The use of "Tiered" levels for determining the allowed usage for At Bats in the USPBL has not changed in 30+ years. Until now.

Starting with the 2023 USPBL Season, the league will be using a +10% bonus to determine the allowed use

for all batters. Additionally, for the first time in USPBL History, the bonus will also apply to pitchers.

The +10% will be rounded up at .5 

RATIONAL:

This idea is nothing new to many of you. Nearly all other leagues use this same method, though the percent itself may vary from 5% to 15%. It's very easy to apply as the Strat game has a built in setting for this

under the LEAGUE MENU. Using the "ADJUST LEAGUE STATS" option, we simply insert 110% and like magic, the entire league's stats will get the +10% bonus. 

The problem with the current Tiered system is that it's not consistent and presents an imbalance.  Players

with 101  At Bats and 149 At Bats both end up with a limit of 150 At Bats. So the one guy gets a 49% bonus

while the  other gets, well, nothing.

With the new system, one gets a bonus of 10 ABs while the other gets 15. Of coarse both increase 10%.

The +10% bonus will also result in players with more actual usage gaining the greater bonus which is logical.

Currently players in the lower tiers are gaining a greater percentage of use than those in the higher tiers.

In other words, players with 130 and 430 actual ABs both gain 20. The percentage gain is greater, 15%, for the 130 AB player and just 5% for the 430 AB player.

An even greater plus to the new rule will be that for the first time in the USPBL, pitchers will get a usage bonus. Currently the only bonus awarded to pitchers is the Bad Pitcher Rule.

DRAWBACKS? There is one drawback to the new system. Players will no longer have that easy to see even-tiered level of 150, 200, 250 etc. Instead players will have limits of 116, 368, and 492 and so on.

Still, the game will show their PERCENTAGE USE accurately. So when your player that's allowed 492 ABs gets to 247 ABs, it will show them at an accurate 51% usage. 

THE AFFECT ON USAGE:

For some players, the new rule will actually give you less ABs than the current rule. That 101 AB player will now be limited to 111 rather than 150. But as you get into the higher level of ABs, more players will be gaining ABs. Again, this seems more logical to me. And of coarse, all will be getting the same +10% bonus.

The affect on pitchers is entirely positive since there is no bonus right now. The gain won't be a lot, with starters getting from 1-3 extra starts and relievers getting 4-7 extra innings. But considering the number of starters and relievers on the typical staff, the additional bonuses can mean the need for 1 less starter and 1 less reliever, or that much more usage with whatever you already have. It's a Win-Win.

QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE:

With a change such as this, there will be questions. Yes, there will be a +10% usage bonus, but what else does this affect in regard to USPBL Rules?

Mark Carpenter, a 37 year member of the USPBL, a former commish of the USPBL, and the first manager recruited by the then new commish.... Me, brought up some questions and concerns. 

So I will address these concerns which will help clarify the new rule.

HOW WILL THE NEW RULE PERTAIN TO THE PLAYOFFS?

Playoff rules are always complicated. For one they only involve a small portion of our members each season so there's not a wide-spread concern. And we continuously run across new problems each season.

So I'll have the affect of the new rule on the playoffs in a different section. (see below).

WITH THE ELIMINATION OF TIERS, WILL THERE STILL BE AN UNLIMITED LEVEL?

Originally I planned to eliminate the entire tiered system. However after looking into USPBL usage, I found that there were 64 players with more than 600 last season. We have a league that scores more runs than they do in the Major Leagues resulting in the need for more At Bats, and we play 4 extra games. 

So there will be an Unlimited Level. However with the +10% already built in, the UL level will apply to players with 600 or more At Bats. This sounds higher than the current level but it's actually less as players will qualify with just 545 ABs, which becomes 600 with the +10% bonus.

AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE WITH LESS THAN 101 AT BATS?

Since the +10% bonus won't have that much affect on those with less than 101 ABs, they will be included with the adjustment. So a player with 52 ABs will be allowed 57 ABs.

HOW WILL THE ADJUSTMENT AFFECT STARTER/RELIEVERS?

While our use of Starter/Relievers can confuse some, it's really very simple.A pitcher that starts even 1 game is limited to their actual number games. Those that do not start any games are limited to innings Pitched.

It's true that the Strat game does not show how many games pitchers have as it only shows starts and innings. But those numbers are readily available and we've dealt with this forever. 

A pitcher with 8 starts and 29 relief games in 69 innings, under the new rule would be limited to 9 starts and

32 relief games or 76 innings. 

That's it for now. If I think of more that needs to be added, I'll let you know.

If you have any questions, just ask me.

If you want to comment in length, send it league-wide.

If you want to make short comments, I will post them on the side bar on this page. Let me know if you

want to remain anonymous.

The Playoffs will follow their own separate rules for determining usage.

As we experience using the new rule in the playoffs, we may end up finding more of what works and what does not. We'll deal with those problem as they arise.

We will continue using a Tiered System for At Bat Usage. 

We will base the usage with the player's "in game" use which will include the +10%.

With this in mind, I feel that the UL level should be raised. Many players will already be gaining

At Bats. Some that would normally be in the 401-450 tier may move up to the next level due to the +10% bonus. This will provide a few additional At Bats. And as already discussed above, the UL level was raised for the regular season, and I believe it should be raised for the playoffs as well.

So the At Bats usage would follow the current chart, but the 501-550 would be 28 AB and

551+ would be UL.

As for Pitchers, again the +10% bonus would apply while we would keep the usage and minimum's the same. Therefore rather than needing 15 starts to qualify, they would only need 14. (14+10% = 15).

In simpler terms, you would use the usage shown on the USPBL cards which will already include the +10% bonus. 

All other qualifying numbers would still apply.

Perhaps we will find some other unplanned issue while in the midst of the playoffs. We always do.

But we'll handle that issue then.

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