PCL RELEASES SCHEDULE FOR 2018 CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

For Immediate Release                                                                                                                                                      

November 15, 2017                                                                               

PCL RELEASES SCHEDULE FOR 2018 CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

ROUND ROCK, Texas – The Pacific Coast League has announced the official schedule for its 2018 Championship Season. The 116^th campaign in the League’s history gets underway on Thursday, April 5 and concludes on Labor Day, September 3.

The League is coming off another thrilling season, both at the turnstiles and on the field. Over 7,000,000 fans attended games for the fourth consecutive year. More than 1,000 players appeared in games, 17 of whom also played in the 2017 World Series; players hailed from 22 countries, the most in a single-season in PCL history. The Memphis Redbirds capped a historic season by claiming their franchise’s third PCL Championship, doing so in a pair of exhilarating five-game series’ over Colorado Springs and El Paso.

The PCL features 16 clubs, divided into four, four-team divisions between two conferences – American and Pacific. Each team will play a 140-game schedule in 2018, including 112 games within their conference. The remaining 28 contests come against the opposing conference, with eight series that are equally split between home and road.

A full eight-game schedule commences the season on the first Thursday in April. Iowa and Oklahoma City kick off the campaign with a 3:08 p.m. CT matinee in Des Moines. Memphis’ quest for a repeat title starts with a five-game series in Round Rock. The schedule is also highlighted by a rematch of the PCL Championship Series between El Paso and Memphis, a four-game series beginning on Saturday, June 16 at Southwest University Park. The 31^st annual Triple-A All-Star Game will be on Wednesday, July 11 and hosted by the International League’s Columbus Clippers (Cleveland).

The playoff slate starts on Wednesday, September 5, two days after the regular season concludes. The Conference Championship Series’ features the winners of the two divisions in each conference. The two teams that advance will meet in the PCL Championship Series, beginning on September 11. All playoff series are in the best-of-five format.

The 2018 Pacific Coast League Champion will face the International League Champion in the Gildan Triple-A National Championship Game, a one-game, winner-take-all contest on Tuesday, September 18. The event will also be played at the Clippers’ Huntington Park. For the seventh consecutive season, NBC Sports Network will air the live broadcast of the season’s final game.