandler	Steve Carlton	Mark Melancon	Trevor Hoffman
Tug McGraw	Mariano Rivera	George McQuillan	Zane Smith	Mike Adams
David Wright	Babe Ruth	Mike Schmidt	Arky Vaughan	Tony Gwynn
Jose Reyes	Lou Gehrig	Chase Utley	Roberto Clemente	Ken Caminiti
John Olerud	Joe DiMaggio	Jimmy Rollins	Honus Wagner	Brian Giles
Darryl Strawberry	Mickey Mantle	Chuck Klein	Willie Stargell	Fernando Tatis Jr
Edgardo Alfonzo	Derek Jeter	Dick Allen	Paul Waner	Manny Machado
Todd Hundley	Bill Dickey	Richie Ashburn	Jason Kendall	Randy Jones
.
Giants	Cardinals	Rangers	Expos/Nationals	Jays/Mariners
Christy Mathewson	Bob Gibson	Kirby Yates	Steve Rogers	Randy Johnson
Juan Marichal	Mort Cooper	Nolan Ryan	Max Scherzer	Felix Hernandez
Robb Nen	John Tudor	Jeff Zimmerman	Jeff Reardon	Roy Halladay
Frankie Frisch	Geovanny Gallegos	Neftali Feliz	Sean Doolittle	Mark Eichhorn
Mel Ott	Stan Musial	Ivan Rodriguez	Gary Carter	Norm Charlton
Buster Posey	Albert Pujols	Alex Rodriguez	Tim Raines	Roberto Alomar
Barry Bonds	Rogers Hornsby	Corey Seager	Juan Soto	Ken Griffey Jr
Jeff Kent	Ted Simmons	Rafael Palmeiro	Daniel Murphy	Edgar Martinez
Willie Mays	Ozzie Smith	Josh Hamilton	Bryce Harper	Tony Fernandez
Willie McCovey	Joe Torre	Adrian Beltre	Anthony Rendon	Ichiro Suzuki

Q&A for $110m

Q: It says we can use "any season" for a player listed. Is that only seasons for the franchise they're listed under or truly any season? If I need Ichiro as he gets ready to go in the hall of fame, does it have to be with my Mariners, or could I take him in one of his prime years as a member of the Yankees or Marlins?
A: Any season with any franchise

$120 Million – Twist on a Twist (Part 2)

Pick any single-season team and build your roster by twisting players who appeared on that team’s real-life roster to any season in their career. Use baseball-reference to determine eligibility (must have played at least 1 game with that team).

You must select the same team you used in Round 1. Round 2 will use a DH.

Seasons: All

DH: Yes

Clones: No

Ballpark: Use the stadium your chosen team played in (or What If Sports Park, if not available)

Alignment: Random

Combined seasons: You can use partial or combined seasons

300K exceptions: Yes. You can fill your roster with players from any season and any team with salaries of <300K if needed (regardless of how many players your chosen team used)

Team name: Please include your selected year and team as part of your team name

Res for Q&A

$255 Million - Quick Drafts (Post-Deadball, Pre-Steroid Era Edition)
There will be six independent 4-person drafts. The top six finishers from round 1 will be captains who make the initial choices. Starting with the 1st place owner, they will pick two consecutive seasons which they will draft from (i.e., 1984-85). The #2 owner will pick a different set of two consecutive seasons (no overlap). Same for #3, #4, #5 and #6. These six “2-season-groups” will each represent a different division (aligned chronologically) and there will be a 4-person draft from each of these groups.

Once these six divisions (drafting groups) are determined, the #7 ranked owner can choose to enter into any of the six divisions. They will pick 3rd in whichever division they are in (since the captain is picking 4th). The #8 ranked owner then can choose to enter into any of the six divisions. If they pick the same division as owner #7, they would pick 2nd in round 1. If they entered a different division than owner #7, they would pick 3rd. This process continues until all six divisions have four owners. The owners ranked lower will typically get to pick 1st or 2nd in their respective drafts. This should incentivize the captains from picking a season with one clear stud player.

The drafts will be 20 rounds:
Rounds 1-16, 1 player (16)

Rounds 17-18, 2 players (4)

Rounds 19-20, 3 players (6)
That’s 26 picks, because you would also draft a ballpark (must be in use from at least one of your 2 seasons)

The division drafts will be serpentine (1-4, 4-1, 1-4) and the six captains will draft last in round 1. When a player is drafted, he is off the board for that draft (the person drafting does not have to specify which season he is using).

Seasons: 1920-1990

DH: Yes

Clones: No

Ballpark: Draft any stadium in use during your two seasons

Alignment: chronological

Combined seasons: You can use partial or combined seasons

300K exceptions: No

Team name: No restrictions

Q&A for $255m

Q: Let's say you are in a division with 1927 and 1928. Can one team draft Babe Ruth '27 and another team draft Babe Ruth '28?
A: No. Players are exclusive to each division draft.

Of the 5 new themes, I love the 80M, 90M, 100M, and 110M but man I hate that "$255M" lol.

Request for more high cap representation next year please!