Golden Baseball League Winter League has just completed its third season. In the first three years, over 130 Arizona Winter League players have been signed to professional contracts. Two of those players, Scott Richmond and Sergio Romo, are now pitching in the major leagues. The 2009 Arizona Winter League began play on January 31, 2009 and has expanded to 8 teams and almost 200 players. On April 3, 2009, the Golden Baseball League announced its second instructional league known as the Arizona Summer League, which is patterned after the AWL. This league consists of three teams, the Canada Miners, El Centro Imperials and
Empire Professional Baseball League Empire Professional Baseball League The Empire Professional Baseball League is an independent baseball league that began play in 2016. The Empire League plays a 70-game regular season followed by a five-game post season. The six-team league consists of two teams from Upstate New York, two from Puerto Rico, one from Maine, and one from New Hampshire. League offices are in Tampa, Florida. The Empire League is a replacement of the North Country Baseball League, which folded after one season (and was itself a last-minute replacement for the East Coast Baseball League, which disbanded before the start of the 2015 season).