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It measures the cumulative performance of one club (team) across a season, starting from a level of 7,500 that every CME FSPI MLB Club Index shares on its first day of the season. As the league records statistics during a game, each one is converted into index points through a fixed multiplier and added to or subtracted from the level, so that hits, walks, runs, strikeouts, double plays, and runners left on base count on both sides of the game, stolen bases count for the running club, and errors count against the club that commits them, alongside the game, monthly, and season milestones. A club above 7,500 has accumulated more positive contributions than negative ones since the season began, and the index is best read as a running record of how well the club has played, one that is designed to be independent of any single game result.
Nothing in the Points Attribution Table is keyed to the final score, and the closest links to the outcome are the run scored and run allowed constituents at 2.5 points each, together with the game milestones for scoring or allowing one run or none and eight runs or more. Everything else in the game is scored on its own terms, which means a club that wins a low scoring game while striking out often, stranding runners, allowing more hits than it collects, and making an error can finish the night with more negative points than positive ones, and a club that loses a close game after out-hitting its opponent and dominating the strikeout count can see its index rise. The methodology is built this way intentionally, because the index records the whole statistical profile of a game and lets the score enter only through the runs that produced it and the run milestones they trigger.
A move on an off day usually traces to one of three causes. Monthly milestones are applied at 7:00 AM Central Time on the Calculation Day following the last game scheduled in the month and season milestones at 8:00 AM Central Time on the Calculation Day following the final regular season game, each worth 125 or 250 points, and a club can receive more than one at a time. A league amendment to a statistic from an earlier game, such as an official scorer changing a hit to an error, is applied as a discrete event in the next official close. A game that was not marked official by 9:00 AM Central Time on the morning after it was played enters the next official close instead, so it can show up on a day the club did not play.
The number that moves during a game is the intraday indicative value, which updates as plays are recorded, is published on a best efforts basis, and is not an official value. The Official Index Close for a Calculation Day is published at 9:00 AM Central Time on the following day, based on final league data marked official before that time and rounded to two decimal places, and that published close is the official value of the index for the day. It is the value a futures contract referencing the index settles to at expiration under the CME Group contract specifications, while the daily settlement prices of the futures themselves are determined by CME Group under its own procedures. A small difference between the last intraday value and the published close can arise from late official scoring revisions, while a larger one on the first of a month or on the morning after the regular season ends reflects milestone application.
It can, because the methodology sets no floor, and an index takes a negative value within a season if a club's cumulative negative contributions exceed its positive contributions and the prevailing level. Negative values receive no special treatment, so the index continues to be calculated and published in the ordinary way, and over a 162 game season a CME FSPI MLB Club Index can travel a long way from 7,500 in either direction. The annual reset returns every index to 7,500 for the next season and does not prevent negative values within a season.
They are, through a Seasonal Adjustment Factor of 1.5 that applies to every statistical constituent and every game milestone in a postseason game. A postseason home run adds 9 points instead of 6, a postseason pitching strikeout adds 3.75 instead of 2.5, and negative events scale the same way. The World Series Winner milestone of 750 points is applied with the factor, for 1,125 points, on the Calculation Day following the last game of the World Series, while monthly and season milestones are determined from regular season games and are always applied at 1.0.
Every index is reset to 7,500 on the Calculation Day falling 32 calendar days after the last game of the World Series, and the reset level is first published that day. Between the end of the World Series and the reset, each index ordinarily stands at its season end level, which includes the World Series Winner milestone. The reset is an event in the index calendar, and any futures contract that references an index has its own expiration and settlement dates set by CME Group in the contract specifications, which are separate from the index reset.
League amendments are applied forward and do not trigger a restatement. The amendment is treated as a discrete statistical event, run through the Points Attribution Table, and included in the next Official Index Close, with the amended statistics and their index impact disclosed in the end of day files, while previously published closes and milestone determinations already made are left as they were. Restatements are reserved for errors made by FutureSports in calculating or applying the methodology, subject to a materiality test and a single season correction window.
A game that starts on one calendar day and ends on the next is attributed entirely to the date it began, in the local time zone of play. A game postponed before it begins is attributed to the date it is eventually played, with nothing attributed to the original date, and a game that begins and is then suspended is attributed to the date it is resumed or replayed, with statistics accrued before a stoppage carrying over when play resumes from the point of suspension. In every case the index uses only the official statistics for the game as finally scored, counts each one once, and includes the game in the first official close published after the league marks it official.
FutureSports calculates and administers the indexes as Index Administrator under a methodology designed to align with the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks, while Major League Baseball serves only as the official source of the underlying statistics. The league does not participate in index determination, calculation, or methodology governance, and it does not sponsor, endorse, or administer the indexes. Multipliers are fixed during the season and change only through a published process reviewed by the Product Governance Committee and announced in advance. Any index user, investor, issuer, licensee, or other stakeholder with a legitimate interest can submit a written complaint about a calculation or a methodology matter through the channel published on the FutureSports website, with receipt acknowledged within five business days and a substantive written response targeted within thirty business days of acknowledgment.
Every answer above is drawn from the FSPI MLB Team Index Methodology Guide, the FSPI Index Calculation and Publication Schedule, the FSPI Index Maintenance, Error Management, and Methodology Changes document, the FSPI Index Governance Committee Composition and Operating Procedures, and the FSPI Index Complaint Handling and Resolution Policy, all published on the FutureSports website, and those documents control in the event of any difference. Questions about the futures contracts that reference the indexes, including contract size, listing schedule, expiration, margin, position limits, and final settlement procedure, are governed by the CME Group contract specifications and rulebook and should be directed to CME Group or your broker.
This reference is provided for information only and is not an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell any futures contract or other financial instrument, nor is it investment advice. The CME FSPI MLB Club Indexes are administered and calculated by FutureSports as Index Administrator under a methodology designed to align with the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks. Major League Baseball serves only as the official source of underlying performance data, does not participate in index determination, calculation, or methodology governance, and does not sponsor, endorse, or administer the indexes. Any futures contract referencing an index is listed by CME Group under CME Group's own contract specifications and is separate from the index itself. FutureSports does not distribute futures products, is not a broker, futures commission merchant, or exchange, and does not provide investment advice.
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