Since 1993, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes have been a team in Minor League Baseball’s (MiLB) California League. The Advanced Single-A California League has been an MiLB staple since 1941. But 2021 brings about all kinds of changes, with one of the biggest being changes to the league itself.

In 1941, the league was classified as “C” League but reclassified to “A” league in 1965. In 1996, the change to “Advanced Single-A” officially went into effect and stayed that way until 2021’s new MiLB alignment that saw the league drop to “Low Single-A” ball.

This drop to “Low A” is just the tip of the iceberg as far as changes go for both the Quakes and MiLB in general.

To start 2021, the California League, as well as all of the other leagues, were renamed utilizing level and location for a more consistent look for MiLB. Granted, some league names really didn’t make sense, like the Pacific Coast League, which featured teams from middle America (including the Dodgers Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers), but the California League name made perfect sense then and still does, as all of the teams were located in California, despite some shifting of teams.

However, I digress. The league that long features teams from North, Central, and Southern California is now known as the Low-A West League. Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it? But at least everything is similar and easy to remember now.

To get back to the shifting of teams I mentioned earlier, the California League did lose one of its teams, the Lancaster JetHawks, a former Advanced Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. The stadium itself was nice but perhaps the location of the team and the unusually windy weather led to the cut.

The league did, in a way, gain a new team after Lancaster’s departure though. The former AAA Fresno Grizzlies, who have had too many affiliations in the last five years to count, have dropped from the peak of MiLB to the newest low level of the minors to stay alive.

The minor leagues used to have about six levels worth of teams to go through, ranging from several levels and locations of rookie and short-season teams to Advanced Single-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. They have since been cut to four, keeping only the top four full-season leagues and nearly eliminating any evidence of short-season and rookie leagues.

Now the newest draftees play for their parent club at their Spring Training facilities until they are deemed worthy of Low A ball.

With the new role changes for Low-A West also comes new rule changes. It started a few years back with the runner on second to start extras, among other things.

For 2021, two new rules will come to Low-A ball, with one specifically set aside for just the Low-A West league.

For all of Low A, pickoff attempts will be limited. “This rule will limit pitchers to just two “step offs” or pickoff attempts per plate appearance. On the third attempt, if the runner is not thrown out, the move is ruled a balk and any runners are automatically awarded the next base,” according to Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com.

For Low A West specifically, a 15-second pitch clock will be implemented to attempt to get pitchers moving quicker between pitches. Timers should be visible in both the outfield and home plate, but I did not notice any on opening night, so perhaps it will be rolled out to each stadium individually.

Now that we’ve made it to opening night, it’s time to talk about the COVID cautious baseball experience!

Stadium regulation changes of all sorts have been announced with the most common being the requirement of face masks when not actively eating or drinking. Additionally, socially distanced seating options are available while fans are asked to only use clear plastic bags or no bags at all for their personal belongings, as per individual stadium rules.

Once settled in after having my clear Carolina Panthers bag glanced at, it started to feel like a normal ballpark experience, minus the usual crowd opening night tends to draw and the fact that we had face masks on.

Settling back into scorekeeping was a tough move, but ultimately, almost every pitch was accounted for, including the pitches for a record-breaking 21 strikeouts thrown by the Quakes five pitchers on the night!

Overall the team looks pretty good so far. The hitting could have used a little bit of a boost, but I’m excited to see what the Low A West league and the Quakes are going to do this season!

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