How a TBL Season Runs
A season cycles through a 14-sim regular season, playoffs, and an 8-sim off-season, on a weekly cadence: Week 1 runs Sun/Mon/Wed/Thu, Weeks 2–5 run Sun–Thu, and Week 6 loops back to Week 1's pattern as next season's Opening Day. New seasons always open on a Sunday in real life; in-game, Opening Day and Spring Training land on a Monday.
Regular Season — Sims 1–14
Sim 1
Opening Day. New season begins.
Sim 2
AAA/AA ball begins.
Sim 3
A+/A ball begins.
Sim 4
No milestone.
Sim 5
Draft loads after this sim — have a list ready if you can't pick live.
Sim 6
No milestone.
Sim 7
Overbudget trades allowed starting after this sim.
Sim 8
All-Star Game and prospect call-up day — promote top prospects without losing a year of service time.
Sim 9
Short-season A-/R ball begins.
Sim 10
Trade deadline.
Sim 11
No milestone.
Sim 12
Rosters expand.
Sim 13
No milestone.
Sim 14
Regular season ends.
Playoffs
Wild Card Series, Division Championship Series, Conference Championship Series, then the TBL Championship. Each round begins once all remaining playoff teams have exported — the league aims for one round a day and doesn't wait on everyone, though eliminated teams that make roster changes do get their exports pulled. GM of the Year voting opens on StatsPlus once the field is set.
Off-Season — Sims 1–8
Sim 1
Through 12/02 — Arbitration hearings, Hall of Fame voting, and the Dev Lab all open.
Sim 2
Through 12/16 — Winter Meetings begin, lottery draft order revealed, IAFA scouting begins, free agency opens.
Sim 3
Through 12/31 — Winter Meetings end. Last call to protect players ahead of the Rule 5 Draft.
Sim 4
Through 1/21 — Rule 5 Draft results, preseason begins, draft class finalized. Budgets lock next sim.
Sim 5
Through 2/17 — Spring Training begins, budgets lock, IAFA bidding opens, Hall of Fame voting results announced.
Sim 6
Through 3/03 — Spring Training sim 1.
Sim 7
Through 3/17 — Spring Training sim 2, the Rookie Draft begins.
Sim 8
Spring Training sim 3 — next stop, Opening Day.
Off-season sims 1–4 land on the same calendar dates every year (12/02, 12/16, 12/31, 1/21); sims 5–8 can shift slightly year to year, but the steps stay the same. Exact export deadlines for the current sim go out in Discord/Slack — this page covers the shape of the season, not the day-by-day calendar.