Pioneer League
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The Pioneer League is a minor league baseball league which currently operates in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. In the past, it also operated in adjoining portions of Canada. It is a Rookie league, which means that it has a short season (June-August) and almost exclusively features players newly signed to professional contracts.
The Pioneer Baseball League began in 1939 with six teams in Idaho and Utah. The league suspended operations for the 1943 through 1945 seasons. In 1948, the league expanded into Montana. At that time, several of the teams were operating as minor league affiliates of Pacific Coast League teams, which were unsuccessfully trying to grow into a major league. When the Los Angeles Dodgers displaced the Hollywood Stars PCL team, they moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, taking away the Pioneer League's largest market. By 1959, the league was down to six teams, and by 1964, there were only four, but by the end of the 1970s there were eight teams.
The league is divided into a Northern Division and a Southern Division.
Current member teams:
- Billings Mustangs - Northern Division
- Casper Rockies - Southern Division
- Great Falls White Sox - Northern Division
- Helena Brewers - Northern Division
- Idaho Falls Chukars - Southern Division
- Missoula Osprey - Northern Division
- Ogden Raptors - Southern Division
- Orem Owlz - Southern Division