While baseball fans in the Five Boroughs have turned their attention to the Mets and Yankees upcoming openers this week, the Big Apple’s two minor league teams are also gearing up to take the field.
The Brooklyn Cyclones, who have become a mainstay of the borough’s summer fun in Coney Island, will open their season on the road on April 8 against the Wilmington Blue Rocks of Delaware, who serve as the Single-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.
The team will then return to Kings County on April 12 for the franchise’s home opener against the vaunted Jersey Shore BlueClaws at Maimonides Park.
Maimonides Medical Center took over the naming rights of the former MCU Park and KeySpan park last year, after Municipal Credit Union declined to renew their naming rights deal with the arena.
Meanwhile, across the Verrazzano Bridge, the Staten Island FerryHawks will open their season on the road in West Virginia at the Appalachian Power Park against the Charleston Dirty Birds.
The FerryHawks will host the Lexington Legends of Kentucky on May 3 for their home opener.
For more coverage of the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Staten Island FerryHawks, head to amNY.com
The Cyclones, named after the famed roller coaster in America’s Playground, play in the High-A division of the MLB’s minor leagues, and serve as an affiliate to the New York Mets.
The MLB, in 2021, announced that the league would move towards a best-of-five championship postseason, which would feature the top teams from each league (that feature a handful of teams each).
That came after the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to the 2020 season, while forcing a late start to the 2021 league year.
Meanwhile, the FerryHawks play in the Atlantic League (another affiliate league of the MLB). They play their home games at SIUH Community Park, and came to life as an offshoot of the former-Staten Island Yankees.
After the old franchise shuttered when the 2020 season concluded, the newly-revived franchise chose the name FerryHawks after an open ballot that allowed fans to choose the new moniker.
That FerryHawks came about after the quasi-private quasi-public New York Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) led talks with the Atlantic League, and ultimately enlisted wealthy individuals like billionaire John Catsimatidis, along with Saturday Night Live stars Colin Jost, Michael Che, and Pete Davidson to help jumpstart the team.
