Nov

12

How will the 2008 College World Series Impact the Cape Cod League?

Posted by Greg | Filed Under News | 

cws-in-omaha.jpgWith its traditional start around mid-June, the Cape Cod Baseball League is sandwiched between the end of the NCAA regular season and the start of fall semester classes.  Each summer the College World Series plays for a few weeks after the CCBL season gets underway, humming away like background music from Omaha, Nebraska.  

I received this week my latest issue of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Newsletter.  In it I noted that the NCAA announced back in August the 2008 College World Series format.  The CWS will start on Saturday, June 14, and will conclude on either June 24th or 25th.

The Cape Cod Baseball League, which started last season on June 15, seems forever to be waiting on the arrival of some of the most competitive players from top teams competing in the CWS.  Falmouth, for example, was in the cellar until a few of the College World Series champs from Oregon State arrived. Falmouth went on a tear after their arrival and eventually played in the CCBL championship series.

The NCAA College World Series continues to grow in popularity, setting a new attendance record of 310,609 and generating revenues from broadcasts on ESPN.

Comments

One Response to “How will the 2008 College World Series Impact the Cape Cod League?”

  1. CapeMan on November 12th, 2007 9:55 am

    Of all the recent changes in College Baseball, I’ve been thinking that this will have the greatest impact on the Cape League.

    1. There might be a tendancy for some of these kids; coming off the college world series and regional rounds, to ask themselves…”why bother”. It is typically a week after they finish playing before these kids get to the Cape. We are then looking at July 2 or 3rd before they arrive; nevermind get in the lineup. At that point, most team will have be played 17-19 games…almost 1/2 the season.

    2. The CWS is getting more and more attention nationally. The NCAA will be either revamping or building a brand new stadium in Omaha and these kids can get a lot of exposure simply playing in Omaha on national TV.

    3. More and more pitchers; traditionally the strength of the CCBL, will be held back by their coaches. (See Scott Gorgen last year) These kids will train and pitch later into the season and there will be a lot of sentiment to rest these kids. (Perhaps some of them make late season appearances in some local summer leagues in Texas and Carolina just to get some innings in.)

    4. TEAM USA…I assume that their tryout process will have to be extended due to the CWS ending later. These workouts/tryouts are already taking longer than in the past; especially since they are taking advantage of their new training facility in North Carolina. Why would a kid that has already missed 17-19 games and then another 7-10 games because of these tryouts come to the Cape…and why would teams hold spots for them anyway.

    5. The combinatin of the longer CWS plus the players’ concern about maintaining grades in order to compete the following spring may result in some kids focusing on grades rather than the CCBL. (A separate issue but I can see a situation where kids lose focus on their grades from those schools that are projected to go deep in the playoffs.)

    6. Will it simply be easier to play summer ball closer to home? As we’ve talked about many times, their are other summer leagues that are making ground on the CCBL. Will a kid from Texas who lives in Texas simply stay and play at home for the 20 or so games that are left by the time he is done with the CWS?

    7. In a lot of ways, the CCBL has gotten lucky the past couple of years because many of the top seeds have been upset early in the playoffs. (See Vanderbilt & Texas last year.) The time will come when the CWS will include teams that are ALL loaded with CCBL players. If a high percentage of those kids don’t end up coming to the Cape that season AND still manage to get drafted high and/or move on to MLB without the benefit of the CCBL, other kids will notice and follow that path.

    This will be something very interesting to watch.

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