Disclaimer: I've decided to just focus on the club leagues today. Tomorrow, a more full scale National Team Update will come in the afternoon.
North American Club Champions League Groups Revealed
Championship week has concluded among club national leagues, which brings us right to the start of Champions League season. As announced previously, the format of the tournament will be as follows:
North American Club Championship - Los Angeles, CA
Similar to last year, this tournament will take place with two divisions.
- Division I will consist of the Top 16 Ranked Teams - 6 game Round Robin + 8 Team Single-Elimination Tournament with Top 2 teams of each group making bracket.
- Division II will consist of teams Ranked 17-20 - 6 game Round Robin + Top 2 Championship Game
- Tie-breakers will be determined by run differential, followed by H2H matchups
The following are the groups for this year’s tournament:
Division I
Group A: Chicago (USA), Los Angeles (USA), Monterrey (MEX),
Washington (USA)
Group B: Calgary (CAN), Houston (USA), New York (USA), Ottawa (CAN)
Group C: Guadalajara (MEX), Mexico City (MEX), Miami (USA), Vancouver (CAN)
Group D: Boston (USA), Dallas (USA), Philadelphia (USA), San Francisco (USA)
Division II
Group A: Montreal (CAN), Puebla (MEX), Toluca (MEX), Toronto (CAN)
2015 League Structures Announced
With the success of the Mexican baseball program over the last five years, the Mexican Baseball Administration has taken their next proactive step in creating a sustainable club league that can compete with the United States league for the best talent, while cultivating the next great set of talent to come out of the country.
As a result, the league is announcing today that the Tijuana Baseball Club will be the sixth MEXBL franchise, and will join the league for the 2015 season. A geographical map of the 6 teams can be found below:
Additionally, as a result of this next step of MEXBL evolution, a third team will now make the playoffs to compete in a best 3-of-5 series against the second place team. The winner of that series will face the #1 seed in a best-of-7 championship, with the top seed getting a bye through to the final round. This structure mimics the evolution of the USABL and is expected to be streamlined across all IBF Leagues.
Finally, Tijuana becomes the 21st franchise in the International Baseball Federation, and joins the current 10 USA-based franchises and 5 Canada-based franchises. This is the league’s first expansion since 2013, when Toluca and Calgary joined the fold.
Tonight: The North American Club Championship - Division II