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: Tucson Sidewinders
The Location: Tucson, Arizona
The MLB Affiliation: Arizona Diamondbacks
The Website: TucsonSidewinders.com
The Ballpark: Tucson Electric Park. The springtime home of both the Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox, the “Pride of Prima County” is a spring training ballpark first, and a PCL park second.
The History: Tuscon was the home of a team in the Arizona State League – which itself spent time as the Arizona-Texas League, Arizona-Mexico League and the Southwestern International League – off and on from 1915 to 1958. During the '58 season that league went out of business for good. The PCL moved to Tucson when the Seattle Angels were pushed out by the Major League Pilots in 1969. The Toros were the affiliate of several teams, but when the expansion Diamondbacks brought the major leagues to Arizona, the Toros were replaced – in a weirdly arcane way – by the Sidewinders. The Tucson Toros moved to Fresno and became the Grizzlies. The Phoenix Firebirds – pushed out by the D-Backs – moved and became the Tucson Toros for one season. However, the owner of the Firebirds (and most of the front office staff) moved to Fresno with the Toros-turned-Grizzlies. The owner of the former Toros stuck with the former Firebirds franchise, but renamed that team the Sidewinders.
There will be a quiz later.
The Prospects: The Sidewinders are the defending PCL Champions and Triple A Champions. Much of the young talent from the squad – Carlos Quentin, Stephen Drew and the like – are with Arizona now.
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