If a team Wins a TOC, does that team automatically get bumped up for future play in the current season, or is it the next season that they must play up....

It's NEITHER ... The T.O.C. is a 2025 Season event and has no bearing on your rating for the 2026 Season ... You play at the T.O.C. at the rating you were at when you won your invitation ... If you were subsequently re-rated up, that will be reinstated after the T.O.C. ends ... Don't fear winning ... It's the reason we play tournaments! ...

so, when exactly would a team be rerated....say they win 1 or 2 TOC tournaments in 2026, would they be rerated in 2026 or just when

The SSUSA Ratings Committee evaluates all teams twice annually, at the end of May and after the World Championships in October ... Any rating changes in the earlier rating review cycle are based on performance, either up or down based on the data and Director recommendation(s) ... The season-end rating review cycle is on the same basis, but also includes automatic rating increases for teams who win or finish very high in the World Championships ... SSUSA reserves the right to move teams, up or down, at any time during the year and will occasionally do so when circumstances warrant ... There is no specific formula on how many wins in T.O.C. qualifying events will trigger a move ... Play as well as you can, try to win every event you enter, and we'll handle the rest of the process ... Good luck! ...

Isn't part of the thinking on moving teams up as a bump based on run differential of plus 5 or more in tournaments a team wins? For example, if a team is having very good success winning 3 qualifiers by an average of plus 5 or more runs per game they would be considered for a bump?

Those are just some of the factors, but there's no fixed formula like X-run diff + Y-tourney wins + Z-Director suggestions = BUMP ... Do your best, and we'll handle the rest! ... Good luck! ...

Dave-not questioning your last entry, I find it a bit odd. We finished "Tied for 6th" at worlds and were bumped. Told it was because of our run differential throughout the year. Not questioning your response above, I think there needs to be a specific set of rules that a team has knowledge of. Just my .02

DJ12 ... As long as one of the criteria is (appropriately in my view) Director recommendations, there will be a subjective element to the decision criteria ... That, by definition, will make it very difficult, if not impossible, to have a rigid/specific checklist for a rating move, up OR down ... I'm sure glad my only rating involvement is providing an occasional opinion on a team being evaluated! ... Good luck this season ...

I would certainly agree there is NO specific formula for moving teams up. Top Gun 80 Gold Major did our best in 2025 and we were rewarded with a bump to M+ for being too strong for our division. Our run differential was 1.4 We came in second in the 4 team World's 80M division. We were 6-5 against 80M teams for the year. How can that be too strong for our division? SSUSA used our success against 75AAA as the division we were too strong for not 80M. Rather than move us upm why not just have us play 75M in the 2026 season?

To your point of Director recommendations, two who saw us play told me we were NOT Major+ and one for sure told SSUSA. How can this be fair and for the betterment of the game? Because of SSUSA's very flawed decision we lost 7 players and are now struggling with 13. Dave ever try recruiting to a 80M+ team when your 80M+ competition pays either all or most of the players expenses? Kinda like the Padres and the Dodgers. In addition to the official Team Rating Appeal, several emails outlining in great detail our 2025 results were sent to SSUSA. The question of what division we were too strong for was never addressed. I only received an email that we had to play in 3 SSUSA Tournaments for SSUSA to reconsider. Calls to Terry Henesey and Bobby Ellison were never returned by them.

I guess I can take some comfort that I am not alone in questioning SSUSA's decision making processes. But with SSUSA being the only game in town there is little we can do except accept your decisions so we can continue to play for the Love of the Game!

Howard ... It looks like you have a start on a formal ratings appeal, but this isn't the proper venue ... We intentionally disregard all message board commentary in the context of decision making, and we do not consider or debate a specific team's rating publicly ... Check the FORMS page to get the framework and format on how best to proceed, and good luck! ...

SSUSA Staff I did the formal appeal process to NO avail.

The purpose of my post was not to use this venue to start the appeal process but to get a conversation started with other team managers and players about what exactly are the criteria for moving a team up. I know it is not a run ratio of 5+, or too strong for your age and skill level division, or Directors recommendations who saw your team play. So what is it? GOOD LUCK? How does luck fall into the equation?

Let's be honest here ... The purpose of your post was to complain and be argumentative about your team's rating in response to my immediately previous post directed to DJ12 ... We don't argue specific team ratings publicly ... And your post contained nothing about getting "..a conversation started with other team managers and players about what exactly are the criteria for moving a team up.."

Lastly, "GOOD LUCK" is a term commonly used when wishing success to an individual or team participating in an athletic endeavor ... That was its only context here ...