Sluggo, the Eugene Emeralds mascot, entertains the crowd. General manager Matt Dompe hopes the major league lockout might give minor league teams an attendance boost.
Gary Breedlove
While Major League Baseball has canceled opening day and the first two regular-season series over contract negotiations, the minor leagues are moving full-steam ahead.
The Eugene Emeralds won the High-A West Coast championship last year. Assistant general manager Matt Dompe said their 30 players are not in the MLB union, so they’ll be starting the season as usual in April.
He’s hoping the lockout could give them a boost.
“We’re the only game in town and without the option to watch their big-league games, there might be fans from different cities all over the country,” he said. “We might be the only thing going on in April, it looks like right now.”
The Emeralds are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, who just opened a multi-million dollar training facility in Arizona. Dompe said he’s not happy about the lockout, but his players are now training in luxury.
The Hillsboro Hops, who are affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks, are also hoping the lockout might help.
Hops general manager K.L. Wombacher said after two years wrestling with COVID-19, he’s especially excited the mask mandate will drop just before the season starts,
“The timing is perfect for us, starting in April,” he said. “The news gets better by the day, so we’re excited for our first normal season in a while.”
Their full 132-game season starts April 8 with a home game against the Tri-City Dust Devils. It’ll be the first time the minor leagues in Oregon have played that early in over a decade. The league used to have a short season that started in June.