MLB Draft League

The MLB Draft League is a baseball league that began play in 2021.^[2] Created by Major League Baseball (MLB) and Prep Baseball Report (PBR), the league operates a split-season format of 80 games with a hybrid amateur–professional structure: for the first half of the season, the league operates as an amateur collegiate summer baseball league to serve as a showcase for top draft-eligible prospects leading up to each July's MLB draft;^[2] after a break for the draft, play resumes for the season's remaining games with paid professional players who have exhausted their amateur eligibility.^[3]

Quick Facts Classification, Sport ...

MLB Draft League

Classification	Collegiate summer (partial) Independent (partial)
Sport	Baseball
Founded	2021
Director	Sean Campbell[1]
No. of teams	6
Country	United States
Most recent champion(s)	Williamsport Crosscutters (2024)
Most titles	West Virginia Black Bears (2)
Official website	mlbdraftleague.com

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The league's six teams were formerly members of Minor League Baseball's New York–Penn League, Eastern League, and Carolina League before MLB's reorganization of the minors for 2021.^[4][5] In 2021, each team in the league played a 68-game regular season, with an All-Star Break taking place around the MLB draft.^[6] The season was expanded to 80 games per team beginning in 2022.^[7]

In 2024, MLB announced that the league would be expanded by two teams in the near future and that it would extend its support for the league through 2030.^[8]