HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 lowest rung on the North American minor-league ladder. FCL teams play at the minor league spring training complexes of their parent
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 (A ...
(MLB) clubs and are owned by those parent clubs. Admission is not charged, and no concessions are operated at the teams' games. Every
Grapefruit League Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives establi ...
team fields at least one team in the league. Night games are commonly played in the spring training stadium, although games may also be played at the team's practice fields. As of the 2021 season, there is no league limit to how many players can be on an active roster, but no team can have more than three players with four or more years of minor-league experience. Major-league players on rehabilitation assignments may also appear in the league.


History

Complex-based baseball leagues, which played before sparse crowds and often scheduled morning games to avoid the summer heat and afternoon thunderstorms, were adopted after the drastic shrinking of minor league baseball during the 1950s and 1960s. MLB teams needed an entry level to professional baseball for 18- and 19-year-old players graduating from high schools or signed from Latin America. They are considered the lowest rung on the minor league ladder. The current league was founded in 1964 as the
Sarasota Rookie League The Sarasota Rookie League was a minor baseball league that played in as a Rookie level league. All league games were played in Sarasota, Florida. The Sarasota Rookie League was succeeded in by the Florida Rookie League, which evolved into the ...
(SRL) with four teams playing in Sarasota. It was originally intended to be the Gulf Coast division of a statewide rookie league, with the eastern division Cocoa Rookie League based in
Cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter an ...
. However, the eastern and western teams never played each other. The SRL's four teams consisted of squads sponsored by the
Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
,
Milwaukee Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
,
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
, and St. Louis Cardinals. The SRL Braves, managed by Paul Snyder, future Atlanta
farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...
director, won the championship with a 36–23 record. * SRL Braves * SRL Cardinals * SRL White Sox * SRL Yankees The league added teams in Bradenton in 1965 and changed its name to the Florida Rookie League. * FRL Astros * FRL Braves *
FRL Cardinals FRL can refer to: * Fairlie railway station, in Scotland * Film Reference Library, a Canadian film archive * Fire Research Laboratory, part of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives * ''Fish Rap Live!'', a publicati ...
* FRL Twins * FRL White Sox * FRL Yankees


Gulf Coast League

The league adopted Gulf Coast League (GCL) naming for the 1966 season. It expanded to Florida's east coast in the 1990s. Historically, three separate leagues also used the Gulf Coast League name: a 1907–1908 Class D league, a 1926 Class D league and a 1950–1953 Class C (1950) and Class B League. The 1907 founding members were the
Alexandria White Sox The Alexandria White Sox were a minor league baseball franchise based in Alexandria, Louisiana. In 1907 and 1908, the White Sox played exclusively as members of the Class D level Gulf Coast League. The Gulf Coast League folded during the 1908 sea ...
,
Lafayette Browns Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...
,
Lake Charles Creoles A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
, Monroe Municipals, Opelousas Indians and Orange Hoo-Hoos. The 1950–1953 version featured the Brownsville Charros,
Corpus Christi Aces Corpus is Latin language, Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of lingu ...
,
Galveston White Caps Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galves ...
, Harlingen Capitals, Lake Charles Lakers,
Laredo Apaches The Laredo Apaches were a minor league baseball team from Laredo, Texas that existed in two different incarnations: 1949-53 and again in 1995. History The original Apaches were one of the six charter franchises of the Class D Rio Grande Valley Le ...
,
Port Arthur Seahawks The Port Arthur Sea Hawks were a Gulf Coast League (1950–1953), Evangeline League (1940–1942, 1954) and Big State League (1955–1956) baseball team based in Port Arthur, Texas, United States. In 1953, they were affiliated with the Dallas Eagle ...
and Texas City Texans, along with the Crowley Millers,
Jacksonville Jax The Jacksonville Jax were a minor league baseball team based at Ragsdale Park in Jacksonville, Texas, USA. They played in the West Dixie League from 1934–1935, the East Texas League from 1936–1940, and again in 1946, the Lone Star League in 194 ...
, Lufkin/Leesville Angels in 1950. All three leagues operated around the Gulf coasts of
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
and
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...
. On June 21, 2016, the GCL hired Jen Pawol, the first female umpire in Minor League Baseball since 2007, and the first in the GCL since 1978. In 2017, the GCL hired another woman umpire, Emma Charlesworth-Seiler. The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
before ultimately being canceled on June 30.


Florida Complex League

Prior to the 2021 season, in continuation of MLB's reorganization of the minor leagues, the two US-based complex leagues were renamed, with the Gulf Coast League becoming the Florida Complex League (FCL). For 2021, the league consists of 18 teams affiliated with 15 different MLB franchises, as three franchises are fielding two teams each.


League format

The league plays a 52- to 56-game season that runs from mid-June to late August. Following the relocation of the Atlanta Braves spring training complex in 2019, teams in the league were divided into three divisions: , , and (down from four in 2018). As of 2022, four teams—three division winners and one wild card team—qualify for the playoffs seeded by winning percentage regardless of division standing, with seeds 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 playing in a single-game semi-final. A best-of-three series between the two semi-final winners follows to determine the league champion.


Current teams

Teams in the league are not referred to by their home city, but simply by their parent club's name. A prefix of FCL (previously GCL) is typically used to differentiate the team from its parent club and other farm teams with the same nickname. For instances when a parent club fields two teams in the league, a suffix is used—typically this is a direction (e.g. East, West) or a color (e.g. Blue, Orange). Some teams share stadiums with their club's Single-A affiliate in the
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 followi ...
. Note that Single-A teams ''do'' use city names—for example the Tampa Tarpons, who also use the Yankees' spring training complex. After the
Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...
and
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
each fielded two teams as late as 1981, no franchise did so until the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
in 2013. The Yankees were joined by the
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
and
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
in fielding two teams in 2016 and 2018, respectively. As of the 2021 season, the Tigers,
Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
, and
Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...
are each fielding two teams.


Past teams

*
Gulf Coast League Athletics The Gulf Coast League Athletics were a minor league baseball team, that played in Bradenton, Florida from 1967-1968. The club played in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Base ...
(1967–1968) *
Gulf Coast League Cubs The Gulf Coast League Cubs, or GCL Cubs, were a minor league baseball team that played in the Gulf Coast League from 1972 to 1982 and again from 1993 to 1996. The team was affiliated with the Chicago Cubs and won GCL titles in 1972 and 1974. S ...
(1972–1982, 1993–1996) ** Became the Arizona League Cubs in 1997 * Gulf Coast League Dodgers (1983–1992, 2001–2008) ** Became the
Arizona League Dodgers The Arizona Complex League Dodgers are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona. The team is compos ...
in 2009 *
Gulf Coast League Expos The Florida Complex League Nationals are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Washington Nationals, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to the 2021 season, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Nationals. The ...
(1969–1970; 1974; 1977; 1986–2004) ** Became the
Gulf Coast League Nationals The Florida Complex League Nationals are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Washington Nationals, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to the 2021 season, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Nationals. The ...
in 2005 * Gulf Coast League Indians (1967–1975, 1988–1990, 2006–2008) ** Became the Arizona League Indians in 2009 * Gulf Coast League Padres (1981–1982) * Gulf Coast League Rangers (1973–2002) ** Became the
Arizona League Rangers The Arizona Complex League Rangers are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Texas Rangers, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona. The team is composed ...
in 2003 * Gulf Coast League Red Birds (1972–1973) * Gulf Coast League Reds (1968–1973, 1984–1990, 1999–2009) ** Became the Arizona League Reds in 2010 *
Gulf Coast League Royals The Gulf Coast League (GCL) Royals were a minor league baseball franchise in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League from 1971–1978, 1982–1983 and 1985–2002. The club was owned and operated by the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball. The ...
(1971–1983; 1985–2002) ** Included the GCL Royals Academy (defunct 1974), GCL Royals Blue (1979–1981), and GCL Royals Gold (1979–1981) ** Became the Arizona League Royals in 2003 * Gulf Coast League Tourists (1970) *
Gulf Coast League White Sox The GCL White Sox were a Gulf Coast League minor league baseball team that played from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1997. The club was affiliated with the Chicago White Sox. They won two league championships, in 1970 and 1977 - both under manager ...
(1966–1977, 1980–1997) ** Became the Arizona League White Sox in 1998


League champions: 1964–present

Numbers in parentheses indicate a franchise's instance of winning the championship, after its first instance. * 1964 – SRL Braves * 1965 – FRL Astros * 1966 – GCL Yankees * 1967 – GCL Athletics * 1968 – GCL Athletics (2) * 1969 –
GCL Expos The Florida Complex League Nationals are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Washington Nationals, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to the 2021 season, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Nationals. Th ...
* 1970 –
GCL White Sox The GCL White Sox were a Gulf Coast League minor league baseball team that played from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1997. The club was affiliated with the Chicago White Sox. They won two league championships, in 1970 and 1977 - both under manager ...
* 1971 –
GCL Royals The Gulf Coast League (GCL) Royals were a minor league baseball franchise in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League from 1971–1978, 1982–1983 and 1985–2002. The club was owned and operated by the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball. T ...
* 1972 – GCL Cubs * 1973 –
GCL Rangers The Gulf Coast League Rangers, or GCL Rangers were a minor league baseball club in the Gulf Coast League between 1973 and 2002. The club was consistently competitive winning eight league championships and seven division titles, while only posting ...
* 1974 – GCL Cubs (2) * 1975 – GCL Rangers (2) * 1976 – GCL Rangers (3) * 1977 – GCL White Sox (2) * 1978 – GCL Rangers (4) * 1979 –
GCL Astros The Florida Complex League Astros are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Houston Astros, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to the 2021 season, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Astros. The team plays i ...
(2) * 1980 – GCL Royals Blue * 1981 – GCL Royals Gold * 1982 – GCL Yankees (2) * 1983 – GCL Dodgers * 1984 – GCL Rangers (5) * 1985 – GCL Yankees (3) * 1986 – GCL Dodgers (2) * 1987 – GCL Dodgers (3) * 1988 – GCL Yankees (4) * 1989 – GCL Yankees (5) * 1990 – GCL Dodgers (4) * 1991 – GCL Expos (2) * 1992 – GCL Royals (2) * 1993 – GCL Rangers (6) * 1994 – GCL Astros (3) * 1995 – GCL Royals (3) * 1996 – GCL Yankees (6) * 1997 –
GCL Mets The Florida Complex League Mets are a Rookie-level affiliate for the New York Mets, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Mets. The team plays its home games a ...
* 1998 – GCL Rangers (7) * 1999 – GCL Mets (2) * 2000 – GCL Rangers (8) * 2001 – GCL Yankees (7) * 2002 –
GCL Phillies The Florida Complex League Phillies are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Phillies. The team plays ...
* 2003 –
GCL Braves The Florida Complex League Braves are the Rookie-level affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Braves. The team plays at CoolTo ...
(2) * 2004 – GCL Yankees (8) * 2005 – GCL Yankees (9) * 2006 –
GCL Red Sox The Florida Complex League Red Sox are a professional baseball team competing in the rookie-level Florida Complex League (FCL) of Minor League Baseball. The team is owned and operated by the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). Prior ...
* 2007 – GCL Yankees (10) * 2008 – GCL Phillies (2) * 2009 – GCL Nationals * 2010 – GCL Phillies (3) * 2011 – GCL Yankees (11) * 2012 –
GCL Pirates The Florida Complex League Pirates are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Pirates. The team plays its h ...
* 2013 – GCL Nationals (2) * 2014 – GCL Red Sox (2) * 2015 – GCL Red Sox (3) * 2016 –
GCL Cardinals The Florida Complex League Cardinals are a Rookie-level affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Cardinals. The team plays i ...
* 2017 – GCL Yankees East (12) * 2018 – GLC Tigers West * 2019 – ''No champion'' * 2020 – ''No season'' * 2021 – FCL Rays * 2022 – FCL Yankees (13) : 2019 playoffs canceled due to Hurricane Dorian : 2020 season canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic


See also

* List of Florida Complex League team rosters *


Sources

*


Notes


References


External links

* {{Professional Baseball Minor baseball leagues in the United States Baseball leagues in Florida 1964 establishments in Florida Sports leagues established in 1964