Sim Dynasty Game Guide
From Sim Dynasty Rulebook
Sim Dynasty Rulebook
This is the wiki rulebook for Sim Dynasty baseball. Please feel free to make any changes or additions you see fit.
If you are trying out Sim Dynasty for the first time, you may want to first check out the Beginners Guide and Frequently Asked Questions.
Contents
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Introduction
Objective of the Game
The objective of Sim Dynasty is to build a team from the ground up and compete against other owners for the chance to become a baseball dynasty. You, as owner and General Manager of your franchise, draft your team starting in 1950 and must develop your prospects in your minor leagues, nurture your veterans on the major league roster, set your rotation and lineup, make blockbuster trades, and much more, all in hopes of developing your dynasty. Three times a day our custom designed Artificial Baseball Engine (affectionately named ABE) simulates the games and compiles complete box scores, play-by-play, and year-to-date statistics.
Why the 1950's
Baseball, hotdogs, and apple pie. It can be argued that the 1950's were when baseball was at its greatest. It was a time before free agency, before modern expansion, and before owners held cities hostage in seeking tax-funded stadiums. It was a time when all that mattered was what happened on the playing field, where baseball players spent most of their careers with one team, and where fans everywhere knew the starting lineups of even their staunchest rivals on the 16 team senior circuit. It was a time when the game was more pure, and we have captured that here at SimDynasty.com.
It should be noted that while SD begins in the 1950's its really a melding of the game as it has evolved over the past 60 years with its heart in the fifties but with some parts such as 5 man rotations and bullpen usage coming from later eras. The fifties are the basis of the game but as we all know, baseball is not static and has evolved and SimDynasty attempts to embrace some of those changes while holding true to the core elements of the game as it appeared in the fifties.
How Sim Dynasty is Different from the 1950s
Sim Dynasty is modelled after the 1950s in regards to General Manager activities and Free Agency. Many of the in-game features more closely resemble how baseball is played today. A few major differences include:
162 Game Schedule
A 162 game schedule has been chosen over the 154 game schedule to assist with 3 games-per-day scheduling. An added benefit is that this allows players to challenge some of baseball's magic numbers like 60 Home Runs, 20 Wins, or 300 Strike Outs.
Situational Pitching
Most teams in 1950 used 4-man starting pitcher rotations. Many of these pitchers pitched well into the game, minimizing the reliance on a quality or deep relief corps and talented pinch hitting specialists. Today, as in Sim Dynasty, a team may use 5-6 different pitchers in a game.
Having to use 5 starters and multiple relievers makes it necessary to have 6-8 quality pitchers to have a good team. This challenges you, as the owner and general manager, to remain active to develop the talent within your organization or scour the waiver wire or trade for that phenom that will put your team in contention for the World Series.
A 5-man rotation with a deep bull pen also requires you to carefully manage your player substitutions during each game. Pitching changes are made based on match-ups with hitters, and therefore pitching changes, and pinch hitters, occur more frequently. The maturation of the closer role also tests the dominance and endurance of certain pitchers. This allows more players to get into each game, and allows you to groom that budding closer or that rookie pinch-hitter who is going to be your starting third baseman next season.
The Playoffs
If Sim Dynasty were to model the playoff format of 1950, only two of 16 teams would get into the playoffs. As Major League Baseball has found since adding the Wild Card to each League, we have also found that there is more competition, interest, and downright fun with the Wild Card format. In Sim Dynasty the top two teams from each league (A.L. & N.L.) will advance to the Playoffs. The playoffs consist of a seven game League Championship Series, with the winners advancing to the World Series.
Who is Abe?
ABE stands for Artificial Baseball Engine. ABE is our unique and reliable software program that determines the outcome of every pitch of every game. ABE also performs each ownerâs customized managerial preferences, such as when to call in a relief pitcher or pinch hitter. There are many other things ABE does for Sim Dynasty to make the ownership experience fun and interesting. A few of those items are that he compiles all the statistics, selects the All-Star Team and Cy Young winners, and also decides if your MVP front-runner gets hurt. It can truly be said that ABE make the game fun and at times unpredictable.
League Information
League Names and Structure
| Each league type is named according to a different scheme. The Single Season leagues are named after MLB managers, in order of number of career victories. The first 28 Dynasty Leagues are named after the greatest Center Fielders of all time - according to Bill James. The other 20 Dynasty leagues are named after other great players from baseball history. Private and Speed leagues are usually named after players, and the name is usually chosen by the commissioner or site Administrators.
Every league is made up of two 8 team divisions. Our leagues have been fashioned after the way baseball stood between 1955-1957, just before the Dodgers and Giants moved west. |
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League Types
There are five different types of leagues - Single Season, Short Season, Dynasty, Private, and Speed Leagues.
Single Season Leagues
Single Season Leagues are free leagues that conduct an initial draft and play one season of baseball. Single Season Leagues were created for owners to test out Sim Dynasty before jumping in right into a Dynasty League or for other owners to gain more experience. The game play is nearly the same as the Dynasty Leagues, except that teams are not carried over to the next season.
Single Season owners have the same trade options available to them as Dynasty owners, except that they do not have the option to trade future draft picks. League message boards are available for each league, and there is a Sim Dynasty message board available for all owners to post questions or share ideas or just ask questions.
Short Season Leagues
In order to accommodate as many owners and teams as possible, Short Season Leagues are available so that you can sign up to play any time a season is in progress. All Single Season Leagues start their seasons the same day as Dynasty Leagues. If you sign up for a Single Season League after the regular season has started, you will be assigned to a Short Season League. These Short Season Leagues are identical to Single Season Leagues except that their draft preferences are modified and they will play an abbreviated season. The number of games played will depend on when the league filled up with 16 owners, and how far along the full single season is. For example, if your Short Season League started at game number 49, you will only play 114 games for that season.
Dynasty Leagues
Dynasty Leagues span many seasons, and start in the year 1950 with an initial draft, where both your major league and minor league rosters are filled. Teams keep their players from season to season, unless they waive or trade them, or if ABE chooses to retire them. Developing your players from year to year, orchestrating trades, and putting a competitive team on the field each year is very challenging, and is one of the main reasons why Sim Dynasty is so much fun.
The Dynasty Leagues are designed with the hard core baseball fan in mind. Dynasty team owners tend to be very active general managers and managers, and participate in frequent, if not daily, message board discussions in their league's message board.
Private and Speed Leagues
You can also join Private and Speed Leagues - these are similar to Dynasty Leagues but with a few changes. These leagues typically play more than 3 games per day. Private Leagues are customized leagues that have different rules of play than the Dynasty Leagues. Speed Leagues are very similiar to Dynasty leagues, except that they typically play more than 3 games per day. Speed Leagues are also very similiar to Private Leagues, except we don't allow special rules in Speed Leagues. Each League also has a commissioner, whose role is to ensure fair play among the owners and to ensure the well being of the league. Commissioners should be experienced Sim Dynasty players - generally we only accept commissioners who have played in a Dynasty or Private league before.
For more information about pay leagues, or to be notified when there are openings in pay leagues, please visit the Pay League information page.
Game Schedule
Regular Season
ABE simulates games three times a day for Single Season, Short Season, and Dynasty Leagues. Each calendar day a team plays a three-game series with an opponent in their league. There is no inter-league play. Each league starts and finishes each season on the same calendar day. The entire season will run approximately 2 months in real time. You can view the entire schedule for your team by going to Team Results.
Each team plays a 162 game schedule. With 8 teams in each league, 54 three-game series are required to complete the season. Each team plays 5 teams in its league 24 times (8 three-game series) and plays the other 2 teams 21 times (7 three-game series). The time the games are played depends on the league type.
Single Season Leagues
Single Season games are typically simulated at 4:00AM, 3:00PM, and 7:30PM Eastern time each day. Games are run according to their league's position in the message board and can take up to four hours to complete depending on the number of single season leagues. To get an idea of when your games are typically completed, take a look at your team's home page after your game has run - you will see the current time and the time the last game was completed.
Dynasty Leagues
Dynasty League games are simulated at 9:00AM, 12:30PM, and 5:00PM EST every day. Games are run according to their league's position in the message board. It usually takes an hour or two to run games for all leagues.
Private and Speed Leagues
Each of these leagues runs a unique schedule. To view your leagues schedule, please check your league message board or use the link to League Schedule, located on the League Info page.
Playoffs
At the end of the 162 game season, the top two teams from each league (A.L. & N.L.) will advance to the Playoffs. There will be a seven game League Championship Series, with the winners advancing to the World Series. The team with the better record will have home field advantage. In the unlikely scenario of a three team tie for the division lead, each team will play the other two teams once. If they are still tied then ABE will use runs differential to determine the playoff teams. The Playoffs use a 2-3-2 home team format, meaning that the team with the best record will play games 1 & 2, and 6 & 7 at home. Home teams do enjoy a slight home field advantage in the playoffs or regular season.
The Playoffs will be simulated over the course of two calendar days, one for the League Championship Series (LCS) and one for the World Series. Each series simulates 10 Sim Dynasty days. Day 1 is an off day and reserved for division tiebreakers, if required. LCS games are played on Days 2 and 3. Day 4 is an off day. LCS games are continued on Days 5, 6 and 7. Day 8 is an off day. The final 2 games are played on Days 9 and 10. This sequence is repeated for the World Series. The times for the games are as follows: 8:15 (Day 1 for tiebreakers), 9AM, 10AM, off day (11AM), 12PM, 1PM, 2PM, off day (3PM), 4PM, 5PM. All times are Eastern Standard.
Roster changes -- minor league promotions and activations from rest or disabled list -- are not permitted during a series, but are allowed between the LCS and World Series. Playoff ineligible players are noted in orange and if left on the roster will be ignored (as if injured) during playoff games.
Team Information
Roster Size
The roster size is currently limited to a minimum of 40 players and a maximum of 50 players. You must have 25 players on your major league roster at all times. Each major league roster may have between 9-12 pitchers (minimum 5 starters) with the remaining players at any fielding position.
Minor Leagues
Your minor league team is used for two purposes - to develop young talent and to hold a few veterans that can help out your major league team if needed. Players can be transferred between your major league and minor league teams an unlimited number of times. The only exception to this is that your major league team must always consist of 25 players. Players moved from the major league roster to the minor league roster cannot collect Improvement Chances for five games after his last major league appearance, and may also be required to pass through the waiver wire. To move players between these two squads, go to the Promote/Demote screen or The Depth Chart.
Drafts
Both the National League and the American League participate in a combined League draft. There are three different types of drafts: Initial, Amateur, and Expansion.
The Initial Draft
The Initial Draft occurs prior to the start of the season of Single Season Leagues, and prior to the first season of each Dynasty, Private and Speed League. There are 2 different types of initial drafts - Pre-Rank and Quick. Most Full-season Single Season Leagues use the Pre-Rank system, that is all leagues up to and including the Whitey Herzog league. All new pay leagues use the Pre-Rank System. All other Single Season and Short Season Leagues use the Quick Draft system.
Pre-Rank System
With the Pre-Rank system, you are able to view the entire draft class which is sorted by fielding position. Under this draft method, you have 10 draft lists to rank, one for each of the positions (8 fielding positions, 1 for Starting Pitchers, and 1 for Relief Pitchers). Each position drafts separately. The draft order within each position is chosen randomly by ABE. The draft will wind in a serpentine manner, so whoever has the 1st pick will also have the 32nd pick at that position. The draft sequence for the first two rounds is as follows: 1/32, 2/31, 3/30, 4/29, 5/28, 6/27, 7/26, 8/25, 9/24, 10/23, 11/22, 12/21, 13/20, 14/19, 15/18, 16/17. To help all teams with building their dynasty, the draft order also snakes across all positions, meaning that if you have the 16th and 17th picks at one position, you will have the 1st and 32nd pick at another position. Positions are logically grouped in pairs for assigning the draft order. These pairs are C/SS, 2B/3B, 1B/LF, CF/RF and SP/RP. So if you have the 5th pick for 2B, you will have the 12th pick for 3B. Catcher and Shortstop are paired because they are the hardest positions to convert someone to, and the most important defensive positions. You can see where you will draft for each position by clicking the Draft Order link next to Initial Draft in the Draft Center. Once your league has filled up for that season, you will typically have at least 48 hours to view the draft class and set your draft preferences before the Pre-Rank drafts are run.
Quick Draft System
For the Quick system, owners are not able to see the draft class. Player selection is done by ABE using the Draft Preferences selected by each owner in the Draft Preferences page for his team. The draft consists of 50 rounds (the first 25 will determine your major league roster, the remaining 25 rounds will fill your minor league roster). The draft order is selected randomly and the rounds proceed in a serpentine manner (if you pick first in the first round, you'll pick last in the 2nd round). Your choices for overall draft strategy are Best Available, Well Rounded, or Totally Balanced. For a detailed description of each preference, and to set your draft preferences, visit the Draft Center.
The Amateur Draft
For the Dynasty, Speed and Private leagues, your team will participate in an Amateur Draft in between seasons. The amateur draft lasts 5 rounds, and each round goes in the same order - the team with the worst record the previous year picks first with all non-playoff teams slotting in after them in inverse order of record. The LCS loser with the worse regular season record will draft 13th, the other LCS loser 14th, the WS loser 15th and the WS winner 16th. Any ties will be broken by an ABE generated coin flip. You can set your draft preferences on the Amateur Draft page. This page can also be found under GM Center from the top menu. The draft class will be made available on September 1st (SimDynasty time), so each owner has approximately 10-14 calendar days to evaluate and rank the available players prior to the draft. Private leagues may use a different date, so make sure you check your league rules on this. There are a variety of ways to rank the players. We recommend that you use the auto-ranking feature at the top of the page to get started - this will save you some time. You can also individually rank the players 1 to 100. The players will initially be ordered based on your saved auto-ranking settings.
In the Amateur drafts you are able to indicate the maximum number of players for ABE to draft at any one position using the âMaximum Players Per Positionâ feature. This can help you so that you don't end up drafting a catcher in each of the 5 rounds of this draft.
If you would like to see amateur drafts from the other pay leagues check here: http://www.simdynasty.com/draftbyleague.jsp
The Expansion Draft
The Expansion Draft occurs only in Private or Speed Leagues when two or more owners from the prior term do not return to their team, and new owners join the league to take their place. All the players from these teams are placed into a draft pool and an Expansion Draft occurs to re-allocate those players. The Expansion Draft operates identically to the Initial Quick Draft, meaning you allocate points to batter and pitcher skills and Abe will draft the team based on these preferences.
Off Season
In multiple season Dynasty and Private Leagues, various activities occur to close out the previous season and prepare each team and league for the next season. Some players may retire due to a combination of age, deteriorating skills, and lack of playing.
Younger players with Major League experience will realize improvements in their skills.
Player Information
Player Abilities and Numerical Values
All players are created by ABE with skills assigned randomly between a value of A through F in the following areas: Contact (vs Lefty and Righty), Power (vs Lefty and Righty), Speed, Bunt, Range, Arm, Control, Velocity, Endurance, Health and Alternate Position. Each letter is assigned a numerical range of 8 points (see chart below). Each point represents one improvement (See Improvement Chances). The numerical values are only visible to ABE so that he can use them to simulate each game. Sim Dynasty owners are presented only with the colored letter value of each skill since it is easier to evaluate and read online. The higher the letter, the better that player is in that skill area. To move a full letter grade a player must convert between 18-24 ICs, depending on what the original value was. For example, if Player X has B- Control (at a 52 numerical value), he must convert 24 ICs to obtain an A- rating. If Player Y has B- Control (at a 59 numerical value), he must convert 18 ICs to obtain that same A- rating. This information proves useful when evaluating talent during drafts, trades, and the skills of your own players.
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Player Cards
Player skills, Improvement Chance history, career statistics, and transactions of each player are just a few examples of what is listed on each player card. You can see a player's card by clicking on the link under his name. These links appear throughout the site on pages such as Roster, Trade Desk, and Waiver Wire.
Improvement Chances (ICs)
Improvement Chances are the means by which players improve (i.e. increase their numerical value) in each individual skill area. The higher the value, the better that player is in that skill area. An IC is an opportunity for that player to improve. A player who receives an IC must also 'convert' that IC in order to receive an improvement in that skill. As each player accumulates and converts ICs, their skill levels increase. Each player will improve at a different rate, based on age, current skill, and other factors. Major League ICs are accumulated differently than Minor League ICs.
Earning Major League Improvement Chances (ICs)
Batters
ICs are calculated after every game and presented as a cumulative total on the Player Card and Improvement Report on the Stats Page. Major League ICs are earned during the season but are not converted until the off-season. Before accounting for mentoring, a major league position player will earn Improvement Chances based on this formula: For every 10 plate appearances, a player will receive 1 Improvement Chance: Batter ICs = PA/10 The more a player plays, the more chances he will earn, before mentoring.
Pitchers
Pitchers will receive and convert ICs less frequently than batters since there are fewer categories for pitchers to improve in (Endurance, Velocity, Control). Pitchers receive Improvement Chances based on this formula: Pitcher ICs = (0.31 * Games Played) + (Innings Pitched / 10)
The more a pitcher pitches, and the more games he pitches in, the more chances he will earn, before mentoring. (Note: To prevent pitcher abuse, a soft-cap has been imposed on pitcher IC accumulation. As of 2006, the soft-cap max's pitchers at approximately 40-50 ICs).
Pitchers on the major league roster may earn .16 IC if he has appeared in the past 8 days. If he has not, he may also earn .1 IC if he has pitched in that past 10 days. If he has not, a .05 IC bonus is available if he has pitched in the past 12 days. Finally, if that does not apply, there is a .02 IC accrual for pitcher pitching in the past 15 days. If the pitcher has not pitched in the past 15 days, he will accrue no chances based on being on the roster. Only one of these options (the greatest) will be applied to any pitcher.
In addition, over-using a young arm (27 or younger) by pitching him more than 200 innings if he is a starter and 100 innings if he is a reliever will cause his health to go down.
The result of these initial Batter and Pitcher IC calculations are then multiplied by that games mentoring factor to get the players final Improvement Chances for the game.
Converting Major League Improvement Chances
Major League ICs are converted into skill improvements during the off-season. A players skill remains constant during the year while on the Major League roster. The IC conversion rate is primarily based on age and current skill level. For player age, there is a âsweet spotâ of about 23-25 yrs of age where players will convert the highest percentage of ICs in the Major Leagues. Players younger (and older) than this sweet will convert fewer ICs. Bringing up a younger player into the Major Leagues too soon might jeopardize his potential. Minor League IC conversion rates are generally better for younger players (22 and below).
The better a player is in a skill, the less chance he has of converting an improvement chance. Skills are grouped together for this calculation, which is sometimes referred to as Bundling. The following skills are bundled for improvement conversions: Control & Velocity, Contact vs RHP & Power vs RHP, Contact vs LHP & Power vs LHP, and Arm & Range. One effect bundling has is that it allows for a wider variety of player types. If a player is a much better power hitter than contact hitter, he will remain that way for his career.
Earning Minor League Improvement Chances
Minor League Improvement Chances are the means by which minor league players develop and improve. Because minor league games are not simulated in SimDynasty, each team is eligible to receive 2 minor league Improvement Chances per major league game played. These ICs are randomly assigned to a minor league players skill in a particular area (e.g. Contact vs Righties, Range, etc). Unlike major league improvements, Minor League ICs skill improvements take effect and are displayed immediately. Batters and Pitchers have equal chance of receiving ICs, however, the probability of receiving ICs can be increased by assigning Coach Points to a specific minor league player. If your minor league roster has less than the minimum 15 players, you might find that only one (or even no) Improvement Chances were earned during a game. This is because ABE looks to assign a random IC based on a minimum of 15 players. If there are only 14 players, there is a "hole" in one of the player spots, and ABE may assign an IC to this hole. If this occurs, no player earned that IC, and that IC went to waste.
Coaching Points (CPs) tells the minor league coaches how serious you are about developing a player, and whether your minor league coaching staff should focus on one player over another. The more Coach Points assigned to a player the more ICs that player is likely to receive. Each team has 15 coach points they are able to assign to players on their minor league roster, with a maximum of 5 points on any one player. There are also invisible Coach Points automatically assigned by ABE for each player on the minor league roster.
Converting Minor League Improvement Chances
Minor League ICs are converted into skill improvements after each game. Minor League ICs and conversions are not effected by Mentoring. You can see which player(s) improved and in which skill they improved in the Game Notes section of the box score. It will also tell you which players were considered for improvement and in what category, but did not improve. This is denoted by a "Cory Snyder not respond to coaching in Contact_vs_Righty" message. You should not read anything into a single lack of improvement, just as you would not read anything into a batter's single strikeout. However, you may want to read something into a continued pattern of non-improvement; that player may either be too old or too good to get much better and Coach Points may be better spent elsewhere. If a player advances a skill level, his Player Card will be updated with the correct color code and letter immediately following the game. As in the Major Leagues, the Minor League IC conversion rate is based on many things, but is primarily based on age and current skill level. Minor League IC conversion rates are generally better for younger players (22 and below). See message board threads for additional details. Players older than this "sweet spot" will convert fewer IC's.
Mentoring
In the Major Leagues, your team will get 3 Mentoring scores after each game: Batters, Starting Pitchers, and Relief Pitchers. You can see what your score was for each game by reviewing the Game Notes in the boxscore of each game. Each player on your team who is 28 years of age or older has an effect on your team's Mentoring score. Players with Mentoring grades will raise the game mentoring score. An individual player's Mentor Value is calculated using 3 components: Age, Skill, and Leadership. Having high values in each of these will give a player a high Mentor Score.
For position players, a player will increase your team's mentoring score more if he is in your starting lineup versus on the bench. A veteran catcher has an effect on pitchers as well - with his Range being a big component. A player's in-game overall rating is used in the calculation - so if he hits lefties better than righties, he will count for a bit more when you're facing a LHP - and if you're playing a catcher at shortstop, his overall rating is calculated using his defensive skills at shortstop.
If your team wins the game and the team you beat is ahead of you in the standings, your mentor values for that game will get a slight bump across the board - depending on how many games ahead of you the other team is. This gives you an incentive to try to beat teams that are better than you - especially teams that are really far ahead of you in the standings.
Younger players need mentoring more than older players do. An 18 year old player will get more out of mentoring than a 26 year old will.
Name Changes
If it is early in the season, you are permitted to change the name of the player. Note that you can only do this during the first 30 days of the season, and offensive player names WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! If you find another team's player names offensive, please report that team so the issue can be resolved. Duplicate names in a league are not permitted - and names must be between 3 and 30 characters long.
Rest & Tired Players
On the Roster Page, you will see color-coded status bars indicating how tired a player is.
Starting Pitchers
Starting pitchers cannot start games more than once every 5 days. Starting pitchers will start games when they have 5 green energy bars. They will gain 1 energy bar for every day they don't pitch. It should be noted that if you don't have any pitchers that are fully rested, it is somewhat unpredictable who ABE will select to start the next game and it is recommended that you bring up a minor league pitcher to make a spot start to help get the rotation back in order. Pitchers with at least a C- Endurance Rating may be placed in the starting rotation.
Relief Pitchers
Relief pitchers can pitch in the game as long as they have more than 1 energy bar. However, relievers with less than 5 energy bars will experience diminished skills for the next game. The more tired a relief pitcher is, the less effective he will be. The amount of energy a relief pitcher has depends on three factors: his Endurance rating, how many days out of the last 5 he has pitched in, and how many batters he has faced in those outings. You can see how much each pitcher has faced in the last 5 days by clicking on the energy bar for a relief pitcher.
Position Players
Position players work a little differently. A player's health determines how many days in a row that he can play. A player with an A health rating might be able to play 30-50 consecutive games without a game off, meaning he'll miss just a few games in an entire season. A player with an F health rating can only play about 4 games in a row without needing a game off. Note that players actually need to sit out a game to become rested - off days do not affect rest. When a player's Rest bar reaches one red bar, he will sit out the next game. If you do not make a substitution, ABE will make the substitution for you (he normally does a pretty decent job of this) and will base his decisions on your preferences in the backup menus.
Injured Players
At some point in the season, your team is sure to experience the occasional injury. This is where the disabled list comes into play. There are 4 ways to find out if a player is injured. The first way is in the Game Notes section of the box score, which appears on the right side of the game summary page directly below the box score. The second spot you can look is on the Roster page. If a player is injured, the dropdown menu next to his name will say injured. Another place you can look is on the player card. Just click on the link of the player's name from the Roster page and it will tell you how many days the player is injured for. The last way is thorugh the Injury News Page. This page will also indicate the approximate return date for that player. You can also get notification about injuries through email. If you go to the User Preference page, you can indicate whether you want to receive an email whenever one of your players is injured.
Abe uses a player's health to determine his chances of being injured in the game. The length of the injury is random. The way the math works is that about half of the injuries are between 4 and 21 days in length. The other half are between 22 and 64 days in length. Most injuries tend to be 15-25 days in length, but you can occasionally see longer or shorter injuries.
Playing Players Out of Position
There may come a time in the course of playing Sim Dynasty where you wish to play one (or more) of your players out of position. When you do so, please keep in mind that players will be "penalized" in their Arm and Range ratings. Because of this, they will experience a reduction in playing ability. The penalty is not very great for logical moves in position, such as LF to RF, but is very high for illogical moves, such as SS to CF.
You can train players to play a 2nd position. On each player card, you will see 3 fields for "Alt Pos," which show the player's ability at his top three alternate positions. You can also click the "Positions" tab on a player's card to see his ability at every position he knows. Every time a player plays in a new position, he will improve his skills in that new position. Eventually, when he reaches A++ (100%) at the new position that will become his primary position. Logical position changes (e.g. SS to 2B) will happen faster than illogical changes (CF to C). This chart lists the difficulties of the various position changes. Note that most leagues have special rules for catchers, such that a player may not be listed as a starter or backup at catcher unless he is rated a certain percentage at the position. For dynasty leagues, the minimum is 50%. For private and speed leagues, the catcher rule is listed on the league's message board.
In order to fully convert to a new position, a player needs to have played more games at that position during the current season than at any other position. Also, he needs to have played a minimum of 25 games at the new position. These rules are in place to prevent unwanted position changes. If you have a player that tries to go from 99.9% to 100% in skill at that position, but has not met both of these criteria, he will go back to 99.0% ability.
Players will also *forget* how to play positions as well. The SS you converted to a 3B will eventually not remember how to play SS after a few seasons at 3B.
You can also train a player in the minors at a new position with the new drop downs there. This is done as a 4th IC (improvement chance).
Pinch Hitters
ABE will attempt to pinch hit for position players according to your Manager Preferences. See the section below for more info on pinch hitters.
Managing your Team
Sim Dynasty offers you a large assortment of ways to manage your team.
Lineup
Rule 6.01(a) - Lineup It is up to you to set your starting lineup for play against left-handed starting pitchers and right-handed starting pitchers. If for any reason your starting lineup isn't set properly (i.e. a player is injured or only has one bar of energy left), ABE will fill in the gaps in your lineup just prior to game time.
Backups
You can also select up to three backup players per position should ABE ever need to find a substitute for one of your starters.
Rotation/Bullpen
You can set the order of your starting rotation, and designate roles for your bullpen (Long Relief A and B, Middle Relief A and B, Setup Man, Setup/Closer, and Closer) from the Rotation/Bullpen link.
Manager Preferences
Sim Dynasty offers many ways to manage your team during games.
Manager Mode
There are two modes to choose from, Advanced and Regular.
Regular Mode
This mode allows you to have general control over the manager preferences. Every specific control isn't covered in this mode, but you will have some control over how the game is managed by setting 8 different controls. If you move to Advanced Mode, your settings will move over with you in the categories that match up.
Advanced Mode
Gives you specific control over 60 different game situation controls. It is recommended that you use this mode only after you have become comfortable using the Regular Mode. Note that if you move to Advanced Mode, and then go back to Regular Mode, your settings in Advanced mode will be lost.
All the Gory Details
If you want more information about how to use the preferences and what each one does, please see the Manager Prefs page.
General Manager Information
Trades
Through the GM Center menu, you can propose a trade to any other team in your league. If the other team accepts, the trade will be executed immediately and the players will change teams. Trading deadlines for Dynasty and single season leagues are September 1; players may be traded after that date in Dynasty Leagues, but are not eligible to play in the playoffs. Remember when proposing or accepting a trade, you must have a valid roster assuming the trade goes through. So this means 9-12 pitchers, with the rest being position players. You may have to promote, demote, or waive players as part of the trade. You can also trade draft picks using this screen. Note that you can only trade draft picks in Dynasty and Private leagues. In Dynasty Leagues, you can only trade future picks for seasons that you have paid for.
Promote/Demote
You can promote players from your Minor League team, or demote players from your major league team at any time. The only requirement is that you have 25 players on your Major League roster at all times, at least 9 pitchers but no more than 12 and between 13 and 16 position players for a total of 25. You may have up to 25 minor leaguers, made up of any combination pitchers and position players. To promote or demote, you must go to the Promote/Demote screen. Note that you can only promote and demote one player at a time. For example, if Player A and Player B are on your Major League team, and Player C and Player D are on your Minor League team. You may demote Player A, and promote Player C at the same time, but you cannot demote both Player A and Player B and promote Player C and Player D at the same time. You would need to make two separate transactions.
Waiver wire and Options
You may claim players by visiting the Waiver Wire. On the waiver wire, you will see three different types of players - Free Agents, Optioned players(Options), and Waived players(Waive).
Free Agents
Free Agents (denoted with the word 'Claim' next to their name). Players who go un-drafted and those players who still have Option Years remaining (denoted on their Player Card), will immediately become Free Agents if they are waived by their team. Free Agents can be picked up immediately and will be placed on your Minor League Roster.
Waived Players
Waived Players (denoted with the word 'Waive' next to their name). A player who has no more Option Years and is waived (released) from his team must pass through Waivers. A player who has been waived by his team will remain in limbo for 4 sim days (number of days may be different for Private Leagues.), where any team can put in a Waiver Claim on the player. Immediately following the game on that 4th day, ABE checks to see if anyone has claimed the player. If more than one team has claimed the player, he will go to the team with the worst record. If it is the first 30 days of the season, it will be based off of the most recent draft order. The team that wins the claim gets the player placed on their Minor League roster. Unclaimed players become Free Agents and can be picked up immediately.
Optioned Players
Optioned Players - (denoted with the word 'Options' next to their name). A player is out of Options in the 7th season after he is drafted. He can no longer pass freely from the Major League roster to the minor league roster. Optioned players must pass through the Waiver Wire where he will remain in limbo for 4 sim days and may be claimed by any other team (same rules as Waived Players). However, the team that gets the claim has the player placed on his Major League roster. So if he tries to sneak him through waivers, he may lose him. The other component is that a team may withdraw waivers on an option player once a season per player by clicking on the word 'Options'. So if you demote a guy by mistake, or realize you can't sneak him back to the minors, you can cancel the move and keep him in the majors. When using the Promote/Demote screen, you will get a warning message if you try to demote a player that is out of options. Waiver claims are processed as part of the regular season game code. So any players waived between the beginning of the Playoffs and before the next season's Amateur Draft runs will be processed during the first game of the season.
Disabled List
Injured players may be placed on the Disabled List. You can place players on the DL for a minimum of 15 days (maximum of 1 season) if they are injured. You can call up a replacement if you'd like. But remember that any player called up will be subject to the Option rules if he is demoted when the injured player has healed. When a player's injury has healed, you can remove him from the Disabled List by unchecking the box next to his name on the Disabled List page.
Resting Players
Beginning on September 1st, you can designate players you want to rest by going to the Rest Players Page. For every player you rest, you can call up a replacement to your team. This was done mainly so that teams can position their starting rotations for the playoffs, but it can also be used to leverage September callups. Any players that are still resting during the offseason will be taken off of resting status.
League Information
League News
Sim Dynasty has a news page that you may access that will show you what has been going on in your league in the way of player transactions, such as trades, promotions and demotions, and retiring players.
Game Results
The best way to find out how your team did in its most recent games is to go the Results page or to the Schedule page. These pages will have a link to each of your team's past 9 games. The difference between the two is that the Schedule page reveals the game score and the winning and losing pitcher. The Results page lists the games scheduled, and gives you a link to the box score/Dynasty vision. The Results page should be used by owners who want to follow the game action on Dynasty Vision without knowing the result of the game ahead of time.
League Standings
To see how your team is doing in the league overall, you should go to the Standings page. This will show you the standings for all of the teams in your league, both A.L. and N.L. On this page you can also see how your team has done in the past 9 games, as well as see all 162 games. You can also see other team's schedules from these pages. This will also show the current record for each of the pitchers that received a decision in each game.
Info Page
Sim Dynasty also has an Info page that allows you to see who is in your league. It also displays their email address, if they have chosen to let it be shown in their Profile. You can also U2U them from here simply by clicking their name. When you do this, the u2u screen will popup and you can u2u them right from there. Another feature that is also on this page is the ability to see when your opponents last checked into the site. This way you can know who has been actively managing their team, and which teams belong to "dead" owners.
Team Statistics
You can view your team pitching and batting statistics from the Team Stats page. Note that these stats are for players CURRENTLY on your major or minor league teams. If you make a trade, or waive a player, his stats will not show up on this screen. The only stats that will show here that don't relate to this are wins and losses, which reflect your teams overall record
Individual Statistics
You can view your players individual pitching and batting statistics from the Individual Stats page. As with the Team Stats page, you only players on your major or minor leage teams statistics will be shown. Unlike the Team Stats page, the wins and losses do reflect the pitchers currently on your major and minor league teams, not your current record in the league.
League Leaders
To see who leads the league in various statistical categories, check out the League Leaders page. It will show you the top 20 players in each category. Two new features have been added to this page. You can now view Single Season leaders and All Time leaders at various categories.
Player Rankings
The Rankings page serves two purposes. The first is to show all players ranked according to their statistics, and the other is to show all players ranked according to their abilities.
Player Statistics
The benefit of using this page as opposed to the Leaders page is that this page will show all of the players in your league and that this page is more comprehensive. On this page you can choose to sort by every category that is kept on the player cards.
Player Abilities
This part of the Rankings page will show all of the players in your league according to their abilities. As with the other page, this page can be sorted by all player abilities displayed on the player cards. This page is especially useful for scouting around your league to find the players on other teams that you would like to trade for.
All Star Page
The All Star page will display the top players for both the A.L. and N.L. at each position, in addition to a backup (2nd string) for each position. It also will show "voting" for various awards, such as: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and the Fireman Award. They are not actual "votes", but are points that are awarded to players based on a formula. There is no real All Star game that is scheduled to be played between the players of the A.L. and N.L. at this time.
Miscellaneous
PayPal and Payments
For our pay leagues, we use PayPal as the method to receive payments. If you have a credit card, checking account, or any other type of banking account, you can use PayPal to send in a payment.
If you only have a checking account, the payment will be sent to us by a PayPal e-check. E-checks can take up to 4 business days to clear and you will not see the credits hit your Sim Dynasty account for up to 4 business days. If you are signing up for a new team and send in an e-check, you can send a u2u to Admin and we can hold the team for you until it clears. If you are renewing a team using an e-check, you will have to wait the 4 days to get credit. We have considered removing e-checks as a payment option, because of the confusion they cause, but there are a fair number of people that only have checking accounts and we don't want to prevent them from playing.
Finally, if you don't have any kind of bank account or credit card, you can mail in a money order to us. We do charge an extra $2 for handling. Please write your screen name and/or league name on the check or money order, and add $2 for handling. Please make your payment out to the site owner, Tyson Lowery. Allow up to 3 weeks for the credits to be posted to your account. Our address is:
Sim Dynasty
PO Box 8586
Minneapolis, MN 55408
Why No DH?
There wasn't a DH in the 1950's, and there isn't one in Sim Dynasty either. This also allows more hitters and pitchers to see action during a game, which we feel makes the games more interesting.
Dynasty Dollars and Wagering
For owners that have verified their email address, Single season owners will earn 1 Dynasty Dollar (D$) for each game that they win. Dynasty owners will earn D$3 for each win. Because of the variable speed of play, this feature is not enabled for Private or Speed Leagues. You can also wager D$ against other owners in your league. You set the maximum number of dollars to wager in your profile area. When two teams meet, the lesser of the two betting amounts is used as a wager for the game. So if I have wagered D$5 and you have wagered D$3, the bet for the game will be D$3. If I win, your account is deducted D$3 and mine is credited with D$3. Management reserves the right to revoke this for Single Season Leagues if it is abused by cheaters. Remember, D$1000 = 1 Season of Dynasty League play. Dynasty Dollars can also be earned by making purchases through our sponsors. For more information about Dynasty Dollars and how to earn them see the Sim Dynasty Dynasty Dollars page.
Reporting Problems & Suggesting Enhancements
Have you noticed something about the game that isn't quite right? Are you having problems accessing your team or logging in? Or is there something about the game that you would like to see improved? We encourage you to sound off on the Message Boards.
Using this Wiki
We use the same software as Wikipedia for maintaining this page. We encourage you to make additions and corrections where you see fit. We found the following links to be helpful when learning the syntax of editing a page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page
Working with Tables:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Table
