NECBL Announces Complete Schedule for 2024 Season
http://necblstats.wttbaseball.pointstreak.com/schedule.html?leagueid=204
North Adams, Mass. – The thirtieth season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, June 4. The first week will feature a full slate of six games per night. Opening Night will be highlighted by the last two league champions squaring off against one another in a Coastal Division contest, between the 2022 champion Martha’s Vineyard Sharks and the defending 2023 champion Newport Gulls. The host of this year’s All-Star Game and 2023 NECBL finalist, Bristol Blues, will open their season at home versus a West Division opponent in the Danbury Westerners. The defending North Division champion Vermont Mountaineers will begin against in-division opponent Sanford Mainers, while the defending West Division champion Valley Blue Sox will begin their campaign against the North Shore Navigators.
Commissioner Sean McGrath reflected on the 2023 season while looking ahead to 2024, “Despite the rainy summer last year, it was an extremely successful summer around the New England League with 59 alumni drafted or signed as free agents and a very competitive season that featured almost the entire league battling for a postseason berth in the final week of the season. Additionally, we broadcasted our season to households across the country through our media distribution channels. Regular season games appeared on ESPN+ and the NECBL Network, and our All-Star Game aired on regional sports networks across the country, including NESN. This year is shaping up to be another historic season and we look forward to sharing more with our fans leading up to the season. We couldn’t do it without our dedicated fans, host families, volunteers, sponsors throughout the region and our followers across the country–THANK YOU.”
The season format will remain the same with thirteen teams playing a 44 game schedule over the course of eight weeks. The one change will be the Mystic Schooners returning to their roots as they return to their home field at Fitch High School in Groton, CT after calling Dodd Stadium home the past two years. The Coastal Division will consist of the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks (MA), Mystic Schooners (CT), Newport Gulls (RI), North Shore Navigators (MA), and the Ocean State Waves (RI); while the West Division will include the Bristol Blues (CT), Danbury Westerners (CT), North Adams SteepleCats (MA), Valley Blue Sox (MA); and the North Division will feature the Keene Swamp Bats (NH), Sanford Mainers (ME), Vermont Mountaineers (VT), and Upper Valley Nighthawks (VT).
The annual All-Star Game will be hosted for the first time by the Bristol Blues in Bristol, CT at historic Muzzy Field on Sunday, July 21, 2024 at 5:00 pm. The All-Star Game features the NECBL’s top talent, with players from all NECBL organizations showcasing their skills in front of scouts from every Major League Baseball (MLB) organization.
The final eight days of the season will feature six games every night in the push for the postseason. The final five days of the season will be exclusively played in-division as teams compete for their playoff berths and final standings.
Eight teams will earn a berth to the postseason, which will feature three rounds of best-of-three series. Qualifying teams consist of the regular season champions from the North, West and Coastal Divisions, along with five Wild Card teams that will be determined by the highest winning percentage.
The 2024 NECBL Postseason opening round will begin on Thursday, August 1, with the top four seeds (including all three division winners) facing seeds 5-8 in the opening of a best-of-three series. The Final Four will begin on Sunday, August 4 in the same best-of-three format. The Championship Series will begin on Wednesday, August 7, with the winner raising the 2024 Fay Vincent, Sr. Cup.
This was the first year the League used Sharp Scheduling to produce the schedule. When asked about the experience, Co-Founders, Gabe Gross and Ben Blutfield, commented, “Producing the schedule for the 2024 NECBL schedule has been one of the more challenging projects we’ve undertaken at Sharp Scheduling. Ben and I worked to balance limited field availability, league requirements, and specific team requests without forfeiting competitive equity or integrity. We worked collaboratively with NECBL Commissioner Sean McGrath to bring feedback into each new draft, until we arrived at the final version. Strong communication, ideation, and creativity were crucial to navigating the unique challenges of the league, including geographic and economic hurdles. Although there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect schedule’, we’re confident that this is the strongest mathematical solution given the constraints the league faces. We are pleased with the final result and the start of what we hope to be a long partnership between the NECBL and Sharp Scheduling.” All NECBL game will be broadcasted on either ESPN+ or the NECBL Network, powered by BlueFrame Technology. The NECBL Network is available on both your desktop and mobile/tablet devices, as well as Google Play, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Apple TV 4th Gen.
Rosters are filling up, and you can check out who is coming to play for your favorite team by heading to their team page at www.necbl.com. Make sure to follow these players all spring long as they compete for their colleges and tune up for their summer in the NECBL!
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The New England Collegiate Baseball League is a wooden bat college summer league that fields teams in all six New England states. Partially funded by Major League Baseball, the New England League started play in 1994 and has sent over 230 alumni to the Major Leagues with nearly 30 alumni taken in the first round of the MLB Draft. For continuing coverage of the NECBL, visit NECBL.com and follow the league on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook.
