While postseason games remain, the San Antonio Missions (Class AA; Texas League) have completed their final Texas League regular-season, signaling an upcoming arrival of Triple-A baseball.
The Class AA Missions are playing out their final games at Wolff Stadium, and will relocate to a new ballpark in Amarillo next season. They will be replaced at Wolff Stadium by the current Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League), who will adopt the Missions’ branding upon their move to San Antonio. This is all part of a series of franchise shifts by club owner Elmore Sports Group, which is also moving the Helena Brewers (Rookie; Pioneer League) to Colorado Springs.
The Missions have qualified for the Texas League playoffs, so they have a few games remaining before their run in the circuit fully concludes. However, the club finished the regular season on Monday, meaning that the end of its long and storied tenure in the Texas League is approaching. More from the San Antonio Express-News:
For more than 100 years, the Missions and the Double-A Texas League have gone together like a bat and a ball, like Yankees and pinstripes.
But that historic, century-long association is ending. Next season, the Missions will be moving to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, the highest level of baseball below the major leagues.
“This is my 31st year of running this club. I’ve seen over 4,000 games,” said [Burl] Yarbrough, the team’s president. “It’s been a lot of great history, a lot of great players. It’s the end of an era.”
The Missions lost Monday’s regular-season finale against the Corpus Christi Hooks by a final of 8-1, giving them an overall record of 71-67 on the season. Their playoff series against the Hooks begins on Wednesday, and Friday is currently the team’s only guaranteed home game in the best-of-five series.
The Pacific Coast League Missions will play at Wolff Stadium starting next season. Discussions of building a new San Antonio ballpark will continue, with Wolff Stadium is slated to be the team’s home until its long-term facility situation is resolved.
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