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The modern-day Pacific Coast League is a massive enterprise consisting of 16 teams stretching from Tacoma and Portland in the Pacific Northwest to New Orleans of the Deep South. These are the teams our hometown nine will face throughout the long season. You must know the enemy!



The Team: Albuquerque Isotopes

The Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

The MLB Affiliation: Florida Marlins

The Website: AlbuquerqueBaseball.com

The Ballpark: Isotopes Park. As we make our way through the PCL, we are impressed with many ballparks. The newer parks, like Franklin Covey in Salt Lake and Raley Field in Sacramento are jewels, smaller versions of the “retro” ballpark made famous by Camden Yards in Baltimore. Isotopes Park though, is the one PCL park we will have to see someday. Instead of aping the the early twentieth century look like Safeco Field in Seattle or PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Isotopes Park draws on the 1930's and 40's Art Deco style found in downtown Albuquerque, mixing it with some southwestern flair. The result is simply spectacular. Even more amazing, Isotopes Field is not an entirely new ballpark. The new park was built on the bones of the existing Albuquerque Sports Stadium, though very little of that old park still stands

The History: The Albuquerque Dukes were a longtime franchise that moved up and down the minor league ladder between 1915 and 1972. In 1972, the Los Angeles Dodger farm team in Spokane moved to New Mexico and became the first Triple A version of the Dukes. Albuquerque would remain LA's top farm club until 2000. That year the Dukes were moved to Portland, becoming the newest incarnation of the Beavers. Albuquerque quickly took steps to regain PCL baseball, and in 2003 the Calgary Cannons left Canada and moved into the newly completed Isotopes Park.

The Name: The Isotopes are named after a Simpsons episode. How cool is that? In the classic episode “Hungry, Hungry Homer” the Springfield Isotopes are in the process of moving to Albuquerque before Homer and his hunger strike stop them. When the Cannon franchise moved, fans overwhelmingly chose the “Isotopes” name.

The Prospects: Zilch. The Marlins field the youngest team in the majors, and their Triple-A team is strictly spare parts at this point.

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