Juice’s Draft Tournament - Franchise Edition
Thejuice6 came up with the basic concept for this tournament and I ironed out the specifics. This tournament is by invite only. Only fast drafters can participate. We don't want 3+ hour delays between picks. I am posting the rules here for reference.
This is a 2-round tournament. You can play in two leagues, four leagues or all 16 leagues. Prizes will be awarded to the top Round 1 owner and the two round 2 World Series winners.
Round 1 Details
There will be sixteen drafts in round 1. Each draft represents one 16-team league, using a specific franchise (i.e., League 1 may use the Cubs, league 2 may use the Tigers... the exact order still to be determined). We will run two drafts (one N.L. & one A.L.) simultaneously. You can participate in two draft, four drafts or all sixteen drafts. Participants in leagues 1 & 2 get first dibs on Leagues 3 & 4. If you choose to sit out, you can request to be put on the waitlist for the next opening.
Generally speaking, each set of two drafts will begin once the previous two drafts end. But there will be some breaks for the Holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas). The first two league will begin play as soon as we get 16 interested owners.
Player Eligibility
Every season of every player will be eligible to be drafted. For example, it’s possible for most teams in the Yankees League to roster a different Babe Ruth season. A player who played on multiple teams in the same season can only be drafted once. For purposes of the team salary calculation, the drafter must choose which version (combined or partial) at the time of drafting the player, but is allowed to downgrade to a lower salaried version when it's time to submit the roster.
There will be a set draft order for each franchise, such that each person (who plays in all 16 leagues) will get to pick 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ... 16th exactly one time each. There will be a grid and a random draw will determine where each of us drafts for each franchise ahead of time. I might draw 1st for the Reds, 2nd for Tigers, 3rd for Yankees, .... 16th for Cubs (for example). If somebody decides not top participate in future drafts, his replacement will slide into his slot in the draft order grid.
Rounds 1-16, one player per round (16 players)
Rounds 17-19, two players per round (6 players)
Round 20, three players (3 players)
Draft order for each round after round 1 will be based on lowest cumulative salary. In the rare event two teams have the exact same salary, whichever team picked later the previous round will pick earlier in the round where tied.
Each league in round 1 will be a 16-team league and the alignment will be based on final team salary (highest salary in NL East, lowest in AL West).
Other Details
Season: 1901-2025 (1903 for Yankees)
Salary Cap: None
DH: Yes
WW, AAA, Clones, Injuries: No
Trades: Not allowed (during draft or in-season)
Multi-Team Seasons: You may use partial or combined season (only 1 version can be drafted). You must specify which version you are using so your current salary can be calculated for the draft order.
Ballpark: Any ballpark from your franchise used between 1901-2025. (Must use same ballpark for both rounds).
Alignment - Round 1: Based on salary (highest in NL East, lowest AL West)
Alignment - Round 2: NL teams play in NL, AL teams play in AL, then based on salary for division alignment (highest in East)
DEADBALL PITCHING RULE
In order to keep power hitters viable, each person will be allowed to roster a maximum of 500 total innings per 162 from pitchers prior to 1920. The person who selects 1908 Ed Walsh (495 IP/162) in the White Sox draft would not be able to roster another pre-1920 pitcher. ('03 Joe McGinnity with 506 IPs is ineligible to be drafted). Since most teams will need at least 1500 innings, that means only 33% is deadball pitching.
Advancement to Round 2:
The World Series winner and loser from each of the sixteen leagues will advance to round 2. There is no rule on maximum number of teams one person can have advancing to round 2. Yes, that means it's possible for one person to have 6, 7, 8 or even more teams playing in round 2.
Round 2 Details
There will be two leagues in round 2. League #1 will consist of the 12 NL World Series winners and the 12 AL Word Series losers. League #2 will consist of the 12 NL World Series losers and the 12 AL World Series winners.
The exact same roster and ballpark that was used in round 1 must be used in round 2.
2-Hour Rule (Starts in round 3)
Between the hours of 11:00 am EST and 11:00 pm EST, if the person due up doesn't make a pick in 2 hours, then we will skip him. If we draft like we did in this last tournament, this shouldn't come into play too often... but it did happen a few times. This rule wraps around the time slots, so if you are due up at 9:55 pm EST and don't pick, then that's 65 minutes of your 2 hours, and at 11:55 am the next day, you can be skipped. If you are on the West Coast and are due up soon, leave a proxy. If you on East Coast and go to bed early, leave a proxy.
And for those who might be new to this tournament, if you post a player that is an illegal player (i.e., player not eligible, too many deadball innings, player already selected), we will continue drafting as if you had made a legal pick. It is up to you to check back and make a replacement pick that is legal.
Based on history, we usually complete these 20-round draft in 7-8 days, so any new participants to this tournament needs to be ready to check in often or at least provide a cell number to accept text notifications when you are due up.
11/14/2025 11:20 AM (edited)