Special Rules for Shortened Seasons

The following rules are special rules originally put in place for the shortened 2020 season. They have been updated before the 2026 season. They can be viewed in their entirety at this link. They will be adapted as appropriate to fit the league’s rules and structure at that juncture.

Scheduling

In the event of a shortened MLB season, if the remainder of the MLB season does not allow for at least a 13-week LDB full season (i.e. regular season AND playoffs),then everyone's money will be refunded and no champion will be declared.

13-18 week LDB Season

If MLB’s scheduling allows for a 13- to 18-week LDB season, LDB would implement a 3-week playoff schedule and a 10-15 week regular season. The playoff teams would consist of the 4 division winners and 2 wild card teams (one from each league).

19+ week LDB season

If MLB’s scheduling allows for a 19-week LDB season (or more), LDB would implement a 4-week playoff schedule and a 15+ week regular season. Playoffs would happen as they are currently written in the LDB Rules (i.e. 4 division winners, 4 wild card teams).

H/S Contracts

13+ week LDB season

If we complete any partial LDB season that results in an LDB playoff (with 13 or more weeks being played), then all H/S contracts continue on as normal into the following season.

Fewer than 13 week LDB season

All players having H2-4 and S1-4 contracts for the shortened season remain unchanged going into the following season.

All AA players promoted to the Majors following the conclusion of the season preceding the shortened season may retain their AA contract status.

K/HTH Contracts

Teams may keep any five eligible keepers (and/or HTHs) from their roster prior to the 2020 Keeper Deadline going into the 2021 LDB Majors draft. Those keepers/HTHs need not be the originally named keepers carried into the 2020 season. The 2020 season has no impact on those players’ contract status. I.e., contracts that would have been K2, K3 and HTH contracts going into 2020 remain the same going into 2021.

Teams have the option of keeping one of the players drafted as a K1 in the 2020 Majors draft as one of their five keepers. The new keeper will carry a K2 contract into the 2021 season.

Teams may not keep a K1 that they traded for during the 2020 season. The K1 must have been drafted by the original GM in order to be kept into the 2021 season.

No midseason pickup (MS) from the 2020 season may be kept as an HTH for the 2021 season.

Teams who selected players in the 2020 auction will get priority to keep those players over owners who owned those players in 2019 and declined to keep them at the 2020 keeper deadline. This will necessitate the need for two keeper deadlines, the first of which will occur 24 hours prior to the second, where the first keeper deadline will involve owners declaring intention to keep players selected in the 2020 auction, and the second declaring players owned at the 2020 keeper deadline.

Preference for keepers drafted in 2020 will also apply to homegrowns who were non-tendered at the 2020 keeper deadline should we vote to allow owners to reconsider those decisions.

Should this proposal fail, 2019 owners will instead receive preference and will declare their keepers 24 hours prior to declaration of the 2020 owners.

RFA Contracts/Rights

No LDB Season, or less than 13 full LDB regular season weeks are played (i.e. Abandoned LDB season)

If you draft a player on an RFA contract in an abandoned, you may not keep the RFA player in the following season. However, the RFA rights for that player remain with the GM that owned the rights at the start of the LDB Majors Draft in the shortened seasons. If a player is auctioned as a K1 that could have potentially been drafted on an RFA contract, the winning GM has priority to keep the player as a K2 over the prior RFA rights owner, should the season be abandoned. If that player is not kept as a K1, the RFA rights revert back to the GM that owned the rights at the start of the shortened season's LDB Majors Draft.

See “TRADES” section below for how to handle if a trade for RFA rights occurred during the 2020 LDB Majors draft.

If 13 full LDB regular season weeks (or more) are played

Usual LDB RFA rules apply.

Trades

No LDB Season, or less than 13 full LDB regular season weeks are played (i.e. Abandoned LDB season)

All trades made after the start of the shortened season's LDB Majors Draft will be nullified and reversed (except in the situation below), and the state of the following season's LDB rosters/future AA draft picks/team salaries would be as they were prior to the beginning of the shortened season's LDB Majors Draft.

However, if both/all GMs involved in a trade after the start of the shortened season's LDB Majors Draft agree to keep their trade as valid going into the following LDB season, they may choose to do so.

If 13 full LDB regular season weeks (or more) are played

All trades are considered valid.

McQueeney Penalties

No LDB Season, or less than 13 full LDB regular season weeks are played (i.e. Abandoned LDB season)

No new McQ penalties would be applied in the event of an abandoned LDB season. McQ penalties accrued during the preceding LDB season would instead apply to the season after the abandoned season.

If 13 full LDB regular season weeks (or more) are played

Usual LDB Rules apply.

Roster Requirements

There were no roster penalties applied during the 2020 season. However, any roster roster penalties accrued during the 2019 LDB season carry over to 2021.

2021 positional eligibility based on 2020 playing time will be prorated based on the shortened 2020 season. As such, instead of the usual 17 games required for eligibility, for the 2021 LDB season only, players will only have had to have played 7 games at a position in 2020 to be eligible at that position for 2021.