Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The All-Time Major League Baseball Teams: Rules

The All Time Greats meeting the MVPs of Today. We all want to know who would play with the Babe if the Yankees put together an All-Time Team. I know I wanted to. As a Red Sox fan I also wanted to see if the All-Time Red Sox could beat the All-Time Yankees. So I looked through the history of the two franchises and put starting line-ups and a rotation together. When I was done, I realized Jimmie Foxx's best season didn't come with the Red Sox, it came with the Athletics. So I decided why not do the thirty franchises. It was a difficult processes, but a fun one. But I had to give myself a set of rules to go by for teams, position players, starting pitchers, bullpen and bench. Here are the rules I used.
General Rules
  1. The teams had to be from the National or American Leagues. No Federal, Presidential or Negro League teams.
  2. A player can only play on one All-Time team.
  3. Players do not need to have played more than a year with a certain team.
  4. The Player has to have played at least one year in the Modern Era (1901).
  5. The best season of the player will be used as their stats. Awards won't determine the seasons.
  6. If a player plays half a season on one team and half on another, the better half will determine what team the players is on.
  7. The Designated Hitter will be used on every team.
  8. While I hate steroid use in sports, I will be using player seasons that could be considered tainted.
  9. Teams will have 25 total players. 9 batters, 5 starting pitchers, 5 bench players, 4 relief pitchers and 2 back up starters/long relievers.
  10. No Strike seasons.
Batting Rules
  1. The player needs to play a large portion of the season. Either 135 Games, 500 At-Bats or 550 Plate appearances. If they don't they can still make the team, but come off the bench.
  2. The player needs to put up amazing numbers. Categories with the most importance: Batting Average, Runs, Hits, Doubles, Home Runs, RBIs, Stolen Bases and On-Base Percentage. Combinations of these will determine if you're a starter.
  3. Being a Franchise Player doesn't mean you make the team.
  4. Gold Gloves will make a difference in whether the player starts or is benched.
Pitching Rules
  1. To be in the rotation you need to make either 28 starts or pitch 180 innings while making mostly starts.
  2. Adjusted ERA+ will determine whether a player starts or is in the bullpen.
  3. A pitcher with more walks than strikeouts won't make a team.
  4. Wins do not play into which season is the best.
If there are any questions feel free to ask. The first team will be the Tampa Bay Rays.