Béisbol Doble A, governed by the Federación de Béisbol Aficionado de Puerto Rico, is a Puerto Rican amateur baseball spring and summer baseball league, founded in 1940 and based in San Juan. The season starts in mid-February, and ends with the Carnaval de Campeones final in September. They play a weekend schedule, and their all-star game is held soon after the regular season and before the playoffs. The Toritos de Cayey are the defending champions.
League structure
As of the 2014 baseball season, it had 48 teams, grouped into two leagues, with 4 divisions of 6 teams in each league. The 2013 season saw the relocation of 4 teams and a divisional realignment due to geographical relocation; Villalba went to Ceiba and became the Marlins, Carolina went to Luquillo and became the Turistas, the original Cataño franchise moved to Corozal and became the Plataneros, and Toa Baja moved to Cataño and became the new Lancheros. However, six teams were eliminated after the 2014 season: Toa Alta, Moca, Luquillo, Ceiba, Gurabo and Orocovis.
The regular season consists of 20 games, in which every team faces their divisional opponent 4 times during the season, and at season's end, the top 4 teams in the division qualifies for the postseason.
Playoffs
Divisional semifinals and finals
The top 4 teams in every division qualifies for the postseason, first in the divisional semifinals, where there are paired according to the regular season finish, and the top seed faces the 4th seed, and the 2nd seed faces the 3rd seed. The winners of the divisional semifinals faces each other for the Divisional Championship, and the winner of that series wins their respective division and advanced to the Carnaval de Campeones or Champions' Carnival as they are known in Puerto Rico. Both the Divisional Semifinals and Finals are a Best of Seven series.
Carnaval de Campeones
The Carnaval de Campeones is the second phase of the playoff system in the Beisbol Doble AA where all 8 divisional champions face each other in order to crown the national champion, in which is divided between the 4 divisional champions for both the Atlantic League and the Caribbean League. The pairings of all the Champions' Carnival series are determined by the aggregate of the teams overall regular season and divisional playoffs winning percentage. The Pairings goes also the top seed against the 4th seed between the leagues' divisional champions, and later the winners of that first round advance to their respective league championship finals, and the winners of that league finals face each other in the National Finals. All three rounds are a Best of Seven Format as well.
