It’s a little premature, but the Southwest League of Professional Baseball has announced its set to begin in April of 2018. According to the league’s website, president Mark Schuster said the league will feature a 112 game schedule.
Schuster, a managing partner of Ventura Sports, has been in the game a long time and has had his hand in the operations and ownership of many minor league teams. His plan to expand quickly is something he’s very excited about. And why not? The future holds a planned multi-purpose venue that will also host sporting events beside minor league baseball.
“We have some tremendous markets that are excited about building new multi-purpose venues that will play host to minor league baseball and a myriad of other events. We will be introducing the cities over the coming weeks and months,” said Schuster.
“We’re thrilled to be moving into markets that are currently underserved.” Our commitment to our community partners is to enhance the quality of life by providing affordable family entertainment year round.”
With eight Indy leagues in existence (add on three winter leagues), including staples like the Atlantic League, American Association, Can-Am League and Frontier, the ninth and newest of the bunch will have a lot of work to do. Success in Independent baseball is very rare. Nearly 30 have tried before.
Currently, the first team to suit up will be the Waco BlueCats. The name was chosen after 1,800 submissions were sent in by participants. It’s unclear how many teams will be formed, but each SWL team will be announced shortly and the names will selected through “name the team” contests.
The odds are definitely not in their favour, but I wish them nothing best the best. And for the fans lucky enough to get a team, I’m confident they’ll have fun with it. Heck, it’s baseball, how can you not?
