The City of Irvine announced Wednesday that it will field a PBL team beginning in 2027 after Innovation Baseball Partners reached a five-year agreement with the City Council to play at the city’s Great Park Sports Complex.

The multi-field complex includes a “Championship Baseball Stadium” that the city says has a fixed, 1,200 capacity grandstand with options to expand configurations around the grandstand up to 5,500 people.

Irvine would be the fifth California club in the league; IBP would own three while Main Street Baseball holds the Modesto Roadsters, who joined the PBL this season after MLB pulled an affiliated club out of the city. The Oakland Ballers have a large group of community and celebrity owners.

The yet-to-be-named Irvine club would likely replace the RedPocket Mobiles, which is the PBL’s road-only barnstorming team meant to fill a 12-team schedule after all Colorado teams left or closed shop following the 2025 season.

Adding a 12th team with a stadium is more tenable than having one barnstorming team. But, while more established clubs like Ogden (3,384 fans per game entering Thursday), Boise (2,926) and Billings (2,312) continue to draw fans to games in the independent era, results are mixed for others.

Oakland is averaging a solid 2,169 (though in a city of 440,000 people, a population dwarfing traditional PBL cities) while Long Beach is at 1,214 in its first year. Modesto is averaging 1,222 (only slightly down from 1,318 in affiliated status last year) while Yuba-Sutter is averaging only 560 fans per game.

Glacier (Kalispell, Montana) and its privately funded, new stadium continue to look like a solid investment; the Range Riders are averaging 1,925 fans in a right-sized, 2,500-capacity layout at Glacier Bank Park.

For longtime PBL cities, Idaho Falls (1,341) is down significantly from 2,059 per game in 2025. Missoula (1,476) is down about 200 fans per game, and Great Falls (1,321) is holding steady from last season.

RAPTORS SPLIT HIGH-SCORING DAY

Ogden had two different players hit three home runs in one game, while each team had one player post eight RBIs in one game, during a Thursday doubleheader.

Following Wednesday’s thunderstorms, the Ogden Raptors and Long Beach Coast resumed Wednesday’s game on Thursday afternoon, then played Thursday’s regularly planned game with each team claiming one of the contests.

After going up 7-0 before Wednesday’s game was suspended, Long Beach had no trouble firing up the bats when the game resumed, totaling 24 hits, including eight home runs, on the way to a 28-11 victory.

BYU alum Cooper Vest hit 5 for 7 with two homers, a double and five RBIs to lead Long Beach. First baseman Cuba Bess hit two home runs, two doubles and drove in eight runs.

All that spoiled a three-homer game from Ogden third baseman Carmine Lane, who drove in five runs.

Nico Saltaformaggio ended the fun for Long Beach in the nightcap. The Raptors’ ace allowed three runs on eight hits over six innings, striking out six and walking two, and Ogden won the second game 20-3 in seven innings. Saltaformaggio is 9-1 and leads the PBL in pitching wins.

Ogden handed the ball to Jonathan Ramallo in the seventh; he walked one but otherwise struck out the side to end the game.

At the plate, Sebastian Grieco matched Lane’s three-homer game from Game 1 with three dingers of his own in Game 2, going yard in the third, fifth and sixth innings. He finished 4 for 5 with eight RBIs in the shortened game.

Ogden is now 8-7 in the second half and 37-26 overall. Modesto is 14-1 and appears to be running away with the second half; the Raptors are three games back of second place, which represents the last spot for a playoff berth.

The Raptors and Coast conclude their series at Lindquist Field with games Saturday and Sunday.