The Game

LDB is divided into two subsidiary leagues: the Federal League and the Union Association. Each league has two four-team divisions. During the regular season, each team will play another team for one week at a time (Monday to Sunday) for a total of 20 weeks, with each statistical category representing one game, meaning 12 games are in play each week. After the regular season, top-performing teams advance to the playoffs.

Schedule

Scheduling will be announced by the Commissioner(s) before the Majors Draft each year. During the regular season, each team will play the other three teams in their own division twice (6 games), each other team once (12 games), and each team will have two additional non-division intraleague matchups (2 games). Matchups for the extra two intraleague matchups will be determined by the prior season's records. Teams with the two best records in one division in a league will face the teams with the two best records in the other division in that league, and vice versa for the two teams with the worst records in their divisions.

The Commissioner(s) will implement "road trips" where teams play out of their divisions multiple weeks in a row. However, road trips may not be so long that they create a competitive imbalance for teams on long away stretches (as a result of being disfavored in weekly tiebreakers for such periods).

Scoring

Lucid Dream Baseball scores the ten active batters and up to eleven active pitchers each day on the following statistics:

LDB Scoring
Batters	Pitchers
On-Base Percentage (OBP)	Modified Game Starts (MGS): 3*IP + 2(IP-4) + K - 2H - 4ER - 2(R-ER) - BB
On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage (OPS): OBP + SLG	Adjusted WHIP (aWHIP): (H + BB + HBP)/INN
Runs Scored (R)	VIJAY: (RIP+3*SV+3*HLD-8*BS-8*RL)/4
Adjusted Runs Batted In (aRBI) = RBI - GIDP	Home Runs Allowed (HRA)
Home Runs (HR)	Pitcher Strikeouts (K)
Adjusted Stolen Bases (ASB): SB - CS/2	Earned Run Average (ERA)

As in baseball, there can be no ties. If a statistical category ends in a tie at the conclusion of a week, the home team will win all such categories. However, any margin of victory in any statistical category, however small, is a victory and not a tie.

Roster Requirements

Each week, each team must meet: the league minimum innings pitched requirement (IP) of 44 innings per week; have an eligible player in each positional roster spot (except designated hitter spots) each day; accumulate a minimum of 50 plate appearances per week; and maintain a roster of 31 players or less (or 26 during playoff matches).

If a team fails to meet these minimum requirements, the following penalties are applied:

Batting and Fielding Penalties

For every batter missing from a team's lineup on a game day, that team receives one "AAA start" for each missing player, which is 0H, 5 AB with 2 GIDP. After three separate days of batting roster violations, the team is penalized $0.5 million per player per day. The fines will be deducted from the following season’s payroll.

Teams that fail to accumulate 50 plate appearances in a week will forfeit all offensive categories in that matchup.

Pitching Penalties

If a team fails to reach the required 44 innings pitched in a given week, that team will automatically lose the following categories: MGS, ERA, WHIP, HRA, and VIJAY. These losses will count as losses in the standings and will be known throughout the league as FUs,. In the event two teams playing each other both miss the 44-inning requirement, both will be assigned FUs. Should a team miss the innings requirement more than once, there will be an increasing penalty scale as follows:

• First infraction: warning
• Second infraction: $1 million fine
• Third infraction: $3 million fine
• Fourth infraction: $5 million fine
• Fifth infraction: loss of team's next AA draft pick in possession at the time of the infraction

Roster Penalties

Regular Season

If a team has a roster in excess of the 31-man limit, that team will be: (1) fined $0.5 million per player per day in violation and (2) required to operate with a roster below the roster limit for the number of days and players the team was above the limit (known as a “Sloppy roster”). A team must institute a Sloppy roster immediately upon discovery by the Commissioner(s) until fully served, including playoff matches and, if necessary, the beginning of the following regular season.

However, this penalty will not apply in instances where: (1) players come off the IL during the period stretching 10 minutes before rosters lock until that day's roster can no longer be modified and (2) a team is above the 31-player limit by a number less than or equal to the number of players coming off the IL that day until the next day that rosters lock. If a team announces this situation to the league on the day it happens, it will serve as a safe harbor from any penalties being applied. But if a team does not announce the violation and it is later discovered, the team must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Commissioner(s) that the team moved such players off the IL after rosters locked. If records are incomplete or inconclusive, the penalties will apply.

Playoffs

If an owner fails to set a legal playoff roster before rosters lock on the first day of a playoff week, all active players will automatically be considered part of the 26 man playoff roster. The remaining spots will be assigned to bench players in the order that they appear in MLB games until a team reaches 26 players. If a team starts players such that its roster exceeds the 26-man limit and the violation is discovered during the same playoff period in which it occurred, the team will be: (1) penalized the same as if it had violated the roster limit during the regular season and (2) have any stats accrued by such players removed from the current playoff matchup without another player’s stats being substituted. For any such violations discovered after a playoff period closes, a team will incur penalties the same as if it violated the roster limit during the regular season, except that the financial penalty and number of days a Sloppy roster must be instituted (but not the number of roster slots decreased) will be five times the regular season penalty.

Teams on bye weeks must abide by the regular season 31-man roster rule. If a player comes off the IL during a bye week that puts a team over the 31-player limit, the owner must drop a player within 24 hours or prior to the start of their next matchup, whichever comes first. If a team does not, it will be penalized the same as if it had violated the roster limit during the regular season. Sloppy roster violations may only be served during matchups, not bye weeks.

McQueeney Performance Penalties

The McQueeney Performance Penalty deducts LDB cash from a team's subsequent yearly budget when that team finishes the regular season with a sub-.400 winning percentage (including any FU losses and excluding any FU wins) in the second half of the regular season. The "McQueeneys" will be assessed according to the following formula:

For a team with x second-half wins, (48-x)*LDB$1.25 million. This formula will be adjusted as appropriate if LDB moves to a schedule that does not include exactly 120 second-half games.

Additionally:

• The McQueeney Penalties shall be capped at a $20 million maximum potential fine.
• The Commissioner(s) may, at their discretion, grant an exemption from the penalties for any team that actively and competently manages its roster throughout the season and does not make a concerted effort to sell players on its active major league roster for future value (i.e., draft picks, cash, or AA players).

For example, a team with 47 second-half wins would incur a $1.25 million penalty, a team with 46 second-half wins would incur a $2.5 million penalty, etc. A team with 32 or fewer second-half wins would incur the maximum penalty of $20 million.

McQueeney penalties for missed innings belong to owners, not teams. When an owner leaves LDB, their McQueeney penalties go with them. A new owner is not responsible for paying the McQueeney penalties that team's previous owner incurred.

However, a new owner can choose to pay the previous owner’s McQueeney penalties and instead opt to be exempt from McQueeney penalties during the new owner's first year of ownership. A team who chooses this option must still actively and competently manage his team, however, or else the Commissioner(s) may override the exemption and impose the fines in full or in part at their discretion. Additionally, this exemption is only available in the event a departing owner leaves with an outstanding fine of $5 million or more. These provisions apply equally to owners who have and have not owned an LDB team previously.

All-Star Break

LDB will not hold regular games during the week of the MLB All-Star Game. That week, at the option of the Commissioner(s), LDB will: (1) hold an LDB All-Star Game and, (2) if easily accomplished, fold any official MLB stats accrued that week into the subsequent week.

The All-Star Game will be held between the Federal League and the Union Association and use official MLB statistics accrued during the week of the MLB All-Star Break. The Commissioner(s) will announce the logistics for such a game, and each of the divisions will select and announce players for the game. All-Star teams can list starting pitcher alternates in case their starters do not pitch at all.

The league that wins the LDB All-Star Game will have home field advantage in the Lucid Dream Series and McQueeney Cup final.

Each league's team will be managed by the owner of the prior season's league champion. The manager will be in charge of conducting the voting for his league's players and tracking their stats. All-Star teams will consist of a full lineup, three starting pitchers, and two relievers. There will be no alternates or lineup changes; if a player goes on the IL or misses the weekend, their spot remains empty. Every team in the league must have at least one player on their league's All-star team. The All-Star Game will use regular season scoring categories. The manager must report the final stats on the Monday following the All-star break and should report the daily stats on Saturday and Sunday.

There is no home field advantage in the All-Star Game; category ties are treated as ties. If the final score is tied, tiebreakers will be as follows: HR, aSB, Ka, R, RBI, OPS, VIJAY, OBP, WHIP, ERA, MGS.

The Commissioner(s) have discretion to adjust these rules unilaterally prior to the LDB All-Star Game if they deem it necessary. Changes after the All-Star Game has begun require a majority vote.

Playoffs

Advancing to the Playoffs

LDB Playoffs occur after the regular season concludes. Eight teams make the playoffs: the four division winners and four wild card teams, two from each league. The wild card teams from each league first play each other in a wild card round. The winners of the wild card round advance to the Lucid Division series, where they will play the division winner in their respective leagues with the second best league record (that division winner therefore gets a one-round bye). The winner of the Lucid Division Series advances to the Lucid Championship Series, where they face the team with the best record in their league (the league winner therefore gets a double bye). The home team in the Lucid Dream Series is determined by the winner of the All-Star Game. The tiebreakers to determine which teams make the playoffs, determine seeding, and home field advantage in the event no LDB All-Star Game takes place are as follows:

1. Overall Points
2. Head-to-head Record
3. Head-to-head Record Excluding Tie Wins
4. Wins (excluding tie wins from standings points)
5. Intra-division Record
6. Overall Roto Performance
7. Commissioner(s)’s Coin Flip (with witnesses)

In case three teams are tied in overall points, a three team head-to-head tiebreaker is resolved by independent pairwise comparisons. For example:

Consider 3 teams: A, B, and C:

• A beat B in Week 1, 9-5
• A beat C in Week 2, 10-4
• B beat A in Week 3, 13-1
• B tied C in Week 4, 7-7
• B beat C in Week 5, 8-6
• C beat A in Week 6, 11-3

Therefore, head-to-head:

A vs. B = (9+1) vs. (5+13) = 10 vs. 18.

So B > A

A vs. C = (10+3) vs. (4+11) = 13 vs. 15.

So C > A

B vs. C = (7+8) vs (7+6) = 15 vs. 13

So B > C

Therefore, B>C>A, and so B and C make the playoffs. Theoretically, if A = C in head-to-head, we would have to go to the normal tie-breaking regime above.

In the event pairwise comparison of head-to-head points is circular, then pairwise comparisons of totals runs scored in head-to-head matchups is the next category used. If this is also circular, then total head-to-head HR then K then aRBI are applied (in that order). If still tied, then tiebreaker is determined by fiat by the LDB Commissioner(s)’s preferred method (rock-paper-scissors suggested but not required).

Playoff Rosters

Once playoff rosters lock for the first time, player adds and drops may only be made by teams that have not been eliminated from their respective post-season brackets. The league will run waivers on Monday morning of each playoff week, and the waiver order will be randomized each week as follows: first, the order of the remaining playoff teams will be randomized, and then subsequently the order of the remaining teams in the McQueeney bracket will be randomized, and will follow the last playoff team. Once waivers have run, additional players may be added until the first MLB game begins on Monday. However, in the event a player comes off the IL after rosters lock, there is no roster violation, but the owner must drop a player within 24 hours or prior to the start of their next matchup, whichever comes first.

Playoff rosters contain 26 players and lock at the start of each playoff round. The 26-man playoff roster consists of: active position players, reserve position players, active pitchers, reserve pitchers, and players potentially activated from the IL. Once rosters lock on Monday of each playoff week, players cannot be promoted from AA until the following Monday. However:

• Players on the IL may be added to the 26-man roster after rosters lock if there is a space reserved for their potential activation.
• If a player on a team's 26-man playoff roster is placed on the IL at any point during the week, an owner may add another player from their 31-man roster to their 26-man roster
• If a player on a team's 26-man playoff roster has not yet played in an MLB game during the playoff week, that player may be swapped out for another player on a team's 31-man roster at any time.

Once a player has been moved off the 26-man roster, he cannot be re-added to the roster. For convenience, teams may place any player who is not on their 26-man roster on any minor league roster.

Players within the 26-man roster may be freely subbed in and out during the playoffs. Each playoff team must accumulate at least 30 IP per playoff week or else they will lose MGS, ERA, WHIP, HRA and VIJAY, just as they would in the regular season.

Playoff Scoring

Scoring stats for playoff matchups are identical to the regular season's scoring stats.

In the event of a tied category, ties are not awarded to the home team as in the regular season. The team with more wins advances except in situations where there are more ties than wins for either team, in which case a tie results.

In the event of a playoff tie in points, such games will be decided by a tiebreaker pairing offensive and pitching categories, in the following ranked order:

OPS/ERA

OBP/aWHIP

HR/K

aRBI/HRA

R/MGS

aSB/VIJAY

The team that wins the highest ranked pair of categories shall be declared the winner. If all category pairs are split, then the team with the greatest margin of victory in the highest ranked category shall be declared the winner.

Example 1 (simple tiebreaker): Team A wins OPS and ERA. Team A is declared the winner.

Example 2 (third pair tiebreaker): Team A wins OPS and OBP. Team B wins ERA, aWHIP, HR, and K. Team B is declared the winner.

Example 3 (margin of victory tiebreaker): Team A wins all offensive categories. Team B wins all pitching categories. Team A wins OPS .850 to .790 (60 point delta). Team B wins ERA 3.50 to 3.00 (50 point delta). Team A is declared the winner (60 point delta to 50 point delta).

The McQueeney Cup

LDB will award the McQueeney Cup each season to the non-playoff team that wins the McQueeney Cup bracket, which will be played over three rounds in parallel to LDB playoffs. Union and Federal ladders are composed of each divisions' respective four non-playoff teams, seeded in order of regular season finish. The final round includes the winners of the Union and Federal portions of the bracket. The winner of the McQueeney Cup will receive a AA draft pick in the following season's AA Draft that is sandwiched between the first and second round of that draft. In all other respects, McQueeney Cup games are decided as a regular playoff game. The winner of the McQueeney Cup may choose to either take the sandwich round pick or forfeit that pick in exchange for wiping McQueeney penalties to $0, should the team have any.