Welcome to Know Your Foe, your friendly fast facts to get to know the Ballers’ opponents at Raimondi Park this season.

Next up: The Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the artists formerly known as the Northern Colorado Owlz

Their Season So Far:

Where to even begin.

The Sky Sox are 13-40, last in the Pioneer League, with a record almost the exact inverse of the Ballers (41-13). With their unending off-the-field drama—relocation, dissolution, unfinished ballparks and absent ownership; see plenty more below—this is a genuinely commendable mark, especially with their recent run of good play at 4-6 and winning their last series against the Boise Hawks. Pitcher Johan Castillo is top-ten in the league in strikeouts, and outfielder T.J. McKenzie (#24) is top-six in stolen bases.

In short: a semi-homeless baseball team, waiting years for a ballpark, with ownership problems? Oakland fans can relate, and we should give these coaches and players, who have put up with a hell of a lot, an extra warm welcome here.

Hometown: Currently? Colorado Springs, Colorado

- We already visited the Springs in our Know Your Foe about the Vibes, so make sure to brush up on your history there. But a few more nibbles:

- Nearby Garden of the Gods is a geological and philanthropic marvel; its stunning red sandstone plates, ridges, and spires were gifted to the city with the proviso they remain forever free of charge. The deified name may have first been an overcorrection to an 1859 surveyor, himself preposterously named Malancthon Beach, calling it merely a great “beer garden.”

- In its early years, the city grew from its reputation as a clean-air out-West convalescence for tuberculosis sufferers. Afflicted celebrity gunslinger and gambler (and dentist???) Doc Holliday is buried at a different Springs, Glenwood Springs, on the other side of the Rockies.

- The area is known as a UFO hotspot due to its many military proximities and clear skies. (Two hours south you can find the Hooper UFO Watchtower, because being a little bit higher up...will definitely make the difference.)

- Focus on the Family, James Dobson’s controversial evangelical “Christian ministry dedicated to helping families thrive,” is headquartered here, and once when I was 24, I pretended with a friend that we were a couple from Nebraska so we could see what the counseling was like (bizarre) and stare at the bullet holes they’d left as memorials? messages? in their lobby from a shooting in 2007 (more bizarre). Though, to be fair, I did end up marrying said friend a decade later, so…

Team History:

- As promised, here’s the very, very brief saga of the Owlz-turned-Sox. A much longer deep dive comes courtesy of Indy Ball Nation. The Owlz, formerly of Provo and Orem, Utah, had played for three years in northern Colorado, waiting for their own stadium to be built in Windsor, but that Future Legends Sports Complex repeatedly fizzled financially and legally (guess it really is just in the future, or just a legend), resulting in the city not renewing needed permits and certificates this midseason. The Owlz were effectively homeless.

- The Pioneer League accepted the dissolution of the team in June, and Owlz ownership issued a statement that read, in part, “Our facilities this season continue to be in maintenance and without a clear exact timetable, we would continue to have to find different temporary homes in Northern Colorado and changing our operations every series…” and that that they would “…evaluate the team and the future of professional baseball here in the off season…”

- The league allowed the temporary formation of the Sky Sox so the team’s coaches and players could finish the season under a new name free of old ownership. They presently share blocktickets PARK with the Rocky Mountain Vibes, but they play their games in the morning without fans. This “home” schedule shrunk to just 12 games as other teams elected to play the Sox at their home fields instead.

Best Promos:

Hopefully, wherever the Sox end up, some of these will come with them:

- Talk About it Tuesday, Question of the Day, and Mic’d Up Mondays, where players answer baseball-related and decidedly non-baseball related questions (“who wins in a fight: a bear or a gorilla?”).

- Paint the Park Pink—breast cancer awareness night with very fashionable pink socks (sox?) giveaway.

- Wacky Wednesday—stand-up comedians perform portions of their sets and give away free tickets to their local shows.

- Father’s Day—(ok yes this is just selfish for me, but) specialty jerseys and grilling spatulas with the team logo.

- Pint for Pint—blood donation gets you free dole whip, Gatorade, water, or booze (though requiring 24 hours to elapse for the alcohol seems like they’re missing out on some real bingeable drama?).

What to Watch For:

- The vintage Sky Sox uniforms! The “original” Sky Sox in Colorado Springs were a much-beloved Triple-A affiliate for the Rockies, Brewers, and Cleveland from 1988-2018. Alumni include famous names like Jim Thome, Albert Belle, and Todd Helton, and a surprising number of players who became managers: Brad Ausmus, Gabe Kapler, Joe Girardi, Craig Counsell. The Sox uniforms were brought out of storage, eventually, for the Owlz to wear.

- I say eventually because, in an even stranger—and officially unconfirmed—twist, when the Sox played the Grand Junction Jackalopes on July 2 with the Sox uniforms perhaps not yet available, the Owlz-turned-Sox played as the Jackalopes while the Jacks played as their own alter-ego, the Humpback Chubs. The team called it “Identity Crisis Night,” but it also feels like a Mission Impossible mask situation…

Know Your Foe: The Colorado Springs Sky Sox

A Ballers Tattoo; Or, On Permanence