January 6, 2009
Northwoods League 2009 Schedule Released
(ROCHESTER, MN) The Northwoods League announced the release of its 2009
schedule today. The 68-game season will begin on the final Thursday in May
for the third consecutive year when the NWL's 16th season opens on May 28th.
The Thunder Bay Border Cats will begin their title defense with a
season-opening six-game road trip before hosting their first game on
Wednesday, June 3rd against the Green Bay Bullfrogs. The Border Cats
defeated the Madison Mallards last August to capture their second NWL
Championship in four seasons. Due to an inter-division schedule rotation
that has been in effect since 2007, the Border Cats and the Mallards will
not meet in the 2009 regular season. All 14 teams play the other six teams
within their own division eight times during the summer; teams play four
games against five of the teams in the other division, leaving two
inter-division opponents off their schedule.
Thunder Bay, Ontario and Port Arthur Stadium will play host to the
Northwoods League's 15th annual all-star game on Tuesday, July 21st. The
game, featuring the North Division versus the South, lands more than a week
later on the schedule this year and the latest since 1998.
The 2009 NWL Playoffs will begin on Tuesday, August 11th with a pair of
best-of-three divisional series pitting the first-half champion against the
second-half champion in each division. The winners will advance to the
best-of-three NWL Championship Series that will open on Friday, August 14th.
Notes: The first half of the season will end following play on Thursday,
July 2nd with the second half beginning the following day...Most teams'
standard home start times will be 7:05 p.m. local with the exceptions being
Alexandria (6:05), Eau Claire (6:35), and Wisconsin (6:35). Some teams
feature a different Saturday start time and all teams will start their
Sunday games earlier than 7:05.
The Northwoods League plays more games than, draws more fans than, and plays
in venues superior to any other Summer Collegiate Baseball League in North
America.
The 2009 River Bats schedule is now available under the schedule tab at riverbats.com
