2014 FCBL season


The 2014 FCBL season was the fourth season of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league.
On September 20, 2013, John Creedon Jr., who prior to the 2013 season had discussed bringing baseball back to the city of Worcester, announced that he would indeed operate the league's tenth franchise at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field starting in 2014, and unveiled the Bravehearts on December 2, 2013.
The league split into an East and West division of five teams each. The All-Star Game assembled teams comprising the best players of each division; on July 24, the West beat the East, 4-1. The regular season expanded to 56 games, with each team playing 28 home games and 28 road games. No team actually played 56 games, as rain-outs occurring late in the season were not made up. The 2014 FCBL playoffs were conducted as in 2013, except that the rules gave the winner of each division the bye in round one, and guaranteed that, of the next four teams with the best overall records, the higher-seeded team would host the one-game play-in.
The two division winners, Worcester and Martha's Vineyard, won their semifinal series and met in the best-of-three final series. Worcester swept the series to become the 2014 champions.

Regular season standings

TeamWinsLossesWin Pct.GB
Worcester Bravehearts3222.593-
Torrington Titans2825.5283.5
Nashua Silver Knights2826.5194
Pittsfield Suns2627.4915.5
Wachusett Dirt Dawgs2629.4736.5

As of August 9, 2014.

All-star game

The FCBL's third annual All-Star game was hosted by the Brockton Rox at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, Massachusetts on July 24, 2014. The format for this year's game had members from the league's East Division teams pitted against players from the league's West Division teams. The West All-Stars defeated the East All-Stars 4-1.

Postseason

The postseason for the 2014 season to include a one-game Play-In round. The playoff field of six teams, where the two teams with the best records would get a bye for the first round. The Play-In game would be played at the home field of the higher seeded team. The Semi-Final and Final Series would be a 3-game series.