For Baseball, Catch a Minor League Game

If you prefer players who are younger and hungrier than the millionaires at Dodger Stadium, minor league baseball abounds within a two-hour drive of downtown Los Angeles.

Five teams in the single-A California League make their home in the suburbs that surround metropolitan Los Angeles. And a sixth, the Bakersfield Blaze, isn’t much farther away.

This year, a new Cal League team will even play within Los Angeles County--the Lancaster JetHawks, an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

The JetHawks’ home season begins April 16 at Lancaster Municipal Stadium, near the Antelope Valley Freeway and Avenue I.

This gives the Mojave Desert two teams, the other being Adelanto’s High Desert Mavericks.

Used to be that the California League, in existence since 1941, was a fixture of summer in the farm towns of the Central Valley and Northern California.

But with the exception of San Jose, Modesto, Stockton and Visalia, all the cities on the Cal League map are now down here.

The baseball remains pretty good, given that most of the players are of college age.

Every team is stocked with young players from major league organizations--Dodger farmhands play in San Bernardino, Angel prospects in Lake Elsinore.

There are World Wide Web pages for each of the local teams, providing schedules, ticket information, directions and more.

Here are the relevant sites:

Lancaster JetHawks

https://www.jethawks.com/

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes

https://www.webcom.com/rmd/

baseball/rancho_cucamonga.html

San Bernardino Stampede

https://www.webcom.com/rmd/

baseball/san_bernardino.html

Lake Elsinore Storm

https://www.webcom.com/rmd/

baseball/lake_elsinore.html

High Desert Mavericks

https://www.webcom.com/rmd/

baseball/high_desert.html

Bakersfield Blaze

https://www.webcom.com/rmd/

baseball/bakersfield.html

California League

https://www.webcom.com/rmd/

baseball/california.html