The Metro Baseball League Caps a Fantastic 2022 Season with Fall Ball

The Metro Baseball League extends a huge congratulations and thank you to everyone who participated in our baseball leagues and tournaments throughout the summer of 2022! Kudos to not only our league and tournament champions, but to everyone who participated from players, coaches, and umpires to parents, sponsors, and fans. We can’t thank you all enough and hope you understand what a positive impact you make in your communities!

To see a list of our tournament champions and runners up for the season, click here.

The 2022 August Classic was once again a fabulous week of baseball, with games held in Lakeville, Eastview, Apple Valley, Burnsville, and Savage. The August Classic is held after the end of the regular season. This fun tournament takes 2-4 players from every MBL team and groups those players with 3 to 4 other MBL teams to create an August Classic team. August Classic teams play five games during a week of tournament play against other August Classic teams in their age and level group.

August Classic participants were also invited to two different fun nights of baseball. On August 11, the group watched the St. Paul Saints take on the Columbus Clippers at fabulous CHS Field in St. Paul. The Minnesota Twins’ AAA affiliate lost to Columbus 8-6, but the kids got to see Forest Lake native Matt Wallner crush a home run. Wallner, along with Saints teammates Mark Contreras and Jermaine Palacios, were called up to the Minnesota Twins later in the summer.

MBL was also happy to host travel directors, board members, and coaches at the Saints game in the Securian Club – the most upscale experience at CHS Field with a beautiful, climate-controlled indoor space and stadium seating overlooking the field. This fun night out at the Saints game was a way for MBL to say thank you to all our travel directors who work so hard throughout the ENTIRE year to make baseball possible for thousands of kids.

The August Classic group then took in a Minnesota Twins game on August 19 at Target Field against the Texas Rangers. It was a beautiful night in downtown Minneapolis, and the kids went home happy as back-to-back home runs in the first inning from Luis Arraez and Jose Miranda were all the runs the Twins would need in 2-1 victory.

MBL was proud to partner with the Rochester Honkers of the Northwoods League to put on baseball clinics in June, July, and August at Mayo Field for kids aged 5-12. A total of 278 participants had the opportunity to learn baseball skills from Honkers coaches and players. The kids received a boxed lunch, an autograph session, and a free ticket to the Honkers game the night of the clinic.

The Honkers were host to another MBL contingent on July 21, when they took on the Willmar Stingers. The MBL guests watched the game from the best seats in the house, the Grand Slam Patio, and enjoyed all-you-can-eat ballpark fare as well as Pepsi products, Busch Light, Kona, and Goose Island IPA with their own private bartender.

MBL also partnered with the Mankato MoonDogs of the Northwoods League in 2022.

MBL and the MoonDogs were proud to offer free entry to MBL players for select games in June. Young ballplayers who showed up to ISG Field in Mankato dressed in their team’s uniform and accompanied by a parent were let in free to games on June 10, 11, 17, and 19!

MBL, along with the MoonDogs, reserved the Community Bank Ledger Lounge at ISG Field on June 25. Guests enjoyed free ballpark food and water and adults received three 16-ounce beer tickets. A fun night was had by all watching the Moondogs take on the St. Cloud Rox.

MBL was thrilled to continue their wonderful partnership with the St. Paul Saints all season long. Former Minnesota Twins pitcher and Saints Manager George Tsamis provided his baseball expertise as the host of a baseball clinic put on by MBL and the Saints on March 12 and 13.

As always, our season wraps up with Fall League, which runs with double-header Sundays through October 9. We pack in 1,600 games during fall ball, that is more than 10,000 more innings of baseball! Fall League is a fun atmosphere where kids learn different positions, improve their skills, and adjust to age-rule changes for next year. In 2022 MBL has 318 teams playing fall ball, with 1,560 games and 66 communities participating.

MBL continues to grow – we added 40 teams in 2022 and have grown our social media channels and followers by 67%, with our web traffic increasing by 188%! We encourage you to continue to upload your photos and videos to our social channels. We hope your participation in MBL led to a fun and memorable summer and that along with the wins and losses, you took away some positive life lessons that lead to healthier, more satisfying lives away from the field.

The Metro Baseball League would like to thank all the players, coaches, umpires, parents, and everyone else involved in another successful summer of baseball – both regular season and tournament play. We continue to grow in player participation, clinic offerings, special events, and community outreach and we are already looking forward to 2023, stay tuned for more announcements.

The Metro Baseball League. Play Ball. Make Memories.