Ontario Tower Buzzers

The origins of the Ontario Tower Buzzers reach back to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the longtime Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rancho Cucamonga California League franchise was relocated to the Ontario Ranch section of Ontario, California, to play at ONT Field, a new 6,000-seat ballpark, as the Ontario Tower Buzzers.^[1] The name and visual identity were publicly revealed at a launch event in Ontario Town Square in mid-September 2025.^[2][3]

This move was one in a series of changes involving three teams. The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino relocated to Rancho Cucamonga to play as the Quakes in affiliation with the Los Angeles Angels. Additionally, the Modesto Nuts relocated to San Bernardino to continue as the 66ers in affiliation with the Seattle Mariners. In effect, it made the move a de facto relocation of the Nuts franchise, rather than the Quakes franchise. Diamond Baseball Holdings owns all three teams as well as two other clubs in the eight-team California League.^[4]

Ownership and management

The team is owned and operated by Diamond Baseball Holdings, which manages a portfolio of Minor League Baseball teams across the United States. Team management announced Allan Benavides as general manager, joining the organization after a long tenure with other minor-league clubs.^[5]

The Tower Buzzers' name and branding draw inspiration from Ontario's aviation heritage and its proximity to Ontario International Airport as well as the quote from the 1986 film Top Gun where Maverick states to "buzz the tower", or fly very close to the control tower. The club's logo and marketing lean heavily into aviation iconography, with the primary mascot—a bee in aviator gear named Maverick—and uniform elements referencing flight and air-traffic control motifs. The moniker was chosen to celebrate the "buzz" of the airport and region, rather than to imitate more common aviation nicknames, such as "Aviators" or "Pilots."^[6][7]

The Tower Buzzers home ballpark will be ONT Field.^[8] Their first home game was played on April 2, 2026, against the Lake Elsinore Storm.^[9]

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