The South Florida Baseball League is proud to present the the third annual 2002 Florida Cup.  This tournament, open to any and all teams in the region regardless of affiliation, takes place in Miami - Coral Gables - Miami Beach, Florida on Labor Day weekend, August 31 - September 2, 2002.  The tournament features some of the best adult baseball competition in the region, including the former champions, South Florida Seadogs and South Florida Mets.  This year's tournament includes teams and players from the Bahamas, Naples, Ft. Myers, Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale as well as Miami.  The winner-take-all tournament is highlighted by a $1,000 Cash Prize and a tournament trophy for the championship team. 

Sports Flash....................

South Florida Sun Devils scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to come from behind and knock off the Miami Red Sox  8 - 7 to secure their first championship!   Congratulations to South Florida Sun Devils.

Championship - Monday September 2, 2002

Miami Beach - Flamingo Park                 10am       Miami Red Sox - South Florida Sun Devils

Semi-finals - Sunday September 1, 2002

Miami Dade Community College              2:15pm    South Florida Seadogs - Miami Red Sox

Miami Beach - Flamingo Park                  2:15pm    South Florida Mets - South Florida Sun Devils

                     SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW TOURNAMENT RESULTS AND STANDINGS 

Tournament Format

This year's tournament brackets consist of two divisions with a total of 8 teams.  All teams are guaranteed a minimum of three games played in round robin format against teams within their respective divisions.  Two games are played on Saturday, August 31 with the third game played on Sunday morning, September 1. 

Playoff Qualifiers:  The first place team in each bracket after the 3-game elimination round will advance to the semifinals along with two wild card teams.  The wild card spots will be awarded to the teams with the best results based on the tie breaker system detailed below:  

Tie Breakers:  Tie breakers are applied in the following order:

1.  Point System:    1 Win = 2 points, 1 Tie = 1 point, 1 Loss = 0 points.  The team with the greatest number of points wins the first tie breaker.

2.  Head-to-Head Result:  The second tie breaker is the head-to-head outcome between teams with equal number of points.

3.  Fewest Runs Allowed:  In case of a tie in total points and no head-to-head result, the team with the fewest runs allowed wins the third tie breaker.

4.  Net Runs:  If still tied, an equation of net runs will be employed and the team with the greatest number of net runs wins the fourth tie breaker.  

     Net Runs = (Runs Scored - Runs Allowed).

5.  Coin Toss:  In case of another tie, a best-of-three coin toss will determine the final tie breaker.

Playoffs:  The two semifinal games are scheduled to play Sunday afternoon, September 1.  The winners of the two semifinal games advance to the championship game to be played Monday morning, September 2 at Flamingo Park in Miami Beach.  The playoff team seedings will be determined by a ranking system.  The four teams making the semifinals will be ranked according to the tie breaker criteria listed above.  The top team as determined by the tie breaker system will play the lowest ranked wild card team while the other game matches up the second and third ranked teams.

Tournament Seedings

The tournament seedings have been established by the tournament director and is based on past tournament performances as well as current records and other objective and subjective factors.

Tournament Brackets

Tournament Locations

The Florida Cup will be played in five different locations in Miami - Coral Gables - Miami Beach, Florida. 

1.  Miami-Dade Comm. College - Kendall (MDCC)

2.  Flamingo Park - Miami Beach

3.  Coral Park High, - Miami

4.  Columbus High,  - Miami

5.  Coral Gables High, - Coral Gables

Tournament Rules

The Florida Cup is played under the rules undertaken by the South Florida Baseball League.  A Rules Book will be provided to each participating team.  Some imperative rules are as follows:

1.  In each team's offensive line-up, a minimum 10 batters must be used.  You may add to this minimum at any time during the game but you may not shrink the line-up once expanded.

2.  Free defensive substitution.  As implied, no restrictions on defensive changes except for the pitcher re-entry rule.

3.  Pitcher Re-entry Rule:  In the case of a pitching change, once a pitcher is removed, he can only be re-entered as a pitcher after one complete inning  has been played.  This move can only be done once per game.

4.  No deliberate physical contact between base runners and defensive players, i.e. NO BARRELING INTO THE CATCHER, SECOND BASEMAN, etc.  Automatic ejection penalty.

5.  3 hour time limit = no inning shall start after 3 hours has elapsed.  Tie games permitted - see tie breaker rules.

6.  In case of rain, official game only after 5 full innings completed.  Games started but not registering 5 complete innings will be suspended and completed later.  Offensive line-ups remain frozen and the suspended game must pick up where it left off.

7.  All team managers must call in game results - win or lose- to the SFBL office 305.275.7325 within 30 minutes of game completion or suspension.  All results will be posted to this website page live throughout the tournament.

Tournament Standings

American Division:

National Division:

Tournament Schedule

American Division:

(1) South Florida Mets

(4) Naples Baseball Club

(5) Miami Shockers

(8) Miami Red Sox

National Division:

(2) South Florida Sea Dogs

(3) South Florida Sun Devils

(6) Miami Mets

(7) SouthCom Mariners

Playoffs - Semifinals

Florida Cup Championship

Base Hits as of 10/2/02