POST SEASON RULES AND PROCEDURES

POST SEASON RULES AND PROCEDURES – 2024 SEASON

DATE	DAY	GAME(S)
Sep 26^th	Thu	Playoffs for Reg. Season Ties
Sep 27^th	Fri	Off Day
Sep 28^th	Sat	Wild Card Games 1
Sep 29^th	Sun	Wild Card Games 2
Sep 30^th	Mon	Wild Card Games 3 (if needed)
Oct 1^st	Tue	Off Day
Oct 2^nd	Wed	1^st Round Games 1
Oct 3^rd	Thu	1^st Round Games 2
Oct 4^th	Fri	Off Day
Oct 5^th	Sat	1^st Round Games 3
Oct 6^th	Sun	1^st Round Games 4
Oct 7^th	Mon	1^st Round Games 5 (if needed)
Oct 8^th	Tue	Off Day
Oct 9^th	Wed	1^st Round Games 6 (if needed)
Oct 10^th	Thu	1^st Round Games 7 (if needed)
Oct 11^th	Fri	Off Day
Oct 12^th	Sat	LCS Games 1
Oct 13^th	Sun	LCS Games 2
Oct 14^th	Mon	Off Day
Oct 15^th	Tue	LCS Games 3
Oct 16^th	Wed	LCS Games 4
Oct 17^th	Thu	LCS Games 5 (if needed)
Oct 18^th	Fri	Off Day
Oct 19^th	Sat	LCS Games 6 (if needed)
Oct 20^th	Sun	LCS Games 7 (if needed)
Oct 21^st	Mon	Off Day
Oct 22^nd	Tue	WS Game 1
Oct 23^rd	Wed	WS Game 2
Oct 24^th	Thu	Off Day
Oct 25^th	Fri	WS Game 3
Oct 26^th	Sat	WS Game 4
Oct 27^th	Sun	WS Game 5 (if needed)
Oct 28^th	Mon	Off Day
Oct 29^th	Tue	WS Game 6 (if needed)
Oct 30^th	Wed	WS Game 7 (if needed)

The regular season ends on Sunday, September 22nd. Five teams from each league will qualify for the playoffs - the three division winners and the two non-division winners with the best won-lost percentage (wild cards). CALENDAR DAYS ARE IMPORTANT FOR BOTH STARTING PITCHER UTILIZATION AND PLAYING THESE GAMES!!!

Regular Season Ties

Ties which effect only the playoff match-ups and home field advantage, but do not effect which five teams qualify for the playoffs will be decided by: (1) head-to-head records; (2) won-lost records excluding inter-league games; (3) Differential in runs scored and runs allowed; (4) coin flip. Ties that affect which five teams qualify for the playoffs will be decided by one-game playoffs. The home team for this game will be decided by: (1) head-to-head records; (2) won-lost records excluding inter-league games; (3) Differential in runs scored and runs allowed; (4) coin flip. The two managers involved in this one game playoff will play this game via NetPlay. If they are unable to play this game no later than two days after the calendar date for which it is scheduled, Commissioner (or other neutral manager selected by the Commissioner) will play the game using computer managers supplied by managers of the participating teams. All player usage rules applicable to post-season games will apply to this play-off game (see below).

Wild Card Series, First Round Series, League Championship Series and World Series

Post-season games will be played according to the schedule at the right.

The Wild Card Series will be a best-of-three series, with the team with the poorer record hosting Game 1 and the team with the better record hosting Games 2 and 3.

In each league, the first round series match-ups will be:

Division winner with the best won-lost record (#1 Seed) vs. Wild Card Series Winner
Division winner with the second best won-lost record (#2 Seed) vs. Division winner with worst won-lost record (#3 Seed)

Winners of the first round series will play each other in the League Championship Series. Winners of the League Championship will meet in the World Series. In each series (other than the Wild Card Series), the team with the better won-lost record will have the home field advantage and will be the home team for games 1, 2, 6 and 7, except a Wild Card team cannot have home field advantage against any team other than the another Wild Card team in the World Series. The team with the poorer won-lost percentage will be the home team for games 3, 4 and 5. All games will be played via Netplay, unless the manager of the visiting team chooses not to play his away games via Netplay. In such case, the home team manager shall play the game using a computer manager supplied by the visiting team manager.

Post-Season Player Usage Rules

Calendar days ARE important! Starting pitchers must have at least four calendar days off between starts, even if these starts are in different series - but the exception is that each starting pitcher may start one time (and one time only) in the entire post season with just three days rest. For example, if your team is forced to go to a 6^th game in the League Championship series and you start Cy Young in Game 6 on Saturday, October 19th, you can't start Cy in the World Series until Game 3 on Friday, October 25th - unless you decide to use Cy's one post-season start on three days rest in which case he could start Game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday, October 23rd. So the team that wins its series in four or five games has an advantage in the next series if its opponent had to go seven games to win. NO WHINING - its called real life! All post-season usage rules are repeated below.

9. POST SEASON GAMES

A. The following rules apply to all post-season games, for both home and away teams.

a. The Active Roster for any post-season series must consist of no more than 26 players who were on the 32-man Active Roster at the beginning of the regular season and who received in SOM's printed card set. (Players activated for just September games and players with "computer only" cards are not eligible for Post-Season Games). Active Rosters may be changed in between post-season series, but not during a post-season series.

b. All players in the starting line-up (excluding pitchers) must have been eligible to play in at least 50 games during the just-completed PGL regular season and must have played in at least 35 games at the position at which they are starting during the previous real-life season. To start at DH, a player only needs to have been eligible to play in at least 50 games during the just-completed PGL regular season.

c. All starting pitchers must be eligible to be a #1 through #5 starter in road games (see Section 7.D.). Starting pitchers must have at least four calendar days rest between starts, but each starting pitcher may start a game with only three calendar days rest one time during the entire post season. No pitcher can be used in relief during a series in which he starts any game.

B. For each post season game, the road manager will decide whether to play the game via NetPlay or not. If the road manager chooses NetPlay and the home manager is unwilling or unable to play the games via NetPlay, the Commissioner will appoint another manager to manage the home team for those games and those games will be played via NetPlay. If the road manager does not choose NetPlay, the road manager will send the home manager a fully programmed computer manager for the road team and the home manager will play the games using that computer manager.

C. Statistics reporting requirements for Post Season Games are the same as for Regular Season Games.

Playing Post-Season Games

As soon as playoff participants and wild card match-ups are determined, the Commissioner will send the Post Season League Files to participating managers. Don't use the regular season league files for post-season games. Updated files will be sent after each round of the post-season to managers still competing for the title.

Computer managers, fully programmed including starting lineups and starting pitchers, are to be e-mailed by each manager to the opposing manager at the start of each series. Note a new computer manager, which can be changed if you so desire, is required for each series.

Games are to be played on or before the date scheduled. Game result files and box scores are to be e-mailed to the Commissioner, the opposing manager, and all other playoff participants on the day that game is scheduled. It is permissible to send these earlier if your schedule requires you to do so. Our goal is to play and report these games on a real-time basis. I will also be updating the web site on a daily basis as these results come in. This real-time reporting will make it far more interesting for both participating managers and non-participating managers to follow the post-season action.

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