BAYS Match Rule 17 – League Make Up

  1. The league shall be subdivided into playing sections according to gender, grade, and divisional levels of competition as provided for in these Match Rules.

  2. Within each grade/age group, teams will be assigned to divisions that reflect differing team strength/ability characteristics in order to provide competitive games, with first division (or any other division established by the board as the highest) for the strongest teams, and higher numbered divisions for progressively less-competitive teams.

  3. The BAYS Board of Directors in conjunction with the Scheduler, establishes which playing divisions will be offered in each grade/age group and this information in the registration materials for the upcoming season.

  4. The Placement Committee will be responsible for placing all teams in the appropriate competitive divisions, for each grade/age and gender group. All divisions shall be re-formed prior to each playing season. During the team registration process, clubs request a division and skill level (high, medium, or low within the requested division) for each team. Placement requests are given due consideration, along with the team’s recent playing record and other pertinent factors. Ultimately, the Placement Committee has the discretion to place a team in a higher or lower division than requested.

  5. Relative strength shall be noted by providing an ordinal rank for each of a club's teams in a grade/age/gender group—unless some of them are identified as being of equal strength.

  6. Following placement into the applicable playing strength divisions by the Placement Committee, the committee shall assign each team into playing sections, duly taking into account geographical considerations. The priority for creating playing sections will be: 1) Six-team sections (wherever possible); 2) Double four-team sections; 3) Paired five-team sections with crossover games; 4) Other schedules as necessitated by the number of teams available.

  7. If clubs indicate field sharing or special time change requirements every effort will be made to accommodate these needs in the BAYS schedule.