The Game

LDB is divided into two subsidiary leagues: the Federal League and the Union Association. Each team will play another team for one week at a time (Monday to Sunday), with each statistical category representing one game, meaning 14 games are in play each week.

Schedule

Scheduling will be announced by the commissioner before the Major League Draft each year. Schedules are unbalanced, meaning that teams will play teams within their league more often than teams outside their league. Each team will play their divisional opponents twice each, and each team from the other division once. The only exception to this will be the team’s designated "natural rival." Each team will be paired randomly with one team from the other division, and will play that team twice instead of once.

Scoring

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

LDB Scoring
Batters / Fielders	Pitchers
On-Base Percentage (OBP)	Net Quality Wins (NQS) [2*Quality Starts + Wins - Losses - 2*Games Started]
On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage (OPS) [OBP + SLG]	Win Percentage Added (WPA) [see Fangraphs for information on WPA]
Runs Scored (R)	Run Expectancy over 24 Base/Out States (RE24) [see Fangraphs for information on RE24]
Adjusted Runs Batted In (aRBI) [RBI - GIDP]	Home Runs Allowed (HRA)
Home Runs (HR)	Pitcher Strikeouts (K)
Adjusted Stolen Bases (ASB) [Stolen Bases - Runner Caught Stealing/2)]	Earned Run Average (ERA)
Adjusted WHIP (aWHIP) [(Hits + Walks + Hit Batsmen)/ Innings]	Defensive RZR Plus-Minus (+/-) [based on Hardball Times Revised Zone Rating (RZR) data; for fielders the formula is -.88 x balls in zone + .96 x balls fielded + .48 balls fielded outside zone + .24 double play turned or started + .24 outfield assist) the formula for catchers is + 1.6 caught stealing - .44 steal allowed - .24 passed ball +.24 double play started or turned. See owner’s supplement in early February 2009 for defensive data. All positions are normalized based on the previous year’s mean per inning performance such that an average inning at any position scores zero. All positions receive a weighting as follows: C - 2.023, 1B - 1.000, 2B - 1.885, SS - 2.026, 3B - 1.628, LF - 1.250, CF - 1.667, RF - 1.250

Just as in baseball, there can be no ties. If a statistical category ends in a tie at the conclusion of the week, then the system will award a win to the “home” team for that week. Each week, each team must meet the league minimum Innings Pitched requirement of 48 innings per week1. Teams that fail to reach this threshold will lose the following pitching categories that week: NQS, HRA, ERA, and aWHIP. Forfeits will be recored in the standings as “FUs” (fuckups), and will count as losses in the standings, but for the purposes of determining the following season’s draft position, will count as wins.

An escalating penalty will be in effect in 2009 for teams that repeatedly miss the innings requirement. Missing the requirement in more than one week will result in a fine of one million dollars penalty per week of missed innings after the first violation. The fines will be deducted from the following season’s payroll. Fines are deducted after luxury tax calculations are made.

Playoffs

Advancement to the playoffs will be determined by league/division winners and then rounded out with wildcards as necessary. Each year a number less than half of the total teams will advance to the playoffs.

With 14 teams, the playoff structure will be designed to reward division winners while maintaining a compelling wild-card race. Six teams will reach the Lucid Dream Playoffs. Each of the division winners will receive a first-round bye, and the second- and third-place teams in each division will play in the League Wildcard Series (LWS). The winners of each Wildcard Series matchup will face their respective division winner in the Lucid Dream Division Series (LDS) for the right to appear in the Lucid Dream Series, the league championship. The league with the best inter league record’s champion gets home-field advantage in the Lucid Dream Series (henceforth known as “The Dream”).

In the playoffs, if the scoring result is tied (with an equal number of categories for each team), the tiebreaker will be Earned Run Average, followed by Runs Scored, followed by Home Runs (batter), followed by Home Runs (pitcher), followed by adjusted Strikeouts, followed by Adjusted Stolen Bases, followed by Win Percentage Added, followed by On-base Plus Slugging, followed by Run Expectancy, followed by On-base Percentage, followed by Baserunners per Inning, followed by Runs Batted In, followed by Plus-Minus.

1 This requirement is based on the assumption that five starters should make an average of six starts a week, and the average innings pitched per start is approximately six. Relievers who are regularly used over a full season should pitch at least two innings per week.