The schedules have been released for the 2023 Florida Complex League and the Dominican Summer League. Here are some quick notes on the schedules.
Once again the Pittsburgh Pirates will have two DSL teams and one team in the FCL. The FCL is likely to remain one team, as roster limits in the U.S. (which are shrinking from 180 to 165 soon) would limit their ability to run an extra team.
The schedules begin on June 5th for both leagues, and they run through August 22nd.
The entire DSL schedule has Wednesdays and Sundays off. The entire FCL schedule has Sundays off, while the Pirates have every Wednesday off like a majority of the FCL teams.
The FCL Pirates play 55 games. The DSL Pirates Black & Gold both play 56 games. The two DSL clubs play six of those games against each other.
The ending time for the FCL in particular is interesting because the MLB draft will be held on July 9th through 11th. That means the schedule will be half over before anyone even has a chance to sign.
The Pirates send all of their draft picks to Pirate City first, where they get back into game shape, so we are going to see very little participation from draft picks in that league.
That has been a common theme over the last two years as well with the draft being held later, but August 22nd is also a little earlier (by a few days at least) for the league to wrap up. There will be picks who move on to Bradenton, where the schedule runs into mid-September.
