2020-2021 338 Special One-Time Rule Changes.

Standard rules have not been completely updated (I’m lazy). In the event of conflicting rules, special rules will supersede standard rules.

Special Rules

  1. All roster slots will become flex slots and there will be no requirements to draft players from all 15 sports. Owners may construct their roster with any combination of players.

  2. Total roster slots will be reduced to 15.

  3. All 3 leagues, A, B and C will have a $200 entry fee and equal payouts. There will be no single sport payouts.

  4. There will be no relegation at the end of the 2020-21 season.

  5. Due to the cancellation of the 2020 LLWS, the 2020 Kentucky Derby (Fall KD), rescheduled for September 5 will replace LLWS. The 2021 Kentucky Derby in May (Spring KD) will be a separate sport.

  6. There will be no restrictions on drafting KD picks, so some owners may not get a pick.

  7. Rescheduled 2020 events will be included in the 20-21 season. PGA will include the 2020 Masters and 2020 US Open, making a potential 6 PGA events. MT & WT will include the 20 French Open, making a potential 5 Tennis events.

  8. In order for the season to be official and payouts made, 8 sports must be completed or have the league name official results by August 4th, 2021. If 8 or more sports are cancelled or delayed beyond Aug 4th, 2021 the 338 season will be cancelled and all entry fees refunded with no winnings paid out. Trades of future draft picks will also be cancelled.

  9. If a sport is cancelled or delayed beyond Aug 4th, 2021 no points will be awarded, unless the league officially names a champion. All trades will be valid, unless the entire 338 season is cancelled.

  10. In the event that a sport does not complete a season and the league names an official champion but not a clear 2nd – 8th, the 338 will use the following rankings to award league points:

    • MLB – Relegation point system and tiebreaker (see Rule 11)
    • CFB – AP Poll
    • NFL – Standings following MLB relegation point system
    • CBK – AP Poll
    • NBA – Standings following MLB relegation point system
    • CHK – Pairwise
    • NHL – Standings following MLB relegation point system
    • NCAA Baseball – Poll TBD
    • Champions League – points split among tied teams
    • EXCEPTIONS: Actual results will be used if a league has partially completed the postseason at the time of cancellation/suspension.

  11. In order for PGA, MT and WT results to count in league play, at least 3 events must be completed by Aug 4th, 2021.

338 Standard Rules for 2021

  1. Season: The 2020-2021 338 Season includes sports with championships between August 1 2020 and ends with the Men’s Olympic Steeplechase Final. There are 14 permanent sports and a 15th sport that changes each year. Permanent sports are: NCAA Football, NFL, NCAA Basketball, NBA, NCAA Hockey, NHL, NCAA Baseball, MLB, Champions League, Kentucky Derby, PGA, LLWS, Men’s and Women’s Tennis. In 2020-21, the rotating sport will be Men’s Olympic Steeplechase. Subsequent years will be World Cup, Women’s World Cup.

  2. Ownership: Teams are allowed to have multiple owners and split the entry fee and winnings any way they choose.

    1. For league voting purposes, each team will only receive one vote, regardless of number of owners.
    2. Owners are not allowed to own or have partial ownership in multiple 338 teams in the same league, but may own or have partial ownership in teams in different leagues. If relegation/promotion puts 2 teams with the same owner or partial owner in the same league, owner(s) may drop ownership stake to a single team or else the lower ranked team(s) will be pushed down a league until all owners have a stake in only one team/league.

  3. Rosters: Each Owner has 20 roster slots with one slot dedicated to each sport (15 slots) and 5 slots open to any sport.  Roster slots may be left open at any time.

    1. Tennis/Golf: You do not have to use the same player throughout the year.  2 players used in the same tournament will require 2 roster slots, but waivering/trading players for each tournament is allowed and the scores will be combined.  If using multiple roster slots, Owner must declare which slot a newly acquired player will be in.  Owners cannot use the same player in multiple slots, unless 2 or more rostered players have been used in the same slot.  In that case, order is determined by the highest ranked player at the time of acquisition going into the roster slot with the most points.  EX: I have Tiger and Phil for The Masters, then trade them both for Rory and Scott prior to PGA.  I must declare which players will be combined before the event.  I choose Tiger/Scott & Phil/Rory.  For the US Open, I trade Rory for Tiger and drop Scott for Stenson, making the combo Tiger/Scott/Tiger & Phil/Rory/Stenson.  Then I claim Scott for British Open, keeping Tiger & Stenson.  At time of claim, rankings are: #1-Scott, #3-Tiger, #7-Stenson.  Combo becomes Tiger/Scott/Tiger/Scott, Phil/Rory/Stenson/Tiger, Stenson.

    2. Injured Reserve: Each Owner will have one IR slot per individual sport (MT, WT, PGA). If a player withdraws from an event prior to the start for any reason, Owner may move the player to IR and claim a new player. This will not cost a waiver claim, but the replacement player will be automatically dropped at the end of the tournament. IR claims are processed after the waiver deadline, giving priority to waiver claims. IR claims must be submitted prior to the start of the tournament. If a player is suspended or does not qualify for an event, IR does not apply and the player must be replaced by a waiver claim.

      1. In terms of roster slot occupation, the injured player maintains the occupied roster slot. If the replacement player is added via waivers for a future event, they are not considered to have occupied a roster slot.

  4. Entry Fee: League A: $200, B: $200, C: $200. Payment due by Dec 1st, 2020. Late payment may result in single sport disqualification(s) at the discretion of the Board of Directors.

  5. Scoring: Points are awarded to the top 8 of each sport. 8 points for winning the league, 5 points for runner-up, 3 points for reaching the semifinals, and 1 point for reaching the quarterfinals. See individual sport for details.  If any team/player is later stripped of a standing, prior to relegation or the final championship of the year (whichever comes first), due to violation of any kind, points will be adjusted. Any violation and resulting standings change post-deadline will have no impact on the 338.

    1. College Football:  Top 4 teams will be determined by the CFP.  The 4 highest ranked teams in the final AP Poll who are not in the playoffs will each get 1 point.

    2. Tennis: Tennis-only points are awarded for each of the 4 Grand Slam Events (2020 US Open, 2021 Aussie Open, French Open and Wimbledon) immediately after the tournament. 1st=8, 2nd=5, SF=3, QF=1. Negative 2 points awarded to a Top 8 Seed losing in the 1st round and Negative 1 point for a Top 8 Seed losing in the 2nd round.  Tennis points will be tallied individually, to a specific roster slot.  If a player is traded or dropped, the Owner retains any points they have earned.  EX: I have Djokovic who wins the Aussie Open, scoring me 8 pts.  I trade him for Nadal prior to the French Open.  Nadal wins, so I now have 16 pts.  If I had kept Djokovic and traded for Nadal prior to the French Open, then Nadal beats Djokovic, I would have 13 pts for my first Tennis slot (Djokovic Aussie W + FO 2nd place) and 8 pts for my second slot (Nadal FO W).  League pts awarded to top 8 total scores (OWNER may have multiple places in the top 8.  Owner must score at least 1 point to be eligible).

    3. Golf: Golf-only points are awarded for each of the 4 2020 majors, immediately after the tournament: 1st=50, 2nd=40, 3rd-35th=37,36,35…6,5, 36th-40th =3, made cut =1, missed cut= -5.  Golf points will be tallied individually, to a specific roster slot.  If a player is traded or dropped, the Owner retains any points they have earned.  EX: I have Tiger and Phil.  Tiger wins the Masters (50pts) and Phil finishes 11th (29pts).  I keep Tiger but drop Phil and Tiger wins the PGA. I now have 100pts for Tiger and still have 29pts for Phil.  Prior to the US Open, I pick up Rory and still have Tiger. Rory wins and Tiger misses the cut.  I now have 95 pts for Tiger and 79 pts combined for Phil/Rory.  Following the four majors League points will be awarded to top 8 total scores.  Each Owner may have multiple places in the top 8.  Owner must score at least 1 pt to be eligible.

    4. Tennis/Golf League Points: Players may be dropped and traded throughout the year, resulting in multiple players earning points.  Rosters will lock after the final major’s deadline and in order for league points to be earned, a roster slot must be occupied by that sport for the number of players earning points.  Ex: If I have Djokovic and Nadal and they finish first and second in tennis, I must have 2 roster slots occupied by men’s tennis players in order to earn league points.  If I traded or dropped one of them and filled the roster slot with a different sport, I would only earn league points for one player.

    5. Tie Breakers:

      • Individual Sport: League Points will be split evenly among all tied Owners. Golf points awarded in full to each tied owner.  Money split for 1st and/or 2nd place tie.
      • League:  Owners will split the winnings evenly.
      • Relegation:  See Below.

  6. Payout:

    All Leagues:

    • 1st: $825
    • 2nd: $625
    • 3rd: $450
    • 4th: $300
    • 5th: $200
    1. Single Sport Payouts:  1st: $25 2nd: $10. If an un-owned team finishes 1st or 2nd, money goes into league pot and divided equally among top 5. Leftover amount after equally dividing goes to League Winner. If Owners tie, money is split evenly.

  7. Waiver Wire: Originally set by reverse draft order. A successful claim drops you to the bottom. All non-rostered players are on waivers. Waiver claims are made by submission via the site’s Waivers Page. Select the player you want and hit submit. The league will be notified and there will be a 3-day waiting period where any other Owner may also claim the player. Claims process exactly 72 hours after the original claim, regardless of how many other owners put a claim in. At the 72-hour mark, the Owner with the highest waiver priority will be awarded the player and must roster the player. If no valid roster slots are available, the claim will process as invalid and go to the next Owner. If the Waiver deadline has already passed, a player in that sport may NOT be dropped, even if in the same sport as the player being claimed, unless claim/drop was entered prior to the deadline but processes after. Once submitted, a claim may be cancelled within 2 hours of entry. After 2 hours, claims may not be cancelled but the player being dropped may be adjusted up to the process time.  Waiting Period is waived for College Basketball, College Hockey, Kentucky Derby and LLWS.  Due to the conference tournaments ending just before CBB and CHK brackets are announced, there will be no waiver period on claims in CBB and CHK.  Instead, we will have a 1 week “quiet period” prior to the deadline.  Claims will not be announced to the league and will process at the deadline based on waiver position. Extra draft picks at the end of KD & LLWS will be up for waiver claim until the individual draft begins. At that point, remaining draft picks may be claimed with no waiting period. Golf/Tennis: Owners do NOT receive credit for points earned in tournaments prior to waiver pickup.  Teams may be dropped without a pick-up, leaving an open roster slot to be filled later.  One roster slot must be dedicated to each sport and cannot be filled with a player from a different sport. Flex spots can be filled with players from any sport.

    1. Waiver Deadline: See each sport for waiver deadlines. After the deadline NO PLAYERS may be claimed or dropped from roster, except for late drops and pending claims in the 3-day waiting period.  After the deadline, there will be an email sent with players that were dropped within 12 hours of deadline or dropped after a successful claim and Owners will have an opportunity to claim them.  This eliminates holding a player until the last minute to keep others from claiming.  This also allows an Owner that put in a claim, but was trumped by a higher waiver to claim another player.

  8. Trades: Trades are submitted to Commish and if eligible, presented to the league. Trades are ineligible if they break any 338 rules stated herein or include any non-338 assets. There will be a 3-day voting period needing 8 Yes votes to pass. A no-response during the voting period will be considered an approval.  Once a trade is submitted for Commish approval, the involved Owners are agreeing to the trade and may not make changes or vote against it unless all involved agree. Future Round Draft Picks may be traded, but only for the next draft to take place (if mid-draft, trades apply to that draft) and must be 1:1 (Owner-A trades 1st round pick to Owner-B for player and 5th round pick.)

    1. Golf/Tennis: Points already earned by players that are traded stay with the former Owner.
    2. Trade Deadline: See each sport for trade deadlines. After the deadline NO TEAMS for that sport may be traded relating to the current season. Teams may be traded after the deadline for future seasons.
    3. Future Round Draft Picks: Deadline for trading draft picks and players for future seasons is July 1.
    4. Keepers: Players acquired via trade are eligible to be named a Keeper. Player’s draft round will be determined by draft position in previous draft.
    5. Cancellation/Suspension: If a sport is cancelled or suspended, trades will remain executed unless the entire 338 season is cancelled at which points all trades are nullified.

  9. Draft: Draft order determined by draw, with Owners place in one bucket and draft position placed in a different bucket. Conducted via website in Snake style. For leagues that have a smaller number of teams (e.g. KD, LLWS), every member must be able to draft a team from a league. Once the limit has been reached, only members without a team from that league will be allowed to draft from that sport.  Once a draft pick has been submitted and emailed to the league, it cannot be changed.

    1. Time Limit: Each Owner will have a cumulative total of 30 hours to make all 20 picks. There is no time limit on each pick. If an Owner exceeds 30 hours in total, the draft queue must be utilized to make picks. If the queue is empty, the Owner is able to manually enter a pick, but the site will proceed with the draft and allow the next Owner to enter their pick.

    2. In-Season Drafts: Some sports will include a secondary draft in-season. During the main League Draft, you will select a draft position rather than a specific player (i.e. With my first round pick in the League draft, I select the First Pick of the Kentucky Derby). The following sports will have a secondary in-season draft:

      1. Kentucky Derby: Draft will take place morning of race day. The first pick must be made by 7:30 AM PST and subsequent picks will each have a set deadline. If not in by the deadline, site will allow next owner to pick and the draft can proceed. A skipped owner may pick at any time after that, but cannot take a horse already drafted.   Draft limited to 18 horses so in the event of a late scratch Owner will be able to replace horse.  If a horse is scratched after being drafted, a replacement may be picked at the completion of the draft and it will NOT count as a waiver claim.  If multiple horses are scratched, replacements are chosen in original draft order.

      2. LLWS: The draft for the LLWS will begin in August, on the Wednesday before the tournament starts Thursday. Each pick will have a set deadline. If not in by the deadline, site will allow next owner to pick and the draft can proceed. A skipped owner may pick at any time after that, but cannot take a team already drafted. There are only 16 teams in the LLWS.

      3. Steeplechase: The draft for the STP will begin in July, exact date TBD.

    3. Keepers: Each owner may designate up to 3 Players as Keepers. To be eligible, the Player must have been drafted in the previous draft and rostered the entire season. KD and LLWS draft picks and traded players are eligible for Keeper status, but free agent claims are not. A player designated as a Keeper will be drafted by the Owner one round earlier than taken in the previous draft. First Round picks are not eligible to be a Keeper. Keepers must be declared prior to the start of the draft and may not be changed once submitted.

      1. If 2 or 3 players designated as Keepers were previously drafted in the same round and Owner does not have multiple picks in that round, one Keeper will move up an additional round. Owner may select which player moves up another round.
      2. An Owner cannot designate 2 2nd round picks as Keepers unless Owner has multiple first round picks.
      3. If Owner has multiple picks in a round where a Keeper is taken, Keeper is selected with Owner’s original pick, not pick acquired via trade.

  10. Relegation: Based on League Points, the bottom 4 Owners in A and B will be relegated to League B and C respectively. The top 4 Owners in B and C will move up to A and B.  Because relegation and the next season’s draft will take place prior to the end of the MLB season, we will use the MLB regular season standings at the end of the day on the day of the US Open Men’s final.  This is for relegation purposes only.  League points will still be based on the playoffs.  For relegation, points will be awarded based on the following:

    • 8 pts: Best Overall Record
    • 5 pts: Best Overall Record in other league
    • 3 pts: 2nd Best Record in each league:
    • 1 pt: 3rd division leader + best overall record of non-division leader.  If the top 2 teams are in the same division, then 1 point to other 2 division leaders.
    1. TIEBREAKERS (in order of application):
      1. MLB: Run Differential, Record in September, Head-to-Head Record, Coin Flip
      2. LEAGUE: # of championships, # of teams scoring league points, lowest drafted team to score a league point (excludes waiver claims and trades).
    2. If relegation/promotion puts 2 teams with the same owner or partial owner in the same league, owner(s) may drop ownership stake to a single team or else the lower ranked team(s) will be pushed down a league until all owners have a stake in only one team/league. In this case, the last team relegated (i.e. 11th place) will move back up.
    3. DRAFT PICK TRADES: If relegation results in Owners that traded draft picks in different leagues, the traded picks will take place at the end of the round.  EX: I trade my 1st round pick away and get a 10th round pick in return and I get relegated to B.  The Owner I traded with would get my 1st round pick at the end of the 1st round.  I would get the 10th round pick I traded for at the end of the 10th round.  If both teams involved in the trade stay in the same league, or both get relegated, they would swap actual picks.  If multiple Owners have supplemental picks, the order will be in reverse of the picks in that round.
    4. If an Owner gets relegated from A to B or B to C, but finishes in the money after actual MLB results are recorded, that Owner will automatically move up to the next league (after their relegation season) as the #1 team, regardless of actual position in B or C.

  11. New Owners: New Owners will be placed in the lowest league of the new season, unless joining as a partial owner to an existing team. Exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the Board of Directors.

  12. Upper League Openings: If an Owner finishes in the top 10 in A or B but does not play the following season or an Owner is forced to drop a team due to ownership of multiple teams, the 11th place Owner will remain in A and/or B and a new Owner will be added to C. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the 338 Board of Directors.