Take a look back at the best -- and weirdest -- moments of the 2026 Minor League season

Benjamin Hill travels the nation collecting stories about what makes Minor League Baseball unique. This excerpt from the Baseball Traveler newsletter, presented by Circle K, is a mere taste of the smorgasbord of delights he offers every week. Read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to his newsletter here.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of a 21-year career covering Minor League Baseball, with 192 ballparks visited along the way, it’s this: On and off the field, you never know what you’ll see at a Minor League Baseball game.

You might witness a wild 19-18 game or watch a team with a 19-letter name: The Semiquincentennials, a Somerset Patriots alternate identity celebrating America’s 250th birthday.

Semiquincentennials was a new jersey and, hey, we’re talking about New Jersey here. The Patriots also staged Sopranos Night this season. Johnny Sack and Furio were the guests of honor. Another highlight was a Dizzy Bat Race where contestants made like Tony Soprano, wearing bathrobes and picking up a newspaper on the way to the finish line.

There were no between-inning contests for the Louisville Bats on Nothing Night. There was… nothing. No ad reads. No videos. Just organ music and good old-fashioned baseball. Embrace the void!

We move from the Bats to a team named the Brats. Have you ever sausage a thing? When the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers played as the Brats, Brewers reliever Abner Uribe made a rehab appearance. Both his fastball and his jersey had some mustard. Uribe's Brats jersey was later auctioned off for $7,505. I’ll send you a link.

For a truly priceless Timber Rattlers moment, check out Sawyer Strosnider’s first professional home run. The ball was caught by his dad, Scott, who crashed a private party in order to be in just the right place at just the right time.

In just the right place at different times were the Ebel brothers. When July 19’s game between the Wilson Warbirds and Hickory Crawdads was suspended due to rain, Wilson’s Brady Ebel was at the plate with a 2-0 count. Brady was promoted before the game resumed on Aug. 25, but the Warbirds had the perfect replacement: His younger brother, Trey Ebel, who finished the at-bat with a walk.

Rain leads to weird things in baseball. The Dunedin Blue Jays saw so much of it that they unveiled their own "rain delay" jerseys featuring a radar map of the area. That’s life in the Florida State League for you. Dunedin is the raining champion.

Dunedin? Not quite. Fans of the Wilmington Blue Rocks received a healthy treat every time the home team scored a run, as that's when Mr. Celery emerges from his lair to runs onto the field to pump up the crowd. No one seems to know who he is or where he came from, but who cares? Join the "celerybration."

Perhaps you'd like something tastier. How about a biscuit? Butter up: Austin Overn of the Montgomery Biscuits hit the strangest inside-the-park home run you’ll ever see, rounding the bases after Biloxi right fielder Damon Keith slid over the ball, burying it in the grass. There was then a delay in the game, so that the ball could be extracted from its home.

And, hey, dig this: Yehizon Sanchez of the Cedar Rapids Kernels threw an immaculate inning and, thanks to a pitch timer violation, it only took him eight pitches to do it!

It just goes to show that you can improve on perfection, and that you never know what you’re going to see at a Minor League Baseball game.

To watch the entirety of the 2026 MiLB Awards Show, click HERE*.*