St. Paul Saints open season July 3, ‘home’ games in Sioux Falls

The St. Paul Saints are one of six American Association teams that will begin the 2020 season on July 6, playing in three "hub cities": Sioux Falls, Fargo and Milwaukee.

The Saints will share a home field in Sioux Falls. They will play all home games there, will play games against Sioux Falls there, will travel to Fargo for games against Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg and will travel to Milwaukee for games against Milwaukee and Chicago.

Each team will play 42 of their 60 games in their assigned hub city – 30 as the home team, 12 as the away team against the other team assigned to the hub.

The three stadiums acting as hubs have health and safety guidelines in place which are approved by local health departments and government officials.

The other six American Association teams will not participate in the 2020 season.

The Saints – as well as Winnipeg and Chicago – could shift home games back to their home cities if or when health officials allow fans to attend games at their home stadiums.

“Our sincere hope, and frankly, our plan is to play baseball in St. Paul sooner rather than later,” said Saints Executive Vice President/General Manager Derek Sharrer in an e-mail release from the team. “There were several contingencies discussed, but we realized moving forward with this system was both best for the league and for our ability to accomplish our primary goal of entertaining fans at CHS Field this summer. We appreciate Sioux Falls, Fargo, and Milwaukee opening their ballparks for us, Winnipeg and Chicago."

The American Association will also implement new roster rules for this season. Roster limits will be loosened and there will be a draft of players from non-participating clubs.

The top two teams after the 2020 regular season will play a best-of-five Championship series.

The Saints are defending league champions, having beaten Sioux City in for the 2019 American Association title.