By Chuckie Maggio
The standing-room-only Labor Day crowd at Rochester’s ESL Ballpark rose from its seats for the 7th-inning stretch and was treated to a moment representative of the organization’s culture.
The Red Wings lined up nearly along the first base line and listened as bat boy Cameron Liedmann sang God Bless America. The rendition garnered loud cheers from the crowd, then drew a rare reaction from a professional baseball team: manager Matt LeCroy, his coaching staff and each player filed through and high-fived Liedmann, congratulating him on a job well done on their way back to the dugout.
LeCroy has made a habit of creating these moments in his six seasons at the helm, where he has embraced being an integral part of the Rochester baseball community. He dresses up as Santa Claus for a Christmas in July promotion, takes an active role in youth baseball camps at the ballpark and is so comfortable with the fans that he’s been known to swipe a nacho or fry between innings.
The Rochester community reciprocated that support with a significant turnout in rival territory to watch the Red Wings clinch a playoff spot on Sunday. The approximately 70-mile commute from Rochester to Buffalo’s Sahlen Field is not an arduous one on a clear fall day, but the rarity of fans flocking to an out-of-town ballpark during a full NFL slate exemplified the special relationship between the city and its ballclub.
The Red Wings mean more to Rochester than most International League teams mean to their respective cities. Memphis, this week’s IL Championship opponent, has the Grizzlies and Tigers; Buffalo has the Bills and Sabres; Charlotte has the Panthers and Hornets; and Syracuse has the Orange. Rochester saw the Flash, Rattlers, original Knighthawks and Rhinos all leave or fold within the last decade.
Red Wings baseball and Amerks hockey have remained constants, each drawing around 6,000 fans per game. Each team reached the postseason in the same calendar year for the first time since 2013.
The minor league playoffs have become one of the most difficult postseasons in sports to reach. The halves format, introduced in 2023, saw Rochester need a last-day clinch despite pacing the field over the full regular season and finishing eight games better than second-best overall Memphis. There will only be two 90-win outfits in MLB’s American League this year; the AL West division champion could have a losing record.
Rochester fielded talented clubs during its postseason drought that, under different postseason formats than the ones in place, could have delivered the city its first International League title since 1997.
The 2016 team, which likely featured the most individual talent of a team in the Twins era, went 81-63 and featured future MLB All-Stars Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, Miguel Sanó and José Berríos, not to mention 2021 NLCS MVP Eddie Rosario. With three division winners and one wild card making the playoff field, however, the 65-78 Gwinnett Braves were a playoff team and the Red Wings, who finished behind Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Lehigh Valley in the IL East, did not qualify. A similar situation occurred the next season, when the Red Wings won 80 games but finished third in the East again as the 79-win Indianapolis Indians punched a postseason ticket.
Those misses don’t matter as the Red Wings help continue the Washington Nationals’ farm system resurgence. Once considered to have of the worst farms in the major leagues, Washington boasted the No. 10 system in ESPN analyst Kiley McDaniel’s most recent rankings.
Some of the credit belongs to LeCroy and his player development prowess. Minor league managers, especially Triple-A skippers, hold an oft-unenviable position, format aside: your immediate on-field “reward” for developing a player who is compiling a fantastic season is losing him to your big-league parent club. LeCroy and his colleagues understand the terms and conditions, of course, and embrace them. The Red Wings find clever ways to deliver news of the promotions, often springing them upon an unexpectant player in an ostensibly normal meeting. The Nationals dubbed LeCroy the “call-up king” last year – the eight-year major league vet has even informed a bat dog of his call to the Show.
“Matt LeCroy, he’s hilarious, man, he’s awesome,” pitcher Marquis Grissom Jr. said last year. “He’s a player’s coach. He’s somebody you would want to go to war for.”
Another unordinary sight from that Labor Day matinee, before Liedmann impressed attendees with his voice, involved the top of the dugout steps after the Red Wings scratched across their runs in the 3-1 victory. The players, all of whom harbor aspirations of being in the majors in September but found themselves in a Triple-A pennant race instead, filled the top step and embraced their teammates’ production as Rochester won a game over a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre squad that rostered Anthony Volpe (then on a rehab assignment), Jarred Kelenic and Oswaldo Cabrera.
If the Red Wings play like the 90-win team they were in the regular season, patrons at Las Vegas Ballpark should hide their nachos.
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