Big news in the CTL. We have 3 huge new additions to our league this season. The first team thats joined this year are a group we knew we’d be adding for many months now, but due to the pandemic, that announcement had been on hold. Now, we finally are able, and very excited to announce our new expansion team, the New Britain Hurricanes. They are made up of many CTL veterans from around our league and are based in their home town of New Britain. The team will be run by manager Ken Noyola and coach Kian Downes. They should be a great addition to our league and we are excited to welcome them in officially.

More big news! We were saddened to hear of the postponement of the Tri-State League for 2020, but are very happy to be able to provide a home for some of their players this summer… especially their defending champions, the Terryville Black Sox. Led by veterans Dave Alarcon and Chris Ayer, they should come in and be a top team right away and bring some more great baseball to our league. We are excited to welcome them in officially. Welcome to the CTL, Terryville Black Sox!

Our 3rd new team for 2020 hail from the western side of the state. With the loss of the Tri-State season, a handful of players from that league and a group of friends put together a new expansion team in the CTL, under the organizational leadership of Willy Yahn and head coach Jeremy Stiewing. The team will be sponsored by the Great Falls Brewery and likely play more games on the road this season, but are ecstatic to be playing ball this year. Welcome to the CTL gentlemen!

In the off-season, we also had 2 teams decide to merge… around the same time the group of New Britain ballplayers around the league were inquiring about possibly forming their own team in New Britain (many of whom were on the Indians), the Orioles and Indians started discussing merger talks. They agreed and now we unfortunately lose the Orioles as a team, but a core group of their players are continuing with the new Arch 2 Sports Bar & Grill Indians.

We unfortunately lost some teams heading into the 2020 season. The biggest loss was the Willimantic Ridges. Right as we were gearing up to get season going we got word the Ridges May not return, and were looking for some new blood to run the team. Unfortunately early in that process the pandemic hit and put it all on hold. The Ridges Have a proud 80 year history as a ball club playing in various leagues (including 2 CTL championships in 2009 & 2010), and we are strongly hoping we can find a group to restart the team in 2021. People that are interested that live in the Windham, Willimantic, Mansfield area please reach out to us directly. They had an amazing team sponsor in @willibrew and support locally so let’s get them back going in 2021. The Surgeons are another case, they had a great message and philosophy behind the team, intended to raise money for charities along with provide a great place for ballplayers in the South Windsor, Windsor, Vernon area… but struggled in our league winning only one game in 2 years. Not for a lack of trying, they worked hard and possibly practiced more than any other team. They will also be missed. They do survive on with their sister team in the Boston Men’s Baseball League and we wish them good luck.