Mike Trout and the rest of Major League Baseball will be ready for the start of the 60-game season ... [+]
Yahoo Sports released its plans Sunday to adjust various league formats for its popular fantasy baseball platform for the shortened, 60-game Major League Baseball season in 2020 that’s scheduled to begin on July 23.
That includes changes to head-to-head, rotisserie and points leagues so that players have as close to a normal 2020 season as possible.
“Our Yahoo Fantasy Baseball plans will align accordingly with the resumption of play and the shortened season,” said Brian Marshall, Yahoo Sports’ vice president of product. “The updates we’ve put in place will ensure the continuation of the best fantasy user experience.”
Here are the biggest changes Yahoo is making for this unique and unprecedented situation.
- Head-to-head leagues will be nine weeks long. There will be seven regular season weeks and two playoff weeks. That means that only four teams can make the postseason in H2H leagues with no bye weeks.
- For roto and points leagues, teams will have 525 max innings and position players will max out at 60 games played. That’s a proportional change for the season, Yahoo said.
- For all leagues, Injured List slots will expand from two to four to account for the coronavirus pandemic. Private leagues can customize for this change here.
- The default trade deadline for all leagues will be Sept. 6.
- There will be no changes for players in terms of positional eligibility, Yahoo said.
- If a game goes to extra innings and MLB applies the rule of a runner starting at 2nd base, the pitcher will not be charged with an earned run if that runner scores. Additionally, “all games that begin and are later postponed will be considered suspended and stats will count.”
- If you’re in a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Pro League, pay special attention here. If your Pro League drafted prior to the announcement of the new 60 game schedule, your draft will be cancelled and you’ll have to start anew. Per Yahoo, your league entry fee will be refunded to your Yahoo Fantasy Wallet and players will be able to rejoin a Pro League draft.
- Additionally, if your league has a cash league contest, commissioners will have the ability to cancel their contest and redraft if they’d like. Commissioners should follow steps laid out here.
Yahoo should go live with these details soon, but these are first steps in what will most likely be one of the most unpredictable and fluid MLB seasons we’ve ever seen.
