PicoBlog

It has certainly been a wild offseason for the Old North State League.

Multiple teams were acquired, five teams joined the league, one team went defunct, and another team rebranded. One more team is rumored to be added before the 2024 season begins.

I sifted through the information to write this comprehensive guide about these new teams.

Edenton Steamers — The Edenton Steamers are a storied franchise that most recently had success in the Premier Collegiate League, repeating as champions over fellow ONSL-newcomers, the Tarboro River Bandits. The Chowan County-based team hopes that their past success carries over to the ONSL.

Hope Mills Rockfish — Ballred, LLC purchased the Fayetteville Chutes and moved the team to Hope Mills. After a name-the-team contest, “Rockfish” was chosen as the new team name. The team is only moving eleven minutes down the road, and will likely carry over their Chutes fanbase.

Jacksonville Ospreys — The Jacksonville Ospreys are a brand new team, created and owned by the Patino family. Jacksonville has already built up a fanbase, and many city officials seem pleased with the addition of a baseball team.

Tarboro River Bandits — The aforementioned River Bandits, described by Ashton Confer as an “established franchise with a history of putting a winning team on the field,” will continue to play at Municipal Stadium in Tarboro. While they lost to Edenton in the PCL Championship Series in 2023, they will have plenty of revenge opportunities, as the River Bandits and the Steamers will compete in the same division.

Wake Forest FUNGO — The team with the name in all caps for no apparent reason went independent for one season, even playing some ONSL teams, before deciding to join. Wake Forest will compete in the same division as the Reidsville Luckies in their inaugural Old North State League season.

Wilkes County Moonshiners — Worst for last. I would write about the team but I can’t get past that name. And they didn’t even have other good names lined up in competition with this. First, there was Wilkes Milks. I don’t even have to elaborate on why that is stupid. Wilkes County Warriors would sound good if “Warriors” isn’t the name of one of the most popular professional basketball teams. Then, as a commentator, these final two are annoying because of the tongue-twisting length: the Wilkes County Ridgerunners and Great State Speedracers. None of those are cool. So they opt for a team name that only Otis Campbell would vote for.

I will keep you fans updated on whether or not a twentieth team will be added to even out the divisions. In unrelated news, I have decided that I hate at least half of the team names in the Old North State League.

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