I'm considering creating a new progressive league and would appreciate feedback.

Core Premise:

The primary goal is to establish a 16 team progressive league where the National League (NL) has an advantage over the American League (AL). To maintain this dynamic, the last-place NL team each season will be relegated to the AL, while the AL pennant winner will be promoted to the NL. All other rules and objectives should support this core principle.

Other Key Objectives:

1. Draft Complexity: The draft process and preparation should be intricate but not overly time-consuming.

2. AL Disadvantage: The AL should face a disadvantage that is challenging but not insurmountable.

3. Initial Draft Speed: The initial draft should not take an excessive amount of time (e.g., a month).

4. Winning Incentive: The system should actively discourage "tanking" and instead promote a strong incentive to win.

Detailed Concepts:

Initial Setup:

• NL Teams: The NL will begin with 8 real-life teams from 1947. This year offers a good selection of 9 strong choices:

  1. Red Sox (Ted Williams)

  2. St. Louis (Musial)

  3. Pittsburgh (Kiner)

  4. Yankees (loaded roster)

  5. Cleveland (Feller, Bob Lemon)

  6. Dodgers (loaded roster)

  7. Senators (Early Wynn)

  8. Braves (Warren Spahn)

  9. Tigers (decent, but lacking young HOFers)

• AL Teams: The AL will start with 8 teams from 1885. While not set in stone, 1885 seems like a reasonable starting point.

Addressing Roster Imbalance:

The initial setup presents a challenge with unbalanced and incomplete rosters AL teams. My current solutions are:

1. Filling Roster Gaps: Any empty roster slots can be filled with players valued at 200K. Many teams have as few as 14 players, so this will be a significant factor.

2. Initial AL Draft (2025 Players): For the inaugural season only, the older AL teams will participate in a short draft of 2025 players.

   • The top three best teams receive no additional players.

   • The next three best teams can draft one 2025 player with a salary under $3 million.

   • The subsequent three teams can draft two players with a combined salary under $5.5 million.

   • Any of the bottom eight teams can draft three players with a combined salary under $7.5 million.
     This measure aims to reduce the imbalance, though not fully equalize it.

Note: There are no salary restrictions for either league in Year 1.

Future Seasons:

This is where the league structure becomes more unique.

• Salary Caps: The NL will have a base salary cap of $80 million per team, while the AL will have a base cap of $70 million. Teams can earn bonus cap space by achieving specific goals:

Goal	Bonus
WS Winner	$3 million
Pennant Winner	$3 million
Finish in the first half (places 1-4)	$1.5 million
Team with MVP	$3 million
Team with Cy Young	$2 million
Team with Fireman	$1 million
Team with ROY	$1 million
Each All-Star	$0.25 million

• Salary Calculation: Each team's salary will be calculated at the end of the season, prior to the draft and all bonuses are cumulative.

• Draft Progression:

  • NL teams will draft rookies progressing one year at a time, starting from 1948.

  • AL teams will draft rookies progressing one year at a time, starting from 1886.

• League Switching: The AL pennant winner and the 8th-place NL team will switch leagues before the draft and before salary caps are calculated.

Simultaneous Drafts: Two drafts will be conducted simultaneously.

My main questions are:

1. Is the $10M cap difference to much? Not enough?
2. Does the format remove the incentive to tank? I was thinking about using a draft order that went something like 4-5-6-7-8-3-2-1.
3. Any glaring issues in design or clarity?

So what happens in a year like 1900 when there isnt a lot of players?

Excellent question! I had to look into that!

I think 1900 is the only year with only 8 teams, 1899 has 12 and 1901 has 16.
I think there will be enough trades and promotion/relegation that the limited teams won't cause a major issue with lack of players.

Thanks for taking a look.

It's a very interesting idea. I have a few questions/comments:

- I'm assuming unlimited keepers as long as you're under the cap? Does IR salary count towards the cap?

- Also how is the signup going to work? The AL teams are going to be awful compared to the NL teams until 1901 because of the much smaller player pool, that's before even considering the salary disadvantage. You might have some issues getting people to take AL teams.

- The draft is only rookies, so if I cut a player because I can't afford him he's gone from the player pool for good?

- I would get rid of the awards bonuses and just make the future salary cap entirely based on win-loss record while making each draft a random order snake draft. Awards are formulas and can be gamed by experienced owners, and they're also not based at all on how good the team is so you could definitely have lots of All-Star hitters and the MVP while your pitching staff gets slaughtered.

I think you would be better off starting both leagues during a period of 16 real teams and then having the draft be all players from each year, not just rookies. If the draft is only rookies, you're going to end up with teams who can't field anywhere near a full roster and have minimal hope of improvement, just getting battered for years.

Thanks for the comments man.

I was thinking unlimited keepers. IR players wouldn’t count to the salary.

It would definitely be a “something” to get AL owners to sign up. Maybe instead of the 2025 players (or addition to) they could draft the unused 1885 players. That would give them a slight boost.

Maybe the old time teams could draft 2020 player and keep them as well. That’ll Give them a 6-7 seasons of having a modern guy or two to help.

I think you’re right about the award bonuses. I like the idea of just bonuses based on standings. Maybe a million for each place. Second places gets you 5 million, third gets you four, etc.

I am kinda firm on the draft only rookies part. As a commissioner, it makes the draft set up a ton easier and elevates the headaches of mistakes in the posting keeper process.

Again, thanks for the input. I like this idea and want to run with it but the devil is in the details. I don’t want it to be even, but I don’t want it to be hopeless.