| Can anyone compete in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship? |
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| No. To enter the Contest, you must be a person at least 18 years of age or older (19 years in Nebraska and Alabama, and 21 years in Massachusetts) and physically located in a state, territory, or province in which participation in the Contest is unrestricted by law. The Contest is only open to individuals who have reached legal age in their respective jurisdiction. Individuals who have not reached legal age in their respective jurisdiction are not eligible and cannot win prizes. Residents of Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan Montana, Ohio, Vermont, and Washington State in the United States, and Ontario are not eligible to participate in the Contest. Employees and immediate family members of SportsHub Games Network, Inc., its sponsors, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotional agencies are not eligible to win prizes. Each individual should check the laws of the state, territory or province in which he or she resides to determine eligibility to participate and win prizes. Void where prohibited by law. SportsHub Games Network, Inc. reserves the right to determine eligibility, in its sole discretion, and the right to change eligibility requirements at any time if it determines that changes are necessary in order to comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations. |
| Can I pay for my entry fee with a credit card? |
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| Absolutely. Just click on the Registration link, fill out the form and leave a credit card number if you'd like. We will not charge that credit card until Feb. 15, 2024 if you sign up early and secure a team, but will then run the credit card within a day of your signup after Feb. 15, 2024. If you want to pay by check, make the check out to SportsHub Games Network and send to: SportsHub Games Network Attn: Jason Lee 333 Washington Ave N Ste 104 Minneapolis, MN 55401 |
| Is there an Events Fee to go along with my registration fee? |
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| There is no Events Fee for the live events in each city. As for hotel rooms, we have recommended some hotels close to the draft headquarters in Las Vegas and New York and even have discount rates at some of them, but we aren't requiring anyone to stay at these hotels. The beauty of having regional drafts is you can sleep anywhere you want; just be to the draft on time. |
| When will the draft start and what happens if I'm late? |
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| We always start the live events ON TIME. We don’t wait for late drafters. If you are late for the draft, we will attempt to get a fill-in from someone in the room, but you have a chance of losing your team altogether if you are not at your spot by the start of the draft. We will not hold up drafts in the separate cities to wait for one single person who is late to the draft. You will lose your team with no refund. |
| Can we bring laptops and/or cell phones to the draft? |
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| Yes you can, although there will not be any electrical outlets available during the draft. You will be able to charge your batteries during the breaks, however, by using the available electrical outlets in the room and halls. Bring strong batteries if you plan on using a laptop for your draft. We have had free wi-fi in New York City and Las Vegas in recent years and we expect that to be the case again in 2023. As for cell phones, you can talk on the phone during your draft, but please be respectful of other owners at your table and do not cause such a disturbance that we have to ask you to stop using your cell phone. We do have the right to do that. Also, we request outbound calls not inbound calls where phones are ringing all over the draft room. |
| Will there be food and/or drinks available at the draft? |
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| Yes to both. We want everyone to eat well before they come to the draft, but we will have food and drinks available at the second breaks for our hard-working members. We are allowing alcoholic beverages to be purchased during the draft, but we ask everyone to drink responsibly and we have the right to cut off sales to any person if it's deemed necessary. Food and drink will be provided by the NFBC. There will be no smoking allowed, however, inside the draft room. |
| Will there be breaks in between rounds? |
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| Yes. We will have two 15-minute breaks during the draft, one after Round 10 and one after Round 20. We want to keep all of the drafts moving, while still allowing people to relax temporarily, get something to eat or drink and use the bathroom. But please be ready to draft again after 15 minutes and don't interrupt the other leagues that may still be drafting during your break. In the Auction Leagues, the auctioneer will determine when to take a break and do a money check as each auction plays out differently. |
| How many players can we have on our roster and can we DL players? |
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| The maximum roster limit at all times is 30, with 23 players always active. You are allowed to move reserve players into your starting lineup at will as long as your active roster is always legal according to the player eligibility rules. If one of your players lands on the DL, you can place him on your reserve. But if you want to pick up another player off the free agent wire, you will have to cut one of your reserve players to remain at 30. No matter how many injuries your team suffers, you can never have more than 30 players and if you have more than seven players on the DL and need to pick up a free agent, you will unfortunately have to make the tough decision to cut one of your injured players. This will allow each league to have good free agents available at all times and prevent teams from \"stashing\" players on their DL. |
| What is FAAB and how does that work? |
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| FAAB stands for Free Agent Allocation Budget and each team has an imaginary $1,000 to acquire players during the regular season. If, for instance, Austin Meadows gets called up to the big leagues after spring training and he's still a free agent in your league, each league owner would have the chance to bid for his services. In a blind bidding process, Team A may bid $2 for him, Team B $30 and Team C $50. Each Sunday night, you will see which team acquired that player in the blind bidding and that player can then be added to that team's roster as long as an active or reserve player is cut. Teams will have to ration their $1,000 FAAB for the 26 weeks of the regular season; there are no $0 bids allowed in the NFBC. |
| What is KDS Preferences and how does that work? |
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| KDS Preferences stands for Kentucky Derby System Preferences, which is a slotting system based on the horse race system. All NFBC drafts now use KDS. Leagues will be picked randomly, but owners can get moved to their preferred draft spots before Draft Day by filling out their KDS Preferences. The Draft Preferences are listed as soon as you click on your team link. Just go to League, then League Home to find them. There you will see a list of 1 through 15 in order (or 1 through 12 in 12-team leagues) and an "Edit Preferences" link. Edit your list as often as you'd like and just save your preferences each time before the required deadline for this league. There they can set their preferences in order. A setting like 3,2,1,6,7,8,15,14,13,4,5,9,10,11,12 is an example of KDS. In this scenario, if an owner was randomly picked first out of the computer for that league, we would then slot him third in the draft order, since that was his first preference. If that owner had randomly been picked fourth out of the hat and the top three preferences were already taken, we would slot him sixth in the draft. We do this for every owner after the random selections are made and then announce the draft order for each league to all NFBC owners. |
| How will the draft work? |
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| All leagues will be positioned in the draft order, 1 through 15 with two spots available for each team (more space if you don't have a co-manager). The league draft will be shaped in a U with 90 degree corners and the draft board will be at the front. There will be one draft facilitator who will officially announce the picks and enter each pick online in real-time. Those picks will be projected to a 10-foot screen for all to see at the live drafts. Once the draft is done, the results are loaded into each team page and owners can set their starting lineups for the first week of action. |
| How much time do we have to make a draft selection? |
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| Each team will have one minute to make a pick in each round and the draft facilitator will give you a 15-second warning and then a countdown from five seconds to zero. If any team goes past its allotted time, the next team in the draft order would have a minute to make his/her selection and then the draft would go back to the previous owner, who would again have another full minute to make a selection. The one minute for the next selection will begin as soon as the sticker has been projected on the screen for the previous pick and the draft facilitator announces the team name for the next selection. |
| Do we have to fill out our 23 man active roster through the first 23 rounds of the draft or can we take someone like our second catcher with our 30th pick? |
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| Good question. You do NOT have to fill out your 23-man full roster with your first 23 picks. However, at the end of your 30-man draft, you must have at least one player at each of the 23 required positions. All rosters will be available immediately after the draft and you will have plenty of time to decide which players you want to start for Week 1 of the MLB season. The Thursday to Sunday games comprise Week 1 and all owners must get the players they want in their Week 1 lineups before their first games are scheduled. Plan accordingly for Week 1. |
| How is position eligibility determined? |
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The NFBC will use the following position eligibility rules in 2023:
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| Do I have to draft all major league players or can I also draft minor league players? |
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| NFBC owners are allowed to draft any MLB player, whether they are on a team's 40-man roster or not, plus minor-league players. Owners should also realize that any player selected on Draft Day in an NFBC league remains in that league's player pool the rest of the year. Our feeling is that if that player was good enough to be drafted on Draft Day, he's good enough to be in that league's free agent pool the rest of the year. Other owners in that league shouldn't be punished for one owner taking a chance on a top prospect and then keeping him away from other owners. |
| Is there a minimum innings pitched limit for pitchers or a minimum number of at-bats total for offense? |
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| In 2023, we have instituted a 950-inning minimum pitched limit for all NFBC leagues. However, there is not a minimum at-bats limit for your offensive players. If a team fails to reach 950 IP in any NFBC league, it will receive only 1 point in ERA and 1 point in WHIP at season's end. No other team will move in the standings as a result of this change, but the team in fault will have points deducted from its season total in ERA and WHIP as a result of failing to reach the IP minimum. The minimum innings pitched limit only in the NFBC Diamond Leagues and Platinum League is 1,000. |
| How can we prevent collusion in the NFBC? |
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| For one thing, we are not allowing trades for that simple reason. Secondly, with the FAAB setup, it will be very hard for one team to get the best free agents in that league every single week. We will also randomly draw the name of participants for each league in each city, so there is no way that two "friends" can request to be in the same league. We realize that every league will have "dead teams" at some point in the season as the wear and tear of a long injury-riddled season wears down some owners and forces them to stop making moves. We ask all owners to stay active, but the NFBC will not force anyone to take injured players or inactive players out of their lineups. Each owner must manage his/her own team. In the end, the best teams in each league will win and the best team overall will win this marathon contest. |
| If I win a league prize or a grand prize and I have a co-manager, who pays taxes on these winnings? |
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| If the principal team owner's net prize winnings are $600.00 or greater, the National Fantasy Baseball Championship must file a Form 1099 with the IRS at the end of this calendar year. We will request your social security number and signature on this form. The form contains the amount paid to you and you will receive a copy of the form for tax purposes. The NFBC pays the principal team owner of each NFBC team that was submitted on the entry form and you are responsible for paying any taxes that result from your cash prize; please consult your income tax advisor for filing advice. Teams can split prizes among multiple owners by filling out the proper paperwork with SportsHub Games Network, Inc.’s' accounting department before season's end. In the event that the awarding of any prizes to winners of the Contest is challenged by any legal authority, SportsHub Games Network, Inc. reserves the right in its sole discretion to determine whether or not to award such prizes. After 12 months, any unclaimed prize will be forfeited. |
| How do I use a TBD entry? |
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| A TBD entry secures your signup but does not put you into a draft. To do that, go to your My Teams page and click the gear icon to the left of the team name. That takes you to the page where you select the draft date, time and location that you want to enter. |
| How is Shohei Ohtani used in the NFBC? |
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| In Set Lineup leagues you must decide if you want to start him at UT or P at the beginning of each scoring period and he is locked into that position for the entire week. In Best Ball leagues he will be slotted into your lineup where he best helps your team each scoring period. That means he could score more points as a pitcher than a hitter that week, but if his total increases your team total as a hitter he will be slotted there. In Best Ball leagues, the computer will make sure your team is scoring the most points with Ohtani at either UT or P. |
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