Number 21     June 12, 2024

How I Set up a League

Listen. Don't let anyone tell you how you should set up your league- not even me! In this bit of blabbering, I'm going to present
to you what I do to set up my league projects. Before going any further with this article, let me advise you that I do things old
school. I use the computer to create certain forms and league documents, but I play strictly with dice and keep score by hand.
There. You've been warned!

I guess I'll number everything to keep this as organized as possible. Also, it doesn't matter what game you play, so if you read
a reference to Extra Innings, just substitute your game so that it hopefully all makes sense.

1. Come up with the idea for your league.
What will be the format of your league? How many teams? How many games per team? How will you handle player usage? How
will you handle player injuries? Will you have player trades? I like writing out a "league charter" that sets down these criteria. It's
usually a simple one page document.

2. Create and print out the forms you'll use.
I have four forms I print out. One for league standings, one for pitching matchups, one for team batting stats and one for team
pitching stats. I've put a couple of photos below of what these forms look like. They were all created in excel. I created a scoresheet
as well, but I prefer to use spiral notebooks, as they are cheaper though they require a little more work for me because I write in the
headings before I can roll any games.

3. Come up with a league schedule.
There are many online schedule makers. I created my own in qbasic that prints out a balanced schedule where each team will play
each other team, then prints out what you might call a "mirror" so that the teams that were the home team in the first run of the
program become the visitor. You need to have the qbasic compiler on your pc, but it's a free download. Drop me a line if you are
interested or need help using my qbasic schedule makers. I have them for free download at the bottom of the homepage.

4. Added stuff to give your league that little extra something.
This is the creative part of setting up your league. I like to design a league logo and put it on a cover sheet. I also like to put a little
design on the dividers (if I use a three ring binder). Sometimes I draw this stuff by hand, other times I use public domain clip art.
Sometimes I use a combination of the two.

There you have it! A short little primer on setting up your league. Hope this helps and hope you have fun with it!