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| Norfolk Admirals ECHL 2025 February 16 |
Bloomington Bison ECHL 2025 January 26 |
Bridgeport Islanders American Hockey League 2025 January 5 |
Tahoe Knight Monsters ECHL 2024 December 15 |
Wichita Thunder ECHL 2024 November 24 |
Once again we take a moment to note the changes in the minor league baseball landscape. Most of the changes, fortunately, are fairly minor, as only two areas have lost teams. The first of these is Jackson, Mississippi, as the Mississippi Braves have moved to Columbus, Georgia after twenty season in the Jackson suburb of Pearl.
The second is Kinston, North Carolina: the Carolina League's Down East Wood Ducks were sold to a new ownership group who also owned the Hickory Crawdads of the South Atlantic League. This season the Crawdads will play in the Carolina League and the Hub City Spartanburgers will debut as a South Atlantic League in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I'm not sure whether what officially happened is that a) the Wood Ducks moved to Spartanburg and the Spartanburgers and Crawdads both changed leagues or b) the Wood Ducks moved to Hickory and took on the Crawdads name while the Crawdads moved to Spartanburg. I suppose the difference is academic.
The other changes are all fairly minor. In the Mexican League Durango lost one team and gained another; say goodbye to los Generales and hello to Caliente. In the Southern League, the Tennessee Smokies have moved seventeen miles (twenty-eight kilometers) from the Knoxville suburb of Kodak to Knoxville proper; they are changing their name (back) to the Knoxville Smokies as well. Three other teams have changed their names: the Pacific Coast League's Oklahoma City Baseball Club is now the Oklahoma City Comets, the Atlantic League's Gastonia Baseball Club is now the Gastonia Ghost Peppers, and the Eastern League's Bowie Baysox are now the Chesapeake Baysox. The Atlantic League's Spire City Ghost Hounds in Frederick, Maryland have extended their hiatus as the league was unable to gain a twelfth franchise.
And finally, one change has already been announced for the 2026 season, as the Carolina Mudcats will move twenty miles (thirty-three kilometers) from Zebulon to Wilson to become the Wilson Warbirds.
Our sympathy to the fans of the Jackson and Kinston areas.
"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!").