MLB Front Office

Real 2026 rosters. Real tax-line pain. October does not forgive.

Take over a baseball front office

Every club's real 26 from MLB's own data, as they stood on the last day of the 2026 regular season, rated off their 2026 numbers. Manage the payroll under the tax line, survive the 162, then October: Wild Card, Division Series, LCS, World Series. Saves automatically.

MLB Front Office: Baseball GM Simulator

Take over a real MLB club with its real 26 man roster from the last day of the 2026 regular season, every player rated off his real 2026 numbers pulled from the league's own data. Manage the payroll against the luxury tax line, DFA dead weight, sign free agents, swing trades the AI weighs on age, position and rating, then grind the 162 in simulated stretches. Win your division for a bye, survive the best-of-3 Wild Card round, the Division Series, the LCS and the World Series. Draft prospects whose scouting grades can lie, ride aging curves and retirements, and stack rings across unlimited saved seasons.

Running a front office sounds fun until the payroll page loads. This is a full GM sim of the real 30 team league, every club carrying its real 26 man roster and every player rated off his real 2026 numbers.

The problems are real: a tax line that will not move, aging veterans, scouts who lie, and 29 rivals that never stop churning.

How to play MLB Front Office, a free MLB general manager simulation

Inheriting a franchise's lineup and bullpen

Choose a franchise and inherit its real 26: the lineup and bench, a five man rotation and the bullpen, as the club stood on the last day of the 2026 regular season.

The roster box shows who the sim plays: your best healthy 8 bats, 3 starters and 2 relievers. Everyone else is depth, and depth is who plays the day a starter hits the IL.

Reading the ownership mandate each offseason

Read the ownership mandate: a stacked roster is told to win the World Series, a mid one to make October, a thin one to hit an honest win number. It resets every offseason.

Working trades, free agents and DFAs

Work the roster: DFA dead weight, sign free agents, and take trades to the phone, where the other GM counters with pick demands and lesser returns instead of a flat yes or no.

Playing the season in weekly stretches

Play the 162 in stretches: each round simulates about a week and a half of baseball, 27 rounds total, with a live read on whether you are on pace.

Making October and seeding the bracket

Make October. Division winners seed 1 to 3, three wild cards follow, and the top two seeds skip the Wild Card round.

MLB Front Office rules for the tax line, trades and trust

The tax line and its hard cap

The tax line starts at 244 million, matching the real 2026 threshold, and it is a hard cap, rising 3 percent a season.

How the playoff format is seeded

Playoffs use the real format: best-of-3 Wild Card, best-of-5 Division Series, best-of-7 LCS and World Series.

What trades weigh most

Trades weigh rating, age and position, with premiums on aces, shortstops and catchers.

Draft picks and scouting error

Each club starts with 2 simulation picks. Trades can leave you with fewer or more choices, and each selection spends one owned pick. With none left, finish the draft and offseason. Rivals get two batches of up to five eligible selections in this abbreviated draft. Scout grades carry error; true ratings show only after you pick.

Injuries and automatic franchise saves

Injuries cost one to four rounds on the IL, and your franchise saves automatically.

Roster size and depth deals

A new franchise carries 26 and can hold 22 to 28. The 13 men the sim plays earn their rating's price, the other 13 start on depth deals at 0.7 million until those deals run out, and then they re-sign at their rating's price like anybody else. The roster box flags a cheap deal in its last year with what he will cost, so the jump never lands by surprise.

If the draft takes you past 28, you DFA down to 28 before Round 1, dead money and all, and Play waits until you have. The CPU clubs cut their own lowest rated depth men the same way.

A save started before the full rosters keeps its 13 man roster and its old limits of 9 to 16.

Designating a player and the dead money

A DFA is not free. Half the man's salary stays on this season's payroll as dead money, a quarter lands on next season's if he had years left, and you cannot sign him back until the offseason.

Trust upstairs and getting fired

Trust upstairs runs 0 to 100: beat the mandate and it climbs, miss it and it falls, a ring fixes almost anything, and at zero you are fired and the save ends.

MLB Front Office walkthrough: a division title, then a scouting miss

Trading an aging ace for a young shortstop

You take a club 8 million under the line. A DFA clears a bloated deal, the savings sign a 79 rated reliever, and your aging ace becomes a 26 year old shortstop.

Winning the division, losing the LCS in six

You win the division, take the bye, and still lose the LCS in six. Next spring your 84 grade pick arrives as an 80. Scouts, man.

MLB Front Office tips for payroll, age and October depth

Treating payroll room as a roster spot

Payroll room is a roster spot. One dumped albatross often buys two useful arms.

Why age drives value

Age drives value. A decent 24 year old can outpull a 33 year old star, so sell veterans early.

Spending on lineup first, then pitching

The sim weighs your lineup most, then rotation, then bullpen. Spend in that order.

Building for repeat October trips

October is a variance machine, so build for repeat trips, not one all-in year.

MLB Front Office FAQ: contracts, the tax line and trades

Are the contracts real?

Rosters and ratings come from real data, but every salary, contract and transaction in the sim is fictional.

Where do the rosters come from?

MLB's own data: each club's major league roster on September 27, 2026, the last day of the regular season. The 26 are the 13 hitters and 13 pitchers who carried the most of that club's season. Hitters are rated off their 2026 OPS and pitchers off a number built from strikeouts, walks and homers, and a rating built on very few games says thin 2026 data next to it.

Can I go over the tax line?

No. Moves that break the line do not go through. That squeeze is most of the job.

Why did my trade get rejected?

The AI wants a premium on rating, age and position. Use a pick you still own, or offer someone younger.

Can I get fired?

Yes. Ownership grades the mandate every season and tracks trust from 0 to 100. A 70 win season on a win-the-World-Series payroll costs real trust, and at zero the save ends and you take another job.

Is MLB Front Office free to play?

Yes. MLB Front Office is free to play on DoUKnowBall, right in your browser. No download and no signup needed.

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