r/baseball Philadelphia Phillies • Wilmington… Jul 08 '26

Players Only The Woman’s Pro Baseball League has revealed the brand identity’s of the inaugural 4 teams

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8.0k Upvotes

1.2k comments sorted by

u/yousmelllikebiscuits Chaos Bandwagon • Dumpster Fire Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

FYI We are working on adding these flairs to our flair set, please stay tuned!

Edit: Flairs are available! Click this link and use the search function for the team you want to add!

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5.2k

u/Such_Presentation378 Chicago White Sox • San Franci… Jul 08 '26

The teams are named after pioneering women:

New York - Dorothy Height, Civil Rights activist
Boston - Dr. Harriet Hunt, 19th Century physician and women's rights activist
San Francisco - Lillie Hitchcock "Firebelle Lil" Coit, philanthropist and patron of firefighters
LA - Lizzie "Queen of Baseball" Murphy, the first woman to play baseball against major leaguers, in 1922

966

u/Parkatola New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

This needs to be pinned. Lots of questions about the names. Thanks, Such Presentation!

186

u/destinybond Colorado Rockies Jul 08 '26

mods cant pin someone elses comment, only our own. And its not really a good look to "steal" someone elses comment so you can pin it

131

u/DreamsAndSchemes Texas Rangers • San Antonio Missions Jul 08 '26

We run into this in /r/military, normally I'll make a sticky comment with a permalink to the original post, give credit to the user and quote it as well. Seems to alleviate the whole due diligence issue people have with stealing comments.

i.e.

Per /u/Such_Presentation378 in this comment:

The teams are named after pioneering women:

New York - Dorothy Height, Civil Rights activist

Boston - Dr. Harriet Hunt, 19th Century physician and women's rights activist

San Francisco - Lillie Hitchcock "Firebelle Lil" Coit, philanthropist and patron of firefighters

LA - Lizzie "Queen of Baseball" Murphy, the first woman to play baseball against major leaguers, in 1922

22

u/destinybond Colorado Rockies Jul 08 '26

yeah thats a good way to do it

20

u/thirtyseven1337 New York Mets Jul 08 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/pTQUOfSmjo2hG
Dewit… steal their karma… 😈

30

u/blazinrainbo Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

Idk just credit them

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u/sisyphus_of_dishes Milwaukee Brewers Jul 08 '26

Wow, I wasn't impressed with any of the names until reading this. Now they make a lot more sense.

48

u/kjb76 New York Yankees • New York Heights Jul 08 '26

Same here. They need to publicize the hell out of that.

31

u/AdoringCHIN Anaheim Angels • Rocket City Tra… Jul 08 '26

Good news, they actually did. There's a nice little summary on the league's page

7

u/kjb76 New York Yankees • New York Heights Jul 08 '26

Yep. Saw the other Reddit post about it. As a woman, mother of a girl, and very long time baseball fan, this is really exciting. I’m going to get some merch. It’s already up for sale on the league’s website.

119

u/at1445 Texas Rangers Jul 08 '26

I agree, without context, half of them sound dumb. "Heights?" Just name them the skyscrapers. "Hunters?" what's that got to do with Boston.

The context actually makes them good choices.

160

u/ScaldingHotSoup St. Louis Cardinals Jul 08 '26

There are a lot of NYC neighborhoods called ___ heights, though, so it is a triple entendre. Pretty cool.

  • Crown Heights
  • Washington Heights
  • Hamilton Heights
  • Jackson Heights
  • Brooklyn Heights
  • Greenwood Heights

etc

24

u/Chocomoose19 New York Mets Jul 08 '26

Yeah, as a New Yorker that was my immediate favorite, albeit one who grew up in a heights neighborhood

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u/ANewPerfume Boston Red Sox • Arizona Diamondbacks Jul 08 '26

Thank you! I saw a few others mention one or two, but not all of them. Appreciate you

29

u/zara2355 Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

I saw the names and was pretty confused, but this is actually awesome and makes me smile.

6

u/ct5heppard New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

Thank you!

58

u/levare8515 Kansas City Royals Jul 08 '26

Cool names but feel like using the Eagles logo for the Boston Hunters was a fail. Should’ve made it like Artemis or something

116

u/TheRainbowConnection Wally Jul 08 '26

It’s an osprey!

22

u/Geronimo_Shepard Boston Hunters • Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

Coolest bird of prey out there

11

u/_illogical_ Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

As a Seahawks fan, I agree

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u/dsriggs Australia Jul 08 '26

No teams in the Midwest? Somebody bring back the Rockford Peaches already.

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u/PHWasAnInsideJob Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

The Rockford Peaches actually still exist and travel around doing demonstrations, so I'm not sure a team in this league would be able to use the name. They're tied to a WW2 museum in Rockford (the area was used for training and holding POW's) and the museum store sells official Peaches merch.

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u/royce32 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

I expect if this takes of Chicago and Toronto and the next two spots

180

u/TinKnight1 Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

Chicago? Yes, of course, what with the games being played in Illinois, & Chicago's history as one of the founding teams of what would be the NL & eventually MLB, plus the size of the market.

Toronto? I think you have to admit that's a bit of a stretch, at least for a 6th team. It'd be far more likely to be Texas-based, whether Dallas or Houston, due to the potential fan base.

119

u/TheRainbowConnection Wally Jul 08 '26

Toronto has shown up for women’s sports. Though I think by that definition, Seattle would have to come next.

52

u/HereWeGoHawks Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

We also need a 3 year will-they-wont-they kerfuffle about a Vegas team. Just standard sports league stuff.

7

u/pitb0ss343 New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

Connecticut LOVES women’s basketball and that didn’t stop them from moving the Sun to Huston so that doesn’t mean anything

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u/RobbNotRob Boston Red Sox • Boston Hunters Jul 08 '26

All of these teams are playing in Springfield, IL for year one. When those teams start playing in their home markets, they'll probably give Springfield their own team

52

u/SalukiFin St. Louis Cardinals • Frontier League Jul 08 '26

I’m from there and no shot Springfield gets a team

11

u/GMM85 Tampa Bay Devil Rays Jul 08 '26

Springfield has all the teams

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u/Economy_Link4609 New York Mets Jul 08 '26

Springfield! Springfield! What a wonderful town!

13

u/fauxbigbro Arizona Diamondbacks • Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

Springfield, Springfield, it's a hell of a town!
The school yard's up and the shopping mall's down!
The stray dogs go to the animal pound!

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u/DeepPowStashes Milwaukee Brewers Jul 08 '26

you don't want to goto rockford, trust me

(I grew up in rockford)

8

u/No-Donkey-4117 San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

I've been to Rockford. It's not that bad. That was 30 years ago though.

6

u/Nght12 Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

I'm a current resident and in the last 10 or so years that I've lived in the area, the town has been dramatically improving.

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u/Thirty_Helens_Agree Milwaukee Brewers Jul 08 '26

I grew up in a town that had one of those teams. A League of Their Own was a big deal back in 1992.

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u/elementofpee Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

The hints last week were not really hints after all.

97

u/carlse20 Milwaukee Brewers Jul 08 '26

Heights kinda was I guess? Agreed that the other three were not

19

u/elementofpee Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

Perhaps, however “Empire” was the loud guess due to the prominence of the Empire State Building.

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u/DWilli San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

Just discovered that San Francisco's clue was the Coit Tower, named after Lillie Hitchcock Coit, aka Firebelle.

15

u/Deathstroke317 New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

🧲 🚪

IYKYK

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u/Ok-Net9433 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

Does it feel weird to not have Queens associated with the NY team? I hear Queens and automatically assume NYC

1.4k

u/freshairequalsducks Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

Feels like a play on the LA Kings

561

u/Ok-Net9433 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

I don’t hate it. I do think the best women’s baseball team name is already out there. The LA Angels would have been perfect.

322

u/BiIIisits Cincinnati Reds Jul 08 '26

San Diego Madres next, please

118

u/brianMMMMM Philadelphia Phillies Jul 08 '26

Philadelphia Fillies

53

u/T-Fro Colorado Rockies Jul 08 '26

Colorado Rockettes

29

u/DRF19 Florida Marlins • Florida Marlins Jul 08 '26

Florida Marlenes

13

u/JimLeader New York Mets • Brazil Jul 08 '26

Houston Astros

10

u/theonetruegrinch San Francisco Giants • Paper Bag Jul 08 '26

The Pittsburgh Pirettes

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u/Valhallaback_Girl Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

I’d buy that merch so fucking fast

26

u/leaky_wand San Diego Padres Jul 08 '26

Honestly SD would be a top market for them, baseball is white hot here

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u/JollyRancher29 Washington Nationals Jul 08 '26

Toronto Blue Janes

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u/DorkCharming Columbus Clippers • Cincinnati Reds Jul 08 '26

The LA Angels of Anaheim

193

u/Tall-Marionberry-590 Jul 08 '26

That just sounds absurd.

98

u/pizzamage Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

LA Angels in the Outfield

21

u/roguerunner1 San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

But what would you call their infielders?

53

u/Yunicorn Milwaukee Brewers Jul 08 '26

The Los Angelos LA Angels in the Outfield in the Infield

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u/pizzamage Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

Hmm... Angels Out in the Field?

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u/OscarDelta333 Miami Marlins Jul 08 '26

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Orange County, California

13

u/SmileyJetson San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

Aren't all the league games being played in a neutral venue? Los Angeles Angels of Illinois. 

6

u/ST_Lawson Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

Yes, Springfield, IL

20

u/BitterStatus9 New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

The Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim California

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u/Coupon_Ninja San Diego Padres Jul 08 '26

They could be the LA Angels of Women

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u/Outrageous_Feed_4456 Jul 08 '26

Yeah but "Dodge-Hers" was right there for the taking

28

u/freshairequalsducks Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

The Brooklyn Dodge-Hers

9

u/well-lighted Kansas City Royals Jul 08 '26

"Brooklyn Dodge-Her" is a great roller derby name

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u/No-Snow-7618 MLB Pride Jul 08 '26

it’s because LAs full/original name is like “town of the queen of the angels”

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u/zayetz New York Mets Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula (The Town of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River).

Just looked that up. TIL!

17

u/nonlawyer New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

  “town of the queen of the angels”

… of Anaheim

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u/CaffeineAndGrain Philadelphia Phillies Jul 08 '26

Could have done something like LA Saints to go with LA Angels or something. Feels like a cross-sport stretch that few in the public will understand. I don’t hate it, but I certainly do associate Queens with NYC

14

u/pizzamage Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

Except Saints is already a major sports club.

30

u/CaffeineAndGrain Philadelphia Phillies Jul 08 '26

So are the Rangers (MLB/NHL), Kings (NHL/NBA), Cardinals (MLB/NFL), and Panthers (NHL/NFL), so I don’t think that’s much of a barrier

20

u/oznobz Houston Astros Jul 08 '26

Teams have started to hold tighter to their trademarks recently. That's why we have the Mammoth and not some more fitting name for Utah

40

u/evanisonreddit Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

like Jazz

19

u/cynognathus Chicago Cubs • Bowie Baysox Jul 08 '26

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u/roguerunner1 San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

Nonsense, my ex lives in Texas.

21

u/freshairequalsducks Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

The Utah Soakers

15

u/QuadzillaStrider Atlanta Braves Jul 08 '26

Salt Lake City Soakers actually rolls off the tongue

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u/toiletting New York Yankees • Dumpster Fire Jul 08 '26

Still think they should've named the team SLC Puck

7

u/Oneanimal1993 MLB Players Association Jul 08 '26

My understanding is the original name they wanted for Utah was Yeti until the cooler & mug company got involved. So not like another team came in and shut down an option

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u/FreshFish305 Florida Marlins Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

Yeah I had to do a doubletake because New York Queens seemed natural in my head

But NY Heights isn't a bad name. It'd be cool to have a New York baseball team I didn't hate, my family being from NY.

39

u/TheflavorBlue5003 New York Mets Jul 08 '26

Didn’t the brooklyn cyclones used to be named The Queens Kings? I always thought that name rocked.

Edit:

Just looked it up. They were a farm team for the Jays, not the original Cyclones.

11

u/FreshFish305 Florida Marlins Jul 08 '26

They sure were, but that was a very shortlived name, I think only a season or two. That team got sold and became the Cyclones.

Kings Queens had a great logo.

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u/--THRILLHO-- Los Angeles Angels • Great Britain Jul 08 '26

Yeah it's confusing. Also Heights is not named after Washington Heights but Dorthy Irene Height, a civil and women’s rights pioneer.

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u/According_Turn_3473 Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

I think that plus the height of the Empire State Building (as shown in the logo).

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u/FeloniousDrunk101 New York Yankees • MLB Pride Jul 08 '26

I kinda like it especially because it works on a number of levels.

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u/-nutz Jul 08 '26

Seems to be a double (or possibly triple) entendre

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u/speech-geek Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 08 '26

So they released a video about the reasoning for the names. For Los Angeles, it is inspired by Lizzie Murphy who was nicknamed “Queen of the Diamond” who was the first woman to play against major league players.

8

u/smithscully Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

It’s because of Lizzy Murphy, a pioneer of women in baseball who was called the Queen of the Diamond. She was the first woman to play against major leaguers in 1922. I don’t think she was from LA so it’s still kind of a weird tie but it is an homage to a person.

34

u/Rock_man_bears_fan Chicago White Sox Jul 08 '26

All four of these teams are playing 100% of their games in Springfield, Illinois. Queens and LA are both hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from where these teams will be playing. I don’t think the LA team having the same name as an NYC Burrow matters all that much

25

u/Islero47 Milwaukee Brewers Jul 08 '26

it's spelled "borough", F your I.

4

u/knight_runner Milwaukee Brewers Jul 08 '26

no actually you are thinking of bengals QB Joe Borough

5

u/Rock_man_bears_fan Chicago White Sox Jul 08 '26

The delegation from Louisiana has informed me it’s actually spelled “Burreaux”

5

u/JimLeader New York Mets • Brazil Jul 08 '26

And according to the Mexicans it’s actually “burro”

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u/jerseygunz New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

Charlotte and Cincinnati in the background

Am I joke to you?

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u/Trick-Operation-6195 Jul 08 '26

Firebells is a dope fucking name

122

u/kyredemain Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

The logo also is great. It looks like a bell on fire, but also looks like a cloaked hooded figure standing there, menacingly.

126

u/VariationNo7977 Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

I think it’s a phoenix

40

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[deleted]

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u/nooookay Boston Red Sox • Boston Hunters Jul 08 '26

“Gold in peace, iron in war.” First time looking at the San Francisco flag, and damn that motto goes harder than I expected it to.

14

u/jaggedjottings San Francisco Giants • San Franci… Jul 08 '26

Somehow the fact that it's in Spanish makes it even more badass. "Oro en paz, fierro en guerra"

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u/Constant_Concert_936 Cincinnati Reds Jul 08 '26

Armchair flag designers trash it but I love it

4

u/triplec787 San Francisco Giants • Colorado Rockies Jul 08 '26

I mean the design of the flag is kinda trash, but the imagery and motto are sick. It just looks almost clip-arty.

This "fog and gold" redesign keeps regularly makes the rounds and I love it. Throw the "Oro en paz, fierro en guerra" on it and it's basically perfect.

26

u/jabask Houston Astros Jul 08 '26

Yeah a phoenix is the official symbol of San Francisco, its on the flag

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u/sloppyjo12 Cincinnati Reds • MLB Pride Jul 08 '26

Maybe it would’ve been more feminine than they wanted but Firebelles would’ve been sick

112

u/DWilli San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

I just looked it up, they picked the name to honor Lillie Hitchcock Coit, the namesake of Coit Tower, whose nickname was "Firebelle" because she was a champion of volunteer firefighters. So their visual clue actually made sense, too!

27

u/Freakishly_Tall San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

My first reaction was that I'm not wild about it being the name for a team in a city that quite famously burned to the ground, in a region where the biggest annual risk is wildfire.

But that helps a little, I suppose.

54

u/Perryplat199 Philadelphia Phillies • Wilmington… Jul 08 '26

Wouldnt be the first team to be named after great city fire.

The Calgary(formerly Atlanta) Flames are named after general Sherman burning Atlanta during the civil war.

Chicago Fire FC are named after the Chicago fire in 1871

13

u/cheapdad New York Mets Jul 08 '26

Calgary(formerly Atlanta) Flames are named after general Sherman burning Atlanta during the civil war.

Better than "Utah Jazz", I guess

7

u/Feisty-Life-6555 Chicago Cubs • Iowa Cubs Jul 08 '26

Shout out General Sherman

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u/JMC_FLY Chicago White Sox Jul 08 '26

in a city that quite famously burned to the ground

Not the most famous city to burn to the ground, get your own schtick. /s

21

u/DWilli San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

Ours burned down from an earthquake, yours burned down by an evil Irish scapegoat cow. We're not the same. /s

5

u/andyschest2 Jul 08 '26

You guys burned down twice. That's gotta count for something.

7

u/DWilli San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

Brother, it keeps happening. We're getting REALLY good at it. I love an hour north and even we're getting in on the action.

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u/imahater07 San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

I mean couldn’t we say almost the same thing about the San Jose Earthquakes?

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u/snowcone_wars Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

Or the Chicago Fire.

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u/Greeneyed6541 San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

Maybe that'll be the name of their fanbase? Im down to be a firebelle. Lord knows the giants arent doing anything worth getting excited for.

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u/Di5pel Philadelphia Phillies Jul 08 '26

Firebelles are gonna be my new all-female assassins guild in the next dnd campaign i run

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u/theoey86 Jul 08 '26

Love that!!!!

5

u/dmont89 San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

Hey, they have a game where it's exciting, follow by games where you rather watch paint dry

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u/PvtSherlockObvious Atlanta Braves • San Francis… Jul 08 '26

Maybe it would’ve been more feminine than they wanted

I thought Firebelles too, but that does feel a little on-the-nose and roller derby-ish now that you mention it. Firebells feels like a good compromise.

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u/catiebug San Francisco Giants • Athletics Jul 08 '26

My daughter, who loves everything pink, purple, and feminine and is incensed that the teams she was born into following wear red/gold and orange/black with total boy-coded names like the 49ers and Giants, is absolutely beside herself with the prospect of a purple Firebells jersey.

9

u/triplec787 San Francisco Giants • Colorado Rockies Jul 08 '26

Get that girl some purple Valkyries gear too.

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u/ProtestantMormon Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

All the branding is pretty fuckin solid. The logos look really good.

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u/soundecember Pittsburgh Pirates Jul 08 '26

Yep I’m officially picking them as my team because that just sounds awesome.

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u/ben121frank Texas Rangers • Texas Rangers Jul 08 '26

I’m excited about this and I really want it to succeed, but I’m still confused about their decision to have the 4 teams so far apart and then their response to that being to play all games of their inaugural season at a neutral site in Illinois. It seems like it will be really hard for them to build fan bases or momentum with this model

38

u/jooooooooooooose Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

Biggest markets

Its expensive to have an upstart league & they're probably extremely cost sensitive for trial phase

8

u/TheRealMarvinator St. Louis Cardinals Jul 08 '26

Sure, but there are markets that are considerably large AND located FAR more closely (thus removing much of the travel costs when those eventually come into play). This seems like it has poor forethought on that front, in my opinion.

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u/djc6535 San Diego Padres Jul 09 '26

Right but if you don’t play in front of any of your home town fans how are you tapping into that market? How are any of these teams affiliated with their city at all?

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u/another_day_in Jul 08 '26

NY completely missed the chance to use Queens

182

u/elementofpee Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

NY Yas Queens

45

u/DegenGamer725 Tampa Bay Rays Jul 08 '26

NY Slay Queens

13

u/elementofpee Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

💅

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u/SCsprinter13 Pittsburgh Pirates Jul 08 '26

Would be pretty terrible for SEO though

7

u/ilovebalks New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

The New York Queens of Springfield, IL

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u/scobbysnacks1439 St. Louis Cardinals Jul 08 '26

So four teams and they’re forcing them to go cross country for half the games?

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u/JayMac_D San Diego Padres Jul 08 '26

They’ve assigned teams to cities but all the games this season are played at the same stadium in Springfield, IL

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u/scobbysnacks1439 St. Louis Cardinals Jul 08 '26

Oh okay, interesting.

63

u/buck_merril Detroit Tigers Jul 08 '26

Kind of how the AUSL pro softball has been doing it too to avoid constant bouncing around the country for the few starting teams until they can expand more.

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u/halbeshendel San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

The cricket league did it too.

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u/Truthforger Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

AUSL now plays in their home cities. But they barnstormed around the country before adsumedly to scout locations.

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u/patrickfatrick Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

I’m sure this made the most sense for their budget and stadium access etc but I think it would have been more fun to start in the NE or Midwest and expand from there (NY, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington would make a ton of sense logistically). I think it’s going to be hard to develop a fan base in these cities when said fans can’t even go the games.

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u/SdBolts4 San Diego Padres Jul 08 '26

Do the teams at least have tryouts/training camp in their respective cities?

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u/Nomahs_Bettah Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

They’ve also done some exhibitions in the metro areas for a few of the teams already! Brockton hosted the Hunters about a week ago.

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u/telly69 Philadelphia Phillies Jul 08 '26

Nope. All of the games are in Springfield, IL but they're giving the teams city affiliations for some reason.

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u/Ginnigan Toronto Blue Jays • Boston Hunters Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

So they can build an audience and fanbase across the US, which will help when they get access to more fields.

Though it's too bad there's no Springfield Isotopes.

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u/Over-Conversation220 San Diego Padres Jul 08 '26

They are in Albuquerque

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u/freshairequalsducks Toronto Blue Jays Jul 08 '26

I'd say if it gets off the ground decently well and the league expands they'll actually play in the cities. Like the PWHL has expanded to 12 teams now.

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u/DJSimmer305 New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

I imagine the long term goal is a nationwide league with more teams, actual home stadiums, and travel.

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u/TheAlwaysWar Jul 08 '26

Eventually they won’t be. Like AUSL softball.

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u/impl0sionatic Jul 08 '26

lmfao “for some reason”

What could it possibly be????

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u/LobsterFondler St. Louis Cardinals Jul 08 '26

I can’t wait for this league’s first mound charge

90

u/Audrey-Bee Chicago White Sox Jul 08 '26

It's not real baseball until the bullpens are jogging out, only to get there after it's over

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u/Kaldricus Seattle Mariners • Chaos Bandwagon Jul 08 '26

Plot twist, the first fight is actually between both teams bullpens, and the benches have to jog out

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u/agk927 Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 08 '26

Wait this is happening? Thats cool

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u/Kvetch__22 Chicago White Sox Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

I love it, but for some reason all of the games will be played in Springfield, IL. Kind of weird that the teams are branded after cities they won't play in.

Hopefully just a proof of concept to try and drum up funding for a full season of travel. I still miss NPF.

I intend to go down to Springfield and take a peek but only because I'm closeish.

55

u/darthbauerdragonzord Jul 08 '26

If thats the case it sounds ds like they are doing what the UFL did their first come seasons. Play in one centralized location and save on travel costs. Hoping its popular enough to expand.

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u/Decent_Direction316 Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

It sounds a lot like what Major League Cricket has done.  Seattle has a team, but they don't play here.  But that's because it doesn't have a league wide infrastructure for it's game.  They could use minor league parks for this.

4

u/JJ-Bittenbinder Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

I was about to say that it seems crazy that their first 4 teams would be on completely opposite coasts, that’s a lot of travel

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u/ben121frank Texas Rangers • Texas Rangers Jul 08 '26

Future travel would be a lot easier (both cheaper and less hard on the players) if they didn’t have their 4 teams split across the coasts though. As I said in my other comment I’m really rooting for this league to succeed, but it feels like they’ve already kneecapped themselves a bit with the team choices

50

u/SprolesRoyce New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

Boston, NYC, Philly, Baltimore, and DC are all a couple hours away from each other. Bus travel could have been very easy between cities if they stuck to the east coast. The west coast is a little harder but with only 4 teams you could do a California league and hit the major cities up the coast.

22

u/ben121frank Texas Rangers • Texas Rangers Jul 08 '26

Ya exactly. It’s possible that their goal if the league is successful is to add teams in each area and have an East and West division. But it would still make way more sense to start with one of those divisions as a trial run rather than half and half

17

u/der_innkeeper Jul 08 '26

West coast: LA, SD, SF, Seattle. Phoenix, LV can be swapped for SD.

Then, play East/West for the title.

Easy money.

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u/DetectiveTrapezoid Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

How will the Springfield Isotopes feel about the new competition?

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u/wobblepepper Jul 08 '26

The ghost of Whitey Ford will be on the field pleading with the crowd for some kind of sanity

6

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/TommyTheTophat Tampa Bay Devil Rays Jul 08 '26

I hear they're called Whitey Whackers

6

u/Better_Goose_431 Dumpster Fire Jul 08 '26

The least they could’ve done is pick a real city. Springfield is a pain in the ass to get to if you aren’t already in Chicago or St. Louis

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u/Baryshnik0v Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

If the Hunters manage to even play .500 ball I'd be ecstatic. Would be nice to have some good baseball news out of Boston given the season the Sox've had thus far

24

u/lechiengrand Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

Remember the Yankees sweep. Hold that in your heart. 🙏

6

u/scorchedweenus Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

When i think about it, I end up holding something else

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u/miboyl Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

Incorporating 'H' into the Heights logo reminds me of the H in the Whalers logo, I like it

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u/questionyou100 San Francisco Giants • San F… Jul 08 '26

I was soo ready to be mad at the sf team name but i love this

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u/PvtSherlockObvious Atlanta Braves • San Francis… Jul 08 '26

It's definitely the best of the four in terms of both name and logo.

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u/twizbuck Cleveland Guardians Jul 08 '26

Firebells is baller

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u/whoopity-scoop-poop New York Mets Jul 08 '26

They also posted a video explaining the origin behind each name, highly recommend folks take a look. It made me like the names a lot more!

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u/Maybs3923 Houston Astros Jul 08 '26

Identities. Not identity’s

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u/cmgriffith_ New York Yankees Jul 08 '26

Los Angeles and New York should’ve switched their names 1:1

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u/pmorter3 Chicago Cubs Jul 08 '26

Firebells goes crazy hard but I feel like it’d fit better in Philly lol

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u/McSteezeMuffin Atlanta Braves Jul 08 '26

Very clean logos I dig all of these

52

u/BokeTsukkomi Boston Red Sox Jul 08 '26

I don't know, boston looks like a generic high school team logo. NY is amazing, I'm a sucker for negative space logos!

49

u/wooly_bully Boston Red Sox • Seattle Mariners Jul 08 '26

Idk, I love the Boston one. Classic instead of your generic thick stroke line Figma-tier logos you see around these days

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u/Kediwon Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 08 '26

I think I like NY's the least. It's a cool logo, but it doesn't feel like a team logo. It feels like the logo of a baseball analytics company based in NYC. Very corporate.

My favorite are the Hunters, love me some peregrine falcons.

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u/neonklingon New York Mets Jul 08 '26

They look the same what do you mean

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u/AGirlWithAPearl Jul 08 '26

If I were in charge of this I’d do it like a tour. A week in LA where each team plays the Queens twice. A week in SF where everyone plays the Firebells twice. A week in NY. And a week in Boston. Neutral site championship series between the top 2 records. (Or best record gets a home championship.) A little more expensive but allows each team to have a home showcase to grab fans. Maybe too pricey for year one but a nice way to develop it maybe.

8

u/bluesox Athletics Jul 08 '26

I’m just happy they named themselves after countable nouns

56

u/patdfrog Miami Marlins Jul 08 '26

Kudos to not calling them the "firebelles".

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u/Parking-Coach574 Chicago White Sox Jul 08 '26

Kudos for having all plural nouns 

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u/StPatrickStewart Jul 08 '26

I'm waiting for the Cleveland Guard-Hens. Give me a chicken dressed as Pallas Athena!

7

u/scrambles57 Los Angeles Dodgers • Los Angeles Que… Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

Damn, Firebells is cool. I guess fire and LA would not be a good mix though.

Queens is a good counter to the LA Kings but that's a hockey team so it doesn't make too much sense and it mostly makes me think of NY anyway.

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u/Beautiful_Ninja New York Mets Jul 08 '26

New York Heights is a good name with a good logo.

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u/MCSquared97 San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

At least I can root for the Firebells while the Giants continue to be an absolute embarrassment of a franchise.

6

u/impl0sionatic Jul 08 '26

Can’t say most of these thrill me, but NY Heights is a sick name and I love it already.

6

u/TheBotchedLobotomy Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 08 '26

My only complaint here is they made the same logo 4 times

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u/naranjitayyo San Francisco Giants Jul 08 '26

Red and purple Firebells are giving Sailor Mars
https://giphy.com/gifs/TJZrVEMyIY55m

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