Quote:
Originally Posted by The Wolf
Playoff rosters must be set on August 31. Twenty-five players are put on the playoff eligible list, not including disabled players. For every player on the sixty-day disabled list, teams may add players to the eligible list during the playoffs at the same position, provided that those players were in the organization on August 31. Each team chooses a twenty-five man roster from their playoff eligible list before each round of the playoffs.
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Close, but not quite the current rules.
All players on the active roster and 15-day DL as of August 31st, and who remain with the club through to the end of the regular season, are eligible for the playoffs. Players on the 60-day DL as of Aug. 31st are also playoffs eligible provided they were placed on the 60-day DL no later than Aug. 1st (players transferred to the 60-day DL from the 15-day DL after Aug. 1st are exempted). Any player on the 60-day DL must have served at least 60 days on the DL before he is able to actually play in a post-season series.
If a player named to the 25-man active roster for a playoff series is at that time injured and unable to play, he can be replaced by another player. That replacement can be any player from the club's minor league organization, provided that player was in the organization on Aug. 31st and remained with it through to the end of the regular season. The player need not be on the 40-man roster at the time he is named a replacement, but would need to be added to it in order to play in the series. (Up until 2007, I think it was, this replacement carried a pitcher-for-pitcher and position player-for-position player restriction. That limitation has been dropped.)
Players injured during a post-season series can also be replaced (up until 2007, I think it was, players injured during a series could not be replaced). The rules regarding who is eligible to be a replacement are the same as for those players injured and unable to play before the start of a series. The difference is that any replacement made during a series must be done on a pitcher-for-pitcher and position player-for-position basis. Also, a player injured during a series is ineligible to play in the remainder of that post-season series and all of the next, even if he is later healthy and able to play.
Those interested can find the complete 2008 Major League Rules in the Documents section of the Biz of Baseball web site. (Post-season eligibility is covered in Rule 40.)