This theme league will be based on each owner picking 2 MLB teams, such as the Reds and Padres, and you can only draft (or pick up off waivers) players who have those 2 teams (such as the Reds and Padres) on their player cards.
To make this process easy, I spent hours (and a little money) putting together a web page. This web page lists each MLB team and all players who have that team on their cards. So for example, the Reds team on this page has Morgan, Bench, Foster, Rose, Seaver, Nolan, etc listed on it. Each one of these players has the Reds on their player cards. There is also a number next to each player that tells how many teams are on their cards.
So you can just go to this web page to see which players are available for each MLB team. This web page is at www.franchises1970s.com (It would be best if you opened this page up in another browser window.)
You can use this web page to help plan your strategy (which 2 teams you want to choose players from, etc).
We will use the following settings for this theme league:
Skill Level: Standard
Salary Cap: $80M
DH: yes
Waivers: Yes (Weighted)
FA Drop Penalty: 5/10/20%
Each owner is limited to one of the two stadiums that your 2 MLB teams play in.
Each owner will choose 2 MLB teams in a draft from which they can select their players from. You cannot select a player unless an MLB team (such as the Reds or Padres if those are your teams) is on his card.
So first we have a draft to pick our 2 MLB teams, then we join the league, then we draft our players.
For the player draft, you choose the players from your 2 MLB teams, but you won't get some of these players because other owners will have them ranked higher. These players will be replaced automatically by the system, so you may end up with players that do not have one of your 2 MLB teams on their cards.
So if after the draft you end up with players who doesn't have one of your 2 MLB teams on their cards, you will have to drop them, replacing them with players who do have one of your MLB teams on their cards.
So the only way you can get players who do not have one of your 2 MLB teams on their cards is through trades.
The following is the list of MLB teams to choose from. Since some MLB teams existed only a few years in the '70's, they have been combined with other MLB teams.
Braves
Orioles
Red Sox
Angels
Cubs
White Sox
Reds
Indians
Tigers
Astros
Royals
Dodgers
Twins
Expos
Mets
Yankees
A's
Phillies
Pirates
Cardinals
Padres
Giants
Mariners/Blue Jays (both started in 1977)
Pilots/Brewers (Pilots moved to Milwaukee)
Senators/Rangers (Senators moved to Texas)
That's 25 MLB teams. 24 of these teams will be represented in our league. We will use a serpentine draft for each owner (such as you) to pick your 2 MLB teams.
Draft positions will be first-come first-served by responding to the latest team draft post below. League divisions will be determined by the city of the first team picked by each owner. (So if you pick the Red Sox as your first team, you will probably end up in the East Division. More on this later.)
We also would like for each owner to name their team nickname the same as the 2 MLB teams you choose (like RedsPadres). This is so everyone can know which players should be on your team after the draft.
After teams are drafted, you can make trades involving players from any teams- no matter if they have your 2 MLB teams on their cards or not... just like real GM's do.
But you can only pick up players off waivers who have your 2 MLB teams on their cards. This is your farm system.
So all you need to do to get started is put your Sporting News user name that you use to sign into this site in the slot where you want to pick in the latest draft post below. (Directions are below.)
Since this is a private league, please also write your email address next to your user name. If you would like the league password to be sent to your TSN/SOM account, please indicate this here.
If two people submit posts at the about same time and choose the same draft slot, the one whose post shows up the latest will be moved up or down to the next nearest draft slot.
Once our 12 owners have filled in all the slots below and we pick our MLB teams, I will send you the league password so you can join the league. (It is a private league.)