‘We’re back.’ Here’s when opening day will be for Durham Bulls and Carolina Mudcats.
After a summer without baseball behind them, the Durham Bulls copied another Bulls icon from North Carolina in revealing the message their fans long waited to hear on Thursday.
“We’re back.”
The message former Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan sent out in 1995 when he halted his first crack at retirement is the same message the Durham Bulls posted on the team Twitter feed Thursday as minor league baseball schedules for teams around the nation were released.
While Major League Baseball teams played a truncated schedule with no fans in attendance last summer, no minor league baseball games were played in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Bulls will open the 2021 season at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on April 6 against Gwinnett, the Atlanta Braves’ Triple-A affiliate.
“Good things come to those who wait, and I think we’ve all waited long enough for this announcement,” Mike Birling, the team’s vice president for baseball operations, said in a statement. “We’re ecstatic to welcome both players and fans back into the DBAP for opening day and look forward to an exciting and safe season of Durham Bulls baseball!”
Restructured minor leagues, pandemic restrictions
Rules regarding exactly how many spectators will be allowed to attend games at the DBAP have not been finalized. The team said they will follow all local, state and federal guidelines on seating capacity. Single-game tickets are not yet on sale. Season membership plans are available for either the full season or beginning June 1.
Durham’s 142-game schedule includes 70 home games.
The Bulls remain Tampa Bay’s Triple-A farm club, just as they have since becoming a Class AAA franchise in 1998. Earlier this month, the Bulls and Rays signed a new agreement to continue their partnership through 2031.
Minor league baseball went through an extensive restructuring in the offseason with one of the goals being to make travel easier for the players.
Durham is now part of Triple-A East and play in the Southeast Division along with the Jacksonville (Fla.) Jumbo Shrimp, Memphis Redbirds, Nashville Sounds, Gwinnett (Ga.) Stripers, Charlotte Knights and Norfolk Tides.
Teams will play six-game series against each other with no game scheduled on Mondays. That allows for a day of travel and rest.
When will the Mudcats play?
In Wake County, the Carolina Mudcats are scheduled to begin their 120-game Class A season with a six-game series against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers on May 4 at Five County Stadium in Zebulon.
The Mudcats, a Milwaukee Brewers affiliate, are in the Central Division’s new Low-A East League. Central Division teams include other N.C. teams Fayetteville, Down East and Kannapolis. The Mudcats will play 84 of their 120 games against those teams.
The team’s remaining games will be against North Division teams Lynchburg (Va.), Delmarva (Md.) and Fredericksburg (Va.) as well as Augusta (Ga.) from the South Division.
Ticket information and COVID-19 protocols for attending Mudcats games will be announced at a later date.
Elsewhere in N.C, the Hickory Crawdads, Winston-Salem Dash, Greensboro Grasshoppers and Asheville Tourists now play together in the Southern Division of High-A East.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 2:37 PM.