Sport | Baseball |
---|---|
Founded | 1994 |
Divisions | Great Lakes Division, Great Plains Division |
No. of teams | 26 |
Countries | United States, Canada |
Continent | North America |
Most recent champion(s) | Kalamazoo Growlers (2) (2024) |
Most titles | Rochester Honkers (5) |
Level on pyramid | Summer Collegiate |
Official website | northwoodsleague |
The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not paid, so as to maintain their college eligibility. Graduated senior pitchers are also eligible to play in the Northwoods League. Each team may have four of these players at a time.
Teams play 72 games scheduled from Memorial Day to the 2nd Saturday in August, while the playoffs take place the week after, starting on that Sunday and ending usually on Friday. The season itself is broken into two halves, with the winners of each half in each of the four sub-divisions playing against each other to determine a sub-divisional champion in a best-of-three series. The sub-divisional champions then meet in a winner-take-all game to determine a divisional champion. The divisional champions then meet in a winner-take-all game for the league championship.
In 2020, some teams cancelled their season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For those teams that did play, instead of playing within their usual divisions, they played in hub regions, with some creating "temporary teams".
In 2023, the Northwoods League announced plans to create a new softball league. The softball league will initially consist of four teams, based in Madison (Madison Night Mares) and La Crosse, Wisconsin (La Crosse Steam); Mankato, Minnesota (Mankato Habeneros); and Minot, North Dakota (Minot Honeybees). [1]
Established in 1994, the Northwoods League was the first for-profit summer collegiate baseball league. It has more teams and plays more games than any other summer collegiate baseball league. [2] The Northwoods League drew over 1.1 Million fans for the fourth consecutive year in 2017. The purpose of the league is to develop players while college baseball teams are not allowed to work out. Many of the teams in the league play in ballparks formerly occupied by professional clubs from the Midwest League, Prairie League, Northern League, and Frontier League. The wooden bat circuit allows communities deemed too small for professional ball to continue to enjoy high-quality, competitive baseball during the summer months. The Northwoods League was the first summer collegiate baseball league to broadcast on the ESPN network, and currently webcasts all of its games.
The teams are located in the Northwoods region of the Upper Midwestern United States and Northwestern Ontario, mostly in the U.S. states of Minnesota (five teams) and Wisconsin (nine teams); also with four teams in Michigan, three in North Dakota, and one team each in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ontario.
Over 300 league alumni have gone on to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) with 91 alumni entering the MLB ranks from 2013 to 2017. Alumnus Max Scherzer, the 2017 National League Cy Young Award winner, and American League runner-up Chris Sale faced each other as the starting pitchers in the 2017 and 2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Games.
In small cities it may be hard to find the financial stability in a newly-founded baseball league. League leaders realized they needed to gain significant revenue from sponsors in order to succeed. According to league Chairman and co-founder Dick Radatz, Jr, two-thirds of the revenue comes from sponsors and the remainder from ticket sales, concessions, and team merchandise. Radatz also noted the importance of having the sponsor revenue before the beginning of the season. [3]
Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
---|---|---|---|
La Crosse Steam | La Crosse, Wisconsin | Copeland Park | 3,550 |
Madison Night Mares | Madison, Wisconsin | Warner Park | 7,500 |
Mankato Habaneros | Mankato, Minnesota | ISG Field | 4,000 |
Minot Honeybees | Minot, North Dakota | Corbett Field | 1,266 |
Wausau | Wausau, Wisconsin | Athletic Park | 3,850 |
Season | Champion | Runner-up | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | Rochester Honkers | --- | --- |
1995 | Kenosha Kroakers | Manitowoc Skunks | 2-0 |
1996 | Waterloo Bucks | Rochester Honkers | 2-0 |
1997 | Rochester Honkers (2) | Waterloo Bucks | 2-1 |
1998 | St. Cloud River Bats | Rochester Honkers | 2-0 |
1999 | Rochester Honkers (3) | St. Cloud River Bats | 2-1 |
2000 | St. Cloud River Bats (2) | Waterloo Bucks | 2-0 |
2001 | Wisconsin Woodchucks | St. Cloud River Bats | 2-1 |
2002 | Waterloo Bucks (2) | Brainerd Mighty Gulls | 2-0 |
2003 | Wisconsin Woodchucks (2) | St. Cloud River Bats | 2-1 |
2004 | Madison Mallards | Duluth Huskies | 2-0 |
2005 | Thunder Bay Border Cats | Madison Mallards | 2-1 |
2006 | Rochester Honkers (4) | Thunder Bay Border Cats | 2-0 |
2007 | St. Cloud River Bats (3) | Eau Claire Express | 2-0 |
2008 | Thunder Bay Border Cats (2) | Madison Mallards | 2-1 |
2009 | Rochester Honkers (5) [7] | La Crosse Loggers | 2-1 |
2010 | Eau Claire Express | Rochester Honkers | 2-1 |
2011 | Battle Creek Bombers | Mankato MoonDogs | 2-0 |
2012 | La Crosse Loggers | Mankato MoonDogs | 2-0 |
2013 | Madison Mallards (2) [8] | Duluth Huskies | 2-0 |
2014 | Lakeshore Chinooks [9] | Mankato MoonDogs | 2-0 |
2015 | Kenosha Kingfish [10] | St. Cloud Rox | 2-0 |
2016 | Wisconsin Rapids Rafters | Eau Claire Express | 2-0 |
2017 | St. Cloud Rox (4) | Battle Creek Bombers | 2-1 |
2018 | Fond du Lac Dock Spiders | Duluth Huskies | 2-1 |
2019 | Traverse City Pit Spitters | Eau Claire Express | 3-2 |
2020 | No official league champion as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic | --- | --- |
2021 | Traverse City Pit Spitters (2) | St. Cloud Rox | 9-3 |
2022 | Kalamazoo Growlers | Duluth Huskies | 8-3 |
2023 | Green Bay Rockers | St. Cloud Rox | 4-3 |
2024 | Kalamazoo Growlers (2) | La Crosse Loggers | 8-7 (14) |
From 1995-2018, the league championship series was a best-of-3 between the two division champions. When the league expanded in 2019, the championship became a one-game playoff.
2020 Pod Champions [11]
Pod | Champion | Result(Record) |
---|---|---|
Kenosha | Kenosha Kingfish | 17-9 |
Michigan North | Traverse City Pit Spitters | 33-8 |
Michigan South | Kalamazoo Growlers | 40-25 |
Minnesota-Iowa | Waterloo Bucks | 28-13 |
North Dakota | Bismarck Larks | 33-15 |
Wisconsin-Illinois (East) | Fond du Lac Dock Spiders | 31-17 |
Wisconsin-Illinois (West) | Wisconsin Rapids Rafters | 35-11 |
Season | Champion | Runner-up | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Mankato Habaneros | (no playoffs, best regular-season record) | 31-11 |
The Northwoods League, in addition to being a developmental league for players and coaches, is also a developmental league for umpires. The concentrated game schedule, travel, and Minor League-like game conditions give NWL umpires a pre-professional experience. Since the League's inaugural season in 1994, 44 of its former umpires have furthered their careers in affiliated professional baseball.
The League recruits its umpires from the two umpire schools whose curricula have been approved by the Professional Baseball Umpire Corps. (PBUC): The Minor League Umpire training Academy and Harry Wendelstedt School for Umpires. The umpires ultimately chosen are usually among the top school graduates who were then selected to the pre-season, PBUC sponsored Umpire Evaluation Course.
The NWL contracts with eleven three-man crews during the regular season, a six-man crew during the mid-season All-Star game, and six umpires for both the divisional playoffs and championship series.
The Wausau Woodchucks are an American baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. They play their home games at Athletic Park in Wausau, Wisconsin.
The La Crosse Loggers are a La Crosse, Wisconsin based baseball team playing in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. Since the team's inaugural season in 2003, they have played at Copeland Park. The ballpark is nicknamed "the Lumberyard."
The Eau Claire Express is a collegiate summer baseball team playing in the Northwoods League. Their home games are played at Carson Park, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The Alexandria Blue Anchors were a baseball team that played in the Northwoods League, an NCAA-sanctioned collegiate summer baseball league. The team played at Knute Nelson Memorial Park in Alexandria, Minnesota. The team was renamed in March 2013 in conjunction with the sale of the team to a new local ownership group.
The Mankato MoonDogs are an American amateur baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. Their home games are played at ISG Field in Mankato, Minnesota. The MoonDogs have been active in the Mankato community with frequent player and mascot appearances at local events and through the MoonDogs Fit Program.
Copeland Park, also referred to as "The Lumber Yard", is a stadium in La Crosse, Wisconsin, US. It is primarily used for baseball and is the home field of the La Crosse Loggers baseball team. The current stadium was built in 2003, although a substantially smaller baseball diamond existed at the site before the construction of the new ballpark. At the time of its construction, the stadium held approximately 2,000 people. However, the success of the Loggers prompted expansions to the grandstand, bringing the capacity to its current 3,550 people. The field dimensions are 325 ft. to left field, 365 ft. to center, and 315 ft. to right.
Athletic Park is a baseball stadium located in Wausau, Wisconsin. It is the home field of the Wausau Woodchucks baseball team of the summer collegiate Northwoods League. It hosted Wausau Minor League teams during 36 seasons between 1936-1990.
State Trunk Highway 52 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs east–west in central and northeastern Wisconsin from Wabeno to Wausau. It is one of four state highways that also serve Antigo.
The Northern League was a name used by several minor league baseball organizations that operated off and on between 1902 and 1971 in the upper midwestern United States and Manitoba, Canada. The name was later used by the independent Northern League from 1993 to 2010.
The Green Bay Rockers are a baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The team joined the league as the Bullfrogs as an expansion franchise for the 2007 season along with the Battle Creek Bombers. Before the 2019 season, the Bullfrogs were renamed the Booyah, moved from their original stadium of Joannes Stadium to Capital Credit Union Park, and switched divisions from the Northwoods League South Division to the Great Lakes West Division.
The Battle Creek Battle Jacks are a baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. All players on the team must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. Their home games are played at the C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek, Michigan. Their name refers variously to a previous Battle Creek baseball team, the Michigan Battle Cats, to Apple Jacks manufactured by Battle Creek-based Kellogg's, and to a "Jack of All Trades" as someone with multiple skills. Also, a "jack" is another term for a home run, and Cracker Jacks are often eaten by baseball fans during the game.
The Wisconsin State League was a class D level baseball league that began in 1905, changing its name to the Wisconsin–Illinois League in 1908 and operating through 1914. The league re–organized under that name in 1926. Another Wisconsin State League began in 1940, shut down during World War II from 1943 through 1945, then operated from 1946 through 1953.
The Wausau Timbers were a minor league baseball team, located in Wausau, Wisconsin. The Timbers were members of the Class A Midwest League from 1975 to 1990. The franchise was sold in 1991 and moved to Geneva, Illinois, where it became the Kane County Cougars.
The Minnesota–Wisconsin League, known as the "Minny" League, was a professional minor baseball league that existed from 1909 to 1912. It was a Class D league in 1909, 1910 and 1912 and a Class C league in 1911. As its name suggests, it featured teams based in the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The Lakeshore Chinooks are a baseball team based in Mequon, Wisconsin, United States and a member of the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The Chinooks play their home games at Kapco Park on the campus of Concordia University Wisconsin.
The Kenosha Kingfish are a baseball team that plays in the collegiate summer Northwoods League. Based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Kingfish play their home games at Simmons Field.
The La Crosse Pinks were a minor league baseball team based in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
The Rockford Rivets are a baseball team in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The league's only team based in Illinois, their home games are played at Rivets Stadium in Loves Park.
The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders are a baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League. Based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, the Dock Spiders play their home games at Herr-Baker Field on the campus of Marian University. The Dock Spiders won the 2018 Northwoods League Championship and 2020 Northwoods League Wisconsin-Illinois Pod Championship.
The Traverse City Pit Spitters are a baseball team in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league, and began play in the 2019 season. Based out of Traverse City, Michigan, the Pit Spitters play their home games at Turtle Creek Stadium in nearby Chums Corner, Michigan. The team began play at Turtle Creek Stadium in 2019 after the park's former tenant, the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League, ceased operations at the end of the 2018 season.