RotoWire Baseball Commissioner services provide your league with updated results and stats on a daily basis and the flexibility to create and customize your league the way you want it.

Creating A League

To create a league in RotoWire's Baseball Commissioner services, visit the Create League page. From here you must enter a name for your league and specify a number of other criteria.

You can change all entries later except for League Name and League Style. Be sure to choose these correctly before entering a league.

League Name: Your league must have a unique name. If your name is taken, please add a number to the end of your name or register the league under another name. Please do not enter obscene names. We reserve the right to edit any name.

League Password: Choose a password for your league. This password must not include any spaces. This is the password all league members must use to login to the league for the first time to claim a team.

League Style: There are four league styles to choose from.

• Categorical: (also known as Roto-Style) The winner of each statistical category used in this league receives points based on their finish. (1st place in saves receives 10 points in a 10-team league, second place gets 9 points, etc.) The team with the highest total at the end of the season wins.
• Points: Each team in this type of league receives points based for totals amassed in each category. (An owner with 20 homeruns after the first week would receive 80 points in a category league where Assists are worth 4 points). The owner who amasses the most points at the end of the season wins. These leagues may also include negative point totals for categories (such as for strikeouts or errors).
• Head-to-Head Points
This is similar to the points scoring method except that teams are matched up against each other in scheduled games. The team with the higest number of points after the scheduled game is over (whether its a daily, weekly or monthly game) is the winner. The team with the best record wins the league.
• Head-to-Head Categorical This scoring method is similar to the categofical scoring method except teams are matched against each other in scheduled games. The team who wins a game is the one with the highest number of points in the scoring categories. The team with the best record is the wins the league.

Multiple Players:Your league can let MLB players be on more than one fantasy team at the same time. For example, two teams could own Alex Rodriquez.

Keep Players traded across leagues: If a player is traded from the AL to the NL in your league, do you continue to count the statistics of the traded player in the new league or do his statistics count for totals in only one league? If you choose NO to this option, our system will alert you when a player has been traded to the other league so that you can discontinue his statistics being included in a team’s total.

Divisions: If your league uses divisions then select "Yes." Divisions are only used in Head-to-Head leagues.

Roster Requirements

Roster Limits: For each league we require the commissioner to set roster limits for each position for the teams in the league. Each team cannot exceed these roster limits at each position during the season. The commissioner can change these limits at any point in the season through the Admin Tools area. When owners set their own lineup through the "Set Lineup" area, they will be limited to these positions.

Position Eligibility: You can limit where a player can be placed on a team's roster by setting the number of games a player needs to play at a specific position. If you don't want to restrict where a player can be played, then leave the settings at zero. These requirements are only enforced on the owner's set lineup page. A commissioner can always override the requirement and can place a player at any position for a team.

League Deadlines

Add/Drop Rules: These rules are only applied if you allow teams to freely pick up and drop players. These rules do not apply to claims made on free agents. You will set up your league's free agent claiming rules later on. All of these setting may be changed at a later date. Please note that all times are Pacific Time.

Dropped Player Availability: When a player is dropped by a team, how long before that player is allowed to be picked up by another team? This waiting period is used by some leagues to allow all teams a fair shot at recently dropped players. After a player is dropped he will show up in the free agent lists in you league reports, but he will not be available for pickup until the time set has passed. If your league does not use this, then set it to immediate availability.

Trades: If your league allows owners to propose and accept trades between themselves then you will need to set this up. These settings may be changed at a later date.

Trade Processing: You can set up your league so that all accepted trades need to be approved by the commissioner or that all accepted trades are processed immediately. If trades are processed immediately, the players involved will switch teams for that day's games.

Trading Deadline: If your league has a trading deadline during the season this is where you set it. If your league allows trading between teams all the way up to the last day of the season then set this to 10/6/2009 (the last day of the MLB season).

Lineups: If you allow teams in your league to set their own lineups then you need to set this up. You have two options:

• Timed Deadline - Choose this option if you want the lineup deadline in your league to be the same time every day. When teams make changes to their lineups, those changes will take affect that day. This is why you may want them to set their lineups before too many games have been played.
• Gametime Deadline - Choose this option if you want the lineup deadline in your league to be the same as the start time of the first game that day. If there are no games that day then teams will be able to edit their lineups all day.
• Player Deadline - Choose this option if you want team owners to be able to change a player's lineup status up until the start of that player's game.

You will want to set your lineup deadline in conjuntion with your free agent claiming period. For example, if your league uses Sunday at midnight as the deadline for FAAB bids or free agent claims, then you would want to set your lineup deadline for sometime during the day on Monday. This will allow teams to change their lineups with any new players they picked up.

League Free Agent Claiming System

No Claim System: The commissioner of the league handles all transactions. Teams interact directly with the commissioner for pickups of free agents and drops.

Blind Claim System: Teams submit their free agent moves during the week in the form of a message to the commissioner. At a specific time, these messages become viewable to the commissioner. It is then up to the commissioner to make the transactions for the league.

Automated Claim System: Teams submit players that they wish to add or drop. At the end of a specific day or everyday, the transactions are automatically handled based on criteria set up by the commissioner.

Free Agent Budget System Teams are given a set amount of money that they use to bid on free agents. The team that bids the most money on a free agent, gets that player.

Adding Categories

This is where you enter the categories that will determine the standings in your league. Check the box next to all the categories you want for your league. If you are in a points league, enter the number of points each category is worth in the right box after checking the box on the left. You will be able to add or delete categories and modify point totals for each at any time. If a category is added or edited during the season it will affect all stats from the beginning of the season to the present day.

Entering Teams

To create teams for your league, enter the team’s name. You may edit this information at any time. You may also add or delete teams at any time.

Add Players

When you add players to a team’s roster, be sure to include their initial roster status. Only active players (A) count toward the league’s standings. The other designations are all for keeping extra players on the roster: they are (R) reserve, (M) minors and (I) injured. All three of these designations will keep a player on a team’s roster but they will not count toward the standings. You may have as many players on each of the four designations as you wish. There are also two other roster designations which indicate a player is no longer on the team, but he has stats that count toward that team's standing: (T) Traded and (D) Dropped. If a player accumulated stats for a team he will remain on the team throughout the season with one of the six statuses. However, if he is "T" or "D" he will go back into the free agent pool for other teams to pick up.

When entering a player you must also choose a transaction date. You can enter a date before opening day (4/5/2009) in case your league allows for preseason transactions. However, only players designated as Active will count toward league standings starting 4/5/2009.

If you add an incorrect player or choose the wrong status, you will be able to change this information later.

After you are done building teams, you will be sent to the league’s HQ page.