The Expedition League is a

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

league in the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

region of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The league was founded in 2015 in

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

, by Steve Wagner, who also serves as president. The league's inaugural season was 2018 with eight teams. Teams play a 62-game season from late May through the beginning of August. Playoffs take 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 is a best-of-three series and the League Championship Series is also a best-of-three series.

History

The league was founded in 2015 and featured eight teams in its inaugural season that began in May 2018. It added the Wheat City Whiskey Jacks and the Fremont Moo for the 2019 season. The Rapid City Jackalopes, originally announced for the 2020 season, were described in early 2020 as being "at least one more year away" due to the lack of a suitable stadium. The Hub City Hotshots suspended operations for the 2020 season and the city of

Aberdeen, South Dakota Aberdeen (Lakota language, Lakota: ''Ablíla'') is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, Brown County, South Dakota, United States, located approximately northeast of Pierre, South Dakota, Pierre. The city population was 2 ...

terminated their contract for use of Fossum Field. In December 2019, the Sioux Falls Sunfish announced that the team would begin play in the 2020 season, playing at Karras Park Home of Ronken Field in

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

; due to

COVID Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, they started playing in 2021. The Canyon County Spuds and the Mining City Tommyknockers joined the league for the 2021 season in

Caldwell, Idaho Caldwell (locally CALL-dwel) is a city in and the county seat of Canyon County, Idaho. The population was 59,996 at the time of the 2020 United States census. Caldwell is considered part of the Boise metropolitan area. Caldwell is the location of ...

and

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...

, respectively. In February 2021, the league announced plans for a new team in

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

, later named the Red River Pilots, to debut in 2022. 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

. The Pierre Trappers chose not to seek renewal of their ballpark lease after the 2022 season.

Teams

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1070 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:2018 till:2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = 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–Present) bar:11 color:Past from:2021 till:2022 text:Sioux Falls Sunfish (2021-Present) 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-Present) bar:15 color:Past from:2022 till:2023 text:North Iowa Ragin' Roosters (2022-Present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2018 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(535-center) text:^"Expedition League membership history"

Champions

*2022 Souris Valley Sabre Dogs *2021 Souris Valley Sabre Dogs *2020 Fremont Moo *2019

Badland Big Sticks Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, m ...

*2018 Western Nebraska Pioneers

Notable Expedition League alumni

*Jacen Roberson, Western Nebraska Pioneers (2019). 16th Round,

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

, 2021 *Jack Sinclair, Western Nebraska Pioneers (2018). 16th Round,

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

, 2021 *Austin Callahan, Fremont Moo (2021). 18th Round,

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

, 2021 *Robert Cruz, Casper Horseheads (2018-19). Free Agent,

, 2021 *Alex Achtermann, Western Nebraska Pioneers(2018). 30th Round,

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

, 2019 *Jackson Pokorney, Wheat City Whiskey Jacks(2019)/ Souris Valley Sabre Dogs(2020). 29th Round,

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

, 2016 *Cal Smith, Pierre Trappers(2018). 33rd Round,

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

, 2015

References

External links

Official Website
{{College Summer Baseball Summer baseball leagues Baseball leagues in North Dakota Baseball leagues in South Dakota Baseball leagues in Nebraska Baseball leagues in Wyoming Baseball in Manitoba College baseball leagues in the United States 2017 establishments in South Dakota Sports leagues established in 2017