Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League
Current season, competition or edition: 2015 Perfect Game Baseball season
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| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2010 |
| CEO | Jeff Kunion |
| No. of teams | 13 |
| Country | United States |
| Continent | North America |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Amsterdam Mohawks |
| Most titles | Amsterdam Mohawks (4 Titles) |
| Official website | pgcbl.com |
The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball league founded in 2010. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. Players are not paid so as to maintain their college eligibility. Each team plays an eight-week, 50 game schedule from June to August with playoffs in early August. The league's level of play, while amateur, is considered to be comparable to the professional short season leagues.
The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League was founded in the fall of 2010 when seven New York Collegiate Baseball League teams left that league. For an even number a new team was placed in Newark, New York. The league is in conjunction with Perfect Game USA, baseball's largest scouting service. The eight founding members of the PGCBL were the Albany Dutchmen, Amsterdam Mohawks, Cooperstown Hawkeyes, Elmira Pioneers, Glens Falls Dragons Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs, Newark Pilots and Watertown Wizards. The league's first season was completed in the summer of 2011.
The eight teams were broken down into two divisions, PGCBL East and PGCBL West. The East comprised Albany, Amsterdam, Glens Falls and Mohawk Valley. The West was made up of Cooperstown, Elmira, Newark and Watertown. Glens Falls and Cooperstown were the regular season division champions in the PGCBL East and West respectively. Glens Falls, Cooperstown, Amsterdam and Newark qualified for the league playoffs. Newark defeated Amsterdam, two games to one, to win the very first PGCBL championship.
In 2012, the league expanded to nine teams with the addition of the Oneonta Outlaws. The two-division format was replaced by a single nine-team division with the top four teams in the league regular season standings qualifying for the playoffs. Amsterdam won 35 of 47 regular season games and captured the regular season championship. Amsterdam, Glens Falls, Newark and Mohawk Valley qualified for the postseason. Amsterdam swept Glens Falls to win its first league title. The Mohawks finished the summer ranked third nationally in Perfect Game's Summer Top 30 poll.
The 2013 season saw a return of the two-division format as 10 teams were broken into East and West divisions. Albany, Cooperstown, Glens Falls, Mohawk Valley and defending champion Amsterdam constituted the East while newcomers Adirondack and Utica joined Elmira, Newark and Watertown in the West. A new playoff format featuring six teams was instituted as the first and second-place finishers in each division were joined for the first time by the third-place finishing team - this led to a down-to-wire playoff chase where the sixth and final playoff spot was not decided until the final night of the regular season. Amsterdam and Watertown overcame slow starts to win division titles; each team captured its first division title in the PGCBL. Albany, Mohawk Valley, Elmira and Newark rounded out the playoff field. Three seeds Albany and Elmira each won opening round playoff games over second-seeded Mohawk Valley and Newark respectively to advance to the divisional finals against Amsterdam and Watertown. Amsterdam edged out Albany and Elmira in back-to-back Game 3's to become the first repeat champion in league history.
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