Editing Cape Cod (section)

==Sports==
[[File:Veterans Field, Chatham MA (345015947).jpg|thumb|[[Veteran's Field]] in [[Chatham, Massachusetts]], home of the [[Chatham Anglers]]]]
The Cape has nine amateur baseball franchises playing within Barnstable County in the [[Cape Cod Baseball League]]. The [[Wareham Gatemen]] also play in the Cape Cod Baseball League in nearby [[Wareham, Massachusetts|Wareham]] in [[Plymouth County, Massachusetts|Plymouth County]]. The league's beginning is unsettled, even fanciful. Without any basis whatsoever, some claim a start date of 1875. However, the first Cape Cod League was formed in Sandwich in 1910. It did not last. Three years later - in 1913 - another Cape Cod Baseball League was organized. This venture lasted two years. In 1916, a third attempt at league play barely got off the ground. Then, in 1923, an initial four teams met in Hyannis and started a successful federation along the lines of the present league. Outstanding players from throughout the region competed until the war effort led to a shutdown in 1940. In 1946, the local town teams from the prewar County Twilight League and Lower Cape Cod League organized under the Cape Cod Baseball League banner. As the years passed, local players were moved aside by outside college stars. Finally, in 1963, the league became a wholly summer collegiate circuit sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association with some Major League financial support.<ref>Ellis, James H. "Cape Cod League a Talent Showcase." ''The Baseball Research Journal'' 15 (1986): 56-59.</ref> The current teams in the league are the [[Bourne Braves]], [[Brewster Whitecaps]], [[Chatham Anglers]] (formerly the Chatham Athletics), [[Cotuit Kettleers]], [[Falmouth Commodores]], [[Harwich Mariners]], [[Hyannis Harbor Hawks]] (formerly the Hyannis Mets), [[Orleans Firebirds]] (formerly the Orleans Cardinals), [[Wareham Gatemen]] and the [[Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox]]. [[Major League Baseball|MLB scouts]] frequent the games in the summer, looking for stars of the future.

Along with the [[Cape Cod Baseball League]] and the former [[junior hockey]] team, the [[Cape Cod Islanders]], many high school players are being recruited as well. Barnstable and Harwich have each sent multiple players to Division 1 colleges for baseball. Harwich has also won three state titles since 1996 (1996, 2006, 2007). Bourne and Sandwich, rivals in hockey, have each won state championships recently, Bourne in 2004 and Sandwich in 2007. Nauset won their first state championship in hockey in 2025. Nauset, Barnstable, and Martha's Vineyard are also state hockey powerhouses. Barnstable and Falmouth hold the title of having [[List of high school football rivalries (100 years+)|one of the longest Thanksgiving football rivalries in the country]]. The teams have played each other every year on Thanksgiving since 1895. High school football teams on the Cape have also recently become successful and the region has also become a hot spot for college recruiting. In 2011, four high school football teams from the Cape won state championships in their respective divisions; Dennis-Yarmouth (Division 2A), Bourne (Division 3A), Mashpee (Division 4), as well as Nantucket and Upper Cape Cod Tech (Division 5). Also, numerous other Cape schools have made appearances in the football state championship game recently, including Barnstable in 2012, Martha's Vineyard in 2008, Cape Cod Tech in 2006, and Dennis-Yarmouth in 2013. The Bourne and Barnstable girls' volleyball teams are two of the best teams in the state and Barnstable is considered one of the best programs in the country. Bourne won the state title in 2003 and 2007, and Barnstable has won 12 Division 1 state titles in the past 13 years and has won the state title three consecutive seasons (2011 to 2013). In the 2010 cross-country season, Sturgis Charter Public School's Division 4 cross-country team remained virtually unbeaten throughout their running season.

The end of each summer is marked with the running of the [[Falmouth Road Race]], held on the third Saturday in August. It draws about 10,000 runners to the Cape and showcases the finest runners in the world (mainly for the large purse that the race is able to offer). The race is {{convert|7.0|mi|km}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/certification/measurement_news/MN121Sept03.pdf|title=Measurement News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924002510/http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/certification/measurement_news/MN121Sept03.pdf|archive-date=September 24, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> long, which is a non-standard distance. The reason for the unusual distance is that the man who thought the race up (Tommy Leonard) was a bartender who wanted a race along the coast from one bar (The Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole) to another (The Brothers Four in Falmouth Heights). While the bar in Falmouth Heights is now the British Beer Company, the race still starts at the front door of the Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole and now finishes at the beach in Falmouth Heights. Prior to the Falmouth race is an annual {{convert|5|mi|km|adj=on}} race through Brewster called the Brew Run, held early in August.