At the last
Worlds, the Finals completed around 6 AM on Monday and one division completed
their Round-robin around 4 AM on Sunday.
Toby Strite volunteered to lead an effort to improve our signature event
and was commissioned by the STPC Council for that purpose. Toby conducted a survey of the membership and
formed sub-committees to come up with recommendations around tournament format
and pace of play. In summary, we’re
starting earlier (Thursday Noon) so we can finish before 11:59 PM on Sunday and
we’re implementing better enforcement of the Suspended Game Rule (so divisions
don’t get behind). Because the earlier
start might make it difficult for some to attend the event, we’re also
providing an online draft option. We’re
maintaining the things that people told us they like: 4-game series, full
round-robin with 9 or 10-man divisions and the same number of play-off games.
A major
difference for 2024 is that everyone will have a choice of drafting online, FTF
or they can declare EITHER and have the possibility of drafting FTF or
online. The online draft(s) will be on
the Tuesday before the Worlds. For us to
be able to offer the online draft option, we will need to get enough EITHER’s
to make this work (which is very likely).
We should know in October or November whether we’re going to be able to
offer the online draft option so everyone will know what we’re going to do well
ahead of time. The balance of the drafts
will be FTF on Thursday (starting at 3:00 PM).
By mid-December, we should have a good idea as to the number of online
draft divisions and FTF draft divisions.
Note that all games are played FTF to the same schedule (see below).
In the months
leading up to the Worlds, entrants will specify their draft option:
FTF – With FTF, the experience will be the
same as past Worlds. FTF (along with the
EITHER’s that wound up in the FTF group) will have their own live Division Selection in
Las Vegas on Thursday (1:45 PM) with a 3 PM Thursday FTF draft. If you choose the FTF option, you will roll
the 20 four times when you check in on Thursday.
Online Only
(OO) – With this
option, the draft will be held online (like PureStrat)
on the Tuesday before the Worlds (6 PM Pacific Time). Here are the key features of OO:
1) They
participate (along with the EITHER’s) in the division selection process that
starts on the Sunday before the Worlds with the roll for selection order (roll
the 20 four times using the STPC Dice Roller).
2) After
all of the OO’s and EITHER’s have rolled the 20 four times, the OO’s
participate (along with the EITHER’s) in division selection. When it’s an OO’s turn to select, they select
into a division that will have an online draft.
3) On
Tuesday (1/9/2024, 6 PM Pacific Time) they conclude division selection and
draft their team online (along with those EITHER’s that ended up in an online
draft division).
EITHER – People who select this option have the
possibility of selecting into an online draft or FTF. Here are the key features of EITHER:
1) They
participate (along with the OO’s) in a division selection process that starts
on the Sunday before the Worlds with the roll for selection order (roll the 20
four times using the STPC Dice Roller).
2) After
all of the OO’s and EITHER’s have rolled the 20 four times, the EITHER’s
participate (along with the OO’s) in division selection. When it’s an EITHER’s turn to select, there
are three possibilities:
a.
If the number of available online spots is
equal to the number of OO’s that haven’t yet selected, they may not select and
instead will draft on Thursday in Las Vegas with the FTF’s.
b.
If the number of remaining online spots is
equal to the number of OO and EITHER drafters that
haven’t yet selected, they must select into one of the online draft divisions.
c.
If neither of the above is in effect, they may
select into an online draft division OR they may opt out of the online draft
division(s) and instead will draft on Thursday in Las Vegas with the
FTF’s.
3) If an EITHER winds up in an online draft division, on Tuesday
(1/9/2024, 6 PM Pacific Time) they conclude division selection and draft their
team online (along with OO’s).
4) If an EITHER winds up with the FTF people, they will do division
selection FTF in Vegas and draft with the FTF group on Thursday (See schedule
below). They do not get to roll the 20
again but instead will use what they already rolled.
Your tournament
directors for 2024 are Pete Nelson ( petenelson31@comcast.net
) and Mike Breithaupt ( ichabod32@hotmail.com
). We are both EITHER’s.
General Considerations - No more cash entry fees. Everyone must have their entry fee into STPC
Treasurer Toby Strite by Saturday (1/6/2024, 9 PM Pacific Time) per below. Entry fee is increased from $250 to
$300. This will allow us to boost the
percentage of prize $ that go toward the consolation tournament while
maintaining historical amounts for the championship bracket. For online draft
division selection, we’ll use phone and text to receive everyone’s selections
and Google Sheets (or similar) for everyone to track the proceedings. If someone isn’t available when it’s their
turn, we’ll use current practice for making their selection but the force-pick
provision (point 4 of the Division
Selection Process) will not be enforced for the online draft division
selection until Tuesday night (1/9/2024, 6 PM Pacific Time). After online draft division selection, the
online draft(s) will proceed in the same manner as PureStrat
drafts. The FTF draft(s) will take place
at the tournament site as we’ve always done but will happen earlier on Thursday
(see Schedule below). Waivers are collected
during check-in. For FTF drafters that
arrive after check-in, waivers
can be collected at the drafting table.
For online drafters that arrive after check-in, waivers can be
collected before they play their first series.
If someone is late for a FTF draft, we wait 15 minutes and start the
draft. If possible and if a willing
person can be identified to load picks into a Google doc, the missing person
can participate in the draft remotely.
If the connection is dropped, DRAID will make picks until the connection
can be re-established. This would only
be used when there were unexpected and unavoidable delays that prevented the
drafter from getting there on time. Once
the person arrives at the draft, they will take over and draft the balance of
their team. Game play will proceed with
a new schedule (see below) that will allow more time for breaks and meals. Note that six games are scheduled for
Thursday night. Each division will post
results so the current standings will be more visible.
The
Suspended Game Rule will be strictly enforced by Pace-of-play Directors (PoPD’s) appointed by the Tournament
Directors. PoPD’s
will not make rulings for their own divisions.
We’re allowing 3 ½ hours per 4-game series which should give plenty of
time for meal breaks. We hope to have a
shot clock (viewable from anywhere in the room) so players know how much time
they have. If a series is still going at
the 3:20 mark, the PoPD will inform the players to
finish the inning and suspend the game.
Suspended games will be made up at the end of the day. If a player has more than one suspended game,
he completes one of the suspended games and a guest manager will be appointed
by the PoPD to play the other suspended games. If someone is more than 10 minutes late for
their series, the PoPD will issue one warning. If there is a recurrence, the SP for the
first game of the series is weak.
The draft and game play are governed by
the STPC
Rules. For the draft, you have one minute to make
your selection (two minutes if you’re on the end making two picks). If you run out of time, you can make your
pick at any time but the next pickers in order may jump in with their picks.
Saturday (1/6/2024)
Entry Fee of $300 must be
received no later than 1/6/2024, 9 PM Pacific Time. STPC Treasurer Toby (Samuel) Strite accepts
PayPal or Zelle or you can send him a check if he receives it before 12/31/23. Contact Toby ( toby.strite@gmail.com ) if you don’t
already know how to send him $.
Sunday (1/7/2024)
Online-Only’s and EITHER’s use
the STPC Dice Roller to roll the 20 four times.
This will be used to determine selection order for online draft
divisions. If an ‘EITHER’ winds up in a
FTF draft division, these rolls will be used for selection order in Vegas (they
don’t get to roll again). Division selection for online draft divisions will
begin right after all of the OO’s and EITHER’s have rolled the 20 four times. The force-pick provision (point 4 of the Division Selection Process)
will not be enforced until Tuesday night (1/9/2024, 6 PM Pacific Time).
Tuesday (1/9/2024)
At 6 PM Pacific Time, if
division selection for the online draft divisions is not complete, we will wrap
it up and then the online drafts will occur (like PureStrat).
Noon
– 1 PM Check-in begins at Noon in Salon J of the
California Ballroom of the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino. FTF-only’s roll the
20 four times. Waivers are
collected. Player info is verified.
1 PM – 1:45 PM
Annual
Meeting.
1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
Division
Selection for the FTF drafts.
2:45 PM – 3 PM
Division
Captain’s Meeting for all divisions (including those that drafted online).
3:00 PM – 7 PM
FTF
drafts.
7:00 PM Game-play begins according to the schedule
below. See 8Teams if the
division has eight teams (plus a DRAID team). The nine and ten-team
divisions will play 8 or 9 four-game series (round-robin). The roll of a
twenty-sided die will determine home and away. The winner of the die roll
has the choice of home or away for games 1 and 3.
10:30 PM – Midnight Everyone plays the first two games of their
second series (or the whole series if BOTH agree).
Friday (1/12/2024) All series start times are “NO LATER THAN”. If both are ready, start early and get ahead.
8 AM – 9:45 AM
Last
two games of Series 2.
9:45 AM – 1:15 PM
Series
3.
1:15 PM – 4:45 PM
Series
4.
4:45 PM – 8:15 PM Series 5.
8:15 PM – 11:45 PM
Series
6.
Saturday (1/13/2024)
8 AM – 11:30 AM
Series
7.
11:30 AM – 3 PM
Series
8.
3 PM – 6:30 PM
Series
9.
6:30 PM – 11:59 PM Tie-Break games, Play-in Games and the
first round of the Play-offs. Plus, the
start of the Consolation Tournament (See below).
Championship Brackets and
Tie-breakers
8 AM – 12:15 PM Quarter-Finals
(best of 5)
12:15 PM – 6 PM
Semi-Finals
(best of 7)
6 PM – 11:59 PM
Finals
(best of 7)
Consolation Tournament
The consolation tournament (CT) will continue to be
single elimination for those that are interested. With 50 or more total Worlds entrants, there
will be $1000 for first and $500 for second.
Here are some of the key features:
1)
The CT will
start on Saturday night after all divisions have wrapped up.
2)
It will have
an NCAA style 64 team bracket (1 vs 64, 2 vs 63 etc.). The seeding is based upon regular-season
records with ties broken by a roll of the 20.
3)
The first
round will be 1-game series. Note: the
higher-seeded teams will have walk-overs in this round and everyone will have
walk-over’s if we have less than 33 initial entrants.
4)
Rounds 2 &
3 will be played on Saturday night.
3-game series. Most of these
games can be played concurrently with the Round 1 games due to the expected
large number of walk-overs. Pitcher’s
get a rest day for sweeps.
5)
By Sunday
morning, there will be 8 teams left from those that didn’t make the
play-offs. They are joined by the eight
play-off teams that lost in the first round of the Championship Bracket so, on
Sunday morning, you have 16 teams left in the CT.
6)
Start at 9 AM
on Sunday morning with Rounds 4, 5 & 6 (3-game series). The finals (Round 7) is
a 5-game series. That’s 14 games on
Sunday (max) which should have this finished well ahead of the Championship
bracket (19 Sunday game max) even with the 1-hour-later start time.