Even more pro baseball is coming to Tucson in October.
Major League Baseball announced Thursday that the Arizona Fall League will stage a tripleheader at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium on Oct. 11.
The AFL tripleheader follows the Oct. 2-5 Mexican Baseball Fiesta and precedes the Oct. 16 regular-season home debut of the Tucson Baseball Team.
The AFL is made of six teams that play in spring-training ballparks in and around Phoenix. Each team features seven top prospects from each MLB organization. Former University of Arizona catcher Daniel Susac played in the AFL last year.
“Welcoming the Arizona Fall League builds on the incredible momentum we’ve created — first by hosting the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, and now as the new home of the Tucson Baseball Team,” Sarah Horvath, director of the Kino Sports Complex, said in a news release. “Kino Sports Complex and Pima County are once again firmly on the map as a premier destination for top-tier baseball.”
Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow warms up before practice for the Arizona Fall League on Oct. 10, 2016, in Scottsdale.
The tripleheader begins at 12:30 p.m. with a game between the Salt River Rafters and the Surprise Saguaros. The Mesa Solar Sox face the Peoria Javelinas at 3:30 p.m. The nightcap, slated for 6:30, features the Scottsdale Scorpions and the Glendale Desert Dogs.
Tickets are available online and range from $20 per game for youth (11-17) and seniors (55-plus) to $25 for adults (18-plus). Kids 10 and under are free.
Tucson had an AFL team, called the Javelinas, in the early 1990s and hosted a game featuring Michael Jordan in 1994 at Hi Corbett Field. The AFL hasn’t been back to Tucson since.
The AFL season begins Oct. 6 at Scottsdale Stadium and concludes Nov. 15 at Salt River Fields.
