baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
*Many international baseball events are coordinated by the baseball division of the
World Baseball Softball Confederation
World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC; french: Confédération internationale de baseball et softball) is the world governing body for the sports of baseball, softball, and Baseball5. It was established in 2013 by the merger of the Inter ...
, including the
World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Leagu ...
Caribbean Series
The Caribbean Series (''Spanish'': ''Serie del Caribe''), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is norma ...
Babe Ruth League
The Babe Ruth League is an international youth baseball and softball league based in Hamilton, New Jersey, US named after George Herman "Babe" Ruth.
The parent program, Babe Ruth League, Incorporated, is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.
...
, a youth program, headquartered in Hamilton, New Jersey.
*
Fellowship of Christian Athletes
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad.
History
FCA was found ...
*
Little League Baseball
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationPony Baseball, a youth program, headquartered in Washington, Pennsylvania.
* Roy Hobbs Baseball, an over 30 amateur, adult men's baseball organization, headquartered out of Ft. Myers, FL, with national and international Leagues and Teams.
High school
* In the US, the
National Federation of State High School Associations
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. NFHS's headquarters are located in White River State Park in India ...
(NFHS) and each state association governs the play of baseball at the high school level. The Federated Christian Athletic Association (FCAA) and state Christian associations oversee the play of baseball at the private Christian School level. Note, however, that a substantial number of Christian schools choose instead to join their state's general athletic association if the organization's rules allow it.
Ligue de Baseball Élite du Québec
The Catholic League of France (french: Ligue catholique), sometimes referred to by contemporary (and modern) Catholics as the Holy League (), was a major participant in the French Wars of Religion. The League, founded and led by Henry I, Duke of ...
Cuban National Series
The Cuban National Series (, SNB) is the primary domestic professional baseball competition in Cuba. Formed after the dissolution of the Cuban League in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, the Series is a part of the Cuban baseball league system.
...
All-American Amateur Baseball Association
The All-American Amateur Baseball Association (AAABA) is an amateur/ collegiate wood bat baseball organization that holds an annual tournament that takes place every August at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The annual event features 1 ...
, United States
*
National Amateur Baseball Federation The National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF) is a nonprofit organization that serves as a governing body for amateur baseball in the United States. The organization was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1914 and is the oldest continually-operat ...
, United States
College baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...
College World Series
The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Di ...
NAIA Baseball World Series
The NAIA World Series (officially branded as the Avista NAIA World Series for sponsorship purposes from 2013) is a double-elimination tournament, held since 1957, to determine the baseball champion of the National Association of Intercollegiate A ...
List of Collegiate Summer Baseball Leagues
Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...
Upper Midwest
The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referrin ...
, with grassroots support at the local level.
Professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
*
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) in the United States and Canada, made up of two component leagues;
**
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
**
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
* Minor League Baseball (MiLB) in the United States and Canada, comprising several levels and multiple component leagues;
**'' AAA''
***
International League
The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...
***
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Ba ...
Texas League
The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...
**''
High-A
High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...
''
***
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...
***
Northwest League
The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseba ...
***
South Atlantic League
The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...
**''
Single-A
Class A, also known as Single-A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classified at the Single-A level, one for each ...
''
***
California League
The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...
***
Carolina League
The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...
***
Florida State League
The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...
**''Rookie''
***
Arizona Complex League
The Arizona Complex League (ACL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in and around Phoenix, Arizona, since 1988. Prior to 2021, it was known as the Arizona League (AZL). Along with the Florida Complex League (FCL), it ...
***
Florida Complex League
The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League (GCL). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the lo ...
**Fall baseball
***
Arizona Fall League
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fill ...
*
Independent baseball league
An independent baseball league is a professional baseball organization in the United States or Canada that is not overseen by Major League Baseball and is outside the Minor League Baseball clubs affiliated to it.
The Northern League and Frontie ...
s in the United States and Canada
**
American Association of Professional Baseball
The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...
**
Atlantic League of Professional Baseball
The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...
**
Empire Professional Baseball League
The Empire Professional Baseball League (EPBL) is an independent baseball league that began play in 2016. The Empire League plays a 40-game regular season followed by a five-game post season. The four-team league consists of four teams from Upst ...
**
Frontier League
The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...
Pecos League Pecos may refer to:
Places
* Pecos River, rises near Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
* Pecos, Texas, a city in Reeves County, Texas, United States
* Pecos County, Texas, named for the Pecos River
** Pecos Spring, a spring
* Pecos, New Mexico, ...
Colombian Professional Baseball League
The Colombian Professional Baseball League ( es, Liga Profesional de Béisbol Colombiano, links=no or LPB), is a professional baseball league based in Colombia. It is a five-team winter league that plays during the Major League Baseball offseason ...
* (LCBP), Colombia
*
Cuban National Series
The Cuban National Series (, SNB) is the primary domestic professional baseball competition in Cuba. Formed after the dissolution of the Cuban League in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, the Series is a part of the Cuban baseball league system.
...
* (CNS), Cuba
*
Dominican Professional Baseball League
Dominican may refer to:
* Someone or something from or related to the Dominican Republic ( , stress on the "mi"), on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles, in the Caribbean
** People of the Dominican Republic
** Demographics of the Domi ...
* (LIDOM), Dominican Republic
*
Dominican Summer League
The Dominican Summer League (DSL) is a branch of affiliated Minor League Baseball which is played in the Dominican Republic. The league was founded in 1985. After the demise of the Venezuelan Summer League after the 2015 season, it is the only ...
(rookie), Dominican Republic
*
Mexican Pacific League
The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule run ...
*, Mexico
*
Liga Norte de México
The Liga Norte de México (''LNM'') (English: ''Northern League of México'') is a professional baseball league located in the Northwest of Mexico in the states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. Formerly known as Liga Norte de ...
, Mexico
*
Mexican League
The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country.
The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...
(Triple-A), Mexico
*
Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League
Liga de Beisbol Profesional Nacional (LBPN) is the professional baseball league of Nicaragua. The league consists of five teams with a 30 game regular season schedule that runs from November to December. Followed by a four team round robin, with ...
* (LNBP), Nicaragua
*
Panamanian Professional Baseball League
The Panamanian Professional Baseball League ( es, Béisbol Profesional de Panamá, links=no), currently known as Probeis, is a professional baseball winter league consisting of three teams based in Panama. Since 2019, the league's winner takes p ...
* (LPBP or Probeis), Panama
*
Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente
Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (LBPRC) is the main professional baseball league in Puerto Rico; it is colloquially referred to as the Puerto Rican Winter League. Consisting of seven teams as of the 2020–21 season, the league's ...
* (LBPRC), Puerto Rico
*
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year.
History Early years
Baseball exp ...
* (LVBP), Venezuela
Defunct Leagues
*
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...
defunct since 1915, in the United States
*
Union Association
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season.
Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some poi ...
*
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...
, defunct since 1958, in the United States
*
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...
, defunct since 1954, in the United States
*
Canadian Baseball League
The Canadian Baseball League was an independent minor league that operated in 2003. The league's only Commissioner was Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame member Ferguson Jenkins. The league featured former maj ...
*
Cuban League
The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961. The schedule usually operated during the winter months, so the league was sometimes known ...
*
*
Venezuelan Summer League
The Venezuelan Summer League (VSL) was a professional baseball sports league that operated in Venezuela from 1997 to 2015, primarily in the state of Carabobo. Teams in the league served as academies for Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations, ...
Asia Series
The Asia Series was an international club baseball competition, contested by the champions of all four of the professional leagues that are associated with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) — Australian Baseball League (ABL), ...
Nippon Professional Baseball
or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''.
Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...
(NPB)
**
Central League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...
(major)
**
Pacific League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...
Japanese Baseball League
was a professional baseball league in Japan which operated from 1936 to 1949, before reorganizing in 1950 as Nippon Professional Baseball.
The league's dominant team was Tokyo Kyojin (renamed the Yomiuri Giants in 1947), which won nine league ...
(Former League of
Central League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...
and
Pacific League
The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...
)
*
Shikoku Island League Plus
The is an independent professional baseball league on the island of Shikoku in Japan. (None of the teams in Nippon Professional Baseball are based in Shikoku.) The league currently has four teams, and has its league headquarters in Takamatsu.
T ...
(Independent)
*
Baseball Challenge League
The Route Inn BCL, formerly known as the , is an independent minor baseball league in Japan. The league's abbreviated designation is "."
League structure
The Baseball Challenge League has three divisions, East, Middle, and West, with four team ...
KBO League
The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers a ...
Chinese Professional Baseball League
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 2 ...
(CPBL, major)
*
Taiwan Major League
The Taiwan Major League Professional Baseball (TML; ) was a professional baseball league in Taiwan that operated from 1996 to 2003. It was established by TV tycoon Chiu Fu-sheng after a row over the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) b ...
(TML, major, defunct)
China
*
China National Baseball League
The China National Baseball League (, CNBL) is a professional baseball league founded in 2019.
History
The original Chinese Baseball League (CBL) was founded in 2002. The league suspended operations in 2012 due to financial troubles after ...
*
China Baseball League
The China Baseball League (, CBL) was a professional baseball league under the administration of Chinese Baseball Association, founded in 2002. The league suspended operations in 2012 due to financial troubles after the 2011 season, but retur ...
UAAP Baseball Championship
Baseball in the UAAP is an all-male sport. Six teams are participating in the seniors division while there are four teams in the juniors division. Baseball was introduced as a sport in the seniors division in 1938. In the juniors division, Baseba ...
Israel Baseball League
The Israel Baseball League (IBL; Hebrew: ליגת הבייסבול הישראלית, ''Ligat ha-Beisbol ha-Israelit'') was a six-team professional baseball league in Israel. The first game was played on June 24, 2007.
League structure
The six ...
Irish Baseball League
The Irish Baseball League (IBL) is the men's league in Ireland. It started play in 1997. The season runs from March to October and are played on the weekends.
Club sides and fields
The O'Malley Fields at Corkagh Park in Clondalkin, West Dublin ...
, Ireland
*
Italian Baseball League
The Italian Baseball League (IBL; Italian: ') is a professional baseball league that is governed by FIBS (Italian Baseball & Softball Federation), which has its headquarters in Rome. The IBL is a wood bat league in which both composite and alum ...
Honkbal Hoofdklasse
The Honkbal Hoofdklasse (Dutch for ''Major League Baseball'') is the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is an eight-team league that plays a 42-game schedule and is overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softba ...
Australian Baseball League
The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball, professional baseball sports league, league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition h ...
Sport governing body
A sports governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function.
Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule ...
Baseball awards
Professional baseball leagues, amateur-baseball organizations, sportswriting associations, and other groups confer awards on various baseball teams, players, managers, coaches, executives, broadcasters, writers, and other baseball-related pe ...
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...