Everything You Wanted to Know About the Pioneer League*
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask
By Tyler Petersen
So here we are.
It's May, and the Oakland Ballers will take the field for the first time as a Pioneer League Expansion franchise.
If you still have questions, I promise you it's ok.
Let's take some time to get familiar with some of the information you will need to know before the season starts.
The Pioneer League
By now most of you should be a little familiar with the history of this league. It's been around since 1939 and for most of its existence served as a rung on the ladder of MLB's minors. But when things shook up in 2020, the whole league got the axe and instead reformed as an independent MLB Partner League.
This is where some folks might have some confusion – what does that actually mean?
I'll simplify it like this. Independent baseball can come in many forms throughout the United States and how those leagues are defined varies. As an MLB Partner League, the Pioneer League is professional baseball, not semi-pro, not rec ball, not anything else anyone wants to call it. The best way to think about it is similar a Stockton Ports or San Jose Giants game – they are all professional baseball AND probably all play around the same experience level.
The only main difference here is instead of the A's or the Giants giving these teams their players in direct affiliation, Pioneer League teams sign their own free agents and then have the ability to have any of the 30 MLB teams recruit players off of their teams. This way, the league is still operating as a player development league like it always has been, just in a different form.
There are four Partner Leagues in the country – The Frontier League, the American Association, the Atlantic League, and the Pioneer.
If you have friends who have questions about this, just tell them to read this.
The Schedule and Teams
"I saw the schedule, but who are these teams and how do playoffs work?"
I'm so glad you asked. Like some minor league levels, the PBL schedule is broken up into two halves. So in our 96 game schedule, the Ballers will play 48 first half games and then the records will reset for 48 second half games.
The league operates without divisions, so of the 12 teams, the top two teams in each half grab playoff berths (we won't worry about wild cards and tiebreakers right now).
The Ballers are one of two expansion teams in California, the other being the Yolo High Wheelers in Davis. The rest of the league breaks down like this by state:
Idaho – Boise Hawks, Idaho Falls Chukars
Utah – Ogden Raptors
Montana – Glacier Range Riders, Great Falls Voyagers, Missoula Paddleheads, Billings Mustangs
Colorado – Grand Junction Jackalopes, Rocky Mountain Vibes, Northern Colorado Owlz
Of the 11 other teams, the Ballers will face 7 of them on this year's schedule. They will miss the Raptors, Paddleheads, Mustangs, and Jackalopes – at least in the regular season.
We'll get more into each team as the season gets closer.
The schedule is broken up mostly in six-game series with off-days on Mondays. Save for the odd three-gamer here and there, the schedule will predominantly be six on, one off.
For playoffs, the four teams play two series. First a best-of-three, then a championship best-of-five.
Since going independent in 2021, the league has crowned a different champion each year. The Paddleheads took it in 2021, the then-Grand Junction Rockies took it in '22, and last year Ogden won and will enter this season as defending champions.
What to Expect this Year
Hey! This is minor league baseball (lowercase, no capital letters here) and it's all about fun family entertainment at the yard in the summer. If you like baseball and have been to games in the minors then you will already have a pretty good idea of what to expect at Raimondi Park this year.
As you might already be aware, the Ballers will be placing a big emphasis on celebrating Oakland in pretty much everything we do. So as we are building in this first year, a lot of what we are planning as part of the in-game experience will incorporate Oakland artists, music, and culture.
On the field you'll get to see some amazingly talented players who are hoping to showcase their skills while helping the Ballers win a championship. Already the Ballers had a player sign a contract with an MLB system, when Danny Kirwin went to the Boston Red Sox. He made his debut this week in fact for Single-A Salem.
The most current roster going into spring training will be updated on the Ballers website. But at-a-glance I can break down the roster a few different ways to give you an idea of what the team has in camp. 5 players have previous MiLB service time and 14 come in with MLB Partner League service time. 19 players played baseball in college at the Division I level. And 7 players are from Northern California.
The team recently updated information on the website on how to get to games, what to know before you arrive, and how best to enjoy Ballers baseball.
Finally, I know many people have been asking about how they can watch or listen to games this season and I promise we will have news on that very soon.
Until then I will see you out at the park on June 4!
