Southern League Trip Planned

The baseball season is in full swing (maybe someone should tell the Blue Jays), and as I am still between jobs, I'm going to use the time wisely and make a dent in my minor league ballpark count. There are 160 affiliated minor league teams, and I have seen games at 116 active ballparks, leaving 44 to go. The majority of these are in five leagues: Southern, Midwest, Pioneer, Northwest, and Appalachian. Each of these leagues will be the subject of a trip either this season or next. To begin, I'm making a brief trip to the Gulf of Mexico, where four Southern League (AA) teams reside. They all play in relatively small cities that are quite expensive to reach from New York, so I am flying to New Orleans instead. I will start with a Zephyrs game there before moving up to Jackson, Mississippi, where the Braves take on Jackson in a confusing matchup. I'll return to the Gulf Coast for games in Biloxi and a doubleheader in Mobile and Pensacola before returning to New York. The full schedule is below:

Sat, Jun 11 Omaha Storm Chasers at New Orleans Zephyrs (PCL) 6:00 
Sun, Jun 12 Jackson Generals at Mississippi Braves (Southern League) 5:00
Mon, Jun 13 Birmingham Barons at Biloxi Shuckers (Southern League) 7:10
Tue, Jun 14 Jacksonville Suns at Mobile BayBears (Southern League) 12:05
Tue, Jun 14 Montgomery Biscuits at Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Southern League) 18:30

As always, updates will be posted here, so check back regularly.

Best,

Sean

Texas League Trip Planned

As I mentioned previously, I'm on a mission to see all AAA and AA parks this season. The eight-team Texas League is one of the AA circuits that I have been remiss in visiting, having only seen San Antonio and Tulsa back in 2001, as well as Midland last week. Since then, the Drillers have opened a new stadium, so I have six ballparks to visit to complete that league. As well, I have yet to see the Blue Jays in Arlington, so I wanted to make sure that any Texas trek coincided with a Toronto trip there. As luck would have it, the Jays are in San Francisco that same week, and I haven't seen them in AT&T Park either.

Here is the entire schedule:

Sat, Apr 30 Corpus Christi Hooks at Frisco RoughRiders (Texas League) 7:05 
Sun, May  1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals at Tulsa Drillers (Texas League) 1:05
Mon, May  2 Arkansas Travelers at Springfield Cardinals (Texas League) 11:10
Tue, May  3 Arkansas Razorbacks at Missouri State Bears (NCAA Baseball) 6:35
Wed, May  4 Springfield Cardinals at Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Texas League) 11:05 
Thu, May  5 Tulsa Drillers at Arkansas Travelers (Texas League) 7:10
Fri, May  6 New Orleans Zephyrs at Round Rock Express (PCL) 6:05 
Sat, May  7 San Antonio Missions at Corpus Christi Hooks (Texas League) 7:05
Mon, May  9 Toronto Blue Jays at San Francisco Giants 7:15
Tue, May 10 Toronto Blue Jays at San Francisco Giants 7:15
Wed, May 11 Toronto Blue Jays at San Francisco Giants 12:45
Wed, May 11 Houston Dynamo at San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) 7:30
Thu, May 12 BYU Cougars at San Francisco Dons (NCAA Baseball, West Coast) 3:00 
Fri, May 13 Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers 7:05
Sat, May 14 Missouri State Bears at Dallas Baptist Patriots (NCAA Baseball, MVC) 2:00 
Sat, May 14 Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers 7:05
Sun, May 15 Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers 2:05

If you are around, let me know and we can enjoy a game together! Otherwise, check back for updates.

Best,

Sean

NHL Playoff Road Trip

The NHL playoffs begin tomorrow, and if you have a lot of money and a couple of weeks off, you can see 15 of the 16 venues, assuming that the schedule works out in terms of each series going the requisite number of games. Here is one potential trip, trying to minimize the number of flights required:

April 13 - NY Rangers at Pittsburgh (Game 1)
April 14 - NY Islanders at Florida (Game 1)
April 15 - Detroit at Tampa Bay (Game 2)
April 16 - Philadelphia at Washington (Game 2)
April 17 - Florida at NY Islanders (Game 3)
April 18 - Washington at Philadelphia (Game 3)
April 19 - Pittsburgh at NY Rangers (Game 3)
April 20 - Dallas at Minnesota (Game 4)
April 21 - Chicago at St. Louis (Game 5)
April 22 - Minnesota at Dallas (Game 5)
April 23 - St. Louis at Chicago (Game 6)
April 24 - Tampa Bay at Detroit (Game 6) or Los Angeles at San Jose (Game 6)
April 25 - Anaheim at Nashville (Game 6)
April 26 - San Jose at Los Angeles (Game 7)
April 27 - Nashville at Anaheim (Game 7)

Every playoff rink is mentioned here, but obviously you can't see Detroit and San Jose in the same night. I'll check back after the first round to see how many of the "if necessary" games actually took place.

Best,

Sean

Better Call Sean! I'm Heading to Albuquerque

This baseball season, I plan to complete all AAA and AA parks, as well as those in the South Atlantic and Appalachian Leagues. This totals 30 stadiums and once done, will leave me with just 23 minor league ballparks in the Midwest, Northwest, and Pioneer Leagues to see in 2017.

The stadiums I have yet to see are scattered about the country in states that I have rarely visited, like New Mexico, Arkansas, and Mississippi, as well as more rural areas in Texas and the southeast. Rather than take a two-month roadtrip that would almost definitely lead to the end of my marriage, I'm splitting the trips up into more manageable chunks. The first of these is a short jaunt to the southwest to see a couple of far flung PCL teams, along with one in the Texas League. Travelling that far means that try to see at least two games in each venue, and with more and more minor league teams having school days (i.e. morning games), it can be done in just four days.

I'll start in Albuquerque for an Isotopes game before taking a left turn (thus avoiding the same mistake that Bugs Bunny always makes) and heading to Midland where the RockHounds play. The next day I'll see the RockHounds in the morning before heading back west and into the Mountain Time Zone to check out the newest AAA team, the El Paso Chihuahuas, who started play in 2014 after moving from Tucson. Then I hustle back to Albuquerque for a doubleheader starting with the Lobos before finishing up with a return visit to Isotopes Park. The full schedule is below:

Sun, Apr 17 Tacoma Rainers at Albuquerque Isotopes 1:35
Mon, Apr 18 Northwest Arkansas Naturals at Midland RockHounds 6:30
Tue, Apr 19 Northwest Arkansas Naturals at Midland RockHounds 11:30
Tue, Apr 19 Tacoma Rainers at El Paso Chihuahuas 6:30
Wed, Apr 20 Texas Tech Red Raiders at New Mexico Lobos 1:00
Wed, Apr 20 Reno Aces at Albuquerque Isotopes 6:35

As always, it promises to be a lot of fun with about 1,000 miles of desert driving over those days. Check back for updates!

Best,

Sean

MLB Opening Weekend Trip Planned

When winter is over, rental car agencies have a surplus of vehicles in Florida which need to be driven to other locations. Rather than pay drivers to do so, they offer one-way deals to paying customers, sometimes as cheap as $6 a day. In the past, you would have to drive the car to the northeast, but this year the southeast is also an acceptable drop-off destination. Thus a four-day rental from Tampa to Atlanta is only $50 (damn those airport taxes, which more than double the cost). And wouldn't you know it? The Blue Jays open in Tampa on April 3 and the Nationals open in Atlanta on April 4. To make the trip worthwhile, I'll be seeing some college baseball and Lightning hockey NASL as well.

The full schedule is here:

Fri, Apr 1 Texas A&M Aggies at Florida Gators (NCAA Baseball, SEC) 7:00
Sat, Apr 2 The Citadel Bulldogs at Stetson Hatters (NCAA Baseball) 12:00
Sat, Apr 2 New Jersey Devils at Tampa Bay Lightning 7:00
Sat, Apr 2 Indy Eleven at Tampa Bay Rowdies 7:30
Sun, Apr 3 Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays (Home Opener) 4:05
Mon, Apr 4 Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves (Home Opener) 4:10

As always, updates will be posted here when I get around to it, so check back once in a while.

Best,

Sean