List of organized baseball leagues - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article contains a list of organized baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

league

Sports league

League is a term commonly used to describe a group of sports teams or individual athletes that compete against each other in a specific sport. At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among themselves and compete on weekends; at its most complex, it can be an...

International competition

Many international baseball events are coordinated by the International Baseball Federation
International Baseball Federation
The International Baseball Federation is the worldwide governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee as overseeing, deciding and executing the policy of the bat-and-ball sport of baseball at the international level...

, including the Baseball World Cup and the World Baseball Classic
World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation and created by Major League Baseball , the Major League Baseball Players Association , and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world...

.

Youth leagues

American Legion Baseball
American Legion Baseball
American Legion Baseball is a variety of amateur baseball played by teenage boys in 50 states in the USA. More than five thousand teams participate each year. The American Legion Department of South Dakota established the program in 1925 at Milbank, South Dakota...

, a youth program, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA).
Babe Ruth League, a youth program, headquartered in Trenton, New Jersey (USA) (Babe Ruth League).
- Cal Ripken Baseball (a Division of Babe Ruth League, Inc.), a youth program, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland (USA).
Dizzy Dean Baseball, a youth program in the USA.
Khoury League, a youth program, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri (USA).
Little League Baseball, a youth program, headquartered in Williamsport, Pennsylvania (USA).
- Junior, Senior & Big League Baseball
Pony Baseball
PONY Baseball and Softball
PONY Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization with headquarters in Washington, Pennsylvania. Started in 1951, it is dedicated to helping young people grow into healthier and happier adults, primarily through the organization of baseball and softball leagues...

, a youth program, headquartered in Washington, Pennsylvania (USA).
USSSA Baseball, a youth and adult program, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri (USA).

High school

In the USA, the National Federation of State High School Associations
National Federation of State High School Associations
The National Federation of State High School Associations is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. Most high schools, whether public or private, belong to their state's high school association; in turn, each state association...

(NFHS) and each state association governs the play of baseball at the high school level. The Federated Christian Athletic Association (FCAA) and state Christian associations oversee the play of baseball at the private Christian School level.

Amateur baseball

Midlands League Baseball, United States
Ligue de Baseball Élite du Québec
Ligue de Baseball Élite du Québec
The Ligue de Baseball Élite du Québec is the top-level amateur summer baseball league in the Canadian province of Quebec. It is composed entirely of junior elite players - the best baseball players in the province under 22 years of age.-History:...

, Canada
New Brunswick Senior Baseball League
New Brunswick Senior Baseball League
The New Brunswick Senior Baseball League is the highest level of amateur baseball play in New Brunswick, Canada. The Fredericton Royals are the reigning league champions, and will represent New Brunswick at the 2009 Canadian Senior Baseball Championship in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia...

, Canada
Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League
Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League
The Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League is an amateur baseball league located in Nova Scotia. The league is the highest level of amateur baseball in the province, it is for players 18 and over. The league champion traditionally represents Nova Scotia at the following year's Canadian Senior...

, Canada
Cuban National Series
Cuban National Series
The Cuban National Series is the primary domestic amateur baseball competition in Cuba. Formed after the dissolution of the Cuban League in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, the Series is a part of the Cuban national baseball system.-League structure:...
All-American Amateur Baseball Association
All-American Amateur Baseball Association
The All-American Amateur Baseball Association was formed in 1944.-World Series:Sixteen teams participate in the AAABA World Series. The 66th annual AAABA World Series concluded on August 14, 2010, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The regionals were held in Altoona, Pennsylvania.-Hall of fame:The AAABA...

, United States
Federación Panameña de Beisbol, Panamá

College baseball
College baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...

NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

, including NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and the College World Series
College World Series
The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...

(Div. I, Div. II, Div. III)
NAIA
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...

, including the NAIA Baseball World Series
NAIA Baseball World Series
The NAIA Baseball World Series is a double-elimination tournament held annually in Lewiston, Idaho, to determine the baseball champion of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics .-Results:...
National Club Baseball Association
National Club Baseball Association
The National Club Baseball Association is the national body that governs club baseball at colleges and universities in the United States...

(NCBA)
National Junior College Athletic Association
National Junior College Athletic Association
The National Junior College Athletic Association , founded in 1938, is an association of community college and junior college athletic departments throughout the United States. It is held as Divisions and Regions. The current NJCAA holds 24 separate regions.-History:The idea for the NJCAA was...

(NJCAA)
List of Collegiate Summer Baseball Leagues

Town Team Baseball
Town Team Baseball
Town Team Baseball is a variety of amateur baseball played in the United States. In Town Team baseball, sometimes also called townball, the teams represent either a given city or town, or a commercial enterprise which sponsors the team...

Townball is a popular tradition in the Upper Midwest

Upper Midwest

The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the midwest. Although there are no uniformly agreed-upon boundaries, the region is most commonly used to refer to the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and...

, with grassroots support at the local level.

The Minnesota Baseball Association
Minnesota Baseball Association
The Minnesota Baseball Association is the governing body for amateur Town Team Baseball in Minnesota....

http://www.minnesotabaseball.org/ is the sanctioning body for amateur baseball leagues in Minnesota. A statewide list of leagues is available at the organization's website.

Semi-professional baseball

Professional baseball
Professional baseball
Baseball is a team sport which is played by several professional leagues throughout the world. In these leagues, and associated farm teams, players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system....

Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

(MLB) in the United States and Canada, made up of two component leagues;
- National League
  National League
  The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
- American League
  American League
  The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
Minor League baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

(MiLB) in the United States and Canada, comprising several levels and multiple component leagues;
- AAA-level
  - International League
    International League
    The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
  - Pacific Coast League
    Pacific Coast League
    The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
- AA-level
  - Eastern League
  - Southern League
    Southern League (baseball)
    The Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
  - Texas League
    Texas League
    The Texas League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the South Central United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The league was founded in 1888 and ran through 1892...
- A-level
  - High-A / A-advanced
    - California League
      California League
      The California League is a Class A Advanced minor league baseball league which operates throughout the state of California. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High-A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth...
    - Carolina League
      Carolina League
      The Carolina League is a minor league baseball affiliation which operates in the South Atlantic Coast of the United States. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth...
    - Florida State League
      Florida State League
      The Florida State League is a Class A-Advanced minor league baseball league operating in the state of Florida. They are one of three leagues currently operating in Class A-Advanced, the third highest of six classifications of minor leagues...
  - A-level
    - Midwest League
      Midwest League
      The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort...
    - South Atlantic League
      South Atlantic League
      The South Atlantic League is a minor league baseball league based chiefly in the Southeastern United States, with the exception of three teams in the Mid-Atlantic States...
  - Short-season A-level
    - New York – Penn League
    - Northwest League
      Northwest League
      The Northwest League of Professional Baseball is a Class A-Short Season minor baseball league. The league is the descendant of the Western International League which ran as a class B league from 1937-1951 and class A from 1952-1954...
- Rookie-league
  - Rookie-advanced
    - Appalachian League
      Appalachian League
      The Appalachian League is a Rookie-class minor league that began play in 1937 with one year of inactivity in 1956. From 1937 to 1962, it was a Class D League. Teams are located in the Appalachian regions of Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee...
    - Pioneer Baseball League
  - Rookie-level
    - Arizona League
      Arizona League
      The Arizona League is a minor league baseball league that operates in and around Phoenix, Arizona. It is a rookie-level professional baseball league run by Major League Baseball since 1989. Games are played at the spring training complexes of the team's parent organizations from mid-June until the...
    - Gulf Coast League
      Gulf Coast League
      The Gulf Coast League is a minor league baseball league which operates in Florida. It is a Rookie League, with a season running from mid-June to late August. The season is 60 games long and teams in the league are divided into three divisions, East, North and South...
    - Dominican Summer League
      Dominican Summer League
      The Dominican Summer League is a branch of affiliated minor league baseball which is played in the Dominican Republic. The league was founded in 1985. The 2011 72-game season begins May 28 and ends August 20...
    - Venezuelan Summer League
      Venezuelan Summer League
      The Venezuelan Summer League is a minor league baseball rookie league which operates in Carabobo and Aragua states, Venezuela.The VSL was created in 1997, after several operational years of the Major League Baseball's academies in the country...
Independent League baseball in the United States and Canada
Negro League baseball
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...

, defunct since 1958, in the United States
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:...

, defunct since 1954, in the United States

Cuban League
Cuban League
The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside of the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961...

(defunct)
Dominican Winter Baseball League (LDBP), Dominican Republic
Mexican Pacific League (winter league)
Mexican League (Triple-A)
Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League
Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League
La Liga Nicaragüense de Beisbol Profesional was inaugurated on Saturday, March 30, 1956 in Estadio Nacional. The first game was between the teams from San Fernando and Bóer. The Nicaraguan public's excitement for baseball grew as foreign professional teams and foreign players came to play in their...
Panama Professional Baseball League, Panama
Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League
Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League
The Puerto Rico Baseball League formerly known as Liga de Béisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico or LBPPR, is the main professional baseball league in Puerto Rico. In 2007, the LBPPR recessed for the first time since its creation...

(LBPPR), Puerto Rico

South America

Colombian Professional Baseball League
Colombian Professional Baseball League
The Colombian Professional Baseball League, also known as the Colombian Winter League, is a professional baseball league based in Colombia...

, Colombia
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional is the highest level baseball league in Venezuela.-Brief history:Baseball exploded in Venezuela in 1941, following the world championship in Havana....

(LVBP), Venezuela

Asia

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), Japan
- Central League
  Central League
  The or is one the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country,The Central League...
  
  , Japan
- Pacific League
  Pacific League
  The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series...
  
  , Japan
Shikoku-Kyūshū Island League
Shikoku-Kyushu Island League
The is a baseball league on the islands of Shikoku in Japan. Neither the Central nor the Pacific League has a team based in Shikoku.IBLJ Inc. operates the league...

, Japan
Baseball Challenge League
Baseball Challenge League
The is a baseball league in Japan. The abbreviated designation "."-Teams:-External links:*...

, Japan
Kansai Independent Baseball League
Kansai Independent Baseball League
The is a professional baseball league in Japan. Its debut season was in .The league's activities became public in 2008. Plans to form the league were announced at a press conference on March 6. On July 30, the names of the four teams were released....

, Japan

Korea Professional Baseball, South Korea (major)
Korea Baseball Futures League
Korea Baseball Futures League
Futures League is the 2nd highest level below that of Korea Professional Baseball in South Korea. It has a role as a farm league, whose the purpose is to develop players available to play in Korea Professional Baseball league on demand. Futures League consists of two small leagues that are...

, South Korea (minor)

Chinese Professional Baseball League
Chinese Professional Baseball League
The Chinese Professional Baseball League , or CPBL, is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 2003...

(CPBL), Taiwan (Republic of China)
Taiwan Major League
Taiwan Major League
The Taiwan Major League was a professional baseball league in Taiwan that operated from 1996 to 2003. It was established by TV tycoon Chiu Fu-sheng after a row over CPBL broadcasting rights...

(TML), (defunct)
China Baseball League
China Baseball League
The China Baseball League or Chinese Baseball League or CBL is a professional baseball league under the administration of Chinese Baseball Association, founded in 2002.-Teams:...

(CBL), China (Peoples' Republic of China)
Baseball Philippines
Baseball Philippines
Baseball Philippines is a start-up baseball circuit established in 2007 by a joint venture between Community Sports Incorporated and Pureplay Sports Management Incorporated in partnership with the Philippine Amateur Baseball Association and sanctioned by the Philippine Sports Commission.The circuit...
Israel Baseball League
Israel baseball league
The Israel Baseball League was a six-team professional baseball league in Israel. The first game was played on June 24, 2007...

(defunct)

Europe

American International Baseball Club (AIBC) - Vienna, Austria (youth)
Croatian Baseball League (in Croatian)
Division Élite
Division Élite
The Division Élite is the highest level of baseball in France. Its clubs compete for the Championnat de France de baseball.- Organization :...

, France
Bundesliga
Bundesliga (baseball)
The Baseball-Bundesliga is the elite competition for the sport of baseball in Germany. In it, the men's German championship is determined annually. Like most European sports leagues, the Bundesliga uses a system of promotion and relegation...

, Germany
Greek Baseball
Irish Baseball League
Irish Baseball League
The Irish Baseball League is the men's league in Ireland. It started play in 1997 and continues to this day. The season runs from April to September and games are played on the weekends....
Serie A1
Serie A1 (baseball)
The Italian Baseball League is a professional baseball league that is governed by FIBS , which has its headquarters in Rome...

(Italian Baseball League), Italy
Honkbal Hoofdklasse
Honkbal Hoofdklasse
The Honkbal Hoofdklasse is the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is an eight-team league that plays a 42-game schedule and is overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation . Games are played principally on weekends...

, Netherlands
División de Honor de Béisbol
Division de Honor de Beisbol
Division de Honor de Béisbol is the highest level of professional baseball in Spain. The league is overseen by the Real Federación Española de Béisbol y Sófbol. It is played principally on weekends. The teams play against each other twice, once at home and once away, in two games during the same day...

, Spain
Elitserien
Elitserien (baseball)
Elitserien is the highest league of baseball in Sweden and is operated by the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation. The number of teams in Elitserien has varied through the years...

, Sweden
British Baseball Federation
British Baseball Federation
The British Baseball Federation is the national governing body of baseball within the United Kingdom, founded in .BBF is a federated member of both the Confederation of European Baseball and the International Baseball Federation...

, United Kingdom
National League, United Kingdom
Baseballin SM-sarja, Finland
Collegiate Baseball League Europe
Collegiate Baseball League Europe
is a wood bat summer league in the Netherlands, founded by "Stichting Ontwikkeling Jeugdhonkbal Zuidwest Nederland" , based in Oosterhout, the Netherlands....

http://www.eteamz.com/cble

Oceania

Australian Baseball League
Australian Baseball League
The Australian Baseball League was a baseball league, established in 1987 and disbanded in 1999.-Formation:Before the formation of the Australian Baseball League, the Claxton Shield, established in , was Australia's premier baseball tournament...
Greater Brisbane League
Greater Brisbane League
The Greater Brisbane League or formerly the Greater Brisbane Baseball Board league is the largest baseball league in the Australian state of Queensland and covers all teams from Brisbane North, South, West, Metro as well as two Gold Coast teams. These are from age groups Little League through to...

, Australia
New South Wales Major League
New South Wales Major League
The New South Wales Major League is the highest level of play for the sport of baseball in New South Wales. It is currently composed of clubs predominantly from Sydney, with one club from the Central Coast...

, Australia
New Zealand Baseball
Palau Baseball