I've been kicking an idea around in my head for awhile and would like a little feedback.   

Essentially, I would like to make a league where at the end of season no team would  qualify for the playoffs if they had a hitter with a BA over 300, OBP over 400 or a SLG over 500.

I think this would both limit cookies and stop the fatigue strategies (the two big negatives to OL in my opinion).

It would more or less be an OL style rules without AAA.  

 

My questions are:

Should we require the park to be a hitters park? ( to make it even harder)

Would base stealing be the dominant offensive strategy?  or is there something else I am missing?

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hey TJ...a couple of thoughts:

-- The double-negative "no team would not qualify for the playoffs" makes it confusing to understand what you mean.  Based on the rest of your post, I think you mean "no team would qualify for the playoffs."  In other words, if you have anyone on your team with a BA over .300, OBP over .400, or SLG over .500, then your team is ineligible for the post-season.  Is that correct?
-- Assuming it is, then I don't see why use pitcher's parks would make it harder...it would seem that forcing everyone to use a hitter's park would make it harder.

Or maybe I've just totally misunderstood.

But if I've got this right, then yes I would assume you would see lots of Vince Coleman types (probably not 1987 though, since he always seems to hit .300)...low OBP base stealers.  Perhaps some Dave Kingman types as well (high isolated power, but low enough BA that he might not slug .500).  It would certainly be interesting...can you imagine being in the pennant race, and you need to beat a key opponent to stay ahead in the standings, but you've got a hitter sitting at .299 or .301...do you play him?  Bench him?  Play him fatigued and hope his average drops?

Not sure if I'd play or not, but it would certainly creating some interesting strategic choices.

I fixed the language... I am an idiot....I meant what you wrote.

 

Another (not so good strategy in my opinion) could be to throw some mopup pitchers at people to inflate their stats.  I think injuries would have to be on to dampen that effect.

Another interesting thing would be whether you would allow/forbid/restrict live play.  I would see both sides - playing live might give you extra flexiblity and add to the strategy - or might lead to abuse.

right.... I would ban live....Thanks Contrarian...this is the conversation that I needed

Would it be cut and dry ANYONE on your team that surpasses those numbers, or would there be a qualifying mark such as 100 PA or something? I'd hate to have it in the bag only for some relief pitcher to get a hit in the last game of the season, making him 1-3 on the year.

Edit: Ah, just re-read the first post. Any HITTER over those marks...still, would there be a minimum PA? And you might see a good bit of the "hitting pitcher" strategy to get around that. I'd probably say any player with 100 PA over .300/.400/.500 might be good.

Thanks Matt.   I think a PA requirement would be required....I'll say 25.  No relief pitcher should rack up 25 PA.

What happens if all teams end up with at least one player who does not qualify?  Nobody makes the playoffs?

 

Hmmmm, I guess if no one qualifies it would go to the teams with only one infraction.   Most wins, least infractions.

I'm not 100% sure what you are talking about since I am a beginner but I think fatigue strategies is one reason that makes the game interesting and fun.  Fatigue strategies if you mean resting players throughout the year so that if you do make the playoffs they are fresh or fresher than normal.  One thing that I think would be hard to do is but would be fun is to have some teams where you can only have a few superstars (one Joss, one Ruth, One Yastremski) and all the rest role players.  Maybe lower the salary cap?  Either way the game is still fun. I like your idea though.

"One thing that I think would be hard to do is but would be fun is to have some teams where you can only have a few superstars (one Joss, one Ruth, One Yastremski) and all the rest role players. "

These leagues are around every now and then.   They are called Albatross Leagues.   The rules vary but it is basically one 8m+ hitter and pitcher (no more than 20 million combined) in an 80 million cap.

Trenton, this is intriguing!  Have you given thought to salary cap?  And are you considering all three strictures (Avg/OB/Slug), or just one?  It may be brutal trying to meet all three limits; plus, I would think the team would all look pretty similar.

The cap will be 80 million....the limits are on all 3.   I think the teams will all look different.   There may be a bunch of Coleman and Kingman types but then again, there are a lot of Coleman and Kingman types...

Hey TJ, I'd give this a go....many of my teams end up like that anyway...

mine too.....I figured I would just go ahead and draft the same losers I always do...