Welcome to the League! — Dispatches from Raimondi

The Pioneer League Adds Three New Teams: Long Beach Coast, Modesto Roadsters, and RedPocket Mobiles

by Nick Clementi

It has been a very eventful offseason in the Pioneer Baseball League as the PBL continues to push westward. Long Beach, Modesto, and a travel team called the RedPocket Mobiles will be joining for the 2026 season, representing a new era for the historic league. For good measure, the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers have renamed to the Freebirds.

Until Oakland and Yolo/Yuba-Sutter joined in 2024, the PBL historically stuck to the mountain states of Montana, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming (and, periodically, a few different cities in Alberta). Though we bid farewell to the Rocky Mountain Vibes, Grand Junction Jackalopes, and the strange saga of Northern Colorado/Colorado Springs, the new structure of the PBL presents an improved travel schedule and a revival of professional baseball in California communities. With these recent additions, there are suddenly four teams in California, four teams in Montana, two in Idaho, and one in Utah. While not official, the league has essentially created two separate divisions or pods between California and the mountain states.

Perhaps the flashiest offseason among the new PBL teams came from the Long Beach Coast, who are bringing professional baseball back to the “LBC” for the first time since 2009. Backed by an ownership group featuring legendary rapper Warren G and Ballers co-founder Paul Freedman (who still will rock a Ballers shirt on the local LB news) among others, the Coast will be playing their home games at Blair Field, the current and longtime home of the Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball program. Notably, their alter ego will be known as the Long Beach Regulators, which was the heavy favorite among fans in the club’s community survey to help determine a team name. Luckily for fans of the Coast and/or Regulators name, merchandise is already available for both in their team colors of teal, black, and cream, with one Dispatches editor with too much time on his hands already trolling their rollout:

On the baseball side of things, Long Beach hired an impressive coaching staff with many years of MLB experience. Former Angels closer Troy Percival will be the Coast’s inaugural manager; he comes from the Idaho Falls Chukars after a 54-41 record and PBL championship series appearance last season. Joining Percival’s staff as assistant coaches will be former big leaguers Troy Glaus and Jerome Williams, the latter previously being Yolo/Yuba-Sutter’s pitching coach the past two seasons. While the baseball operations team in their front office is yet to be announced, it is clear that Percival and Williams have made a big impact on putting together a roster. Of the thirty signings announced on the Coast’s Instagram, nine played for Yuba-Sutter and twelve played for Idaho Falls last season. Among those PBL returnees include 1B/C Cuba Bess (26 HRs and .427 OBP with Yuba-Sutter), OF Eddy Pelc (.316 AVG and .438 OBP with Idaho Falls), 2B Jacob Jablonski (.972 OPS and 35 HRs last two years with Idaho Falls), and SS Anthony Mata (29 XBH and .346 AVG with Idaho Falls). It’s safe to say that Long Beach should have one of the better offenses in the league and could challenge for a playoff spot in their inaugural season.

As we say goodbye to the existence of the Modesto Nuts, we welcome the fourth California team in the PBL with the creation of the Modesto Roadsters. Their logo features a San Joaquin kit fox named “Cruiser” who is driving a 1960s era roadster, a nod to Modesto’s car culture and American Graffiti. (The first announced name, the Glow Riders, was replaced after a few weeks.)

The ballclub is owned by Dave Heller from Main Street Baseball, who also own the PBL’s Billings Mustangs and the High-A Quad Cities River Bandits and Wilmington Blue Rocks. The 77-year history of John Thurman Field will live on, albeit with a sponsored name change to Modern Woodmen Field and a freshly painted outfield wall with their new team colors of powder blue and red. The Roadsters’ biggest signing to date has been the announcement of former Giants and Angels 1B J.T. Snow as the team’s inaugural manager. This will be Snow’s first crack at a managerial role after getting an opportunity with the Ballers during the 2024 season as a 1B/bench coach. Joining Snow on his staff as pitching coach will be Alex Leach, who brings experience and local knowledge to the Roadsters organization; Leach just finished his third season as the manager for Modesto Junior College’s baseball program. Much like Long Beach, Modesto’s roster brings a lot of experience, with the Roadsters having signed 12 players with MiLB experience and 11 players with prior indy ball experience. While Modesto’s players lack the proven production at the indy ball level seen in acquisitions for Long Beach and Oakland, the Roadsters did find plenty of potential this offseason with players like former 2nd-round pick Osiris Johnson, 2nd-round pick Justin Boyd, and 6th-round pick Hayden Dunhurst.

Lastly, we have the RedPocket Mobiles–named for the cell carrier and leading PBL sponsor–who will operate exclusively as a travel team, playing all 96 games on the road. With the PBL standing at 11 teams prior to the announcement of the Mobiles, this team serves as a necessary and hopefully temporary fix for the season’s scheduling. While they have a challenging road ahead, the Mobiles have the two-time MLB All-Star Dmitri Young taking over as manager following his season with Northern Colorado last year. Young will also have his pitching coach from last season join his staff with the addition of 10-year big leaguer Ray King. (Fun Ballers connection: King was traded in 2005 to Colorado in exchange for Larry Bigbie and the B’s Aaron Miles). As of now their Instagram shows 12 signings, and it remains to be seen how young players will respond to the lack of the stability of a home base and encouragement of home fans. The 6’4” outfielder Jordan Harrison-Dudley stands out as one of their notable signings; he dominated for two seasons in the Pecos indy league and showed some power with Lake Erie of the Frontier League last year.

Another interesting element to this team is that they have hired former San Francisco Giants reporter Amy Gutierrez as co-general manager. Gutierrez was around the Giants organization for 16 years, and this will be her first front office experience. Realistically, the Mobiles will have to overachieve to contend for a playoff spot (and would, of course, cede any earned home games to their opponent). Constant travel and living out of hotels will call back to famed barnstorming baseball of the Kansas City Monarchs or House of David, but it seems in everyone’s best interests in the PBL to find an ownership group that will create a home for the franchise in 2027.

So, what does that future hold?

Given there are still three more teams in the mountain states than California, it seems possible the PBL will push to add another team in the Golden State. A list of potential targets that previously had professional baseball could include Chico, Sonoma County (anyone remember the Crushers?), Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Lancaster, Riverside, and Salinas.

For now, Ballers fans should be thrilled. In addition to three more outright home games than last year due to the Mobiles, there are enticing midweek road trip possibilities to the Central Valley and Southern California throughout the summer.

Nick Clementi is an Oakland native and lifelong Oakland baseball fan. He enjoys long walks on the beach and summer nights at Raimondi Park. He’s a Scrappy enthusiast who doesn't believe in sacrifice bunts. Sports content moderator by day, Ballers beat writer by night. Find him on Instagram and Twitter.