Florida State League

Florida State League

Sport	Baseball
Founded	1919
No. of teams	10
Country	United States
Most recent champion(s)	Bradenton Marauders (2021)
Most titles	St. Petersburg Saints (8)
Classification	Single-A (2021–present) Class A-Advanced (1990–2020)
Official website	www.milb.com/florida-state

The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues. The league temporarily operated for the 2021 season as the Low-A Southeast before reassuming its original moniker in 2022.

Each league member is affiliated with a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, and most play in their affiliate's spring training facility.

History

The league originated in 1919 with teams in Bartow, Bradenton, Lakeland, Orlando, Sanford, and Tampa, Florida. The league closed down in 1928 and resumed play in 1936. It has continued uninterrupted, except for a four-year (1942–1945) suspension during World War II.

Initially, the FSL was classified as a Class D circuit. It was elevated to Class C from 1921 to 1924 before reverting to Class D from 1925 to 1928. The league went dormant from 1929 to 1935, but was revived as a Class D circuit from 1936 to 1941. After another period of inactivity from 1942 to 1945, it continued at Class D from 1946 to 1962. When the minor leagues were reconfigured in 1963, the FSL was reclassified as a Class A league. There it continued until the next reorganization in 1990 when it was elevated to Class A-Advanced.^[1]

The championship series' first cancellation was in 2001, when playoffs were canceled after the September 11 attacks. Afterwards, the 2004 playoffs were canceled due to the threat of Hurricane Ivan. Years later, the 2017 FSL Championship finals were canceled on September 5, due to the threat of Hurricane Irma. The winners of the division series playoff games were named co-champions.^[2] This marked the third time since 2000 that the championship series game was canceled.^[3]^[4] In 2019, the end of the season and playoffs were cancelled due to the threat of Hurricane Dorian.^[5]

The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled on June 30.^[6]^[7] As part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues, the Florida State League was demoted to Single-A and temporarily renamed the "Low-A Southeast" for the 2021 season.^[8] Following MLB's acquisition of the rights to the names of the historical minor leagues, the Low-A Southeast was renamed the Florida State League effective with the 2022 season.^[9]

Current teams

Division	Team	MLB affiliation	City	Stadium	Capacity
East	Daytona Tortugas	Cincinnati Reds	Daytona Beach, Florida	Jackie Robinson Ballpark	4,200
	Jupiter Hammerheads	Miami Marlins	Jupiter, Florida	Roger Dean Stadium	6,871
	Palm Beach Cardinals	St. Louis Cardinals	Jupiter, Florida	Roger Dean Stadium	6,871
	St. Lucie Mets	New York Mets	Port St. Lucie, Florida	Clover Park	7,160
West	Bradenton Marauders	Pittsburgh Pirates	Bradenton, Florida	LECOM Park	8,500
	Clearwater Threshers	Philadelphia Phillies	Clearwater, Florida	BayCare Ballpark	8,500
	Dunedin Blue Jays	Toronto Blue Jays	Dunedin, Florida	TD Ballpark	8,500
	Fort Myers Mighty Mussels	Minnesota Twins	Fort Myers, Florida	Hammond Stadium	9,300
	Lakeland Flying Tigers	Detroit Tigers	Lakeland, Florida	Joker Marchant Stadium	8,500
	Tampa Tarpons	New York Yankees	Tampa, Florida	George M. Steinbrenner Field	11,026

[Interactive fullscreen map]

Current team locations:

West Division

East Division

Complete teams list

Teams of the early FSL (1919–1928)

Teams of the modern FSL (1936–present)

League timeline

Past champions

Awards