1. What is the timing of the 2025 season?

2025 is scheduled to start with practices in early March, weather permitting, with games beginning the 1st weekend of April. The season will conclude Father’s Day weekend. Winter clinics are scheduled to start in mid December or early January

2. How do I know if my child is eligible to play with DLL?

Please refer to our catchment area and age requirements for eligibility details, noting that a player must live OR go to school within the DLL zone in order to be eligible. A waiver with Little League International is required otherwise. Exception: If your child previously played in DLL but no longer lives in – or goes to school in – our catchment area, he/she is grandfathered and remains eligible to play in the league.

3. Should I sign up if my child will likely be out of town for several weeks during the season?

Probably not. There is always a lengthy waitlist of players who’d like to play each week and we want to do our best to get as many kids on the field as possible on a regular basis.

4. What’s the cost?

The season registration fee is $200 per player, unchanged for the past 16 seasons and payable by credit card (Amex, MasterCard, Visa and Discover). The fee is inclusive of spring season registration as well as all winter clinic fees. We are the most affordable program in the area.

Registrants wanting to pay by check should email r[email protected] for further details.  

NOTE: Things work a bit differently for our Challengers Division for special-needs participants. You’ll still go through the registration process but there is no fee for participation. Please email us at r[email protected] for further details about the program after you’ve registered, and we will respond soon.)

5. When does registration begin and how early do I have to sign up?

Registration begins December 1st. We encourage you to sign up ASAP as field and time constraints force the league to place caps on the number of registrants. Please note that many of our divisions typically enter waitlist-mode within the first 24 hours.

6. How do waitlists work?

We remove players from the waitlist when another player drops out from the same division, on a first-come, first-served basis. For example, if Child A is first on the waitlist and Child B, who has registered and already been placed onto a roster, decides to drop out, then Child A would replace Child B on the same team roster.

7. Do I have to submit proof of identification and proof of residence documents if my child played last year?

Yes, you need to re-submit your documents as Little League has mandated that all programs move to a new registration platform. 

8. Can I request specific teammates and coaches?

This option is available for younger baseball and softball players. We do our best to honor requests but cannot guarantee the ability to honor all requests due to each team's roster-size limitations. Simply make the request within the registration form and we will accommodate your request if we are able to do so.

In baseball, you can ask to be paired with specific teammates and/or coaches as long as your prospective player will be age 5-8 on the age determination date of Aug. 31, 2023.

In softball, DLL allows families to submit such requests for Minors Division and younger. If a softball player requests a specific coach AND specific teammates and we can't honor both, we will prioritize by coach request and then player requests.

For older age groups for both baseball and softball, there is a focus on competitive balance. In baseball, for example, Divisions AA and above i.e., ages nine and above are subject to a player draft, conducted by the coaches of each division before the season.

9. Can I volunteer to coach? Or volunteer to help in another capacity?

Absolutely – we’d love to have you! Just check the appropriate box in the registration form, adding any important notes you’d like us to know and we will follow up in the coming weeks.

In addition to instructing the players, coaches are responsible for managing and storing the team equipment bag and tracking team attendance. For some divisions, coaches are also required to complete NYC Parks- mandated AED training/certification. All coaches should take training and coach certifications provided by the league at no cost before the season starts.

Thanks for volunteering!

10. Can I sponsor a team or Downtown Little League in general?

A limited number of sponsorships are available. Please email i[email protected] for more details and thank you for the consideration.

11. Are you offering winter clinics/workouts for softball and baseball again this year?

Baseball winter workouts will begin December. Softball pitchers and catchers' workouts will also begin in December with broader clinics beginning in January. All players must be registered for the spring season to participate.

12. When are practices and games? And are there any other dates I should mark on my calendar?

The spring permitting process for NYC fields won't be finalized until March for us to finalize schedules. But our PROJECTED practice and game schedule serves as a helpful guide. As for other dates, practices will begin in early March and games will start the early April. The season will end around Father’s Day weekend in June.