Frontier League

The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North America and is considered the oldest currently running independent baseball league in the world. The Frontier Cup, the oldest independent baseball trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. The league is an official MLB Partner League since 2020, and the level of play is comparable to Minor League Baseball's Single-A level. The FL is headquartered in Sauget, Illinois.

The Frontier League was organized by several men who got together in the winter of 1992–1993 and decided to start an independent professional baseball league to serve the West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeast Ohio areas. They believed they could bring professional baseball to areas that would never have a chance of affiliated professional baseball coming to their communities. The seed was planted and they named their project ''The Frontier League''.

At its inception, the FL had eight teams, all in the United States. The league expanded to Canada in 1999, when the London Werewolves joined, and has since consisted of both American and Canadian teams. From 2008 to 2019, the league operated with 10 teams. The league added five new teams as a result of the Can-Am and Frontier Leagues merger, then increased to 16 teams by 2022, and to 18 teams due to the 2025 expansion. Jackson, Mississippi and Kinston, North Carolina were awarded an expansion franchise in 2025; it acquired the baseball assets of the Mississippi Braves and the Down East Wood Ducks, which folded, and established the Mississippi Mud Monsters and the Down East Bird Dawgs that increased the total number of teams to 18.

The FL is the fifth-highest grossing professional minor sports league in the United States by revenue, after the American Hockey League (AHL), International League (IL), the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB). The league's headquarters have been in Sauget, Illinois since 2001, when the Gateway Grizzlies were formed. As of the 2024 season, the FL had players from 17 different countries.

The league's regular season is typically held from May to September, with each team playing 96 games. Following the conclusion of the regular season, 8 teams advance to the Frontier League playoffs, a three-round tournament that runs into late-September to determine the league champion. Since the league's founding in 1993, the Schaumburg Boomers have won the most combined FL titles with four, and the reigning league champions are the Québec Capitales, who defeated the Washington Wild Things in the 2024 Frontier League Championship Series.

History

Early years

The Frontier League was founded in 1993. It initially struggled to retain franchises, with four of its eight founding teams folding within three seasons, though steadily grew to twelve teams within a decade. The first league champions were the Zanesville Greys. Eight teams have won more than one championship: Springfield in 1996 and 1998; Johnstown in 1995 (as the Steal) and in 2000 (as the Johnnies), Richmond Roosters in 2001 and 2002, Windy City in 2007 and 2008, the Joliet Slammers in 2011 and 2018, and the Evansville Otters in 2006 and 2016. With four titles, the Schaumburg Boomers have won the most league championships.

On June 20, 2000, Brian Tollberg debuted with the San Diego Padres, becoming the first FL player to make it to the Majors. A week later, Morgan Burkhart made his debut with the Boston Red Sox.

Although the league does not have any teams located in the same city as Major League teams, it does nonetheless have teams located within the markets of Major League teams. The Chicago area has three teams ( Joliet Slammers, Schaumburg Boomers and Windy City ThunderBolts), as does the New York area ( New Jersey Jackals, Sussex County Miners, and New York Boulders), and St. Louis ( Gateway Grizzlies), Cleveland ( Lake Erie Crushers), Cincinnati ( Florence Y'alls) and Pittsburgh ( Washington Wild Things) each have one. The Wild Things, in particular, have been able to market themselves as a successful alternative to the Pittsburgh Pirates due to the latter franchise's long stretch of losing seasons, which lasted from the league's founding in 1993 until 2013 when the Pirates finished with a record of 94–68.

League merger

On October 16, 2019, it was announced that the Frontier League would be merging with the Can-Am League, absorbing five of its teams to form the largest independent professional baseball league. This added the New Jersey Jackals, New York Boulders, Québec Capitales, Sussex County Miners, and Trois-Rivières Aigles to the league; the Ottawa Champions, the last remaining Can-Am League team, were not invited to participate. The divisions were renamed, with the easternmost teams playing in the Can-Am Division and the westernmost teams playing in the Midwest Division.

On September 24, 2020, Major League Baseball announced that it named the FL as an '' MLB Partner League''. This enables collaboration with MLB to jointly discuss marketing and promotional initiatives to grow, expand, and enhance the game and quality of baseball.

Border issues

For the 2021 season, the league announced that they would be adding two new teams. The first announcement came around the same time as the announcement of the partnership with Major League Baseball, as Ottawa was granted an expansion franchise in the league. The team, as chosen by fans in a contest, was named the Titans and started playing at Ottawa Stadium. Then, on January 8, 2021, after the reorganization of Minor League Baseball, the league added the Tri-City ValleyCats, which were one of several teams that were orphaned or disbanded when the New York-Penn League was folded. The Titans, ValleyCats as well as the Washington Wild Things joined the five former Can-Am League teams in the Can-Am Division, to even the divisions at eight teams; Lake Erie was transferred to the Midwest Division.

On April 22, 2021, the league announced that the Québec Capitales, the Trois-Rivières Aigles, and the Ottawa Titans would not compete in the 2021 season due to the prolonged closure of the Canada–United States border as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Titans, Aigles and Capitales later joined forces to form a new team that competed as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Can-Am Conference. Known as ''Équipe Québec'', they began the season as a traveling team, and starting on July 30, 2021, started sharing home games between Quebec City and Trois-Rivières following a loosening in border restrictions. 10 games were played in Québec City and 11 in Trois-Rivières. They did not play in Ottawa due to COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario.

Expansion era

On October 6, 2021, the owners of the Southern Illinois Miners, Jayne and John Simmons, announced they would be retiring from professional baseball to spend more time with family and the Miners would be ceasing operations and dropping out of the FL. As a result, the league formed the Empire State Greys, to compete as a traveling team with a roster of players from the Empire Professional Baseball League.

In September 2023, the league announced a new team, the New England Knockouts, who were planned to play at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, Massachusetts, beginning with the 2024 season. This brought the total number of permanent members of the league to sixteen teams. After playing one season as the Knockouts, the team was renamed as the Brockton Rox in January 2025.

In September 2024, the league announced an expansion to Mississippi and North Carolina. A franchise was awarded to Pearl, Mississippi, called the Mississippi Mud Monsters, following the departure of the Atlanta Braves Double-A affiliate, the Mississippi Braves. The Down East Bird Dawgs, a new team in Kinston, North Carolina, will play in Grainger Stadium, which was formerly home of the Texas Rangers-affiliated Down East Wood Ducks.

Season structure

The Frontier League season is divided into a preseason (late April and early May), a regular season (from early May through early September) and a postseason (the Frontier League playoffs) that runs until late September.

Teams usually hold a spring showcase for prospects in April and participate in prospect tournaments, full games that do not feature any veterans, in late April. Full training camps begin in late April, including a preseason consisting of a few exhibition games. Split squad games, in which parts of a team's regular season roster play separate games on the same day, are occasionally played during the preseason.

During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. Since 2021, in the regular season, all teams play 96 games: 48 games each of home and road, playing 84 games in their own geographic division—four series (12 games) against five of their eight intra-conference opponents, plus three series (9 games) against two others, and two series (6 games) against the remaining one; and only one series (3 games) against four of the nine teams in the other conference once—home or road.

The league's regular season standings are based on a win percentage system. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the highest win percentage in each divisions is crowned the division champion, and the league's overall leader are named the Frontier League regular season champions.

The Frontier League playoffs, which go from early to late September, are an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a series in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the Frontier League champion. Four teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs: the top team in each division plus the two conference teams with the next highest win percentage. The two Wild Card Series winners proceed to the Frontier League Division Series (FLDS) as the league's conference finals, and the two conference champions proceed to the Frontier League Championship Series (FLCS). In all rounds, the higher-ranked team is awarded home-field advantage, with up to three of the five games played at this team's home venue. In the FLCS, the team with the most wins during the regular season has the home-field advantage.

Players

The Frontier League uses a salary cap. As of the 2025 season, clubs are required to spend a maximum of US$895,000 on player compensation, with a minimum salary of $26,200 per player. For players aged 23 and younger on standard contracts, only 50% of their salary counts towards the cap (up to $150,000 total). There is also a separate salary cap for coaches and technical staff.

Teams in the FL must recruit and sign their own players, who usually are undrafted college players or one-time prospects who have been released by their teams.

The league also has several other rules to give younger players more opportunities. This includes a maximum of eight veterans per team, and a minimum of ten rookies in their roster. The remaining six players on the 24-man roster can be classified as ''Experienced-1'' or ''Experienced-2''. Rosters are limited to a size of 24 players on the Opening Day series, although up to 10 additional players can be added to a team's roster during the regular season before the transactions limit.

Teams

For the 2021 season, the Frontier League consisted of 14 teams—13 based in the United States and 1 in Canada. The FL divided the 14 teams into two conferences: the Can-Am Conference and the Midwest Conference. Each conference was split into two divisions: the Can-Am Conference contained 6 teams (three per division), while the Midwest Conference had 8 teams (four per division). The league temporarily realigned from the 2022 to the 2024 seasons but returned to the previous alignment the following year. With the addition of the Empire State Greys in 2022–23 and the Brockton Rox in 2024, the league operated at 16 teams with only two divisions: East and West.

The league expanded for the first time in 9 years to 15 teams with the addition of the Ottawa Titans in 2020, then to 16 with the addition of the Tri-City ValleyCats in 2021. In September 2024, a new expansion team in Mississippi was created, after the ownership group of the Mississippi Braves sold the team. A few weeks later, a second new team in Kinston, North Carolina joined the FL, and started playing in 2025 as the Down East Bird Dawgs. The expansion of the two new teams marks the league's first expansion into the deep south, and largest expansion in history. The league reverted to the 2021 setup: two conferences with four divisions.

List of teams

Former teams

* Canton Coyotes (2002, became the Mid-Missouri Mavericks)
* Canton Crocodiles (1997–2002, became the Washington Wild Things)
* Chillicothe Paints (1993–2008, joined the Prospect League)
* Dubois County Dragons (2000–2002, became the Kenosha Mammoths)
* Empire State Greys (2022–2023, Temporary travel team)
* Équipe Québec (2021, Temporary travel team consisting of Canadian players from Ottawa, Québec and Trois-Rivières operated due to COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions)
* Erie Sailors (1994, became the Johnstown Steal)
* Florence Freedom (2003–2019, became the Florence Y'alls)
* Frontier Greys (2013–2015, Temporary travel team)
* Johnstown Johnnies (1998–2002, became the Florence Freedom)
* Johnstown Steal (1995–1998, became the Johnstown Johnnies)
* Kalamazoo Kings (2001–2010, folded)
* Kalamazoo Kodiaks (1996–1998, became the London Werewolves)
* Kenosha Mammoths (2003, became the Springfield-Ozark Ducks)
*Kentucky Rifles (1993–1994, folded)
* Lancaster Scouts (1993–1994, became the Evansville Otters)
* London Rippers (2012, folded)
* London Werewolves (1999–2001, became the Canton Coyotes)
* Mid-Missouri Mavericks (2003–2005, folded)
* Midwest Sliders (2008–2009, became the Oakland County Cruisers)
* Normal CornBelters (2010–2018, joined the Prospect League)
* Newark Buffaloes (1994–1995, became the Kalamazoo Kodiaks)
* Oakland County Cruisers (2010–2011, became the London Rippers)
* Ohio Valley Redcoats (1993–1998, became the Dubois County Dragons; returned 2005, folded)
* Portsmouth Explorers (1993–1995, became the Springfield Capitals)
* Richmond Roosters (1995–2005, became the Traverse City Beach Bums)
* River City Rascals (1999–2019, folded)
* Rockford Aviators (2013–2015, folded)
* Rockford RiverHawks (2002–2009, moved to Northern League; returned 2011–2012, became Rockford Aviators)
* Slippery Rock Sliders (2007, became the Midwest Sliders)
* Southern Illinois Miners (2007–2021, folded)
* Springfield Capitals (1996–2001, became the Rockford Riverhawks)
* Springfield-Ozark Ducks (2004, became the Ohio Valley Redcoats)
* Traverse City Beach Bums (2006–2018, folded)
* Tri-State Tomahawks (1993, folded)
* West Virginia Coal Sox (1993, folded)
* Zanesville Greys (1993–1996, became the River City Rascals)

Timeline

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1993 till:2025
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bar:1 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/2008 text: Chillicothe Paints (1993–2008)
bar:2 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/1994 text:Kentucky Rifles (1993–94)
bar:3 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:end text: Lancaster Scouts (1993–94), Evansville Otters (1995–)
bar:4 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/2005 text: Ohio Valley Redcoats (1993–98, 2005), Dubois County Dragons (1999–2002), Kenosha Mammoths (2003), Springfield-Ozark Ducks (2004)
bar:5 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/2009 text: Portsmouth Explorers (1993–95), Springfield Capitals (1996–2001), Rockford RiverHawks (2002–09, 2011–12), Rockford Aviators (2013–15)
bar:5 color:orange from:05/15/2011 till:09/20/2015
bar:6 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:07/10/1993 text: Tri-State Tomahawks (1993)
bar:7 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:06/30/1993 text: West Virginia Coal Sox (1993)
bar:8 color:orange from:05/15/1993 till:09/20/1996 text: Zanesville Greys (1993–96)
bar:8 color:orange from:05/15/1999 till:09/15/2019 text: River City Rascals (1999–2019)
bar:9 color:orange from:05/15/1994 till:end text: Erie Sailors (1994), Johnstown Steal (1995–98), Johnstown Johnnies (1999–2002), Florence Freedom (2003–19), Florence Y'alls (2020–)
bar:10 color:orange from:05/15/1994 till:09/20/2005 text: Newark Buffaloes/Bison (1994–95), Kalamazoo Kodiaks (1996–98), London Werewolves (1999–2001), Canton Coyotes (2002), Mid-Missouri Mavericks (2003–05)
bar:11 color:orange from:05/15/1995 till:09/26/2018 text: Richmond Roosters (1995–2005), Traverse City Beach Bums (2006–18)
bar:12 color:orange from:05/15/1997 till:end text: Canton Crocodiles (1997–2001), Washington Wild Things (2002–)
bar:13 color:orange from:05/15/1999 till:end text: Cook County Cheetahs (1999–2003), Windy City ThunderBolts (2004–)
bar:14 color:orange from:05/15/2001 till:end text: Gateway Grizzlies (2001–)
bar:15 color:orange from:05/15/2001 till:09/20/2008 text: Kalamazoo Kings (2001–10)
bar:16 color:orange from:05/15/2007 till:07/25/2012 text: Slippery Rock Sliders (2007), Midwest Sliders (2008), Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti (2009), Oakland County Cruisers (2010), London Rippers (2012)
bar:17 color:orange from:05/15/2007 till:09/12/2021text: Southern Illinois Miners (2007–21)
bar:18 color:orange from:05/15/2009 till:end text: Lake Erie Crushers (2009–)
bar:19 color:orange from:05/15/2010 till:09/26/2018 text: Normal CornBelters (2010–18)
bar:20 color:orange from:05/15/2011 till:end text: Joliet Slammers (2011–)
bar:21 color:orange from:05/15/2012 till:end text: Schaumburg Boomers (2012–)
bar:22 color:orange from:07/25/2012 till:10/31/2012 text: Road Warriors (2012)
bar:23 color:orange from:05/25/2013 till:09/30/2015 text: Frontier Greys (2013–15)
bar:24 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text: New Jersey Jackals (2020–)
bar:25 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text: New York Boulders (2020–)
bar:26 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text: Québec Capitales (2020–)
bar:27 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text: Sussex County Miners (2020–)
bar:28 color:orange from:05/15/2020 till:end text: Trois-Rivières Aigles (2020–)
bar:29 color:orange from:05/15/2021 till:end text: Ottawa Titans (2021–)
bar:30 color:orange from:05/27/2021 till:end text: Tri-City Valley Cats (2021–)
bar:31 color:orange from:05/27/2021 till:09/19/2021 text:Équipe Québec (2021)
bar:32 color:orange from:05/27/2022 till:09/17/2023 text:Empire State Greys (2022–2023)
bar:33 color:orange from:05/10/2024 till:end text: Brockton Rox (2024–)
bar:34 color:orange from:05/01/2025 till:end text: Down East Bird Dawgs (2025–)
bar:35 color:orange from:05/01/2025 till:end text:Mississippi (2025–)
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Champions

*1993 Zanesville Greys
*1994 Erie Sailors
*1995 Johnstown Steal
*1996 Springfield Capitals
*1997 Canton Crocodiles
*1998 Springfield Capitals
*1999 London Werewolves
*2000 Johnstown Johnnies
*2001 Richmond Roosters
*2002 Richmond Roosters
*2003 Gateway Grizzlies
*2004 Rockford Riverhawks
*2005 Kalamazoo Kings
*2006 Evansville Otters
*2007 Windy City ThunderBolts
*2008 Windy City ThunderBolts
*2009 Lake Erie Crushers
*2010 River City Rascals
*2011 Joliet Slammers
*2012 Southern Illinois Miners
*2013 Schaumburg Boomers
*2014 Schaumburg Boomers
*2015 Traverse City Beach Bums
*2016 Evansville Otters
*2017 Schaumburg Boomers
*2018 Joliet Slammers
*2019 River City Rascals
*2020 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
*2021 Schaumburg Boomers
*2022 Québec Capitales
*2023 Québec Capitales
*2024 Québec Capitales

Records

Individual career records

Batting

Pitching

Broadcasting

On February 24, 2022, the FL announced that all games for the 2022 season would be available through the streaming platform FloSports. They then announced a move to streaming platform HomeTeam Network for the 2025 season.

See also

* Baseball awards#U.S. independent professional leagues

Notes

External links

Official website

Frontier League History


Frontier League Encyclopedia and History at Baseball Reference
{{Professional Baseball

Independent baseball leagues in the United States
Multi-national professional sports leagues
Baseball leagues in Illinois
Baseball leagues in Indiana
1993 establishments in Illinois
Sports leagues established in 1993
Professional sports leagues in the United States
Baseball leagues in New Jersey
Baseball leagues in New York (state)
Baseball leagues in Pennsylvania
Baseball leagues in Ohio
Baseball leagues in Kentucky
Baseball leagues in Canada