Professional baseball will stay in Montana in 2021.
In a news release on Monday, Major League Baseball announced an agreement with the Pioneer League to continue a long tradition of professional baseball in Montana, Idaho, Colorado and Utah.
The Pioneer League, which includes the Billings Mustangs, Missoula PaddleHeads and the Great Falls Voyagers, will transition from affiliated status with direct ties to Major League clubs to an independent professional MLB partner league. All the teams will maintain their existing team names and brands.
A 30 year agreement between the MLB and the Pioneer League came to an end in September as Major League Baseball worked to revamp its minor leagues.
The Missoula PaddleHeads in a news release said the ballplayers will come from three pools: undrafted players, former professional players who have been released from a Major League club or affiliated players who are under contract with a Major League team.
The baseball season will also be extended to a 92 game schedule running from mid May to early September.
The Pioneer League joins the Atlantic League, the American Association and the Frontier League as an MLB Partner League. Each Partner League covers a different geographic area in the U.S. and Canada, and attracts players of varying levels of experience.
Montana Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines released statements on Monday praising the agreement between MLB and the minor league teams in Montana keeping professional baseball in the state. Tester said he recently urged MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred to maintain and expand the Pioneer League in Montana, outlining the positive impact of Montana’s minor league teams have on their communities and local economies.
Tester and Daines had received commitments from MLB executives to come to Montana last July to see the impact of the league on the state before the outbreak of COVID-19.
