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| Greensboro Gargoyles ECHL 2025 November 30 |
Hub City Spartanburgers South Atlantic League 2025 August 31 |
Chesapeake Baysox Eastern League 2025 August 17 |
Evansville Otters Frontier League 2025 August 3 |
Pericos de Puebla Mexican League 2025 July 21 |
Time once again for the semi-annual ritual of saying hello to the new teams in various leagues, and saying goodbye to old ones.
In the California League there's been a bit of musical chairs going on. First, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes relocated to Ontario (the city in California, not the province) to become the Ontario Tower Buzzers. Then the Inland Empire 66ers (who played in San Bernardino) relocated to Rancho Cucamonga and took on the Quakes name. Then the Modesto Nuts relocated to San Bernardino and took on the 66ers name. No California League team relocated to Modesto, but the Pioneer League placed an expansion team there called the Modesto Roadsters. There is also an expansion team in Long Beach called the Long Beach Coast. Meanwhile, three PL teams have folded: the Grand Junction Jackalopes, Northern Colorado Owlz (who actually finished last season as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox), and the Rocky Mountain Vibes. To keep things at an even number of teams, the Pioneer League will have a road-only team this season. Also, I missed a change last year, when the Yolo High Wheelers relocated to become the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers. That team is rebranding for this season and is now the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds.
Other changes include the Frontier League gaining teams in Kinston, North Carolina (the Down East Bird Dawgs) and Pearl, Mississippi (the Mississippi Mud Monsters), the Carolina League's Carolina Mudcats moving from Zebulon to Wilson to become the Wilson Warbirds, and the South Atlantic League's Aberdeen Ironbirds relocating to become the Frederick Keys. There are also some name changes: the Frontier League's New England Knockouts are now the Brockton Rox, the Carolina League's Lynchburg Hillcats are now the Hill City Howlers, and the Carolina League's Salem Red Sox are now the Salem RidgeYaks.
Finally, over a dozen teams have new logos this year. For the most part I will be reviewing them as usual, but the Quad City River Bandits have the same logo with a different color scheme, so I have simply updated the logo on their page and will not be doing an actual update (since everything I wrote before still applies). The new Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are also using the same logo as the old Quakes did except for a different color scheme, so they've gotten the same treatment as the River Bandits. I also won't be doing a review for the new Inland Empire 66ers, since they are even using the same color scheme.
Our sympathies to the fans of Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Windsor, Yolo (belatedly), and Zebulon.
"What's the Bush League Factor?" you may be thinking.
Basically, it's a not-too-serious attempt at quantifying how lousy some of the logos in minor league hockey and baseball are. Certain offenses have been catalogued -- cartoony logos, logos with irrelevant features in them (such as a bear in the logo for a team called the "Aces"), trendy and/or garish colors, and so forth. Each offense has been given a point value, and the scores have been added up.
Some people would say that I need to get a life, and they may be right, but until then I'm going to keep working on this.
Updates should come roughly once a week during the season...maybe more often, maybe less. Keep checking to see what I have to say. With every update one team (sometimes more if I'm feeling ambitious) will be spotlighted. Teams will be done in a seemingly random order (it isn't, but the exact order is left as an exercise to the reader).
Navigation is fairly straightforward. Look at the links on the left and click on the team or department you want to go to.
If you wish to contact me, the best way is through the Facebook page. Comments are welcome and encouraged. Particularly witty comments may get put on the website. Particularly stupid ones may as well. Sending me a message or e-mail regarding the Bush League Factor constitutes acceptance of these terms (which is a fancy way of saying, "No, you can't sue me for putting your comment on the webpage!").