TheNorthwoods League is acollegiate summer baseball wooden bat league. All players in the league must haveNCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not paid, so as to maintain their college eligibility. Graduated senior pitchers are also eligible to play in the Northwoods League. Each team may have four of these players at a time.

Northwoods League

Sport	Baseball
Founded	1994
Divisions	Great Lakes Division, Great Plains Division
No. of teams	24
Countries	United States, Canada
Continent	North America
Most recent champion(s)	Kalamazoo Growlers (2) (2024)
Most titles	Rochester Honkers (5)
Level on pyramid	Summer Collegiate
Official website	northwoodsleague.com

Teams play 72 games scheduled from Memorial Day to the 2nd Saturday in August, while the playoffs take place the week after, starting on that Sunday and ending usually on Friday. The season itself is broken into two halves, with the winners of each half in each of the four sub-divisions playing against each other to determine a sub-divisional champion in a best-of-three series. The sub-divisional champions then meet in a winner-take-all game to determine a divisional champion. The divisional champions then meet in a winner-take-all game for the league championship.

In 2020, some teams cancelled their season due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. For those teams that did play, instead of playing within their usual divisions, they played in hub regions, with some creating "temporary teams".

In 2023, the Northwoods League announced plans to create a new softball league. The softball league will initially consist of four teams, based inMadison (Madison Night Mares) andLa Crosse, Wisconsin (La Crosse Steam);Mankato, Minnesota (Mankato Habeneros); andMinot, North Dakota (Minot Honeybees).^[1]

Established in 1994, the Northwoods League was the first for-profit summer collegiate baseball league. It has more teams and plays more games than any other summer collegiate baseball league.^[2] The Northwoods League drew over 1.1 million fans for the fourth consecutive year in 2017. The purpose of the league is to develop players while college baseball teams are not allowed to work out. Many of the teams in the league play in ballparks formerly occupied by professional clubs from theMidwest League,Prairie League,Northern League, andFrontier League. The wooden bat circuit allows communities deemed too small for professional ball to continue to enjoy high-quality, competitive baseball during the summer months. The Northwoods League was the first summer collegiate baseball league to broadcast on theESPN network, and currently webcasts all of its games.

The teams are located in theNorthwoods region of theUpper Midwestern United States and NorthwesternOntario, mostly in theU.S. states ofMinnesota (five teams) andWisconsin (nine teams); also with four teams inMichigan, three inNorth Dakota, and one team each inIowa,Illinois andOntario.

Over 300 league alumni have gone on to play inMajor League Baseball (MLB) with 91 alumni entering the MLB ranks from 2013 to 2017. AlumnusMax Scherzer, the 2017 National LeagueCy Young Award winner, and American League runner-upChris Sale faced each other as the starting pitchers in the2017 and2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Games.

In small cities it may be hard to find the financial stability in a newly-founded baseball league. League leaders realized they needed to gain significant revenue from sponsors in order to succeed. According to league Chairman and co-founder Dick Radatz, Jr, two-thirds of the revenue comes from sponsors and the remainder from ticket sales, concessions, and team merchandise. Radatz also noted the importance of having the sponsor revenue before the beginning of the season.^[3]

From 1995-2018, the league championship series was a best-of-3 between the two division champions. When the league expanded in 2019, the championship became a one-game playoff.

2020 Pod Champions^[11]

The Northwoods League, in addition tobeing a developmental league for playersand coaches, is also a developmental league forumpires. The concentrated game schedule, travel, and Minor League-like game conditions give NWL umpires a pre-professional experience. Since the League's inaugural season in 1994, 44 of its former umpires have furthered their careers in affiliated professional baseball.

The League recruits its umpires from the two umpire schools whose curricula have been approved by the Professional Baseball Umpire Corps. (PBUC): The Minor League Umpire training Academy and Harry Wendelstedt School for Umpires. The umpires ultimately chosen are usually among the top school graduates who were then selected to the pre-season, PBUC sponsored Umpire Evaluation Course.

The NWL contracts with eleven three-man crews during the regular season, a six-man crew during the mid-season All-Star game, and six umpires for both the divisional playoffs and championship series.

• Official website