Sometimes I get a little envious of my friends living in Chicago because of their abundance of sports teams. I mean, you’ve got all the major sports right there and you even get TWO major league baseball teams. It seems a bit unfair as I call Grand Rapids home and the closest major league sports I have are 3 hours in either direction.
Growing up in the Saginaw/Flint area in the 1980s gave me a bit of a unique perspective on sports, however, as my family often took in minor league hockey games by the Flint Generals. I wasn’t a big hockey fan, but it was still a great way to take in some quality sports at a relatively inexpensive price. Over the years, Michigan has really become a booming location for minor league sports teams, especially with the proliferation of great venues for minor league baseball.
Just how pervasive are minor league sports in Michigan? Check this out:
There’s a little bit of everything to choose from on this list. For baseball fans, your options include:
- Battle Creek Bombers
- Lansing Lugnuts
- Great Lakes Loons
- Traverse City Beach Bums
- West Michigan Whitecaps
Basketball has the Detroit Pistons affiliate the Grand Rapids Drive.
Hockey teams include:
Football teams:
Soccer teams:
- Detroit City FC
- Michigan Bucks
- Lansing United
- West Michigan Firewomen
- Michigan Stars FC
- Detroit Waza
That’s a lot of choices of high quality sports even for the discerning sports fan in Michigan. While I really miss the glory Arena Football days of the excellent teams fielded by the Detroit Drive and Grand Rapids Rampage, there are definitely plenty of options so maybe I should just keep quiet and enjoy the bounty we already have.
Featured image courtesy of Joel Dinda.