March is approaching, and the temperatures with a couple of exceptions are going to be above normal the next two weeks, so let’s talk some baseball:

The good news in the last 10 days was the Nashua Silver Knights schedule was released, and we can all plan our summers.

The bad news? The Futures League isn’t looking all that healthy.

Now, ownership and the FCBL hierarchy may bristle over that statement, but anytime you have a travel team in a league to fill out a schedule, it’s certainly not ideal. Never a good look. But, it can certainly be rectified.

That’s the news that came out back on Valentine’s Day as the Pittsfield Suns announced they are sitting out the year due to the ongoing difficultes at historic Wahconah Park. In their place, you see the designation “RW” on the schedule, for that good ol’ designation we saw in the Nashua Pride/independent Atlantic League days: “Road Warriors.”

The league is putting together a travel team to play the Suns’ road schedule only. The originally Suns home games will be days off for the teams that were slated to travel to Pittsfield, so the schedule is reduced frm 64 to 58 games.

First, give the FCBL credit for quickly coming up with a solution. Evidently Pittsfield ownership dropped the bomb in the rest of the FCBL the last couple of weeks. In case you hadn’t been following the last couple of years, the Wahconah grandstand was condemned and the Suns were still playing at the park with bleachers on the field. It was serviceable, but certainly things were going to come to a head at some point. There is a stadium commission set up to come up with a solution, blah, blah, blah. The problem is nearly two years old, and now the FCBL is out a franchise for likely two years.

They got caught in a bind that was certainly foreseeable. First, the schedule release was delayed until Silver Knights owner John Creedon, Jr. and his family were able to complete the sale of their other FCBL team, the Worcester Bravehearts. But you know when pitchers and catchers reported to Major League spring training and we still had no FCBL schedule that something else was up. Usually, that would mean an issue with a team and its stadium lease. In this case, close.

Pittsfield ownership, the Goldklang Group, is experienced in the baseball team ownership business. Maybe the league sat down with Jeff Goldklang and went over how things were looking sometime in the last few months. Either way, it was a gamble. A gamble lost. We don’t know anything of the politics, etc. of Pittsfield, but renovating Wahconah or ripping it apart for a rebuild isn’t going to be cheap. You don’t want to lose Pittsfield if you’re the Futures League, but how long can the league and Goldklangs wait?

It’s a shame, but the FCBL now will certainly look to add a franchise or two in the next year, but will be careful in its search. But think about this: In the last few years, the FCBL has lost two stadium franchises: North Shore (Lynn, Mass.) and Bristol, Conn. Thank goodness in this case the Major Leagues put the hammer down on the MiLB with contraction, freeing up Norwich and Vermont, and their facilities, to be available. But don’t be surprised if Brockton doesn’t hang around after this season. Ownership there foolishly decided to pour its resources into having a professional independent league (Frontier) team, while still keeping the Rox. But they are going to certainly be an afterthought, and you know what happens to afterthoughts – they disappear. Especially after your owners lose their shirts in the first year of a Frontier League team.

All these things add up to a lot of work for the Futures League to get busy on. Yes, league personnel are interested in LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass., but so are others. Supposedly a bid has been made. There are other areas the league is looking into.

The FCBL is run by very capable owners, front office people and a commissioner (Joe Paolucci). But the next year will be very big to try to keep its trademark respectable: The Future.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X, formerly known as twitter, @Telegraph _TomK.

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