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

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. It serves as a developmental minor league and is owned and operated by the Portland Pickles collegiate baseball club of the

West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCB ...

. 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 Portland Pickles in 2020 following the cancellation of the

's regular season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Months prior, the Pickles also founded a developmental farm club of their own known as the Portland Gherkins. 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 base ...

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

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magazine. Play officially began 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 The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

team from the 1940's) and Willamette Wild Bills. The Rosebuds won the 2nd WWWL Championship defeating the Wild Bills 6–4 in the finals.

2022

The league announced expansion into

Cleburne, Texas Cleburne ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 31,352. The city is named in honor of Patrick Cleburne, a Confederate general. Lake Pat Cleburne, the reservoir that ...

, 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 i ...

of the professional American Association. The four teams founded by the league included the Cleburne Eagles (named for the former

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. In 2024, the WWWL went gone dormant.

2025

After taking a season off, the WWWL returned to action as all of its teams returned to played the Pickles in pre-season non-league action.

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. The Wheel of Brine In certain games, the Wheel of Brine is spun to change the conditions of the game. An inning could have four outs, two outfielders, or every count could start 2-1.

Current teams

Former teams

Champions

* 2020: West Linn Knights * 2021: Portland Rosebuds * 2022: Portland Gherkins * 2023: Willamette Wild Bills

Broadcasting

The league broadcasts all games on

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and

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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