Competition Levels

The ENYTB league structure is designed to generate the excitement of competition. Games between mismatched teams offer little enjoyment to either players or fans. To heighten the degree of competition within the league, ENYTB introduced skill-based classified divisional play in 2002. Today, all ENYTB competition is structured according to team skill level.

Because of its size, the ENYTB can offer competitively balanced regular season play to teams of widely differing skill levels. Small leagues can not offer this advantage. The League divides each age division into up to five competition levels, depending on the number of registered teams and their range and distribution of skill levels. In consultation with the League Director, teams assign themselves a numerical power rating when they register, between one and five (highest). These power ratings are used to classify teams into Gold, Silver or Bronze Divisions for regular season play. The Silver Division is sometimes further divided into a high and low or even a high, low and medium classification. ENYTB's Gold Division offers the most advanced teams a level of regular season competition far superior to that commonly found in league play.

ENYTB's classified play not only improves the quality and enjoyment of regular season play for all teams, it also provides lesser skilled teams a realistic opportunity to participate in a sanctioned National Championship Tournament Series (NCTS) event. All ENYTB berths in sanctioned National Championship Tournament Series (NCTS) events are earmarked to League Divisions. Every League Division, regardless of its skill level designation, has at least one NCTS berth earmarked to it. Teams competing in the Bronze Division have the opportunity to qualify for berths in the same sanctioned tournaments as the teams competing in the Gold Division. The only difference is that extra berths, where available, are allocated to the Gold Division to compensate the Gold teams for the greater difficulty inherent in qualifying from a higher competitive class. Every year teams exceed expectations. The annals of ENYTB league history are replete with examples of Silver and Bronze Division teams qualifying for and competing strongly in sanctioned NCTS tournaments. The statement that "every member team begins the season as a potential national champion" could not be more true than it is for the ENYTB.

In addition to regular divisional play, ENYTB also offers its member teams the opportunity to compete for other NCTS berths by playing inter-divisional games in a "wildcard" division. In this format, teams from multiple same-colored divisions (when available) or adjacent color levels, or both combined, engage in crossover play for bonus berths to the same sanctioned national tournaments. This provides teams that want to play more games an extra chance to qualify for a berth in a sanctioned tournament. Depending on how many sanctioning options a team registers for and how many wildcard divisions it elects to participate in, a single team could compete for berths in as many as six different ENYTB League Divisions for as many as three sanctioned National Championship Tournaments.

Only "must-play" games count in divisional play (see Scheduling). Wins count for two points in the STANDINGS, losses one point and ties 1.5 points. Games not played by the division-specific cutoff date, including forfeit losses, count zero. Forfeit wins count the same as a playing win. The team with the most points wins the divisional competition for the berth. All regular division berth winners are decided first, then the wildcard winners. Silver and Bronze Division teams must win at least half of their divisional must-play games to be awrded a berth unless there are no Gold teams that want the berth. Any unclaimed Divisional berths default to the Gold Division(s).

From extra play anytime you want it, to balanced competitive play during the regular season, to the abundant opportunities for highly competitive post-season tournament play at the local, State, Regional and National levels, to baseball in the fall, ENYTB is a one stop supermarket for teams that want to play ball! For those who want even more, berths to other NABF and PONY sanctioned tournaments are available to teams on a direct-buy-in basis. In addition, ENYTB sponsors its own tournaments in the spring, summer and fall. ENYTB sponsored tournaments are not nationally sanctioned but are great fun nonetheless. Entry fee includes team trophies and tournament tee-shirts for all finalists. The interactive capabilities of ENYTB's website also lets every team search for competitively matched opponents for extra games anytime, spring, summer and fall. The website also satisfies all your league informational needs 24/7.