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Florida Complex League

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Florida Complex League
File:Gulfcoastleague.png
Gulf Coast League logo
SportBaseball
Founded1964
No. of teams16
Country United States
Most recent
champion(s)		Gulf Coast League Phillies
Official websiteOfficial Website

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. After the regular season the division champion with the best record gets a bye into the best-of-3 championship. The two other division champions play a single game to determine who will move on to the championship series.

GCL teams generally play at the minor league spring training complexes of their parent major league clubs, and are uniformly owned by those parent clubs. The teams generate little if any revenue, as admission is not charged and no concessions are operated. As almost all of the games are played in the heat and humidity of Florida summer afternoons, very few show up to watch the average contest. GCL games are perhaps the least competitive of all minor league games, as most of the players were just drafted in that year's entry draft (2-3 weeks before the season's start) and are there to develop skills under their employer's tutelage rather than (necessarily) to win games or entertain fans.

GCL teams are not referred to by their home city, but simply by their parent club's name, and the prefix "GCL" or "Gulf Coast" if necessary to differentiate between them and another club sharing the nickname. Some of these teams share stadiums with their club's High-A affiliate in the Florida State League, which can lead to confusion, as FSL teams do use the city name (e.g. the Dunedin Blue Jays, three levels up from the GCL Blue Jays).

Current teams

Division Team MLB Affiliation City Stadium Capacity
East GCL Astros Houston Astros Kissimmee, Florida Osceola County Stadium 5,300
GCL Cardinals St. Louis Cardinals Jupiter, Florida Roger Dean Stadium 7,200
GCL Marlins Florida Marlins Jupiter, Florida Roger Dean Stadium 7,200
GCL Mets New York Mets Port St. Lucie, Florida Tradition Field 7,347
GCL Nationals Washington Nationals Viera, Florida Washington Nationals Training Complex,
Space Coast Stadium 		8,100
Division Team MLB Affiliation City Stadium Capacity
North GCL Blue Jays Toronto Blue Jays Dunedin, Florida Bobby Mattick Training Center
at Englebert Complex
GCL Braves Atlanta Braves Lake Buena Vista, Florida Champion Stadium 9,500
GCL Pirates Pittsburgh Pirates Bradenton, Florida Pirate City Stadium
GCL Phillies Philadelphia Phillies Clearwater, Florida Carpenter Complex —
GCL Tigers Detroit Tigers Lakeland, Florida Joker Marchant Stadium 8,500
GCL Yankees New York Yankees Tampa, Florida Yankee Complex —
Division Team MLB Affiliation City Stadium Capacity
South GCL Orioles Baltimore Orioles Sarasota, Florida Twin Lakes Park
GCL Rays Tampa Bay Rays Port Charlotte, Florida Charlotte Sports Park 7,000
GCL Reds Cincinnati Reds Sarasota, Florida Ed Smith Stadium 7,500
GCL Red Sox Boston Red Sox Fort Myers, Florida Boston Red Sox Player Development Complex —
GCL Twins Minnesota Twins Fort Myers, Florida Lee County Sports Complex —


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