1. PURPOSE. The purpose of the Scheduling Rules of the Anne Arundel Baseball Cooperative (AABC, or Co-op) is to explain how the Co-op game schedules are created, and the role of each individual organization throughout the season.
2. PLANNING MEETING. The AABC holds a meeting 1-2 months before each season.
A. Each organization will provide:
1. At least one representative, ideally a Baseball Commissioner or other director who can speak on behalf of their organization. Each organization's Field Scheduler is also recommended to attend. Others may attend too, but individual team managers are NOT expected to attend.
2. The estimated number of teams in each division, and whether playing a Complete/All-in schedule, or just Crossover games. These numbers must be updated by each organization when registration ends, asap, to give the Co-op Schedulers time to finalize schedules 1-2 weeks before the start of games.
3. The name of their umpire group used for each division.
B. The group will determine:
1. The number of COMPLETE/ALL-IN games to play (typically 12 games total, including crossover games), Opening Day, CLOSING Day, and if there will be a post season tournament (format, dates, etc.).
2. The number of CROSSOVER games to play, and the dates within the season that they will be played (usually 4 games played over two full weeks in the middle of the season).
3. The playing rules for each division.
4. The Co-op Game Scheduler for each division, for both Compete/All-in and Crossovers schedules.
3. INITIAL SCHEDULES. To make the initial schedule, the Co-op Game Scheduler follows whatever reasonable process assigns each team an equal number of games as the home team and as the visiting team. Depending on each organization's field availability, some teams may be the official “home team” at the visitor's field, or a neutral field. A typical process would be:
A. The Co-op Game Scheduler creates a draft schedule with an equal number of home and away games for each team, and groups the games into weeks without specific dates/times/fields.
B. Each organization's representative or field scheduler then assigns dates/times/fields to each of their home games only, based on their organization’s field availability for each week.
C. When an organization does not have the space to host a home game, the Co-op Game Scheduler checks to see if the visiting org can host the game, or next a neutral org.
D. Last resort is to treat the Game as a rain-out, and leave it to the two teams/orgs involved to work out a new date/time/field after the schedule is published.
E. Once the schedule is considered final, it is made available to all teams, and any changes follow the Postponements and Reschedules policies below.
4. POSTPONEMENTS.
A. Prior to the start of a game, the hosting organization is responsible for preparing the field for play, and postponing a game due to poor field conditions. If postponing a game, the hosting organization MUST contact the opposing team's manager, preferably in time to prevent a wasted trip to the away field (it is understood that not all decisions can be made in time to prevent this).
B. The hosting organization also cancels the umpire, typically at least 90 minutes before start time to avoid paying show-up fees, AND notifies the Co-op Game Scheduler about the postponement.
B. Once a game begins, the umpire has the exclusive responsibility to stop and restart play due to weather, field conditions, darkness, etc. Games meeting the completion requirement are considered finished (win, lose, or tie), and all others are to be re-played in their entirety. Tournament rules may override completion/suspension/replay rules.
5. RESCHEDULES.
A. When a game needs to be rescheduled, the home organization is responsible for coordinating the a new date/time/field, working directly with the home org’s field scheduler and the two team managers. If the home org cannot provide a field, the visiting team or a neutral field should be checked to host the game - make every reasonable effort to play the game.
B. Once a new date/time/field is agreed upon, the home organization schedules an umpire AND notifies the Co-op Game Scheduler to update the schedule.
C. If either team/org is having trouble coordinating with the other team/org, then either side may contact the Co-op Game Scheduler for help. It is understood that not all games will be able to be made up, particularly those near the end of the season.
D. If a Co-op post season tournament is being played, exceptions to these policies will be provided to all participants, but the Co-op Tournament Scheduler makes any and all reasonable decisions necessary in order to complete the tournament in a timely manner.
