 | |
| Founded | 1994 |
|---|---|
| Sports fielded |
|
| Divisions | Great Lakes Division, Great Plains Division |
| No. of teams | 24 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 |
TheNorthwoods League is acollegiate summer wooden-bat baseball andsoftball league. The teams are located in theNorthwoods region of theUpper Midwestern United States and NorthwesternOntario, mostly in theU.S. states ofWisconsin andMinnesota. Other teams are located inMichigan,North Dakota,Iowa,Indiana,Illinois andOntario.
All players in the league must haveNCAA 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. As of 2025, over 400 Northwoods League alums have gone on to play inMajor League Baseball, includingMax Scherzer,Marcus Semien,Matt Chapman,Curtis Granderson,Chris Sale,Brandon Crawford,Ben Zobrist, andPete Alonso.
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.[1] The purpose of the league is to develop players while college baseball teams are not allowed to work out. Many of the teams in the league play in ballparks formerly occupied by professional clubs from theMidwest League,Prairie League,Northern League, andFrontier League. The wooden bat circuit allows communities deemed too small for professional ball to continue to enjoy high-quality, competitive baseball during the summer months. The Northwoods League was the first summer collegiate baseball league to broadcast on theESPN network, and currently webcasts all of its games.
In 2020, some teams cancelled their season due to theCOVID-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.
In 2023, the Northwoods League announced plans to create a new softball league. The softball league initially consisted of four teams, based inMadison (Madison Night Mares) andLa Crosse, Wisconsin (La Crosse Steam);Mankato, Minnesota (Mankato Habeneros); andMinot, North Dakota (Minot Honeybees).[2] In 2025, the Wausau Ignite was added.[3][4] For 2026, the league will expand toGrand Forks, North Dakota; it will be the first Northwoods League Softball team to play in a non-Northwoods League Baseball market.[5][6] On November 11, 2025, the team's name was revealed as theGrand Forks Spitfires.[7]
Over 400 league alumni have gone on to play inMajor League Baseball (MLB). AlumnusMax Scherzer, the 2017 National LeagueCy Young Award winner, and American League runner-upChris Sale faced each other as the starting pitchers in the2017 and2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Games. Both pitchers had previously played for theLa Crosse Loggers.
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.[8]
| 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 |
| 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)[11] | 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)[12] | Duluth Huskies | 2-0 |
| 2014 | Lakeshore Chinooks[13] | Mankato MoonDogs | 2-0 |
| 2015 | Kenosha Kingfish[14] | 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[15]
| 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 |
| Season | Champion | Runner-up | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Mankato Habaneros | (no playoffs, best regular-season record) | 31-11 |
| 2025 | Madison Night Mares | Minot Honeybees | 2-0 |
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As of the end of the 2025 MLB season, 411 former Northwoods League players have appeared inMajor League Baseball.[16] The following is a list of notable standout players.
The Northwoods League, in addition tobeing a developmental league for playersand coaches, is also a developmental league forumpires. 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.
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