The Desert League of Professional Baseball is an

independent baseball league An independent baseball league is a professional baseball organization in the United States or Canada that is not overseen by Major League Baseball and is outside the Minor League Baseball clubs affiliated to it. The Northern League and Frontie ...

that began in 2016. Unlike other independent leagues, it features a winter schedule playing games from September through November.

History

Formed with a focus for rookie or first year professional players, the Desert League signed over 100 players to their first professional contracts and completed its inaugural season in 2016. The Desert League was designed as an independent professional league for rookies, and required each team carry a minimum of 12 rookies on their roster. The league had four teams based in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. Somerton Cañeros were an affiliate of the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule run ...

club

Cañeros de Los Mochis The Cañeros de Los Mochis ( en, Los Mochis Sugar Cane Growers) are a Mexican baseball team in the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico. They play in Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, ...

. Some games were played in San Luis, Mexico. Yuma Maple Leafs were crowned the first league champion on October 28, 2016 sweeping the best-of three championship series with the Imperial County Ghost Riders. After winning Game 1 the previous night in walk-off fashion 4-3 the Maple Leafs took the second game 8-2. Before the start of the second season the league announced that an agreement had been reached with the

California Winter League California Winter League is a former baseball winter league. It was the first integrated league in the 20th century as players from Major League Baseball and Negro league baseball played each other in training games. The league was in existence f ...

and the league would suspend operations. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. On December 20, 2019, league president Luke Powell announced the Desert League would resume play in September of 2021. However operations were suspended again in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On May 2, 2021, the Desert League announced it would resume operations and play in Fall 2023.

Teams

Champions

References

External links

Desert League FacebookDesert League Twitter
{{Professional Baseball Winter baseball leagues Independent baseball leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 2016 2016 establishments in Arizona 2016 establishments in California Baseball leagues in Arizona Baseball leagues in California

History

Teams

Champions

See also

References

External links