We’ve got our first look at the 2027 IronPigs schedule–and with it, the 20th Anniversary logo! A bunch of things can and will change surrounding this schedule (ie promotions, game times etc) but we kinda know how the season is gonna go now, and which opponents we’re going to see on the field with our 20th Anniversary team.
First, The Elephant In The Stadium
There’s going to be IronPigs baseball. No, I don’t have any inside information, but if we can assume a Lock Out of MLB players to start the 2027 season in order to finish a collective bargain agreement, then we have to recognize that minor league players are covered under a different CBA, which runs until the end of the 2027 season–and will still be under contract and should be available to play. It’s not a strike, so there’s no “picket line” issues to hammer out. The minor leaguers will want to play so that they’re ready when and if they’re needed. Major Leagues own the minors now, as well as a nice chunk of the teams, so it’s doubtful they’ll lock out the minor leaguers as well or they would be breaching that CBA.
The Good
- It’s good to kinda know there’s gonna be baseball–barring some other news, anyway.
- The 20th Anniversary logo is good, unobtrusive and classy.
- It’s good to start the season in the south–an old southern division team in Norfolk.
- Memorial Day Weekend and July 4 Weekend and Labor Day Weekend are all home games. [We know Pigs management would like to sell us other events for those times, effectively double-dipping, but we’re here for the baseball part.]
- End at home. I just like saying good-bye to the team and the players and the staff and everyone and having it be truly over–or celebrating a possible playoff game but that’s unlikely in the current iteration of this thing.
The Bad
- The six-game series set-up persists. It does save on travel, but also other expenses and annoyances that come with moving a team around. From the Pigs side, I guess they have the attendance figures to prove it doesn’t drive people away to see the same game six nights in a row–or they’re gonna come to the game when they want anyway and the blocks of six don’t matter enough to move the attendance meter–or the season ticket meter for that matter.
- No new opponents. Here we are traveling to St Paul for a second year in a row. We went to Omaha and Indy before. Why can’t some of these cats come here? It’s only fair. Columbus is the only team from the “West” we see–and we usually see them anyway. Durham and Norfolk are the old South Division teams we’ll see, but again, we have seen them a bunch since the pandemic.
- And that means, two home series–12 games–versus the old North teams, At least they’re mostly reasonably separated first half versus second. Worcester is the one we see twice in April and May. Annoying.
- The series in May and June of two weeks away, two weeks at home, and then two weeks away again. Hopefully the Reading schedule will save me from that horrific sequence.
The Ugly
- Just thinking about how MLB owns MiLB now, and most of their ownership groups also hold a portion of the minors, just means they’ll be making money and won’t end the lockout soon enough.
- Also, when thinking about salary cap structures, the most-fair way, used by football and hockey and maybe basketball, has the players getting a certain percentage of Total Revenue along with the calculation of a salary floor, to that end. But what’s included in “Total Revenue?” The minors? The casino in the parking lot? Wrigleytown outside the stadium? How are they going to handle broadcasting and streaming and the revenue that comes from that?
- The quality of play on the field. Guys on the 40-man–usually about 14 of them–who have options are mostly going to be sent to the Pigs to play. Some may be on the injured list, of course. But the 40-man guys have MLB deals and will be locked out so our Triple-A talent pool will be lower. Other teams as well, of course, just the overall quality less.
- Now, some guys on MLB deals now who are due to become free agents and would usually get a minors deal with a “Spring Training Invite” might want to play and sign on for some Triple-A action. Those who have enough pedigree and/or enough money to weather the lock out will either sign a free agent deal before the lock out on December 1 or hunker down with their savings and sign immediately after the new CBA is signed, rather than play in the minors and risk injury and such.
- Diamond Baseball Holdings. They own a ton of teams and as they continue to grow and approach their MLB-mandated limit, my prediction is that MLB will buy them out. Perhaps as soon as MLB can suck all the money out of the minors and not have to include it in the salary cap. I wonder what those DBH folks are thinking about all this?
Downloadable PDF: 2027_Schedule_Release
Photo Version:
See you at the park (hopefully),
@Kram207
PS: If you are a person of power and knowledge beyond Mr.Google, and want to shed light on any of the assumptions above, please reach out. Remember, Kram is just Mark backwards, hit me up.