Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (MIL) @ West Michigan Whitecaps (DET)
June 21, 2025
S: Carlos Lequerica
Attendance: 8,266
Time of Game: 2 hours, 42 minutes
Stadium Facts
Location: Comstock Park, MI
Opened: 1994
Capacity: 9,000
Level: High A
League: Midwest
Time of Game: 2 hours, 42 minutes
Stadium Facts
Location: Comstock Park, MI
Opened: 1994
Capacity: 9,000
Level: High A
League: Midwest
While I have spent plenty of time in the state of Michigan over the years, this trip took me to three parts of the state that were pretty new to me. I started the extremely hot weekend in the Grand Rapids area, the second largest city in the state behind Detroit. One of the questions I had leading up to this trip is how West Michigan came to be the Tigers Midwest League affiliate. There are three teams in that league in the state of Michigan, all well within Tigers Country. Presumably, all three would pick the Tigers as their parent club if the choice was up to them. Lansing is the closest to Detroit and Great Lakes probably has the nicest, most modern facility. So why West Michigan? I don't have a definitive answer, but based on what I experienced on this evening, I suspect it is a combination of the larger metropolitan area where the team resides and a community that strongly supports the team and baseball in general.
There was a huge crowd at this game, despite the toasty conditions. It was also rather windy, which made the conditions a bit more bearable. It was Star Wars night, and boy did they go all out with that. There must have been a couple dozen people dressed up as various Star Wars characters in an official capacity taking photos with fans all over the concourse before the game. There was even a R2D2. The stadium has a rather unassuming exterior and interior in many respects, but some unique design characteristics. An aisle bisects the main grandstand, which is common in parks with a main concourse under the seats. But in this case, the concourse is above the seating area and allows views of the field from everywhere. There are a bunch of party and patio areas down both first and third base lines and a two level stadium club in right-center field. The upper deck only consists of suites and media booths. There are more legit seats in this ballpark than just about any A level park I've seen, which is largely out of necessity since I've come to learn they are always among the attendance leaders in that level of the minor leagues. One unique design element is that the bullpens are actually beyond the outfield wall in right field. That is very uncommon in MiLB, much less High A. While LMCU Ballpark is on the older side of the parks I've visited, it is clear they have made a bunch of improvements to modernize it and have created a fun gameday atmosphere. Along with what I experienced the night before in South Bend, it is easy to see why the Midwest League was moved up a level in this decade's minor league reshuffling.
West Michigan has one of the more prospect rich rosters in the lower levels. Hitters Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle are both Top 15 prospects according to MLB.com. Or at least they *were* prospect rich before those guys were promoted to AA soon after this trip. Rehabbing Tigers reliever Alex Lange started for West Michigan. He gave up a run on two hits in his one inning of work. The Whitecaps immediately got him off the hook in the bottom of the first though on a RBI single by Josue Briceno, another Tigers prospect of note who has since been promoted to Erie. That followed a steal of second base by leadoff hitter Seth Stephenson. That was the first of four steals off the Wisconsin pitcher/catcher battery of Ryan Birchard and Blayberg Diaz, leading me to believe their scouting report was to run at will against those two. The Whitecaps had five total steals in the game. West Michigan picked up single runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings as well. The run in the fifth was set up by singles from McGonigle and Clark to start the inning. McGonigle scored on a sacrifice fly by Briceno. Meanwhile, the Timber Rattlers couldn't cross home plate after Lange departed the game. Joe Miller followed Lange and pitched a bulk of the game for the Whitecaps. The southpaw was very impressive. He went six innings without allowing a run, surrendered just three hits and struck out eight Timber Rattlers. The only time Wisconsin really even threatened him was in his last inning of work when he gave up a leadoff, wind aided triple to Kay-Lan Nicasia. But he was not able to advance any further as Miller got two infield fly outs and a strikeout. Carlos Lequerica got the ninth on the mound for West Michigan and successfully closed things out for a save and a 4-1 Whitecaps win.
This was a very fun night in the Grand Rapids neighbor of Comstock Park. While it was a very hot evening at the ballpark, it was nothing like what I was about to experience the following afternoon in Central Michigan as a rare mid-June heatwave continued.
Next ballpark: Dow Diamond in Midland, MI
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