The Expedition League was 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 is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

region of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The league was founded in 2015 in

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...

, by Steve Wagner, who also served as president. The league's inaugural season was 2018 with eight teams. It played its final season in 2022. Teams played a 64-game season from late May through the beginning of August. Playoffs took 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 and the League Championship Series were 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 () is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 28,495. making it the third-most populous city in the state. Aberdeen is home of Northern State University. ...

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 List of cities in South Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the List of United States cities by population, 117th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha Coun ...

; due to

COVID Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, 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, United States. The population was 68,336 at the time of th2023 United States census making it the List of cities in Idaho, 5th most populous city in Idaho. C ...

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 2 ...

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

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in North Dakota, third-most populous ...

, 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. During the 2022 season, the Expedition League was forced to end its season early after the Red River Pilots and North Iowa Ragin Roosters both folded by July 4, causing a best of three series between the Pierre Trappers and Souris Valley Sabre Dogs. The Sabre Dogs collected their second straight championship after defeating the Trappers by three games to one. The Trappers and Sabre Dogs folded soon after, alongside the league, in 2022.

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 (2019–2021) bar:11 color:Past from:2021 till:2022 text:Sioux Falls Sunfish (2021) 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) bar:15 color:Past from:2022 till:2023 text:North Iowa Ragin' Roosters (2022) 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 Fremont may refer to: Places In the United States: *Fremont, California – the largest city with the name ** Fremont station **Fremont station (BART) **Fremont Central Park * Fremont Landing, California, also known as Fremont, in Yolo County * ...

*2019

Badlands Big Sticks The Badlands Big Sticks are a collegiate summer baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League. Based in Dickinson, North Dakota, the Big Sticks play their home games at Dakota Community Bank & Trust Ballpark. History The Big Sticks were fou ...

*2018 Western Nebraska Pioneers

Notable Expedition League alumni

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

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

, 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. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

, 2021 *Austin Callahan,

(2021). 18th Round,

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

, 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

, 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

, 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) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

, 2015

References

External links

* * {{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 2022 disestablishments in South Dakota Sports leagues disestablished in 2022