Chosen by their teammates
The playoff format is published: top four, one against four and two against three, the two winners meeting the next day, home team the higher seed. In 2026 the 18+ and 55+ brackets began the weekend of 24 August while the 25+, 35+ and 45+ waited until after the Labor Day tournament.
The All-Star Game is the more interesting institution. Players are selected by their teammates, and anyone selected is required to participate as published. The number of players each team sends is set by the standings on 18 June, and managers are encouraged to get their teams choosing their representatives early. The final standings decide who manages the All-Star sides.
It does not always happen -- one year the league cancelled the 18+, 25+, 35+ and 45+ All-Star games for questionable weather and general non-availability, leaving only the 55+ game standing, scheduled for a December evening.
Beyond its own season the league sends teams to tournaments over the major summer holidays and to the national World Series in Phoenix in October.
A championship recorded on a High Cheese league page keeps the bracket, the final and the winning roster attached to the year, and the vote counts that pick an All-Star side come out of the same rosters.
San Antonio MSBL in detail
- Real hardball in five age divisions, in its fourth decade, on quality fields it says it earned.
- A schedule rebuilt monthly, in red, around rain, high school playoffs and stadium lights.
- Scores are phoned in, standings are published on a Tuesday, and managers must check their own record.
- Scores are telephoned in at the weekend and appear as standings on Tuesday.
- Teams are identified by number in the schedule, and managers are asked to stop them forfeiting.
- Games played is the only figure the league tracks publicly, and it decides the season.
- A league number for calling in scores, and a president who signs everything.
- Tryouts once a year, in February, and you pay to play.
- Four main grounds carrying the season, including a university, an air force base and a stadium.
- Standard baseball for the 45s, and a substantially different game for the 60s.
- A president's bulletin board that doubles as the league's only public record.
- No gallery is published.
- No sponsor is named.
- Thirty-two-plus years, counted by the league itself.
- A president, and a managers' meeting that functions as the board.
- Divisions, season length and tryout timing are answered; the fee is not.
- League rules, league policy, league forms and a set of yearbooks.
- Tryouts in February, ball from mid-March, Phoenix in October, and a managers' meeting in January.
- Nothing is for sale, but the uniform gets its own instruction.
- Umpires take lineups at the plate meeting and hold the clock.
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