Expedition League Explained

Sport:Baseball
President:Steve Wagner (2015–2022)
Motto:Where Tomorrow's Stars Play...Today
Teams:4
Headquarters:Rapid City, South Dakota, United States
Champion:Souris Valley Sabre Dogs
Champ Season:2022
Most Champs:Souris Valley Sabre Dogs (2)
Website:Expedition League

The Expedition League was a collegiate summer baseball league in the Great Plains region of the United States and Canada. The league was founded in 2015 in Rapid City, South Dakota, by Steve Wagner, who also served as president. The league's inaugural season was 2018 with eight teams. It played its final season in 2022.

Teams played a 64-game season from late May through the beginning of August. Playoffs took place in the second week of August with teams seeded for the playoffs, with each team making the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs and the League Championship Series were best-of-three series.

History

The league was founded in 2015 and featured eight teams in its inaugural season that began in May 2018.[1] It added the Wheat City Whiskey Jacks and the Fremont Moo for the 2019 season.[2]

The Rapid City Jackalopes, originally announced for the 2020 season,[3] were described in early 2020 as being "at least one more year away" due to the lack of a suitable stadium.[4] The Hub City Hotshots suspended operations for the 2020 season and the city of Aberdeen, South Dakota terminated their contract for use of Fossum Field.[5] In December 2019, the Sioux Falls Sunfish announced that the team would begin play in the 2020 season,[6] playing at Karras Park Home of Ronken Field in Sioux Falls, South Dakota;[7] due to COVID, they started playing in 2021.[8] [9] The Canyon County Spuds and the Mining City Tommyknockers joined the league for the 2021 season in Caldwell, Idaho and Butte, Montana, respectively.[10] [11] In February 2021, the league announced plans for a new team in Grand Forks, North Dakota, later named the Red River Pilots,[12] to debut in 2022.[13] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic closing the US-Canada border, the Wheat City Whiskey Jacks played their 2021 home games at Kraft Field in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The Pierre Trappers chose not to seek renewal of their ballpark lease after the 2022 season.

During the 2022 season, the Expedition League was forced to end its season early after the Red River Pilots and North Iowa Ragin Roosters both folded by July 4, causing a best of three series between the Pierre Trappers and Souris Valley Sabre Dogs.[14] The Sabre Dogs collected their second straight championship after defeating the Trappers by three games to one.[15] The Trappers[16] [17] and Sabre Dogs[18] folded soon after, alongside the league, in 2022.

Teams

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyyImageSize = width:1070 height:auto barincrement:20Period = from:2018 till:2023TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalPlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#

Colors = id:line value:black id:Full value:rgb(0.63,0.88,0.755) # Member of the League id:Past value:rgb(0.80,0.80,0.80) # Former Member of the League

PlotData = width:15 textcolor:darkblue shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:Past from:2018 till:2022 text:Badlands Big Sticks (2018–2021)

bar:2 color:Past from:2018 till:2022 text:Casper Horseheads (2018–2021)

bar:3 color:Past from:2018 till:2022 text:Hastings Sodbusters (2018–2021)

bar:4 color:Past from:2018 till:2020 text:Hub City Hotshots (2018–2019) bar:5 color:Past from:2018 till:2023 text:Pierre Trappers (2018–2022) bar:6 color:Past from:2018 till:2023 text:Souris Valley Sabre Dogs (2018–2022) bar:7 color:Past from:2018 till:2022 text:Spearfish Sasquatch (2018–2021)

bar:8 color:Past from:2018 till:2022 text:Western Nebraska Pioneers (2018–2021)

bar:9 color:Past from:2019 till:2022 text:Fremont Moo (2019–2021)

bar:10 color:Past from:2019 till:2022 text:Wheat City Whiskey Jacks (2019–2021)

bar:11 color:Past from:2021 till:2022 text:Sioux Falls Sunfish (2021) bar:12 color:Past from:2021 till:2022 text:Canyon County Spuds (2021) bar:13 color:Past from:2021 till:2022 text:Mining City Tommyknockers (2021)

bar:14 color:Past from:2022 till:2023 text:Red River Pilots (2022)

bar:15 color:Past from:2022 till:2023 text:North Iowa Ragin' Roosters (2022)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2018TextData =

fontsize:L

textcolor:black

pos:(0,30) tabs:(535-center)

text:^"Expedition League membership history"

Champions

Notable Expedition League alumni

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Expedition League to Launch in 2018 . Zach . Spedden . Ballpark Digest . August Publications . May 30, 2017 . September 22, 2017.
  2. Web site: Expedition League bringing team to Brandon . Perry . Bergson. Brandon Sun . October 3, 2018 . October 3, 2018.
  3. News: Jackalopes coming to Rapid City, Expedition League in 2020 . . May 15, 2019 . October 2, 2019.
  4. News: Jackalopes won't be ready for Expedition League 2020 season . March 10, 2020 . . January 15, 2020 . en.
  5. Web site: Hotshots suspend 2020 season, city terminates Fossum Field contract . Elisa . Sand . AberdeenNews.com . September 5, 2019 . October 2, 2019.
  6. Web site: Expedition League Set to Announce New Sioux Falls Affiliate . Jerry . Palleschi . ESPN 99.1 . December 18, 2019 . March 23, 2020.
  7. News: New for 2020: Sioux Falls Sunfish . March 23, 2020 . Ballpark Digest . August Publications . February 20, 2020.
  8. News: Bower . Sean . As start of inaugural season approaches, Sioux Falls Sunfish searching for host families . January 15, 2022 . . May 29, 2020.
  9. News: Bower . Sean . Sioux Falls Sunfish set to make Expedition League debut . January 15, 2022 . . May 5, 2021.
  10. News: July 13, 2021 . Treasure Valley adds a new baseball team: the Canyon County Spuds . en . KIVI-TV . February 1, 2022.
  11. News: October 9, 2020 . Expedition League expands to Butte . en . Ballpark Digest . August Publications . October 9, 2020.
  12. News: January 31, 2022 . Expedition League announces Grand Forks baseball team will be named Red River Pilots . en . Grand Forks Herald . February 1, 2022.
  13. News: February 11, 2021 . Grand Forks tabbed for 2022 Expedition League slot . en . Ballpark Digest . August Publications . February 1, 2022.
  14. News: Sweeney . Pat . Expedition League is down to 2 teams . June 1, 2023 . . July 7, 2022 . en.
  15. News: Vierzba . Neil . Back-to-Back! Sabre Dogs capture 2nd straight Expedition League title . October 24, 2023 . . July 11, 2022 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220711013226/https://www.kfyrtv.com/2022/07/11/back-to-back-sabre-dogs-capture-2nd-straight-expedition-league-title/ . July 11, 2022 . . en.
  16. News: Albers . Gwen . Trappers leaving, local group forming new team . October 24, 2023 . . July 30, 2022 . live . subscription . https://web.archive.org/web/20220731012201/https://www.capjournal.com/news/trappers-leaving-local-group-forming-new-team/article_2ee83d8e-1069-11ed-8aa9-b7e0456c66c1.html . July 31, 2022 . . en.
  17. News: Albers . Gwen . New collegiate baseball team signs deal with city . October 24, 2023 . Capital Journal . September 14, 2022 . live . subscription . https://web.archive.org/web/20220915045000/https://www.capjournal.com/news/new-collegiate-baseball-team-signs-deal-with-city/article_fe9d6be6-3439-11ed-828b-8f3ac5133a6f.html . September 15, 2022 . Pierre, South Dakota . en.
  18. News: Fundingsland . Kim . Sabre Dogs Done . October 24, 2023 . The Dakotan . July 18, 2022 . live . subscription . https://web.archive.org/web/20221129143729/https://mydakotan.com/2022/07/sabre-dogs-done/ . November 29, 2022.

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