Northwoods League
Collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer wooden-bat baseball and softball league. The teams are located in the Northwoods region of the Upper Midwestern United States and Northwestern Ontario, mostly in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Other teams are located in Michigan, North Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. As of 2026, over 400 Northwoods League alums have gone on to play in Major League Baseball, including Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Marcus Semien, Curtis Granderson, Ben Zobrist, Matt Chapman, Brandon Crawford, Pete Alonso, and Nico Hoerner.[1]
- men's: Baseball
- women's: Fastpitch softball
Current season, competition or edition: 2026 Northwoods League season | |
| |
| Founded | 1994 |
|---|---|
| Sports fielded |
|
| Divisions | Great Lakes Division, Great Plains Division |
| No. of teams | 26 baseball, 6 softball |
| Countries | United States, Canada |
| Continent | North America |
| Most recent champions | Baseball: Green Bay Rockers (2) (2025) Softball: Madison Night Mares (1) (2025) |
| Most titles | Rochester Honkers (5) |
| Level on pyramid | Summer Collegiate |
| Official website | www |
Overview
Established in 1994, the Northwoods League was the first for-profit summer collegiate baseball league. It has more teams and plays more games than any other summer collegiate baseball league.[2] Many of the teams in the league play in ballparks formerly occupied by professional clubs from the Midwest League, Prairie League, Northern League, and Frontier League. The wooden bat circuit allows some communities deemed too small for professional ball to continue to enjoy high-quality, competitive, wood bat baseball during the summer months. The Northwoods League was the first summer collegiate baseball league to broadcast on the ESPN network, and currently webcasts all of its games.
The primary baseball function of the league is to develop players while college baseball teams are not allowed to work out. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not paid, so as to maintain their college eligibility. Graduated senior pitchers are also eligible to play in the Northwoods League. Each team may have four of these players at a time.
History
In 1994, The Northwoods League (NWL) held its first season with five charter teams, the Rochester Honkers, Wausau Woodchucks, Dubuque Mud Puppies, Kenosha Kroakers and Manitowoc Skunks.[3] The Honkers won the league's first championship. The Waterloo Bucks were added in 1995. The Mud Puppies moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota after the 1996 season, becoming the St. Cloud River Bats. The Skunks franchise folded in 1997.
In 1998, the league expanded to eight, adding the Brainerd Mighty Gulls, Grand Forks Channel Cats and Southern Minny Stars. All three of these new markets had previously hosted teams in the independent Prairie League, which ceased operations in 1997. Of the three, only the Stars kept the same name and branding. The Kroakers franchise folded after the 1998 season. As they were the only team left in the state, Wausau changed their name to the Wisconsin Woodchucks. The NWL was able to maintain eight teams in 1999 by adding the Mankato Mashers.
In 1999, Jeff Weaver became the first NWL alum to appear in a Major League Baseball game, debuting with the Detroit Tigers.[4] Weaver had played with Dubuque in 1995.
In 2000, the Southern Minny Stars moved to Minot, North Dakota. The Minot Greenheads played one lone season in 2000 before phasing out of the league. The Channel Cats also folded in 2000, leaving the league without a North Dakotan team until 2017. In 2001, two new franchises were added to the NWL, the Alexandria Beetles and Madison Mallards. In 2002, the Mashers changed their nickname to the MoonDogs. After the 2002 season, the Brainerd Mighty Gulls folded. In 2003, three new teams brought the NWL's total back to ten. The league's geographic footprint extended internationally when the Thunder Bay Border Cats of Ontario were added. The Duluth Huskies and La Crosse Loggers also joined. In 2004, the league expanded by two, adding the Eau Claire Express and Brainerd Blue Thunder.
In 2003, Juan Pierre became the first NWL alum to win a World Series, doing so with the Florida Marlins. Pierre played for Manitowoc in 1996.
In 2007, the Green Bay Bullfrogs and Battle Creek Bombers were added, bringing the total number of teams to fourteen. The Bombers represented the league's first foray into Michigan. Actor Tyler Hoechlin, just a few years removed from his award-winning performance in Road to Perdition, played for the Bombers while pursuing a baseball career. He missed some potential acting opportunities, including a meeting with Francis Ford Coppola, due to Northwoods League action.[5]
In 2008, George Sherrill became the first NWL alum to appear in an MLB All-Star Game, representing the Baltimore Orioles. Sherrill had played for Kenosha in 1997 and 1998. The following summer, both Curtis Granderson (Mankato, '01) and Ben Zobrist (Wisconsin, '03) played in the midsummer classic. Also in 2009, Andre Ethier (Rochester, '02) became the first NWL alum to win a Silver Slugger Award. Two years later, he became the first alum to win a Gold Glove Award.
In 2009, the Brainerd Blue Thunder renamed themselves to the Brainerd Lakes Area Lunkers. In 2010, the league added the Willmar Stingers and Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, expanding to sixteen total teams. The Lunkers folded after the 2011 season. The league remained at sixteen teams in 2012 by adding the Lakeshore Chinooks of Mequon, Wisconsin, whose ownership group included Baseball Hall of Fame member Robin Yount. In 2012, the St. Cloud River Bats changed their nickname to the Rox.
In 2013, while playing for the Chinooks, future MLB standout Harrison Bader lived with Craig Counsell and his family at their home in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.[6] Also in 2013, Max Scherzer (La Crosse, '04) became the first NWL alum to win a Cy Young Award, doing so as a member of the Detroit Tigers.
In 2013, Alexandria changed their nickname to the Blue Anchors. In 2014, the league expanded by two, continuing eastward expansion with the Kalamazoo Growlers and adding a charter city back to the mix with the Kenosha Kingfish. The Blue Anchors ceased operations following the 2015 season. In 2016, the Rockford Rivets were added, becoming the league's first team in Illinois. The NWL returned to North Dakota in 2017 with the Bismarck Larks while adding another Wisconsin team with the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders. This put the league at an even twenty teams.
In 2017, two former La Crosse Loggers, Scherzer and Chris Sale, faced each other as the starting pitchers in the 2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, with Scherzer representing the Washington Nationals and Sale the Boston Red Sox. The same matchup was repeated in the 2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. In 2019, Pete Alonso (Madison '14) became the first NWL alum to win National League Rookie of the Year, doing so as a member of the New York Mets. He also won the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby for the first time that year.
In 2019, two franchises shifted from other leagues to the NWL, bringing the total number of teams to 22. The Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League was renamed the Pit Spitters after moving to the NWL. The Kokomo Jackrabbits were brought over from the Prospect League, nickname retained, and were the first NWL team in Indiana. Also that season, the Bullfrogs changed their nickname and played as the Green Bay Booyah.
In 2020, some teams cancelled their season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For those teams that did play, instead of playing within their usual divisions, they played in hub regions, with some creating temporary teams. The Kingfish competed against the K-Town Bobbers, with both teams based in Kenosha and sharing a stadium. In Traverse City, the Pit Spitters competed against the Northern Michigan Dune Bears and Great Lakes Resorters. The Bombers and Growlers competed in a Michigan South Division, with the latter adding the Kalamazoo Mac Daddies as a temporary team. In Bismarck, the Larks competed against the Mandan Flickertails and Bismarck Bull Moose. All six of these temporary teams were disbanded after the 2020 season.
In 2021, the Thunder Bay Border Cats were again unable to compete in the league due to pandemic border restrictions. The league responded by creating a travel-only team called the Minnesota Mud Puppies. The Mud Puppies took their nickname from the original Dubuque franchise. Players trained and lived in the greater Twin Cities area but did not have a home stadium, playing all away games. In 2022, two teams changed their nickname. After three seasons as the Booyah, Green Bay became the Rockers. In Battle Creek, the Bombers renamed themselves the Battle Jacks. Additionally, the Wisconsin Woodchucks changed their place name designator to Wausau, reverting to the full team name they used in the early years of the NWL. In 2023, the league continued to expand its North Dakota presence, returning to Minot with the Minot Hot Tots. Also that year, the Border Cats returned to the league after three missed seasons. Despite this, the Mud Puppies continued to operate as a travel team.
In 2023, the Northwoods League announced plans to create a new softball league, with teams initially playing in current NWL stadiums that are temporarily converted for softball. The softball league initially consisted of four teams, based in Madison (Madison Night Mares) and La Crosse, Wisconsin (La Crosse Steam); Mankato, Minnesota (Mankato Habaneros); and Minot, North Dakota (Minot Honeybees).[7] The softball league had its inaugural season in 2024, with the Habaneros being awarded the championship.
In 2024, the Badlands Big Sticks of Dickinson, North Dakota were added. The Big Sticks had been a franchise in the Expedition League through 2021 and the brand was resurrected in the new league. The Royal Oak Leprechauns were also added that season. The Leprechauns were formerly of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, and their addition to the NWL increased the number of Michigan-based teams to four. After the 2024 season the Jackrabbits ceased operations. The Mud Puppies were also deactivated for 2025.
In 2025, the softball branch of the NWL expanded with the addition of the Wausau Ignite.[8][9] For 2026, the league will expand to Grand Forks, North Dakota; it will be the first Northwoods League Softball team to play in a non-Northwoods League Baseball stadium.[10][11] This also represents a return of the league to Grand Forks after the Channel Cats went belly-up in 2000. On November 11, 2025, the team's name was revealed as the Grand Forks Spitfires.[12]
In 2025, it was announced the NWL would be returning to Indiana in the form of the Richmond Flying Mummies.[13] After being sidelined for 2025, the league announced the Mud Puppies would return again in 2026.[14] The NWL will field 26 baseball teams and 6 softball teams in 2026.
Competition
Teams play 72 games scheduled from Memorial Day to the 2nd Saturday in August, while the playoffs take place the week after, starting on that Sunday and ending usually on Friday. The season itself is broken into two halves, with the winners of each half in each of the four sub-divisions playing against each other to determine a sub-divisional champion in a best-of-three series. The sub-divisional champions then meet in a winner-take-all game to determine a divisional champion. The divisional champions then meet in a winner-take-all game for the league championship.
In small cities it may be hard to find the financial stability in a newly-founded baseball league. League leaders realized they needed to gain significant revenue from sponsors in order to succeed. According to league chairman and co-founder Dick Radatz, Jr, two-thirds of the revenue comes from sponsors and the remainder from ticket sales, concessions, and team merchandise. Radatz also noted the importance of having the sponsor revenue before the beginning of the season.[15]
Teams
Baseball teams
Map of baseball teams
Baseball franchise timeline
Softball teams
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Forks Spitfires | Grand Forks, North Dakota | Albrecht Field | 1,000 |
| La Crosse Steam | La Crosse, Wisconsin | Copeland Park | 3,550 |
| Madison Night Mares | Madison, Wisconsin | Warner Park | 7,500 |
| Mankato Habaneros | Mankato, Minnesota | ISG Field | 4,000 |
| Minot Honeybees | Minot, North Dakota | Corbett Field | 1,266 |
| Wausau Ignite | Wausau, Wisconsin | Athletic Park | 3,850 |
Map of softball teams
Softball franchise timeline
Champions
Baseball Champions
| Season | Champion | Runner-up | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Rochester Honkers | --- | --- |
| 1995 | Kenosha Kroakers | Manitowoc Skunks | 2-0 |
| 1996 | Waterloo Bucks | Rochester Honkers | 2-0 |
| 1997 | Rochester Honkers (2) | Waterloo Bucks | 2-1 |
| 1998 | St. Cloud River Bats | Rochester Honkers | 2-0 |
| 1999 | Rochester Honkers (3) | St. Cloud River Bats | 2-1 |
| 2000 | St. Cloud River Bats (2) | Waterloo Bucks | 2-0 |
| 2001 | Wisconsin Woodchucks | St. Cloud River Bats | 2-1 |
| 2002 | Waterloo Bucks (2) | Brainerd Mighty Gulls | 2-0 |
| 2003 | Wisconsin Woodchucks (2) | St. Cloud River Bats | 2-1 |
| 2004 | Madison Mallards | Duluth Huskies | 2-0 |
| 2005 | Thunder Bay Border Cats | Madison Mallards | 2-1 |
| 2006 | Rochester Honkers (4) | Thunder Bay Border Cats | 2-0 |
| 2007 | St. Cloud River Bats (3) | Eau Claire Express | 2-0 |
| 2008 | Thunder Bay Border Cats (2) | Madison Mallards | 2-1 |
| 2009 | Rochester Honkers (5)[19] | La Crosse Loggers | 2-1 |
| 2010 | Eau Claire Express | Rochester Honkers | 2-1 |
| 2011 | Battle Creek Bombers | Mankato MoonDogs | 2-0 |
| 2012 | La Crosse Loggers | Mankato MoonDogs | 2-0 |
| 2013 | Madison Mallards (2)[20] | Duluth Huskies | 2-0 |
| 2014 | Lakeshore Chinooks[21] | Mankato MoonDogs | 2-0 |
| 2015 | Kenosha Kingfish[22] | St. Cloud Rox | 2-0 |
| 2016 | Wisconsin Rapids Rafters | Eau Claire Express | 2-0 |
| 2017 | St. Cloud Rox (4) | Battle Creek Bombers | 2-1 |
| 2018 | Fond du Lac Dock Spiders | Duluth Huskies | 2-1 |
| 2019 | Traverse City Pit Spitters | Eau Claire Express | 3-2 |
| 2020 | No official league champion as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic | --- | --- |
| 2021 | Traverse City Pit Spitters (2) | St. Cloud Rox | 9-3 |
| 2022 | Kalamazoo Growlers | Duluth Huskies | 8-3 |
| 2023 | Green Bay Rockers | St. Cloud Rox | 4-3 |
| 2024 | Kalamazoo Growlers (2) | La Crosse Loggers | 8-7 (14) |
| 2025 | Green Bay Rockers (2) | Duluth Huskies | 10-8 |
From 1995-2018, the league championship series was a best-of-3 between the two division champions. When the league expanded in 2019, the championship became a one-game playoff.
2020 Pod Champions[23]
| Pod | Champion | Result(Record) |
|---|---|---|
| Kenosha | Kenosha Kingfish | 17-9 |
| Michigan North | Traverse City Pit Spitters | 33-8 |
| Michigan South | Kalamazoo Growlers | 40-25 |
| Minnesota-Iowa | Waterloo Bucks | 28-13 |
| North Dakota | Bismarck Larks | 33-15 |
| Wisconsin-Illinois (East) | Fond du Lac Dock Spiders | 31-17 |
| Wisconsin-Illinois (West) | Wisconsin Rapids Rafters | 35-11 |
Softball Champions
| Season | Champion | Runner-up | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Mankato Habaneros | (no playoffs, best regular-season record) | 31-11 |
| 2025 | Madison Night Mares | Minot Honeybees | 2-0 |
Notable Northwoods League alumni
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As of 2026, over 400 former Northwoods League players have appeared in Major League Baseball.[1] The following is a list of notable standout players.
- Pete Alonso, Madison Mallards, 2014
- Harrison Bader, Lakeshore Chinooks, 2013
- Drake Baldwin, Madison Mallards, 2021
- Clint Barmes, Kenosha Kroakers, 1998; Waterloo Bucks, 1999
- Austin Barnes, St. Cloud River Bats, 2010
- Michael Busch, St. Cloud Rox, 2017
- Kole Calhoun, Eau Claire Express, 2007–09
- Alex Call, Eau Claire Express, 2013-14
- Mark Canha, St. Cloud River Bats, 2008
- Matt Chapman, La Crosse Loggers, 2012
- Denzel Clarke, Kokomo Jackrabbits, 2019
- Ernie Clement, Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, 2015
- Allen Craig, Alexandria Beetles, 2003/2005
- Brandon Crawford, Mankato MoonDogs, 2005
- Paul DeJong, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2014
- Caleb Durbin, Rockford Rivets, 2019; Fond du Lac Dock Spiders, 2020-21
- Andre Ethier, Rochester Honkers, 2002
- TJ Friedl, St. Cloud Rox, 2016
- Mitch Garver, St. Cloud River Bats, 2010–11
- Tony Gonsolin, Madison Mallards, 2015
- Curtis Granderson, Mankato Mashers, 2001
- Mitch Haniger, Green Bay Bullfrogs, 2009
- Tyler Hoechlin, Battle Creek Bombers, 2007
- Nico Hoerner, Madison Mallards, 2016
- Zach McKinstry, Waterloo Bucks, 2015
- Mark Melancon, Duluth Huskies, 2004
- Garrett Mitchell, Mankato MoonDogs, 2018
- Pat Neshek, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2000
- Lars Nootbaar, La Crosse Loggers, 2016
- Chad Patrick, Traverse City Pit Spitters, 2019-20
- Juan Pierre, Manitowoc Skunks, 1996
- Kevin Pillar, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2010
- Chris Sale, La Crosse Loggers, 2008
- Max Scherzer, La Crosse Loggers, 2004
- Marcus Semien, Alexandria Beetles, 2009-10
- George Sherrill, Kenosha Kroakers, 1997
- Chandler Simpson, Fond du Lac Dock Spiders, 2021
- Drew Smyly, Duluth Huskies, 2009
- Bryson Stott, Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, 2017
- Matt Strahm, Rochester Honkers, 2011
- Jose Trevino, Madison Mallards, 2012
- Louis Varland, Willmar Stingers, 2017–18
- Daulton Varsho, Eau Claire Express, 2015–16
- Alex Vesia, Mankato MoonDogs, 2016
- Jeff Weaver, Dubuque Mud Puppies, 1995
- Josh Willingham, Southern Minny Stars, 1998–99
- Jacob Wilson, Mankato MoonDogs, 2021
- Jordan Zimmermann, Eau Claire Express, 2006
- Ben Zobrist, Wisconsin Woodchucks, 2003
Umpiring
The Northwoods League, in addition to being a developmental league for players and coaches, is also a developmental league for umpires. The concentrated game schedule, travel, and Minor League-like game conditions give NWL umpires a pre-professional experience. Since the League's inaugural season in 1994, 44 of its former umpires have furthered their careers in affiliated professional baseball.
The League recruits its umpires from the two umpire schools whose curricula have been approved by the Professional Baseball Umpire Corps. (PBUC): The Minor League Umpire training Academy and Harry Wendelstedt School for Umpires. The umpires ultimately chosen are usually among the top school graduates who were then selected to the pre-season, PBUC sponsored Umpire Evaluation Course.
The NWL contracts with eleven three-man crews during the regular season, a six-man crew during the mid-season All-Star game, and six umpires for both the divisional playoffs and championship series.