The Wild Wild West League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league based out of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. It serves as a developmental minor league and is owned and operated by the

Portland Pickles The Portland Pickles are a collegiate woodbat baseball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the South Division of the West Coast League, a premier collegiate summer baseball league based in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. The ...

collegiate baseball club of the West Coast League. The league features four teams and all games are played at Charles B. Walker Stadium at Lents Park in southeast Portland, home of the Pickles.

History

2020: Inaugural season

The league was formed by the

in 2020 following the cancellation of the West Coast League's regular season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Months prior, the Pickles also founded a developmental farm club of their own known as the

Portland Gherkins The Portland Gherkins are a collegiate woodbat baseball team based in Portland, Oregon. They are charter members of the Wild Wild West League, a short-season developmental collegiate summer baseball league owned by Rose City Baseball, LLC, and ...

. The Pickles and Gherkins were joined by the previously independent

Gresham GreyWolves The Gresham GreyWolves are a collegiate woodbat baseball team located in Gresham, Oregon. The GreyWolves play at Oslund Field on the campus of Mount Hood Community College and were a member of the West Coast League (WCL), a collegiate summer b ...

and West Linn Knights and played the inaugural two-week season at Bob Brack Stadium in

Aurora, Oregon Aurora is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. Before being incorporated as a city, it was the location of the Aurora Colony, a religious commune founded in 1856 by William Keil and John E. Schmit. William named the settlement after ...

, with all players, coaches and staffs having to follow the COVID-19 guidelines at the local, state and federal levels and limited fans in attendance. The league even grabbed the attention nationally of Forbes magazine. The article was quoted as saying, "When nobody else could play, the Wild Wild West League thrived." Play officially begin on July 11, 2020, with the Pickles playing the Gherkins. On July 15, 2020, the league suspended play for at least seven days following positive COVID-19 tests from two players, just four days after the inaugural season started. The league would resume play eight days later. The Knights won the inaugural league championship defeating the Pickles 8–7 in the championship game.

2021

The league was so successful that it announced a second season and that all of its games would be moved to Walker Stadium at Lents Park in southeast Portland, home of the Pickles, who returned to the WCL. The Knights were folded and both were replaced by the revived Portland Rosebuds (named for the former Negro league team from the 1940's) and

Willamette Wild Bills The Wild Wild West League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league based out of Portland, Oregon. It serves as a developmental minor league and is owned and operated by the Portland Pickles collegiate baseb ...

. The Rosebuds won the 2nd WWWL Championship defeating the Wild Bills 6–4 in the finals.

2022

The league announced expansion into Cleburne, Texas, with a newly-formed four-team Texas Division with all games being played at The Depot at Cleburne Station, also the home of the

Cleburne Railroaders The Cleburne Railroaders are a professional baseball team based in Cleburne, Texas, that plays in the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. The team, which began play in 2017, plays it ...

of the professional American Association. The four teams founded by the league included the Cleburne Eagles (named for the former Negro league team from the 1930's to 1960's), Joshua Trees, Burleson Boxers and Fort Worth Rodeo Cats. However, the teams never played due to lack of interest. Therefore, the Texas Division teams and plans were scrapped by the league. The Oregon teams all returned for a third season and became known as the Portland Division with all games once again being played at Walker Stadium. The Portland Gherkins won the 2022 WWWL Championship defeating the Gresham GreyWolves 9–7 in the championship game.

2023

On April 13, 2023, the league announced that they would play a fourth season. On August 26, the Willamette Wild Bills won their first WWWL Championship by beating the defending champion Gherkins 9-8 to capture the title. THE WILD BILLS WIN THE 2023 WILD WILD WEST LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
WWWL Facebook, August 26, 2023

Special rules

PickleBot 3000

One of the main attractions to the league is an automated strike zone, dubbed Picklebot 3000. Because of the Picklebot, only one field umpire is used for each game. It was introduced in 2021 and has been used ever since.

Current teams

Former teams

Champions

* 2020: West Linn Knights * 2021: Portland Rosebuds * 2022: Portland Gherkins

Broadcasting

The league broadcasts all games on Facebook Live and YouTube channels using the Portland Pickles' Broadcast Crew. Carlo Jimenez was the initial play-by-play voice in 2020, followed by Mike Chexx in 2021.

References

External links

Wild West West League official website
{{College Summer Baseball Summer baseball leagues Baseball in Oregon Baseball in Texas College baseball leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 2020 2020 establishments in Oregon 2021 establishments in Oregon 2022 establishments in Texas