News

2026 Spring Baseball

February 4, 2022
It's time to start getting organized for 2026 Spring MVSBL Baseball .
 
Please let me know if your town will be returning this spring.
 
Let me know who is responsible for the big diamond division in your town and we can cut the email traffic down to just the league officials. If you are no longer involved, please let me know who from your town is in charge of these divisions ASAP so I can get them on the email list, and forward this email to them, copying me.
 
If you have any suggestions for improvement, or league structure, let me know.
 
Otherwise we'll keep that the same, 13s, and 14-16 Seniors. If you want to know which towns played, the list is here: https://www.leaguelineup.com/divisionlist.asp?url=mvsbl (Andover, Methuen, North Andover, Riverside-Bradford).
 
We will tweak the rules a bit to limit the number of 14s on a 13s team to no more than 3 players. We want to keep the 13s together.
 
Also, I'm considering adopting the high school rule set, known as National Federation of High School rules to replace the MLB rules with modifications we play under, as Massachusetts high schools have been using them now for a few years, and this change will help the kids get ready for that.
 
I'll still keep the batting order rules so we can get everyone into the game.
 
Let me know what you think.
 
Opening day is usually the Monday after April school vacations are over.
 
That's late this year, April 27th, so we may consider playing a game or two the week BEFORE school vacation, taking school vacation week off, and picking up on Monday April 28th. We'll see what that looks like once we know how many teams we'll have.
 
Last year we played a 12-game schedule followed by playoffs. 
 
We did try and have the 13s play on Tuesday and Thursday, and the 14-16 Seniors play Monday and Wednesday. Both divisions had a few games on Friday. We don't play on the weekends so your travel ball kids can play too !
 
Last year we ended the 13s playoffs on 6/14 and the 14-16 Seniors playoffs on 6/7.
 
I anticipate ending the season around then. The last day of school in North Andover is June 16 if there are no snow days (haha!), the 24th if 5 snow days, Haverhill June 17, and Methuen June 23rd , so that's absolutely as late as we can go. Plus, summer ball will be starting up by around the 3rd week in June.
 
I'll need to know the number of teams and a field schedule of open dates so I can put a schedule together. Plus, tell me days that don't work for you, etc. 
 
I know you may not have that 100% right now but keep me updated with that information as soon as you have it.
 
I hope to hear from you very soon.

2025 MVSBL Champions

The 2025 MVSBL season is now complete.
 
In the 14-16 Seniors Division, North Andover Seniors claimed the title, defeating Andover Seniors Gold. Many of the players on the North Andover team were also part of the 2024 13s Division champions.

In the 13s Division, Andover 13s Blue held a lead for most of the evening, but the Riverside-Bradford 13s came back to win a very competitive game by a score of 5 to 3.

Thank you everyone for your cooperation this season. I hope you'll all be back next year for another fun year of good baseball for the kids.

MVSBL Rainout Policy

POSTPONEMENTS: Each town's coordinator makes the cancellation call on game day, or home team manager if no coordinator is available, based on field conditions.

    1. MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO GET GAMES IN. That may mean getting there early to fix the field.

    2. If the Commissioner or Town Coordinator hasn’t canceled, go to the field. Don’t assume a game is called off unless you hear it is !

    3. Report cancellations or postponements, unfinished, or incomplete games to the Commissioner by text or email as soon as you can.

    4. We try to decide play/no play by 2 hours before a game, but it might be a bit if the weather is iffy.

    5. The deadline is ONE hour before the scheduled game start, or you will be paying umpires:

      1. If umpires are notified 1 hour before the game or earlier, no fee is owed.

      2. If umpires are notified less than ONE hour before the game or they show up and the game cannot be played because of field conditions ONLY, a HALF fee is owed.

      3. If umpires show up and the game is canceled without notification for a reason other than field conditions, the team at fault will pay BOTH FULL fees.

      4. If both teams are at fault, then they will split the FULL fee owed to the umpires.

    6. Town Coordinators: if the game is canceled, you are responsible for:

      1. Texting or calling the umpire assignor Jake Beaudoin 978-888-1336 

      2. Texting or calling the home team manager

      3. Notifying the Commissioner by text or email (978-886-1801, umparama@gmail.com)

    7. The home team manager is responsible is responsible for calling the visitors manager

    8. You should receive an Arbiter account so you can notify the umpires, but please let the assignor know

    9. Once you get to the field, the home team manager is the judge of whether the field is playable.

    10. Once the plate conference occurs at the start of the game and the field is deemed playable, the umpires are to receive their full fee.

    11. If the home team manager decides the field is playable but the umpires disagree, do NOT try to play. Pay them their half-fee and report the game as postponed. If you insist they start the game they’ll take the full fee, and immediately call the game off for unsafe playing conditions, and rightly so.

The two managers should work out an acceptable makeup date and time with their Town Coordinators but must get approval for the makeup from the Commissioner first before scheduling the game. Someone else may have requested that date and time and field already, thus the Commissioner must be the final authority on makeup games to avoid any field or team conflicts.


Change Requests

Coaches do NOT move games on their own in this league. Ever; way too many moving parts.

I need to coordinate the whole thing: fields, permits, umpires, HS schedules, AAU conflicts, and more. That field you think is open may have just been assigned a game and you don't know it yet.

If you absolutely, positively must move a game (or there’s a mistake), please inform me umparama@gmail.com or text 978-886-1801. Be very specific about the game, and your suggestion fix it. Here's an example:

Jeff, just heard from the DPW the work on Grogans won't be done now until May 2nd. Is there an open field 4/24, or can we move it to 5/4 ? I checked, both teams are open then, and the field looks to be available.

4/24/2024

Wednesday

5:30 PM

Andover Seniors Gold

North Andover Seniors

Grogans Field

Got it ? I now have the specific issue, the exact game, time, and field, and a suggestion to fix it. Why that nice person even checked the schedule to see when both teams were open. Be like that guy. Thanks.


Parking Regulations - please obey any posted parking regulations.

  • Andover Doherty - park near the fence. If you park on the side of the street across from the fence you may be ticketed. It's posted No Parking, and the Andover police are aggressive about ticketing in this location.

  • Haverhill Riverside - park in the lot near the field, or the lot near the Stadium.

  • Haverhill Swasey - only on-street parking is available

  • Methuen High School - park next to the field, or in the outer HS lot if it's full

  • Methuen Pelham St - park in the MBTA lot next to the field, or on the street.

  • Methuen Veterans - park in the lot. The coach with the equipment each team and umpires may park in the small lot next to the concession stand which has a separate entrance just before the turn into the main lot itself. DO NOT drive past the concession stand and park up near the field.

  • North Andover Grogans Field - Park in the spaces on the 3b line or surrounding streets. Don’t park in the lot for the dance school on the corner. Don’t park in the spaces next to the apartments on Gilbert street. Please avoid blocking any driveways.

  • North Andover High School - Park next to the field or in the upper lot near the school.
    • One coach from each team and umpires may park behind the dugouts if the gate is open and there is enough space is available to allow emergency vehicles to access the turf field.
    • Everyone else must park in the lot at the field, or in the upper lot near the school if there's no space at the field.
    • Don’t block the gate behind the backstop, this is access for emergency vehicles for the turf field.
    • WARNING: Do NOT park on the access road going up to school: it's too narrow for fire trucks to pass if cars are there. The NA Police will ticket you for parking there. If youy are lucky they'll let you move your car, but they may not.