NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – After nearly two months of regular season action that saw defending champion Valley Blue Sox pick up right where they left off by winning the North Division title in dominant fashion while the Plymouth Pilgrims claimed the franchise’s second divisional crown, the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) has its six-team, 2018 postseason field finalized to officially begin the the hunt for the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup.

All contests will be broadcast live on the NECBL Broadcast Network in conjunction with Stretch Internet, and links to free audio and pay-per-view video links can be found here.

The 2018 NECBL Playoffs will be played in the following format:

1. The Playoffs will consist of three rounds.
2. The top three teams in each division will be seeded one through three within their respective divisions.
3. Divisional Wildcard pairings will give the home field advantage to the No. 2 seed of each division against the No. 3 seed. The Divisional Wildcard round will be a best-of-one, single-elimination game.
4. The winners of each Divisional Wildcard matchup will advance to the Divisional Finals to take on the No. 1 seeds, which earn first-round byes by virtue of their regular season division titles. The format for the Divisional Finals will be a best-of-three series, with home field advantage being awarded to the No. 1 seed in each Division, who will host the first and third game of each series.
5. The final two teams standing will face off in the NECBL Championship Series. This series will also be a best-of-three format. The team with the better regular season record will earn home field advantage for the NECBL Championship Series, and that team will host the first and third game of the series. If the two teams facing off in the NECBL Championship Series had identical regular season records, home field advantage will be determined by tiebreaker rules used for postseason seeding.

NORTH/SOUTH DIVISIONAL WILDCARD GAMES (Single Elimination)

Friday, Aug. 3: North Wildcard Round: #2 Sanford # vs. #3 Keene (6:30 p.m.)
Season Series: 3-2 Sanford
League Championships: Sanford - 2 (2004, 08); Keene - 4 (2000, 03, 11, 13)

Friday, Aug 3: South Wildcard Round: #2 Ocean State vs. #3 Mystic (6:30 p.m.)
Season Series: 3-3 Tie
League Championships: Ocean State - 0; Mystic - 2 (1994*, 2016)
* = as Eastern Tides

NORTH/SOUTH DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Best-of-3)

Aug. 4-6: North Divisional Championship: North Wildcard Round winner vs. North #1 seed
Aug. 4-6: South Divisional Championship: South Wildcard Round winner vs. South #1 seed

NECBL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Best-of-3)

Aug. 7-9: Championship Series: North Division Champion vs. South Division Champion

Please note: the above dates are approximate and the start of each best-of-three series may be altered due to weather or either series ending in just two games. The next playoff round may not begin until both divisions complete the current round of competition

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The New England Collegiate Baseball League is a wooden bat college summer league that fields teams in all six New England states. Partially funded by Major League Baseball, the NECBL started play in 1994 and is enjoying its 25th-year anniversary season this summer. The New England League has sent nearly 150 alumni to the Major Leagues and has had nearly 100 alumni drafted in each of the last 10 Major League Baseball Drafts. For continuing coverage of the NECBL, visit NECBL.com and follow the league on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook.