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The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCBL),[2] but in 2008 it was renamed as the West Coast League. The league is designed to develop college talent, and only current college-eligible players are allowed to participate. The West Coast League has produced dozens of professional players, including a number of major leaguers. League teams are operated similarly to professional minor-league teams. The WCL's season typically runs from early June through the middle of August.
In 2005 the teams played 42 games. For the 2007 season, this was the first year that the WCL used divisions. They separated the league into two divisions, East and West, based on geographical location. The playoffs worked in an odd way. The top two teams in the standings at the end of the season would playoff a best 2 out of 3 in both divisions. Then, the winners of the sets would playoff in the championship series, also a best 2 out of 3. In 2009, the league expanded the schedule to 48 games, at the same time going to an unbalanced schedule. Since 2012, the West Coast League has scheduled 54 league games for each team (with games against non-league opponents not counted in standings).
In 2011 the league expanded to Klamath Falls,[11] which in turn caused a 54-game unbalanced schedule. Also, in the Summer of 2011 the Wenatchee Applesox won the East Division Pennant, and the Walla Walla Sweets came in second and beat the Applesox in the Division Playoffs to go on to play the Corvallis Knights where they lost 2 games to 0. In the West Division the Corvallis Knights won the Pennant and the Bend Elks were 8 games behind them but lost 2–0 in the Divisional games.
2012
In 2012, the Wenatchee AppleSox won the East Division after topping the Bellingham Bells in the first round of the playoffs. At the same time, in the West Division the Corvallis Knights defeated the Cowlitz Black Bears. In the league's championship series, the AppleSox beat the Knights and captured their fifth league title.
2013
In the 2013 season the league changed from an East/West division format to a North/South division format because of further league expansion, of the Victoria HarbourCats,[12] and the Medford Rogues,[12] which brought the number of teams to 11. Also, in 2013 records were set and matched. Walla Walla Sweets pitcher Sean-Luke Brija matched the league record in saves, with 13 outstanding saves in the 2013 season. It was the first year an expansion team, in their first year, made the playoffs. The Medford Rogues made the playoffs by a tie, and winning their last 3 regular season games but, they lost their Cinderella Story season to the Corvallis Knights, beating them 2 games to nothing in the South Division playoffs. Also, the other expansion team, the Canadian Victoria HarbourCats, set a single game and All-star game attendance record of 4,210 in viewing. Finally, history was made in Kitsap after the last out of the top of the ninth when Spenser Watkins threw a spectacular perfect game, the first in West Coast League history.
In 2014 the Yakima Valley Pippins came on board, giving the WCL their twelfth team. Future major leaguer Eli Morgan was 8-0 for them. Also, in the 2014 year, because of the expansion of Yakima, the WCL restructured their league format for the 4th time in its history, moving to a 3-division format, with East, West, and South Divisions.[13][14] The playoff format adopted was similar to the MLB format, with only one wild card instead of two. The teams are shown in their respective geographical division in the Team Table below.
The play-off race came down to the last 2 days of league play with a race between Bend and Wenatchee for the first WCL Wild-card spot. Bend edged Wenatchee by just 1 game, causing Wenatchee to miss the playoffs for the first time. Yakima, Bellingham, and Corvallis won their divisions and set the field for the first three-division WCL playoff. The first round playoff pairings were Bellingham vs. Yakima and Corvallis vs. Bend. Both Corvallis and Bellingham won their first 2 games and advanced to the WCL Championship series. Bellingham won both games 2 and 3 of the series, making them the 4th team to ever win the WCL Championship.
2015
In 2015, the West Coast League saw its fifth league champion, the Bend Elks. Kelowna, Bellingham, Bend, and Corvallis advanced to the playoffs, in which Bend swept both Corvallis and Kelowna to capture their first WCL championship.
2016
In the 2015–2016 off-season, the Medford Rogues left the WCL and joined the Great West League. Also, the league announced that the Klamath Falls team would leave the league, with its place taken by a new team based in Gresham, Oregon.[15] On December 4, 2015, the Gresham Baseball Club announced that the team would be named the Gresham GreyWolves.[16]
In 2016, the Victoria HarbourCats set a single-season record for wins with 40, breaking the previous record of 39 (2011 Wenatchee AppleSox). Victoria also broke all three attendance records by having the highest attendance in a single game, season total, and game average. They had 60,466 total fans through the gates, averaging 2,239 a night, with a record 5,133 in one game on June 30 against the Kelowna Falcons.
In the new split-season playoffs format, Victoria won the first half in the North with a 19-game winning streak, and tied Bellingham for the second-half lead, with the Bells holding the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the season series. In the South, the first half was won by the Corvallis Knights, while the second half was won by the Yakima Valley Pippins. Both Corvallis and Bellingham swept their first-round playoff series, setting up a rematch of 2014's WCL Championship Series. The 2016 edition saw Corvallis win a thrilling Game 3 and capture their fourth championship, and first of seven consecutive championships from 2016 to 2023.
2017
In 2017, the Kitsap BlueJackets went under new management, and were replaced by the Port Angeles Lefties. Corvallis went on to win its second consecutive and fifth overall title.
2018
In 2018, the Gresham GreyWolves were rebranded as the Portland Pickles under new management. The Ridgefield Raptors also joined the West Coast League, bringing the total number of teams to 13. Corvallis went on to win its third consecutive and sixth overall title.
2019
In 2019, Corvallis won its fourth consecutive and seventh overall title.
2020
The West Coast League canceled its 2020 summer collegiate season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[17]
2021
In 2021, the Springfield Drifters, Nanaimo NightOwls, and Edmonton Riverhawks announced plans to join the West Coast League, bringing the total number of teams to 16. The WCL split back into two divisions of eight teams apiece for the North and South regions.
However, five Canadian teams in the West Coast League did not play the 2021 season due to pandemic-related border and gathering limitations. They planned to resume play in 2022, which would be the inaugural season for Springfield, Nanaimo, and Edmonton.[18]
Corvallis went on to win its fifth consecutive and eighth overall title.
2022
In 2022, Corvallis won its sixth consecutive and ninth overall title.
On September 19, 2022, the West Coast League announced a partnership with Major League Baseball as a part of the growing list of larger collegiate leagues partnering with MLB to further grow collegiate summer wood bat baseball. The agreement was reached to jointly pursue initiatives of mutual interest, including player and coach development, technology innovation related to scouting and fan experience, and community engagement.[19]
2023
In 2023, Corvallis defeated the Victoria HarbourCats to win its seventh consecutive and tenth overall title.
2024
On January 19, 2024, the West Coast League announced it had awarded a expansion franchise to Salem, Oregon. The new Salem team will start play in 2025 as the league's 17th team.
The Portland Pickles defeated the Corvallis Knights, 4-1, on August 14, 2024 in the WCL South Division Championship, ending the Knights' 7-year title run. On August 16, the Pickles defeated the Wenatchee AppleSox, 6-5, in the WCL Championship Game with a walkoff run in the bottom of the 9th inning. This marked the first WCL title for the Portland Pickles in team history, and the first team other than Corvallis to win it all since the Bend Elks in 2015. The Pickles were the 6th unique team to take home the trophy.
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