This article is about the league founded in 1923 that has been known as the Eastern League since 1938. For other leagues with the same name, see
Eastern League (disambiguation).
The Eastern League (EL) is a
Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
sports league that has operated under that name since 1938, with the exception of the 2021 season, during which the league operated under the moniker Double-A Northeast. The league has played at the
Double-A level since 1963, and consists primarily of teams located in the
Northeastern United States.
The league has had teams in a total of 52 different cities, located in 12 different states and two Canadian provinces. The league consisted of six to eight teams from 1923 until 1993. The league expanded to 10 teams in 1994 with the addition of the
Portland Sea Dogs and the
New Haven Ravens and split into two divisions, the Northern Division and the Southern Division. The league expanded to 12 teams in 1999 with the addition of the
Altoona Curve and the
Erie SeaWolves. The two divisions were restructured and renamed for the 2010 season as the Eastern Division and the Western Division because the
Connecticut Defenders moved to
Richmond, Virginia, after the 2009 season, becoming the
Richmond Flying Squirrels.
The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled.[1][2]
As part of
Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues, the league was temporarily renamed the "Double-A Northeast"; the
Somerset Patriots, formerly an independent team, joined the league, while the
Trenton Thunder were relegated to the newly-formed
MLB Draft League.[3] Following MLB's acquisition of the rights to the names of the historical minor leagues, the Double-A Northeast was renamed the Eastern League effective with the 2022 season.[4]
League champions have been determined by different means since the Eastern League's formation in 1923. Before 1934, the champions were simply the league pennant winners. A formal playoff system to determine league champions was established in 1934.[16]