Overview

The Beer and Whiskey League (titled after the nickname given to the American Association of the 1880s by the National League and the original home to the current day Reds, Pirates, Dodgers and Cardinals) is a pick'em baseball league where individuals attempt to predict the outcome of MLB baseball series throughout the season in a head-to-head format, make it to the playoffs and win out to become Beer and Whiskey League Champions.

Participation

Currently the league is set up to handle anywhere between 10 and 36 participants, and can be expanded if there is interest so enrollment is open. Any contestant that wishes to participate must create an account and notify the commissioner. Then they must get their buy-in paid (all money paid in is paid back out) and initial picks made by the start of the first game of the season to be secured a spot in the league. Division assignments will be made primarily along familiarity lines as much as possible, meaning that I will try to put people that know each other or signed up together in the same division whenever possible. If that is not, division assignments will be random but with an attempt to make the divisions as balanced as possible based on the previous season's standings. Since this game is set up in a league format, each individual will select a team name, fantasy sports style.

Buy Ins and Payouts

The buy in for this league is $20 per person, half of that to be paid out to the winner of the division that individual is in (based on the standings at the end of the season and independent of the postseason results) and the other half going to to the winner of the postseason competition. For example if there were 3 divisions with 6 people each, the winner of each division would recieve $60 ($10 for each person in the division) and the champion of the league would recieve $180 ($10 for everyone in the league) in addition to the $60 dollars for the division if that person won their division.

Scoring and Games

The MLB season is divided into 52 series that make up 162 games per team. Each MLB series correlates to one game in our league. Each series will have a start date and an end date listed. All picks for the series are due by the start time of the first game of that series on the day of the first game (listed on the Selections Page). All series must be picked by that deadline. These typically occur around but not necessarily on Mondays and Thursdays. The first 38 MLB series will be considered the regular season. MLB series 39-52 and the MLB postseason will be the postseason period for our league. For each MLB series individuals will predict how many games of each series each team will win. For instance if Detroit and Chicago are playing a 3-game series then an individual can select 3-0 for Detroit, 2-1 for Detroit, 2-1 for Chicago, or 3-0 for Chicago. For each series, individuals will compete directly against another individual and scoring will be as follows:

For each MLB series the total difference between each user's picks and the actual results is calculated (for each team individually divided by two). If the individual picked Chicago over Detroit 2-1 and Detroit wins 2-1 than the difference is 1. If the user picked a 2-2 tie in a four game series and one team is up 2-1 (could be incomplete series or rain-delayed) the difference is 1/2. If one individual's difference number is different than their opponent's, the person with less of a difference will be rewarded the difference between these two numbers in "runs". This number will always be an integer. It sounds complex but is pretty simple in practice. The description is detailed because the formula is designed to take into consideration rain delay games. Basically, for each game you were closer to the actual result than your opponent you will receive a run. In addition to the scoring system listed above, if a player selects a sweep of 3 games or more and that sweep actually occurs they will get an additional run for picking that sweep, on top of any runs already scored. This rule is valid through the MLB regular season (Series 1-52) but not for the MLB Postseason (Series 53 if necessary).

The person with the highest total runs from all 15 concurrent MLB series (or all MLB post-season series for Series 53) wins. If both players have the same number of runs there is a tie. Scores for series in progress can change in either direction as more games are completed. Scores are only an estimate until the game is finalized.

Making Picks

Due to the frequency of series in the MLB schedule (2 per week) picks can be made for up to two weeks ahead (the next four series at any given time). This allows players the ability to make picks in a way that doesn't require they be glued to their computers. If players have a hard time getting to a computer regularly or remembering the picks deadlines they should make good use of this feature. Missing picks deadlines should be avoided as it decreases the enjoyment of the game for others and excessively missing the deadline will render an individual ineligible for the postseason and any cash payouts. Participants that regularly miss picks or tend to discontinue participation towards the end of the season if not in playoff contention may possibly not be invited to participate in future seasons of this game.

Missing Picks

If a player does not make their picks in time during the regular season their picks will automatically be created based on a predetermined ranking list made by each individual upon account creation (that can be updated at any time in the My Account section of the web site). Players who fail to make their picks more than six times in a season will not be eligible for the postseason. Failing to make picks in the postseason will result in an automatic loss (using the MLB rule of a forfeited game scored as 9-0). Automatic picks are made in the following manner:

For a two game series: Teams ranked within 9 spots of each other will be predicted to split the series 1-1. If one team outranks another by 10 or more the series will be predicted as 2-0 in its favor.
For a three game series: If one team outranks another by 14 or less the series will be predicted as 2-1 in its favor. If one team outranks another by 15 or more the series will be predicted as 3-0 in its favor.
For a four game series: Teams ranked within 5 spots of each other will be predicted to split the series 2-2. If one team outranks another by between 6 and 17 the series will be predicted as 3-1 in its favor. If one team outranks another by 18 or more the series will be predicted as 4-0 in its favor.
For a five game series (rare but possible): If one team outranks another by 9 or less the series will be predicted as 3-2 in its favor. If one team outranks another by between 10 and 19 the series will be predicted as 4-1 in its favor. If one team outranks another by 20 or more the series will be predicted as 5-0 in its favor.

Rain Cancellations

Rain cancellations are a regular part of the MLB season. Games that will be counted for any series must be played in the window that the series is defined in or on a free day immediately after. If a rain delay occurs and the game is made up as a double header or on an open day in that window (or at least in succession with the current series) it will be counted. Otherwise it will not be. Makeup games added to later series will be added to the prediction for that series if scheduled more than two weeks before (which it usually is). Either way it will be counted toward the score for that series. Games scheduled in a random open spot as a one game series (or double-headers if two rain delay games are made up simultaneously) will be ignored in our league if they cannot be attached to an already existing series. Game location is not a factor when deciding if a game is attached to a series or not. This means if a rain delayed game is scheduled for an open day prior to a series between the same two teams but at the opposite team's location it will still be considered to be a part of that series. This same policy includes suspended games. They will be attached to the series that they are completed in and the current score of the game should be considered when players make their picks.

PostSeason

At the end of the season (on or around series 38) a predetermined number of teams will make the playoffs depending on the number of participants in the league in that given year (this number is determined by the number of participants for that year and all teams will be notified by the commissioner at the beginning of the year as to what that number is and what the playoff format is. For the current year, 2018, there will be eight playoff teams). Division winners will be seeded first and then wild card positions in a standard format regardless of division. Teams are reseeded after every round (top remaining seed plays lowest remaining seed and so forth). All post-season series will follow a best of five game format. This will take place in three rounds during MLB series 39-43, 44-48, and 50-MLB Playoffs. The top 2 seeded teams will have a bye for the first round if there are 6 teams involved and if there are more than eight teams involved the season will be shortened to 36 series with Series 37 and 38 being used as wild-card rounds. If in a 5 game series after all 5 games one team has not won 3 games (due to ties) the round will go first to the team that has the most wins in the round. If both teams have the same number of wins, the round will go to the team with the highest aggregate score. If it is still tied at this point, the round will be awarded to the higher seeded team from their regular season performance. A post-season round will end when either one team has reached the 3 wins required or if it is determined that the trailing opponent cannot come back to with the round (for instance if there are two-ties and one team has already won 2 games). If the championship series goes to a fifth game the two participants will select the results of the Wild Card Games, LDSs, LCSs, and World Series for the tie-breaking game. Scoring is the same as the regular season except that for mathematical reasons it will be assumed that the winner of each series will have won out the rest of the series if it had played out. (For example a team winning the World Series in 5 games will be assumed to have won the last two potential games for a result of 6 of the 7 total games.) Again the result is that you will receive one run for each game closer to the actual results you are than your opponent, but that definition is necessary for the system to work mathematically.

Also for the final game of the championship round based on the MLB finals a different system of missed picks is necessary due to the fact that each series has a different pick deadline so it is possible for a player to miss picks for only one of the nine series involved. If one of the two contestants misses picks for a Wild Card Game, LDS, LCS, or World Series, the other contestant will recieve the maximum runs possible based on the combination of their picks and the actual result. In other words it will be assumed that thier opponent would have picked the result farthest away from the actual results. This allows the game to continue even if a contestant fails to make a pick for an individual series. If both contestants fail to make their picks for a specifice MLB postseason series neither player will recieve any runs for that series. In either of these cases the game will continue on until the MLB Postseason comes to a close. The window for making picks for each MLB postseason series is from the finalization of the two teams involved in the series until the first game of that series begins. This can be a narrow window of only a day or two so contestants involved in this game (if necessary) should be aware of the MLB postseason schedule to know when to make their picks.

Tie-Breaking

If two or more teams are tied in the standings (win percentage) the tie-breaking procedure is as follows: Division W-L Percentage, Number of Wins, Number of Division Wins, Run Differential, and Runs Scored. For Wild Card positions the Divisional W-L Percentage step and Number of Division Wins stepas are removed.

Overlapping Series

Most series start before others end. Games will regularly overlap (usually on Mondays and Thursdays) so picks for the next series will often be due before the previous series ends. Players should be aware and make their picks accordingly. During the playoffs players who anticipate or have a chance of moving on in the postseason should make their picks even though their last game has not finished yet as picks for the first game of the next round of playoffs will be typically due a day before the previous round is finalized.

2022 Special Rule Regarding Series 50 and 51

As an addendum to the rules for this year as the MLB rescheduling the first two series caused some series to be against the same opponent for the last two series of the MLB season (COL-LAD, KC-CLE, PIT-STL specifically) if one of the games from the first series is delayed and made up during the second series we will still use the number of games for each series in the order they're played. So if a PIT-STL game is rain delayed from series 50 to 51 the first three games played in order, regardless of date will count for 50 and the next three for 51. If it is cancelled then it will be removed from the series it was finally scheduled for (for instance if it's rescheduled and then later cancelled it will be removed from the later series.

Changelog

2022 - Division W-L percentage added as primary division tie-breaker

2015 - Addition of additional run for sweeps of 3 or more games picked correctly