The Futures League

WHAT IS THE FUTURES LEAGUE?

The Futures League is summer collegiate baseball at its best, having been regarded as one of the most talented and competitive leagues in the country since its inception in 2011. 

Each franchise provides high quality, affordable entertainment, in a casual, family-friendly atmosphere. College players from around the country descend upon the New England region each summer to take part in a competitive league that closely mirrors the style of a minor league season, playing over 60 games from late May through August. 

More than 300 Futures League players and alumni have been drafted by Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations, with at least one selected in the first round of the MLB Draft in six consecutive years as of 2025.

The league quickly gained in popularity in the community and is currently the highest-attended summer collegiate league in New England. More than three million fans have watched Futures League baseball over the years. 

For a deeper look at the league’s history, check out the Futures League History & Records Book.

OUR HISTORY

The ownership groups of both the Brockton Rox (Can-Am League) and the Lowell Spinners (Boston Red Sox affiliate) founded the Futures League in 2011 to provide another summer baseball opportunity specifically geared towards local talent. The league featured four teams — the Nashua (N.H.) Silver Knights, Martha’s Vineyard (Mass.) Sharks, Torrington (Conn.) Titans, and Seacoast Mavericks (Portsmouth, N.H.) — during its first year of existence.

The Futures League earned immediate credibility and success both on the field and at the gates in 2011, and the league expanded from four teams to nine after just one summer of play.

The Wachusett Dirt Dawgs (Leominster, Mass.), Pittsfield (Mass.) Suns, Old Orchard Beach (Maine) Raging Tide, North Shore Navigators (Lynn, Mass.), and the Brockton (Mass.) Rox were all added as expansion franchises in 2012. The Goldklang Group operates the Pittsfield franchise, as well as four other minor league teams in the Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs, Fort Myers (Fla.) Miracle, Hudson Valley (N.Y.) Renegades, and St. Paul (Minn.) Saints.

After Nashua won the first two championships in league history and Martha’s Vineyard captured the 2013 title, Worcester, Mass., became the league’s 10th community in 2014. The Bravehearts raised the trophy at the end of their inaugural season playing at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field on the College of the Holy Cross campus.

Appearing in the championship series in its first seven years of existence, Worcester has won two sets of back-to-back titles in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019. The Bristol (Conn.) Blues joined the fold for the first time in 2015 and went on to play for the title in two of their five Futures League seasons.

In 2017, the Futures League made national headlines by becoming the first baseball league to substitute traditional extra innings with a “Home Run Derby Wins It” tiebreaker. All games tied after 10 innings are decided by a home run derby, with each team getting three minutes to hit as many home runs as possible. The winner of the derby wins the game!

The league also saw expansion to Westfield, Mass., with the Starfires in 2019 and acquired a former professional Atlantic League franchise, the New Britain (Conn.) Bees, in 2020.

The 2020 season was unlike any other as the Futures League navigated the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to put on a 39-game season. Two of the league’s ballparks welcomed fans at a 25 percent reduced capacity, and the schedule was completed without interruptions and saw Nashua win its league-record fifth title in an exciting three-game series against Worcester.

As the only regular New England-based summer league in action in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Futures League drew significant attention from Major League Baseball scouts all season and had three regionally-televised games on New England Sports Network in August. The league also benefited from a streaming partnership with BlueFrame Technology, bringing all online game broadcasts under one umbrella for the first time ever with the creation of the FCBL Network.

Following the pandemic year, all eight Futures League ballparks returned to hosting fans in 2021 and welcomed more than 243,000 throughout a 68-game regular season. Losses due to Minor League Baseball contraction were the FCBL’s gain as the league expanded to two of the region’s long-tenured professional markets, taking in the Vermont Lake Monsters and Norwich (Conn.) Sea Unicorns.

The Lake Monsters immediately led the league in attendance, welcoming more than 1,700 fans per game through the gates of Burlington’s historic Centennial Field. They ultimately took home their first championship at any level since 1996, as well as Organization of the Year honors for the first of two consecutive years.

The 2022 season featured record-setting attendance across the league, as nearly 340,000 fans attended games across the league. Nashua added to its organizational success that summer, toppling Vermont in a best-of-three series to win its league-leading sixth championship.

Norwich became the first Futures League franchise to win back-to-back-to-back titles in 2023, 2024 and 2025, completing the three-year run in upset fashion as a No. 4 seed. After beating Vermont and first-time finalist Westfield to win their first two crowns, the Sea Unicorns pulled off a two-game sweep of Worcester — which won a record-setting 45 games during the regular season — in the semifinal round and bested in-state rival New Britain to win the league in 2025.

The Futures League will expand to a new venue in 2026, welcoming a team to beautiful LeLacheur Park on the banks of the Merrimack River in Lowell, Mass. Lowell is the third and final former New York-Penn League franchise in New England to enter the Futures League, joining both Vermont and Norwich. Connections between the Futures League, the university and city of Lowell run deep. The league was co-founded by Drew Weber, who owned the popular Spinners from 1997 through 2019.

PRODUCING NEXT-LEVEL TALENT

The Futures League has been home to top talent since its inception when five players rostered to the original four teams were drafted, and the trend of producing talent for the next level has only continued and expanded since. The league’s first-ever MLB player was Tyler Bashlor, a 2012 Torrington Titans pitcher who debuted for the New York Mets in 2018.

Bashlor was the first of four players from the league’s second-ever season to reach the majors. That group also included the next player to debut: Boston College product Chris Shaw, a Lexington, Mass., native and 2012 Top Pro Prospect who was among the first players to play in the league as a rising college freshman. The influx of young talent in the Futures League — a rarity in the summer collegiate baseball world — has played a big role in expanding the league’s talent pool over the years.

As a result of its continued growth, the Futures League also was selected to host a series of U.S. Collegiate National Team games during the summer of 2017. Team USA’s annual tour included an exhibition game against selected league prospects, while its Collegiate All-Star Series against Japan included games at Worcester, Nashua’s Historic Holman Stadium, and Brockton’s Campanelli Stadium, as well as in Lowell, Mass., and Hartford, Conn. That year’s Team USA roster included former Futures League pitchers Tim Cate (UConn/Bristol) and Bryce Tucker (UCF/Brockton), who both reached the affiliated professional ranks.

Former Pittsfield Sun and Oklahoma star Cade Cavalli became the league’s highest-ever draft pick when he was selected 22nd overall by the Washington Nationals in 2020, setting an initial bar that has been raised four times since. The following year, the Futures League’s two-time Top Pro Prospect Sal Frelick set a new high mark for the league as he was drafted 15th by the Milwaukee Brewers, following a three-year career at Boston College. 

With Frelick’s selection, the league produced a first-round pick in consecutive years for the first time ever in 2021 — and the streak has continued for six in a row through 2025. The league had a new all-time high draft pick in both 2023 and 2025, while the 2024 Draft marked the first in which an alumni was selected in each of the first 10 rounds.

On his way to becoming a Big Ten Player of the Year at the University of Maryland, Matt Shaw spent parts of two seasons in Worcester and was ultimately selected 13th overall by the Chicago Cubs in 2023 and, after rising to the rank of top prospect in the organization, made his MLB debut less than two years later. 

Former Nashua Silver Knight left-hander Liam Doyle became the first Futures Leaguer picked in the top-10 in 2025, hearing his name called fifth overall by the St. Louis Cardinals. With Doyle topping the list, the 24 total Futures League players and alumni drafted in 2025 were the most since 2021.

MLB DEBUTS

After Bashlor, Shaw debuted for the San Francisco Giants later in 2018 while Northeastern’s own Aaron Civale pitched for the Cleveland Indians in 2019 after being a part of Worcester’s inaugural team. The Futures League’s original three MLB products were inducted in the first-ever Hall of Fame class in 2020 which included 13 total members who contributed to the league’s creation and continued success over its first decade.

The league’s list of eventual MLB players expanded with three debuts during the first month of the 2021 season. Former Martha’s Vineyard Sharks and Clemson University pitcher Paul Campbell appeared for the Miami Marlins, preceding a pair of New England collegiate products to reach the highest level later in April. Within less than two weeks, infielders Zack Short and Jason Vosler also played their first MLB games with the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants, respectively. In the Futures, Short played for the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide and Short for the Brockton Rox.

In 2022, former Torrington and University of Maine infielder Jeremy Pena made his MLB debut with the Houston Astros and contributed greatly to a World Series championship as a rookie. An eventual Gold Glove-winning shortstop, he earned American League Championship Series and World Series MVP honors. Pena and Cavalli were among the six former Futures Leaguers who reached “The Show” that season. 

The 2022 season was the first of three straight in which six total Futures League alumni made their MLB debuts. In 2023, Frelick had a memorable July debut in Milwaukee and became the league’s second-ever Gold Glover the following year. 

The first two former Futures League MVPs to reach the majors both debuted in 2024, and both were New England natives. Former Worcester Braveheart and Dartmouth College catcher Ben Rice began his career for the New York Yankees, while Nashua Silver Knights and Bryant University product Mickey Gasper — whose .421 average in 2016 remained the Futures League’s single-season best until 2023 — played for the Boston Red Sox before being traded to the Minnesota Twins.

In 2024, the Futures League also produced its second-ever World Series champion in former UConn right-hander Ben Casparius, who earned Top Pro Pitching Prospect honors as a member of the New Britain Bees in 2020. Casparius debuted in August and made a start in the World Series just months later.

WHO PLAYS IN THE FUTURES LEAGUE?

Any student-athlete who wishes to play in the Futures League must be currently enrolled in a NCAA- or NAIA-sanctioned college or university, be in good academic standing, and have at least one year of collegiate eligibility remaining.

While the vast majority of summer collegiate leagues require players to have completed their first year of eligibility, the Futures League allows top incoming freshmen to participate as well. The league has attracted additional talent from top New England programs like Boston College, UConn and Northeastern, as well as national powers like Vanderbilt and Virginia, as a result of this rule.

League bylaws mandate each team have a maximum 40-man roster, with at least 10 of those players selected from a New England-based college, be a New England native, or both. The league strongly suggests that student athletes have their college coach and/or a MLB scout recommend them to a team’s general manager.

Updated: 09/2025