The Evansville Otters will open their 26th season when they visit the Schaumburg Boomers at Wintrust Field in Schaumburg, Ill. on May 27, kicking off the 2021 Frontier League regular season for both teams.
The Otters visit the Boomers for two games before heading on a weekend road trip to Lake Erie. Evansville hosts their home opener at Bosse Field June 1-3 against the Gateway Grizzlies.
After a six-game road swing, the Otters come back home June 11-20 for a nine-game homestand, their longest homestand of the season.
The Frontier League released the schedule for its 28th season, featuring 16 organizations playing a full 96-game schedule, and including seven new teams as part of the merger between the Frontier League and the former Can-Am League plus two expansion teams.
The Frontier League will open its season in May as the largest professional, independent baseball league in North America and returns to action following a canceled 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every team will start the season Thursday, May 27 for two-game sets before having three-game series the following weekend.
The Frontier League will feature 16 teams in 2021, the most the League has ever had. The previous high was 14 from 2012-15.
League alignment features two conferences, the Midwestern and Can-Am Conferences, that are split into two divisions of four teams each. The West Division of Evansville, Florence, Gateway, and Southern Illinois joins the Central Division of Joliet, Lake Erie, Schaumburg, and Windy City in the Midwestern Conference. The Northeast Division of New Jersey, Ottawa, Sussex County, and Washington joins the Atlantic Division of New York, Quebec, Trois-Rivieres, and Tri-City in the Can-Am Conference.
The schedule is organized to minimize lengthier travel and to enhance regional rivalries, so the 2021 schedule will be played mostly in-conference.
The Otters’ schedule will be split evenly with 48 divisional games and 48 against the Central Division of the Midwestern Conference. The Otters will matchup against Gateway and Southern Illinois 18 times, playing nine games at Bosse Field and nine on the road. Evansville will play Florence, Joliet, Lake Erie, Schaumburg, and Windy City 12 times, hosting six games and on the road for six.
Evansville is scheduled for eight weekend home series at Bosse Field in 2021, which will be the 106th anniversary of Bosse Field.
The Otters will have five six-game homestands, and their longest road trip will be a 10-game road swing Aug. 27-Sept. 6 at Gateway, Southern Illinois, and Schaumburg.
Evansville’s final regular season homestand will be Sept. 7-12 against Joliet and Lake Erie to conclude the regular season.
Due to a compressed schedule and the many logistics involved in staging the event, the Frontier League will not have an All-Star Game in 2021.
Playoffs begin on Tuesday, September 14 with the four division winners qualifying.
Game times and promotional information will be released at a later date.
