As the oldest independent league in North America to have never been a minor league operation, the Frontier League is one of the gold standards of independent baseball today.

With teams based in multiple states and two countries, the 16-team league has been playing ball since 1993 and acted as a springboard for numerous promising professional careers, with plenty of alumni eventually going on to sign for major-league organizations and even make MLB team rosters in exceptional cases.

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The 2024 season begins May 9, with a 96-game schedule and two divisions, East and West. All that’s left to do now is wait and get up to speed on who’s who.

Evansville Otters

The Otters, located in Evansville, Indiana, were both founded and joined the Frontier League in 1995, making them the oldest current team in the league. They play at Bosse Field, the third-oldest ballpark still in regular use by a team (behind Fenway Park and Wrigley Field) in the country, and have won two league championships (2006 and 2016). Evan and Eva the Otters are the team’s mascots seen around the park on gamedays. Last season, Evansville qualified for the league playoffs and made the Championship Series, losing in five games to the Quebec Capitales.

Florence Y’alls

The Y’alls are located in Florence, Kentucky (located just outside of Cincinnati) and have been based there since relocating from Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 2003, with the franchise having been in the Frontier League in some form since 1994. They play at Thomas More Stadium, with the team’s unusual name coming from the Florence Y’all Water Tower able to be seen by motorists on Interstates 71 and 75 in town, and mascot Y’all Star’s head is the iconic striped tower design. Florence has won three Frontier League titles (1994, 1995, 2000) but failed to make the league playoffs a season ago.

Gateway Grizzlies

The Grizzlies are based in Sauget, Illinois, a suburb of St. Louis, and were both founded and have played in the Frontier League since 2001. Grizzlies Ballpark is the team’s home field, Izzy the Grizzlie and Lizzy the Polar Bear are their mascots and the team has won one league championship in its history, coming in 2003. The West Division’s regular-season champion last season, Gateway was upset by Evansville in three games in the Division Series as it missed out on a chance to earn its second Frontier League title. 

Joliet Slammers

The Slammers call the Chicago suburb of Joliet home and play in the city at Duly Health and Care Field, where they’ve held their home games since playing their first season of Frontier League ball in 2011. The team’s nickname is a double entendre, referencing the use of “slammer” both in baseball and in regards to nearby prisons in the Joliet area, and J.L. Bird and Spikes are their mascots. Winners of two Frontier League championships in 2011 and 2018, the Slammers missed out on the postseason in 2023. 

Lake Erie Crushers

Located in Avon, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland, the Crushers were founded in 2009 and won the Frontier League title in their inaugural season. Named for the many wineries and vineyards in northern Ohio, the team is also sometimes called the Grapes and has a logo with an angry grape reflecting that, plus a gray bear as a mascot named Stomper. The Crushers play home games at Mercy Health Stadium, though they struggled last season as they finished last in the West Division and missed out on postseason play. 

New England Knockouts

The Frontier League’s newest team, the Knockouts will play their inaugural season in 2024, taking the place of the Empire State Greys traveling squad. The club will play home games at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, Massachusetts — sharing the facility with the Brockton Rox summer collegiate team — and its nickname comes from being the hometown of two of the most successful championship boxers of all-time, Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler. A yet-to-be-seen mascot will debut along with the club to entertain home fans, as well. 

New Jersey Jackals

The professional baseball team of Paterson, New Jersey has been fielding a team since 1998, but the Jackals only joined the Frontier League in 2020 as part of a group of clubs that hopped in following the dissolution of the Can-Am League. The team (along with mascot Jack the Jackal) moved into Hinchliffe Stadium last year as the ground’s first tenant since 1997 — the former Negro League stadium had originally closed before being renovated and brought back to life — and is still waiting for its first Frontier League crown after six championships across other leagues in its history. Last year, New Jersey tied Quebec for the league’s most regular-season wins (60), but lost to the Capitales in the East Division Series of the playoffs.

New York Boulders

Like New Jersey, New York joined the Frontier League after the Can-Am League went bust, and the team (founded in 2011) has been playing at Clover Stadium in Pomona, New York for the entirety of its existence. BoulderBird is the team’s mascot, with the team name coming from the prevalence of boulders in the area surrounding Rockland County, where the team is based. The 2014 Frontier League champion did not replicate that success a season ago despite a strong 54-42 record, missing out on qualification for the postseason out of the East Division. 

Ottawa Titans

One of the Frontier League’s three Canadian teams, the Titans were the only one of the bunch not to join the league following the Can-Am League’s demise, having been founded in 2020 and played their first season in 2022 as COVID-19-induced travel difficulties postponed their on-field debut. Based in Canada’s capital city, the Titans’ home ballpark, Ottawa Stadium, has the highest capacity of any field in the Frontier League at over 10,000, and Cappy is the team’s mascot. The Titans made the playoffs in their first season in 2022 but did not make it two straight in 2023 as they finished an even 48-48.

Quebec Capitales

The Capitales joined the Frontier League from the Can-Am League and immediately thrived, with the two-time reigning and defending league champions entering this season with hopes to become the first team in Frontier League history ever to three-peat. The Quebec City-based club plays at home at the Stade Canac, where it has been playing since the team set up shop in 1999, and fans in that time have seen plenty of success with nine league championships across various competitions. Capi is the team mascot, and he celebrated with the Capitales’ fans last year when the club downed Evansville in five games in the Championship Series for a league title following a joint league-best 60 wins in the regular season.

Schaumburg Boomers

A four-time Frontier League champion since their first season of play in 2012, the Schaumburg Boomers have been one of the league’s most successful clubs since their founding with fans at Wintrust Field in the Chicago suburb being treated to plenty of victories and historic moments in that time frame. Named for the greater prairie chicken and its “boomer” nickname, mascot Coop wears a head featuring the animal’s distinct orange patches. Finishing in second place in the West Division last season, Schaumburg made the playoffs but was eliminated in the Wild Card Game by Evansville, ending its aspirations to make the Championship Series for what would’ve been a third straight season.

Sussex County Miners

The other half of the Frontier League’s two-team New Jersey contingent, the Sussex County Miners, like four other teams currently playing in the Frontier, became a member following the end of the Can-Am League, where the Miners first played ball in 2015. The club plays at Skylands Stadium (also the home of NCAA Division I program NJIT) in Augusta, New Jersey, as the big-bearded Herbie the Miner patrols the ballpark for mascot entertainment during games. Yet to win a Frontier League title, Sussex County had a landmark season in 2023 as it qualified for the league playoffs for the first time as the third seed out of the East Division; it lost to its rival, the New Jersey Jackals, in the East’s Wild Card Game. 

Tri-City ValleyCats

Also an addition from a now-defunct league by the Frontier League, the Tri-City ValleyCats were not an ex-member of the Can-Am League when they joined, but rather an ex-member of the New York-Penn League, a former Class A Short Season league that fell victim to extinction following MLB’s reorganization of the minor leagues in 2020. The club became independent as a result and became a member of the Frontier League in 2021, where it’s remained ever since. Playing at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy, New York, the three-time league champions ValleyCats are yet to capture a Frontier title, having just narrowly missed the playoffs out of the East Division last season. SouthPaw is the ValleyCats’ mascot.

Trois-Rivières Aigles

Not related to the former Cincinnati Reds Double-A affiliate of the same name which briefly played in the 1970s, Trois-Rivières’ current era has seen the club be in independent leagues since its founding in 2012, being part of the Can-Am to Frontier exodus following the 2019 season. Grand Chelem l’Aigle (Grand Slam the Eagle in English) flies around the club’s home ballpark, the Stade Quillorama, which has been open since 1938, and the current version of the Aigles won a Can-Am League title in 2015. Playing in the East Division, Trois-Rivières did not make the playoffs a season ago and has yet to do so since joining the Frontier.

Washington Wild Things

No, the Wild Things aren’t located in the state of Washington or Washington, D.C., but rather in Washington, Pennsylvania, where they’ve played at Wild Things Park since 2002 after formerly being the Canton (Ohio) Crocodiles from 1997-2001 (and winning a title there in their debut season0. And yes, the club’s moniker is in reference to the iconic baseball movie “Major League” and the nickname of Charlie Sheen’s character, Ricky Vaughn, with The Wild Thing mascot also taking up the name. Washington was the first team out of the playoffs in the West Division last season, being five games back of the third-placed Evansville Otters.

Windy City ThunderBolts 

Founded in 1995 as a member of the now-defunct Heartland League before becoming a member of the Frontier League in 1999, Windy City — as the name suggests, located in the Chicago suburb of Crestwood — took up the ThunderBolts nickname in 2004 after starting life as the Cook County Cheetahs, with the club’s most successful period (back-to-back league titles in 2007 and 2008) coming shortly after. Boomer the mascot can be seen at Ozinga Field, featuring a unique upper deck along the third-base line, with fans there seeing their team go 43-52 last season and missing out on playoff qualification. 

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More MLB Draft 2024 Coverage 

• MLB Draft 2024 Analysis: Here Are The Top 2024 MLB Draft Prospects At The College Baseball Showdown
• MLB Draft 2024 Analysis: Who Do The Cleveland Guardians Take At No. 1?
• MLB Draft 2024 Analysis: Who Do The Cincinnati Reds Take At No. 2?
• MLB Draft 2024 Analysis: Who Do The Colorado Rockies Take At No. 3?
• MLB Draft 2024 Analysis: Who Do The Oakland Athletics Take At No. 4?
• MLB Draft 2024 Analysis: Who Do The Chicago White Sox Take At No. 5?
• MLB Draft 2024 Analysis: Who Do The Kansas City Royals Take At No. 6?
• MLB Draft 2024 Analysis: Who Do The St. Louis Cardinals Take At No. 7?
• MLB Draft 2024 Analysis: Who Do The Los Angeles Angels Take At No. 8?

When Is The 2024 MLB Draft?

The 2024 MLB Draft is part of MLB All-Star week and will be in Arlington, Texas, where the World Series champion Texas Rangers are hosting the All-Star Game. 

The All-Star Game is July 16. The official date of the draft has yet to be announced, but the 2023 MLB Draft began the Sunday before the All-Star Game, which was played on Tuesday.  

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