The Northwoods League has the same number of summer college baseball teams as a year ago, but there was still significant movement.
In the off-season, the league removed the franchise from Alexandria, which historically struggled with poor attendance, and opened up a promising new franchise in Rockford, Ill., with a population of 150,000.
The Rivets will play in Rivets Stadium in Loves Park, Ill., an impressive stadium built in 2006 to host the former Rockford Riverhawks of the Frontier League. The stadium has a brick-and-mortar grandstand and seating capacity of nearly 3,300, with standing room for 4,000.
The Alexandria Blue Anchors drew a league-low 442 fans per game in 2015.
"It's good for the strength of the league," said Rochester Honkers general manager Dan Litzinger. "It's also good for us (the Honkers) because it brought LaCrosse (Wis.) over to our division."
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Rockford was placed in the South Division, and to make room, the LaCrosse Loggers were moved to replace Alexandria in the North Division, where Rochester resides.
LaCrosse is now Rochester's closest division rival with just 75 miles of I-90 separating the teams. The Mankato MoonDogs are next-closest at 88 miles.
LaCrosse has also been one of the best-drawing teams in the league since joining the Northwoods League in 2003. The Loggers averaged 3,054 fans at Copeland Park in 2015, which was second behind the perennial league attendance champion Madison Mallards (6,358).
The first of eight games between Rochester and LaCrosse are this weekend, with Saturday's 6:05 p.m. game at Copeland Park, and Sunday's 1:05 p.m. matinee at Mayo Field in Rochester.
The nine-team North Division now includes: Minnesota teams Rochester, LaCrosse, Mankato, St. Cloud and Willmar; Eau Claire, Wis.; Waterloo, Iowa; and Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The nine-team South Division has: Wisconsin teams Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Lakeshore, and Wisconsin Rapids; Michigan teams Battle Creek and Kalamazoo; and Rockford, Illinois.
