Yesterday’s announcement of The Premier League Of Baseball was well received! You are encouraged to click that link and learn more about our philosophy and format, but in a nutshell we will play 26 weekend series featuring The 8 Teams People Care About, 7 inning games with Universal DH. Our start times have a decidedly East Coast Bias to account for the population distribution of the United States.
Today I bring even more news.
The PLB announces TRAVELING CARAVAN WEEKENDS! The PLB will be coming to your town! Portland, Omaha, Montreal, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Havana – the PLB’s schedule allows for the game’s biggest stars to come to you for special weekends!
The first Traveling Caravan will be June 17-19 when big baseball starts Aaron Judge, Shohei Otahni, Giancarlo Stanton and Mike Trout come to Portland! That’s right Yankees vs. Angels, live from Portland all weekend!
The PLB also has announced a modification to the schedule. Originally announced as a 78 game season, the season will now be 82 games thanks to JULY SATURDAY AFTERNOON DOUBLEHEADERS. Every Saturday in July, our stars will play two games (single admission) on Saturday – so come on out for 14 innings of baseball out in the sun! And if you can’t make it out to the park, take the free PLB Audio App with you, all our games are audio-streamed free – and with PLB Plus, all games are video streamed free with no blackouts. (PLB Plus is an additional subscription, our league is cool and all but we are capitalists, and we do have to pay people to run this thing ya know.)
And if that’s not enticing enough – for those July Saturday Afternoon Doubleheaders, all fans 16 and under are admitted free. We want kids to get to know our stars, so come on out to the park and run the bases between games. Unlike those other leagues we can quickly rake an infield between games!
Also, we know fans want to see the game’s biggest stars. That’s why The PLB has announced some Starting Pitcher Incentives.
Any time a starting pitcher completes the 6th inning in 100 pitches or fewer, that SP, his manager, and his owner will each receive a ONE MILLION DOLLAR BONUS paid from The Central Fund (in the PLB all ticket receipts go to the Central Fund.)
Any time a starting pitcher completes the 7th inning in 115 pitches or fewer, that SP, his manager, and his owner will each receive a TWO MILLION DOLLAR BONUS.
We want our stars out there, on the mound. Nobody comes to PLB games to watch the bullpen!
DESIGNATION OF STARTING PITCHERS: Each team will designate three players as Starting Pitchers. These players, our stars, will be assigned by the league to begin the game on the mound during our weekend series. (During July, teams will designate a 4th starter.) This player may only pitch during the game assigned by the league, and is ineligible to take the mound during the rest of the weekend.
In the rare case of two-way players such as PLB Star Shohei Otahni, the league will work with the clubs so that our star player can take the field on days he is not the Starting Pitcher. The intention of the rule is to prevent managers from gaining the system to avoid our desire to have our star pitchers start games on the mound.
Any team removing the Starting Pitcher for any reason, including injury, before the start of the third inning will donate one million dollars to the Central Fund.
ROSTER LIMITATIONS: Teams can only carry ten pitchers, three of which are the starting pitchers. The other seven roster spots are assigned to Relief Pitchers who are ineligible to start a game on the mound.
FLOATING DH: A player who is the team’s Designated Hitter may take the field as a defensive player to begin the inning, or in case of injury. The player vacating the defensive position becomes the designated hitter. The league reserves the right to modify this rule at any time if it is determined that manages are gaming the system in a way that does not benefit our philosophy of providing fun fast paced star-based baseball.
PACE OF PLAY INITIATIVE: The PLB will place a referee behind home plate and near each base. Those referees will make immediate and binding decisions. While managers are encouraged to come out and yell and scream and kick dirt, the original call will stand every time.
PITCHING CHANGES: will be made from the dugout similar to the traditional insertion of pinch hitters. Teams are limited to one coach visit to the mound per pitcher per inning, during which a pitching change cannot be made. From the dugout, a manager will inform the umpire of the desire to switch pitchers. No trip to the mound is allowed nor necessary to have a guy hand a baseball to another guy.
SURRENDER RULE: Once five innings and two hours of baseball have been played, a team may Surrender the contest, which will award the opposing team a victory.
MERCY RULE: If five innings and two hours of baseball have been played, and a team is down by ten runs after the fifth turn at bat, the game is declared over, and the team with more runs is the victor. The same logic applies after 6 innings, etc.
ZERO TOLERANCE ON STEROIDS AND PEDs: If you test positive, you’re out of the league forever, you are out of the record book forever, and when we announce our museum which honors past players you are out of that too. Zero tolerance. All PLB contracts involving PED players are immediately voided. You are gone and you don’t get your money. Your team does not get any recompense. No draft picks. No money. Nothing. Teams are encouraged to keep their houses clean.
UNIFORM NUMBER ASSIGNMENTS: Position players may wear any number between 1 and 51, excepting 42. Pitchers may wear any number between 11 and 59. During the Arizona Spring Training League, the upper limits for both designations are extended through 99.
UNDERSHIRT RULE: Each team will be assigned an undershirt color. All players must wear an undershirt of that color during a game. Any player violating this rule must pay a one million dollar fine to the Central Fund for each violation. We take our uniforms very seriously in The PLB.
DUGOUT UNIFORM RULE: Any player, manager or coach on the field, in the bullpen, in the stadium, or within 2 miles of the stadium (are we clear?) MUST be in the team’s uniform, including cap, uniform top, uniform pants, shoes, socks/stirrups etc. There are no exceptions.
No jackets may be worn unless the PLB Central Office has declared a weather exception in advance of the game. Any player not in uniform is ineligible to play in the current series, and the following weekend’s series, and will be fined the sum of one tenth of their annual salary or one million dollars, whichever is the lesser.
KANGAROO COURT: The league reserves the right to fine players at will for Stupid Behavior. As we are a family friendly league, and player tweeting anything vulgar will be fined, for each offense, the sum of one tenth of their annual salary or one million dollars, whichever is the lesser. The fine is immediately payable to the Central Fund.
Players are ineligible to play in PLB games unless are fines are paid off.
FRATERNIZATION RULES: There are no fraternization rules in the PLB. Players, in uniform, are encouraged to fraternize with fans, with opponents, with everyone. We are a fun league and we are here to build stars.
We look forward to bringing you the best, and only the best, that baseball has to offer as part of the 2021 Premier League Of Baseball season. Come watch the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Astros, Mets, Cubs and Cardinals battle it out in an all-fun, no filler, 82 game season featuring 7 inning games and a universal DH!
