SWB RailRiders' season delayed until May

Conor Foley, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·5 min read

Mar. 4—After originally planning for an early-April opening day, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders' season won't begin until May.

Major League Baseball notified Triple-A teams Tuesday that their 2021 seasons are delayed one month. Triple-A East will open May 4 — the RailRiders will be on the road against the Syracuse Mets — while Triple-A West starts May 6. It lines up Triple-A with the start date for the rest of the minor leagues, and buys more time for coronavirus vaccines to take effect, which could get more people into ballparks and make travel safer for players.

The RailRiders' home opener is May 11 against Lehigh Valley, with the game time yet to be determined — a span of 613 days between SWB games at PNC Field. The lost April games will not be made up, and the regular season will end Sept. 19 as scheduled. That leaves the RailRiders with a 118-game slate, including 60 at home.

"Reaction at this point is pretty much what I said at the beginning: It is what it is," RailRiders president John Adams said. "I think we're all prepared mentally for changes, and this makes a lot of sense.

"I think as the information and news is getting out there that there will be a lot of vaccines distributed in March and April, I think the intention and the thought process is a lot of these minor leaguers will be able to get a vaccine in April and travel safely starting in May. I think it makes sense. We'd all like to be playing in April, but it makes sense."

The RailRiders lose 12 home games in April, all against the Worcester Red Sox, including what was supposed to be opening night April 4. Now, the Red Sox won't visit PNC Field until Aug. 3. SWB was also scheduled for road series in Rochester and Buffalo in the first month of the season.

"April 6 was a date that it kind of didn't feel real, even though we had to prepare for it," Adams said. "But, yeah, my hot take on this is this feels like a really solid date and something we can put a pin in and get excited about."

Adams said the team isn't close to putting single-game tickets on sale, waiting to see what sort of capacity limits they'll be facing. Even at 20 percent, he said they wouldn't be able to fit all season-ticket holders in the park.

"Now, it kind of gives us hope that by the opener, we'll get even more people in there," Adams said.

For April, PNC Field will again serve as the New York Yankees' alternate training site, where extra players can stay ready in case they're needed in the Bronx.

While Triple-A was originally slated for an April start, the rest of the minor leagues weren't scheduled to begin until May. Most minor league players won't report to spring training sites until the big leaguers and Triple-A players leave. Now, they'll have a month to get ready in Florida and Arizona while Triple-A players stay warm at the alternate sites.

RailRiders' revised 2021 schedule

May

* 4 at Syracuse

* 5 at Syracuse

* 6 at Syracuse

* 7 at Syracuse

* 8 at Syracuse

* 9 at Syracuse

* 11 Lehigh Valley

* 12 Lehigh Valley

* 13 Lehigh Valley

* 14 Lehigh Valley

* 15 Lehigh Valley

* 16 Lehigh Valley

* 18 at Rochester

* 19 at Rochester

* 20 at Rochester

* 21 at Rochester

* 22 at Rochester

* 23 at Rochester

* 25 Buffalo

* 26 Buffalo

* 27 Buffalo

* 28 Buffalo

* 29 Buffalo

* 30 Buffalo

June

* 1 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 2 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 3 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 4 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 5 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 6 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 8 at Buffalo

* 9 at Buffalo

* 10 at Buffalo

* 11 at Buffalo

* 12 at Buffalo

* 13 at Buffalo

* 15 vs. Syracuse

* 16 vs. Syracuse

* 17 vs. Syracuse

* 18 vs. Syracuse

* 19 vs. Syracuse

* 20 vs. Syracuse

* 22 at Lehigh Valley

* 23 at Lehigh Valley

* 24 at Lehigh Valley

* 25 at Lehigh Valley

* 26 at Lehigh Valley

* 27 at Lehigh Valley

* 29 at Worcester

* 30 at Worcester

July

* 1 at Worcester

* 2 at Worcester

* 3 at Worcester

* 4 at Worcester

* 6 vs. Syracuse

* 7 vs. Syracuse

* 8 vs. Syracuse

* 9 vs. Syracuse

* 10 vs. Syracuse

* 11 vs. Syracuse

* 15 at Worcester

* 16 at Worcester

* 17 at Worcester

* 18 at Worcester

* 20 vs. Rochester

* 21 vs. Rochester

* 22 vs. Rochester

* 23 vs. Rochester

* 24 vs. Rochester

* 25 vs. Rochester

* 27 at Syracuse

* 28 at Syracuse

* 29 at Syracuse

* 30 at Syracuse

* 31 at Syracuse

August

* 1 at Syracuse

* 3 vs. Worcester

* 4 vs. Worcester

* 5 vs. Worcester

* 6 vs. Worcester

* 7 vs. Worcester

* 8 vs. Worcester

* 10 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 11 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 12 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 13 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 14 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 15 vs. Lehigh Valley

* 17 at Worcester

* 18 at Worcester

* 19 at Worcester

* 20 at Worcester

* 21 at Worcester

* 22 at Worcester

* 24 at Lehigh Valley

* 25 at Lehigh Valley

* 26 at Lehigh Valley

* 27 at Lehigh Valley

* 28 at Lehigh Valley

* 29 at Lehigh Valley

* 31 vs. Buffalo

September

* 1 vs. Buffalo

* 2 vs. Buffalo

* 3 vs. Buffalo

* 4 vs. Buffalo

* 5 vs. Buffalo

* 7 vs. Rochester

* 8 vs. Rochester

* 9 vs. Rochester

* 10 vs. Rochester

* 11 vs. Rochester

* 12 vs. Rochester

* 14 at Lehigh Valley

* 15 at Lehigh Valley

* 16 at Lehigh Valley

* 17 at Lehigh Valley

* 18 at Lehigh Valley

* 19 at Lehigh Valley

Conor Foley

Conor Foley goes beyond the box score with in-depth coverage of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. He has worked at The Times-Tribune since graduating from University of Scranton in 2011, and he has covered the RailRiders since 2017. Contact: cfoley@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125; or @railridersTT