The first cancellation of a summer collegiate baseball league came on Friday, as the Cape Cod League, founded in 1885 and recognized as the nation’s premier league of its kind, canceled its 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now the New England Collegiate Baseball League, of which the Sanford Mainers are a member, is considering its options.
“We’re still in a holding pattern,” said John Webb, the Mainers’ assistant general manager. “I think all the teams are trying to evaluate where everything is at before we make a final decision.”
Webb expects that decision to come soon, perhaps in the next 10 days.
The NECBL is a 13-team league that plays a 44-game schedule in June and July. The Mainers, who play at historic Goodall Park in Sanford, are to open on June 3.
Teams consist of college players from around the nation who spend the summer living with a host family in the local community.
In late March, the league said that it would continue to monitor the coronavirus outbreak and was hopeful to play this summer. “That said,” the league announced in a statement, “our first priority is the health and well-being of our players, host families and fans.”
The NECBL was founded in 1993, with the Mainers joining in 2002. Sanford has been a consistent winner, making the playoffs in all but four of its seasons. The Mainers won the league championship twice, in 2004 and 2008, and lost in the championship series twice, in 2014 and 2016. Eight former Mainers have played in the major leagues.
The Cape Cod League is a 10-team league that features many players who go on to play in the major leagues. The league’s executive committee voted unanimously to cancel the 2020 season, stating, “Following CDC guidelines and medical recommendations, the league determined it would be impossible to guarantee the safety of players, coaches, umpires, host families, volunteers and fans during this unprecedented health crisis.”
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