TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The Northern Pod of the Michigan Northwoods League is set to resume play on Sunday, July 19th. The season was put on hold July 5th, after players on two of the teams tested positive for COVID-19.
The Pit Spitters Front Office has worked diligently with the Grand Traverse County Health Department throughout this process and with their consultation a restart plan was developed and approved to allow for a restart to the season.
“We take this restart extremely seriously. All of the Pit Spitters players have completed and passed multiple COVID-19 tests,” said Pit Spitters General Manager Mickey Graham. “Any new players joining either team will be tested at home, and again upon arrival, and will be isolated until their results come back and they will then be placed with their team,” added Graham.
As part of the restart, there will be a few changes as the action resumes. The pod will look a bit different upon resuming play as it will restart with two teams with expanded rosters rather than three – The Traverse City Pit Spitters and the Great Lakes Resorters will be playing the remainder of the summer schedule. All players will continue to adhere to necessary screening and social distancing protocols.
“We’re starting back up with just two teams and expanded rosters. The Dune Bears are not gone completely, I think we will continue to have fun with both the Resorters and Dune Bears branding elements throughout the summer.” Graham continued. “As our coaches were reworking the rosters, they wanted to create increased competition, playing time and player development opportunities and resuming with one less team helps achieve those goals. Only having two rosters in the mix also allows us to better manage potential exposure to the virus as we ramp back up,” added Graham. “We feel really good about the socially distanced fan experience we have created, and we are excited to safely return to play next week Sunday.” An overview of Turtle Creek Stadiums COVID Preparedness Plan can be found at PitSpitters.com
A new schedule can be found at www.PitSpitters.com. The game dates have not changed, if fans had tickets to a game from July 19th, on, those tickets are still good for those games. Any fan that had a ticket from July 5th – July 18th, can exchange those tickets for any other game on the schedule. Please email tickets@PitSpitters.com or call the office at 231.943.0100 for more ticket information.
About Northwoods League:
The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Now entering its’ 27th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 230 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Star Jordan Zimmermann (DET). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
