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Orleans’ Eldridge Park (Photo by Simon M Bruty/AnyChance Productions/Getty Images)
The Cape Cod Baseball League begins its 101st season this weekend. Founded in 1923, the Cape League is the preeminent college summer wooden bat league with 1,250 MLB alumni. One in every six major leaguers played on the Cape at one point as an amateur. The league’s talent is unrivaled and brings some of the top amateur talent to New England every summer.
The Cape League is comprised of 10 teams split into two five-team divisions. All 10 teams play each other with divisional standings determining who makes the eight-team playoffs. The schedule spans 44 games starting in mid-June and completing in early August before a three-round playoff structure.
In recent years, the Cape has transformed from a showcase of next year’s draft talent to a pre-draft destination for players looking to give scouts one last look before the July draft. As a result, the CCBL now feels more transient. Teams often turn over 80% of their roster between the league’s opening week and the end of July.
It’s not uncommon to see future draftees, weeks away from the dawn of their professional careers, for a few weeks prior to the draft. Similarly, it’s not uncommon to see the top positional players participate for a few weeks prior to Collegiate National Team trials. Players like Spencer Torkelson, Brooks Lee, Charlie Condon and others have all done brief cameos on the Cape before joining the national team in Cary, NC.
While this has cut to the core of the Cape community accustomed to players spending a full summer on the Cape, it’s created an even more fertile ground for evaluators, whether professional or amateur, to get a wide range of looks on up to three different college draft classes.
The games are free to attend (though a donation is suggested) and the ballparks are mostly old high school fields. The accommodations are stripped down compared to the parks of the SEC, ACC and professional baseball. The league has the feel of a home-cooked meal–familiar, delicious and stripped of any pomp and circumstance. Concessions consist of homemade chocolate chip cookies, root beer floats and hot dogs and hamburgers cooked on a grill.
In many ways the Cape Cod Baseball League serves as the end of season cookout for college baseball, heavy on good vibes and low on cost of entry.
You can see Baseball America’s draft rankings…