Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Taking a Look at the Durham Bulls' 2021 Schedule

 


The schedule just published by the Durham Bulls is going to be very different. It shows a lot of changes, driven by a combination of deep-sixing the International League, Covid, and economics. 

The Bulls are in the new Triple-A East, Southeast Division, which has seven teams. Some are long-time opponents — we've been watching the Gwinnett Stripers (née Braves), Norfolk Tides, and Charlotte Knights for as long as the Bulls have been in AAA. And they are the teams who the Bulls will play (along with Jacksonville) most of their games this season. They will play Charlotte 36 times, Norfolk 36 times, and Gwinnett 18 times. But one of the new teams, Miami franchise the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (give me a break — Jumbo Shrimp??!!) will play the Bulls 34 times. The other two teams in the division account for 18 more games, Nashville just 6 games, and Memphis 12.

Another big change is that we will see 6-game (Tuesday-Sunday) home stands instead of the previous years' 4-game norms. 

The break out is this:

Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox) — 36 games, 18 home, 18 away

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore) — 36 games, 18 home, 18 away

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Miami) — 34 games, 16 home, 18 away

Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta) — 18 games, 12 home, 6 away

Memphis Redbirds (St Louis) — 12 games, 6 home, 6 away

Nashville Sounds (Milwaukee) — 6 games, away

Looks like there will also be changes in how we go about getting tickets, but more on that later.

Saturday, February 20, 2021

International League, RIP

A flurry of info is being dumped on minor league baseball fans, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention. 

For Durham Bulls fans, what jumps out is that the only "league" the Bulls have ever known has been pushed off the ledge.

The clue was right there on the Wikipedia page (thanks to whomever is keeping that up): "The International League (IL) WAS a Minor League Baseball League ..."

The Durham Bulls joined the International League their very first season, 1998, and went on to win the championship, the Governors' Cup, six times, most recently in 2018. 

Along with a couple of other teams, the League is now entirely gobbled up by Major League Baseball's new Triple-A East organization.

For an organization whose history reaches back into the 1800s, kinda sad to see it go.

Requiescat in Pacem International League. 

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

2021????

 Can't find out anything about the minor leagues, but here's part of what's going on.


A five-day quarantine before reporting to spring training. Shorter spring training games. No indoor dining. 


And then there's this piece which sounds very confusing to me, something about mixing up "Alternative Training Sites" and Triple-A"

Not sure what's going on.