nowheresville

I missed 2 interleague series. Home vs. Miami Aprl 22-23 @ Atlanta May 20-22

Schedule was just posted on the Twins Website. Open at home vs. Detroit Apr. 1. Interleague vs Mets April 12-14, first home weekend. Back to Back Away and Home 2 game series with Brewers, May 27-28 @ Milwaukee, May 29-30 @ Home 3 Interleague Series in June: At Washington June 7-9 Home vs. Philly June 11-13 At Miami June 25-26 Other notes: Home vs Yankees on July 4 Astros @ home Aug 2-4, @ Houston Sept 2-4 (part of a 6 game Texas Roadtrip) Regular Season ends at home vs. Cleveland Sept. 29

I'll take a guess. Beloit - Royals Burlington - Astros Cedar Rapids - Twins Clinton - Mariners Dayton - Reds Fort Wayne - Padres Kane Co - Cubs Peoria - Angels Quad Cities - Cardinals Hagerstown - Mets Lexington - As Savannah - Nationals

No MWL playoff game has even cracked the 2000 mark this year. Fort Wayne, which averages nearly 6000 fans a night, only drew 1700 to their playoff game Wednesday. Appleton was the only other site of a game 3, and they saw their attendance drop from 1700 on Thursday to 700 on Friday.

There are no season/promotional tickets to the playoffs so the sold tickets and the attendance really were the same. Certainly a small crowd, but on a HS Friday Football night, with no advance ticket sales, and almost no local media attention, it is what it is. I'll give a lot of credit to the Clinton fans, as a quite a few of them made the trip. I've been to a whole lot of season ending/playoff losses, both for the Snappers and the Twins, and i have to say that this was quite possibly the most disappointing. Losing back to back games in extras, both which were very winnable games, was tough, but knowing that the Twins will almost certainly be elsewhere next year made the loss that much more difficult. Thanks to Nelson, Gary, Tommy, and all the other Snappers players and staff who've been in Beloit for the past 8 years. You were all great ambassadors for the Twins, and next season just won't be the same.

This is shaping up to be an incredible series. Game 2 was another back and forth battle that was every bit as intense as I've heard the descriptions of Game 1. The Snappers started strong, and looked like they were going to pull it out. Sano started out the scoring for Beloit in the second, by knocking a double off the wall and eventually scoring, diving home head first on a short sac. fly. The 4th and 5th Innings is when things got real interesting. Clinton took the lead with a 2 run shot that just barely cleared the RF wall in the top of the 4th, but in the bottom half, the Snappers answered back, once again with Sano who launched a towering 3 run HR that cleared the top of the scoreboard. Clinton tied things up again in the 5th, with another 2 run shot, this one that just made it over the wall, to the left of the batters eye, before giving back a nice manufactured run by Beloit. The Snappers looked like they were in good shape until the 8th. Cole Johnson walked a batter, after pitching a steller game, and was replaced by the usually very reliable Corey Williams. After getting a ground out, he gave up a double and then an intentional walk to load the bases. Corey couldn't get the next batter though, giving up a game tying walk on what looked like a pretty good pitch. That was all for his night, but Zach Jones came in and slammed the door, getting out of the 1 out bases loaded jam with a pair of strikeouts. In the 10th, Clinton came back and had the inning they needed. They got a walk, advanced to second on a deep fly to Center, and then scored the go-ahead run on a solid single to center. Eddie Rosario fired the ball in, and his throw beat the runner home, but took a really hit hop off the infield grass went over the catcher's head. The lumber kings would score again, on a nearly identical hit to center, this time one that Eddie overran. The snappers tried to mount a rally in the bottom of the 10th, but after getting a bad break - Clinton's SS booted a ball that deflected right to the 2Bman for a force out - Eddie grounded into a double play to end the game. Everything about the game was fantastic, except the outcome. It should be a great one tomorrow night - 6:30 at Pohlman Field.

First of all, the Snappers actually have consistantly been drawing just over 1,000 a game, and in some of their good years with the Twins, its been around 1,300. One thing you really need to remember is that Rockford is basically an entirely different market. Rockford has its own baseball team (Independent, Frontier League) that competes against the Snappers for fans. In fact, the Rockford Riverhawk's new stadium, built about 5 years ago, is actually north of Rockford and is only about 15 miles from Pohlman Field. Even Janesville is a bit of a tough sell, because there the Snappers essentially are competing with the Madison Mallards, simply because a lot of people there work in Madison, and/or never have a reason to go to Beloit. The reality is Beloit is one of the smallest markets in the MWL and their attendance reflects it. Despite that, the team does still stay in the black. I wouldn't say that the Twins affiliation has anything to do with attendance, as they were drawing as many fans with the Twins as they were with the Brewers. You really have to keep in mind that the average fan at a minor league game isn't going because of the team affiliation or what prospects are on the team. Sadly, many of the casual fans at a Snapper game don't even understand that the MWL is a much better product than what they'll find in Rockford or Madison, they're just looking for a good time. If anything, the Snappers have hurt themselves by making the experience about going and watching quality baseball, unlike how the other teams in the area to go great lengths to make their product a circus surrounding a baseball game. However, If you're a fan of good baseball, you can really appreciate the difference.

From everything I've been able to gather the Snappers and Twins have had a very good working relationship, and if there was the prospect of a new park the Twins wouldn't leave Beloit. For the a few years in the Mid-00's, it did seem like there was some good progress towards a new ballpark, either in Beloit or Janesville, but between the crash of the economy and the death of a local billionaire who was planning to put up a good chunk of money for a park, those talks have gone completely quiet. The Snappers staff has told me they are working to make some improvements this off-season, in part to try to convince the Twins to stay, but seems pretty clearly a case of way too little too late. . In 04-05, Beloit would have been the only team in the MWL West that was available. Peoria and QC gobbled up the Cubs and Cards. Beloit was open after the Brewers moved to the Sally for 2 years. In the east, the only two cities that were open were Lansing and Battle Creek. Toronto moved to Lansing and is still there today. The Rays moved to Battle Creek, but the franchise itself moved and became Great Lakes 2 years later. What is amazing is in 30 years, Beloit has only been affiliated with 2 franchises. The best I can tell, the only other MWL team that has been that stable is Cedar Rapids. Everyone else has seen at least 3 or 4 affiliation changes since then (some many more), or simply hasn't been a team that long.

Sano had a very nice blast beyond the second level of billboards in left field at Pohlman in the Snappers final regular season game. He finishes the season with 28 HR and an even 100 RBI. Later that inning, Wang-Wei Lin took advantage of a missed cutoff man to clinch the win with a 3-run inside-the-park homer, giving the Snappers a 6-1 win over Quad Cities. Beloit finishes the 2nd half of MWL with a 38-32 record, good enough for 2nd place. They had already clinched a playoff birth by also finishing 2nd during the 1st half of the season. They'll play at Clinton to open a best of 3 playoff series on Wednesday.

Every once in a while you'll hear people in the stands in Beloit talk about Spelius and how the team will be safe as long as he is there. I don't think there's really any truth to it, and if the team was losing money, they'd be gone. As far as where the Twins will go in 2013, I still think CR is the overwhelming favorite and I'd go about 80%. I just don't see the St. Paul talk as anymore than speculation without any backing facts. Although, if they are serious about that idea, Peoria could make the most sense, because I see that as the most likely MWL team to move. One minor quibble, If the Twins don't end up in CR, Peoria wouldn't be the only other option in the West. Both Clinton and Burlington also up this year. I don't see either as very likely, since I'd guess the Twins would just go back to Beloit since they wouldn't be big upgrades.

I for one don't put any sort of belief that there is any substantial effort at all to bring affiliated baseball to St. Paul. In fact the whole idea that you'd have an A-ball and an Indie League team sharing a stadium is just kind of silly, and puts it into a beyond a pipedream kind of talk. Having said that, I don't think the logistics of being in St. Paul would be that out of line for the Midwest League. The league just expanded to Bowling Green and Lake County Ohio, and both of those teams are just as far from any eastern division teams as St. Paul would be from Appleton and Cedar Rapids. The bigger question would be what MWL team would really be on the market at this point. People tend to forget that Beloit and Burlington, despite their old parks and low attendance, are community run non-profits, and at least in Beloit's case, the Snappers actually have been consistantly in the black. Pretty much everyone else has a reasonably new ballpark, although if I'd guess any team is in danger of moving, it might be Peoria, especially if the Cubs leave. AAA would be a bit more interesting, and St. Paul would seem to be a better fit in the PCL. The Tucson franchise is available, ironically because the Padres attempts to move their AAA team to into their own backyard fell through. San Diego planned to move the team to a SD suburb, but needed a home while the new AAA stadium was built. Money for the new stadium fell through, and so the team is stuck in Tucson and up for sale (El Paso is interested, but I don't think the sale is a done deal). As it is, Tucson was really only picked as a home for the team as a last resort, because Portland converted their ballpark to a Soccer stadium, and the old Dbacks/WSox spring training complex was available as a stop gap. But again, plans for real minor league baseball in St. Paul don't seem like anything more than some wishful thinking, and to me its more amusing "what if" talk than anything else.

My understanding is that the Twins weren't all that happy about how their time in the QC ended in 2006. From what I remember at the time, and/or from when the Twins had previously renewed in Beloit, Terry Ryan has talked about how the Swing/River Bandits basically kicked them out of town so that they could try to lure either the Cubs or Cardinals. I didn't know about the new ownership, but from the sounds of things with their negotiations with the Cards, it won't matter much anyway.

It'd say its a big stretch to compare attendance numbers and call that "fan loyalty." Just look at population bases alone. Beloit, Burlington, and Clinton are all cities of 25-35,000 people, that aren't even big enough to have their own tv stations to show highlights at night. Every other city in the league has more than 100,000. Places like Fort Wayne and Kane County literally have 10 times the population base to draw from compared to the small markets of the MWL. Now, certainly, the facilities also reflect those realities - as the small cities simply don't have the fan or tax bases to pay for a multi-million dollar new ballpark and facilities. I'd also say that a big attendance is a bit of a double edged sword for player development. Miguel Sano is actually a really good example. He's been able to play, practice, and make mistakes in relative obscurity, rather than with the spotlight of 5-10,000 people watching him every night. In talking to those who are close to him, the MWL All-Star game was a bit of a shocker to Sano, because he was the star that everyone wanted to see, and he got far more attention than he does just going about his business on a day to day basis with the Snappers. Attention and the spotlight have some positives, but there's also a plus to letting him work without being lifted too high for all of his home runs, or jeered too much for all of his errors and strikeouts.

If anything, I'd think that the Cubs going to Kane County would slightly decrease the chance of the Twins moving to Cedar Rapids, simply because it would put the Royals in play - although I'd still think the Twins would have the edge in CR. I really don't think Cedar Rapids ever had a shot at the Cubs. The Cubs are the most desirable team for more than half the MWL, and with so many options closer to Chicago, Cedar Rapids just seems like it would have been low on their priority list. I'd even think the Indiana options would be a bit unlikely, considering that the Cubs are hoping the state of Illinois will throw in some cash for Wrigley improvements and having a minor league team leave the state wouldn't help their cause. Then again, the Cubs were in Lansing Michigan before the last big affiliate swap in 06. CR is about 40 miles closer to MSP than Beloit, but clearly has better facilities and there are probably more natural Twins fans than in Beloit, which is only an hour from Milwaukee and less than 2 from Chicago (although you'll see lots of Twins gear at a Snappers game). CR is the closest affiliate to the Twin Cities. Appleton is about the same distance as CR, but they're a Brewers affiliate and won't change any time soon. Next would be Beloit and Clinton, which are both about the same distance from MSP, but Beloit is much easier to get to since Clinton isn't near any major highway or airport.

It seems like the Sox are pretty happy having all of their minor league teams located relatively close to each other, clustered in the Southeast, but if they ever decided to move back to the MWL, I'd expect South Bend to make a huge push for them. Its got geography of course, but more importantly, the Silver Hawks owner is already part owner of the White Sox. Despite being a DBacks affiliate right now, it looks like the the White Sox threw up all over, what is otherwise a pretty nice park. They've even got a Sox flag flying in the outfield as it is. Realistically, if/when the Twins leave, Beloit probably isn't going to get another team from the midwest. Its more likely going to be someone from the coasts, like a Seattle, Oakland, or Anaheim. Perhaps the Angels would give Beloit a shot if they're kicked out of CR, since their farm director Scott Servais is originally from Wisconsin.

Unless the northwoods league somehow collapses, I see zero chance that Madison rejoins the MWL. While they've been far and away the most successful team in the Northwoods league, no one goes there to watch baseball, and there is no incentive for them to stop doing what is working so well. Especially when Madison has had such poor history with professional baseball. Even the Snapper players I've talked to who played in the Northwoods league prior to going pro hated playing there, despite getting to play in front of large crowds, because its simply a circus where people go to drink and watch the sideshows on warm summer days. If you polled the crowd at a Mallards game, 80-90% would think they are watching actual minor league baseball already. I also don't see baseball leaving Beloit unless the league declares that Pohlman Field isn't acceptable anymore, and even that might be enough for the long talked about new ballpark to actually get moving. Its easy to forget, that the Snappers are still a team that breaks even, or turns a profit every year.

With the Timber Rattlers just down the road in Appleton, Green Bay is an unlikely market for the MWL league. Realistically, the MWL is pretty stable right now so its pretty unlikely that any teams would be moving any time soon. Even the smallest markets of Beloit and Burlington are both run as community owned non-profits, so they're at least stable. Plus, I don't really see any Northwoods league cities making an effort to improve to MiLB. If any cities that currently have baseball made an effort to switch, I'd see it much more likely coming from somewhere in the (Independent) Frontier League, which are mostly IL/IN/MI cities that are closer to the MWL's current footprint. Fort Wayne is one of the handful of MWL parks I haven't been to, and I didn't notice just how well they draw (2nd best in the league). If Peoria is struggling with the Cubs, I can't image how bad things would be there without them, considering that nearly every time a Cubs player goes on Rehab, it includes a stop in Peoria. Its also a nice park, and their staff members are among the best in the MWL, imho.

It sounds to me like the Twins going to Cedar Rapids would be all but a formality at this point. As much as I want them to stay in Beloit, going to the Kernals just makes too much sense for both sides. Although I am curious as to why the Cubs would see Fort Wayne as a preferred spot.

Ignoring all the other issues that make "converting" Duluth to a MWL team (ie actually buying an existing milb franchise, being 300 miles away from the next closest mwl team and 900 miles from the farthest), you really can't compare Northwoods attendance to MWL. Northwoods is a much shorter season, where all of the games are in the middle of summer. MWL has an extra two months of games, most of them are in lousy weather. Having weeknight games in April when the temperatures are in the 40, is a pretty serious drag on attendance for nearly all the MWL teams. Its also pretty much a myth that you can rely on college students to boost attendance. Madison is the perfect example. The summertime Mallards are a huge success, drawing 5000 a night, but Madison's had a lousy record with full season minor league ball (played when school is in session). Madison got a MWL team the same year that the Snappers were created, but the concept didn't work. Madison lost 2 MWL teams, and an Independent league team (which is now in Lincoln, which is probably why they don't have a Minor League team there btw), before the Mallards were created.

As a Twins fan and Snappers season ticket holder, I certainly appreciate your work here as well. It certainly seems like the Twins have their foot out the door of Beloit, which is a shame considering that the number of Twins fans that have either visited, and created, since the Twins came in 2007. I now see as much, if not more, Twins gear than Snappers or even Brewers gear at most games now. The staff really has done a lot to promote the affiliation with the Twins, and despite the subpar stadium, it seems like it has been a good relationship for the past 6 years. I would be curious as to where the Twins might go. It doesn't seem like there are a ton of other good options. Cedar Rapids would make the most sense, if its available, but I don't see many other options. QC already kicked them out of town to get the Cardinals, I'm sure Peoria wants to keep the Cubs, the Brewers are happy in Appleton, Kane County and Burlington just swapped 2 years ago, which only leaves Clinton in the MVL West. I really like watching games in Clinton, but I'm not sure their facilities would be big step up from Beloit. That leaves the MWL east, or heading south. I don't see baseball leaving Beloit anytime soon, especially since the team is community owned and has been in the Black the past few years. But, much like 2006, I suspect they will end up getting the team that is without a partner when the music stops. From my understanding, that's pretty much how the Twins ended up in Beloit in the first place during the last big MWL affiliate shakeup. But I will continue to hope that Terry Ryan will decide to step up and keep the Twins in his hometown!