St. Paul Saints Season to Start On July 3… But Home Games Won’t Be at CHS Field

By    |  
Updated:

Missing baseball? Well, it’s back… sort of! While Minnesota town ball already made their intentions to play clear, the American Association is joining them. That means the St. Paul Saints will be playing in 2020!

On Friday, the American Association announced their return to play plan. Starting July 3rd, teams AND FANS will be in attendance and play out of hub cities. The Saints will be playing in Sioux Falls, SD (home of the Canaries).

The other two hub cities will be in Fargo-Moorhead (home of the Redhawks), and Milwaukee (home of the Milkmen). While the Saints join the Canaries in Sioux Falls, the Winnipeg Goldeyes will play in Fargo and the Chicago Dogs will play in Milwaukee.

The Saints are looking to defend their title, after going 64-36 in 2019 and defeating the Sioux City Explorers to win it all. There is plenty of optimism in 2020 for our other pro baseball team… even if we still don’t know when the one in Minneapolis will see the field…

Watch the full return announcement here.

LEAGUE FORMAT

With the league’s intent to limit travel, teams will play 42 of their regular season 60 games from their hub city. Each stadium will also enforce social distancing, as approved by local officials.

Prior to an Opening Day scheduled for July 3, teams will hold a one-week “spring training” that will start on June 25. As for playoffs, the top two teams from the regular season will advance to the best-of-five Finals series for the championship in mid-September.

“We are very happy to be able to return professional baseball to our fans, albeit in a different fashion than usual. We look forward to opening up our season on July 3 for a summer of high-level professional baseball and bringing America’s Pastime back to the fans.”

Joshua Schaub, American Association Commissioner

COULD GAMES BE PLAYED IN ST. PAUL?

Yes. The return of baseball, in any form, is a breath of fresh air. The league did mention the possibility, however, of teams returning to their home cities before the season is over. For that to happen, local governments would have to approve fans in stands.

The Saints also have a COVID-19 readiness plan for CHS Field, if the Minnesota government ever does allow them to return. Fans who have tickets for 2020, will have the opportunity to exchange them for games held at CHS Field later this year, or in 2021.

“Our sincere hope, and frankly, our plan is to play baseball in St. Paul sooner rather than later. There were several contingencies discussed, but we realized moving forward with this system was both best for the league and for our ability to accomplish our primary goal of entertaining fans at CHS Field this summer. We appreciate Sioux Falls, Fargo, and Milwaukee opening their ballparks for us, Winnipeg and Chicago.”

Derek Sharrer, St. Paul Saints Executive VP/General Manager

NOT ALL PEANUTS AND CRACKERJACKS

While the Saints playing in 2020 is great news, the league also announced that six teams will not participate in 2020 (citing the impact of COVID-19 in their local communities).

The Cleburne Railroaders, Gary SouthShore RailCats, Kansas City T-Bones, Lincoln Saltdogs, Sioux City Explorers, and Texas AirHogs will suspend baseball operations for the remainder of the summer. Hence the draft to allow players on those clubs to play this year.

In an interesting maneuver, the league will hold a draft where they can pick players from non-participating clubs. New roster rules also include the elimination of rookie, LS, and veteran minimums/maximums.

No matter where the games are played… can we still make this game day promotion happen?

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Jack Kewitsch | Minnesota Sports Fan

Mentioned in this article:

More About: