As we reported two days ago, it’s in for McAllen, out for Henderson, as the independent North American League announces the release of a 2011 schedule that has far less travel between Texas and the West Coast than originally planned by league officials.
The new schedule has four United League Baseball Texas teams — McAllen Thunder, San Angelo Colts, Rio Valley WhiteWings and Edinburg Roadrunners — playing 90 percent of its games against each other, with only one late-season series against the six other teams in the league. No, we don’t know where a McAllen team would play, either, though an educated guess has both McAllen and Edinburg playing in Edinburg Baseball Stadium; the major college in McAllen — University of Texas-Pan American — plays in Edinburg as well. In addition, the schedule doesn’t have a single instance where McAllen and Edinburg both have a home game on the same day. And McAllen doesn’t have many home games: just 24.
The other six teams — Maui Na Koa Ikaika, Chico Outlaws, Edmonton Capitals, Calgary Vipers, Lake County Fielders and Yuma Scorpions — will play 90 percent of their games against one another. So, basically, you’ve got a six-team league stretching from Hawaii to the Chicago suburbs, from Alberta to southern Arizona. We’d hate to be responsible for the travel costs.
We were fairly amused by this statement in the press release: “The Schaumburg Flyers and Rockford Riverhawks failed to meet financial obligations necessary to participate in the league.” That’s probably true of Schaumburg, but not true of Rockford: the Rockford owners opted for a situation where a Frontier League team was playing out of Road Ranger Stadium.
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