Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report
by Dan Krieger
June 6, 2022 - Pecos League (Pecos)
BASEBALL
Pecos League: The independent Pecos League recently started its 2022 season with 16 teams aligned in eight-team Mountain and Pacific divisions. The league operated with 14 teams last season but the Salina Stockade, which was basically a travel-only team, did not return and three new teams called the Austin Weirdos, Weimar (TX) Hormigas and Santa Rosa (CA) Scuba Divers have been added. Each team will play a 50-game schedule through July.
Major League Baseball Draft League: The MLB Draft League started its 2022 season this week with the same six teams that participated in the league's inaugural 2021 season. Each team will play an 80-game schedule. The first part of the 2022 season will feature amateur, draft-eligible players similar to last season, while the second part will feature professional players who have lost the amateur eligibility and want to start their professional careers.
Appalachian League: The Appalachian League, which was converted from an affiliated advanced Rookie-level league to a summer-collegiate league under the Major League Baseball's Prospect Development Pipeline for the 2021 season, started its 2022 season this week with the same ten teams as last season and aligned in the same five-team East and West divisions. Each team will play a 58-game schedule through the first week of August.
BASKETBALL
Global Women's Basketball Association: The semi-pro GWBA started its 2022 season this weekend with four teams playing a schedule of eight to ten games through July. The league had four participating teams last season. The St. Louis Surge, Flint Monarchs and Wisconsin Glo (Oshgosh) have returned, while the Detroit Queens team has replaced the Detroit Dodgers.
Women's National Basketball Association: The commissioner of the WNBA stated the league has been analyzing future expansion and would like to announce two expansion markets by the 2022 seasonplayoffs in September or at least by the end of this year. These new teams could start play by the 2024 season. Some of the top markets under consideration include Nashville, Oakland, Philadelphia, Portland (OR), San Francisco and Toronto.
Women's Premier Basketball Association: The new developmental WPBA, which is based in the Bay Area of California and hopes to assist players looking for opportunities to play overseas, started its inaugural 2022 season this weekend with six teams called the Bay City Trailblazers, Berkeley Royals, San Francisco Riptide, Haywood Reign, Alameda Mystics and Oakland Swish. All games are played at one location in Oakland and the regular season runs through July 2022.
FOOTBALL
Champions Indoor Football: The CIF's Billings (MT) Outlaws and Rapid City (SD) Marshals teams have been sold by Pick Six Entertainment to new ownership groups in each market. Due to reports of unpaid bills by the previous ownership, the CIF took over operations of each team while they transition to the new owners. The group that the CIF approved to purchase the Billings Outlaws also purchased the league's Wyoming Mustangs (Gillette) from Pick Six Entertainment in March of this year.
XFL: The XFL was reported to have assigned coaches to teams in the eight markets of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Washington (DC), Seattle, Las Vegas, Orlando and St. Louis for the league's return in 2023. The 2020 version of the XFL had eight teams, but 2023 teams in San Antonio, Las Vegas and Orlando are apparently replacing previous 2020 teams in New York, Los Angeles and Tampa Bay. An official announcement of the 2023 markets and team names is expected in the near future.
HOCKEY
Federal Prospects Hockey League: The FPHL announced its 2022-23 season schedule will feature ten teams each playing a 56-game schedule from October 13, 2022 to April 15, 2023. All seven teams from the 2021-22 season will return and the league will add three expansion teams called the Elmira (NY) Mammoth, Motor City Rockers (Fraser, MI) and the Mississippi Sea Wolves (Biloxi). The FPHL recently held an expansion draft to stock the three new teams.
SOCCER
USL League One: A group called "USL to Wilmington" has been granted exclusive rights to bring a Division-III professional USL League One expansion franchise to Wilmington (NC). The team would most likely start play in the 2024 season. The city was a longtime home to a team called the Wilmington Hammerheads FC that last played in the 2017 season of the USL Premier Development League. The USL League One is operating with 11 teams for the 2022 season and currently lists future expansion teams for Lexington (KY) and Spokane (WA).
OTHER
Premier Lacrosse League: The tour-based professional field lacrosse PLL started its 2022 season this weekend with the same eight teams (Atlas, Cannons, Chrome, Whipsnakes, Archers, Chaos, Redwoods and Waterdogs) as last season. The 2022 season will consist of 14 different weekend tour stops from June to September with 10 regular-season events, an All-Star event and 3 play-off events.
Western Lacrosse Association: After cancelling its past two seasons due to coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions, the seven-team British Columbia-based indoor (box lacrosse) Senior-A WLA started its 2022 season last weekend. The season runs through the first week of August with each team playing an 18-game schedule. The 2022 WLA teams included the Burnaby Lakers, Coquitlam Adanacs, Langley Thunder, Maple Ridge Burrards, Nanaimo Timbermen, New Westminster Salmonbellies and Victoria Shamrocks. The annual Senior-A championship called the Mann Cup features the WLA champion playing the champion of the Ontario-based Major Series Lacrosse.
Dan Krieger is the creator of the Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report, which has been tracking changes in the sports world's leagues, teams and nicknames since April 2007.
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Pecos League Stories from June 6, 2022
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
