By Gary Fauber
Assistant Sports Editor
BECKLEY —
By Gary Fauber
Assistant Sports Editor
Season tickets are now available for the West Virginia Miners’ third season, and what a season it stacks up to be.
Changes made at the Prospect League’s recent owners meetings in Nashville should bring an even increased air of excitement for Miners fans. Among the changes is the addition of four games to the regular season, two home and two away.
What hasn’t changed, however, is the price of season tickets. The cost remains $175 through Dec. 31, then $200 as of New Year’s Day.
“That even adds more value to it,” Miners manager/interim general manager Tim Epling said. “We’re going to have more games (30 instead of 28) this year.”
The schedule has not been released yet. Epling said the league has a target of mid-November, which would be three months sooner than each of the Miners’ first two seasons.
“And if a season ticket holder refers a new holder, we are going to give them a special gift from the Miners,” Epling said.
The move to a 60-game regular season was not the only order of business in Nashville. There will be a Major League Baseball feel to the 2012 season, some old and some current.
First, teams will only play teams in their division. Plus, all matchups will be three-game series, as opposed to playing a team once in Pennsylvania, another the next night in Ohio and returning home for a couple of games against one or more different opponents, then going back on the road.
In the East Division with West Virginia are Butler, Chillicothe, Lorain County, Richmond and Slippery Rock.
Not only does the series format place importance on the bullpen, but it harkens back to the pre-interleague days.
“I look at it like the American and National leagues used to be, which wasn’t bad then,” Epling said. “And I think there has been some talk to go back to that and not do interleague. We’re going to have a true East and West division (format).”
The playoff format has also been altered.
Each division’s first-half champion will host a play-in game, just as last year, when the Miners beat Slippery Rock 2-1 for the East championship. But, instead of one game deciding the league title, a best-of-three series will determine the champion.
That leads to the league All-Star game. The division that wins the midseason game will have home-field advantage in the championship series, just like the winning league of the MLB Midsummer Classic getting home-field advantage for the World Series.
“Potentially, if things work in our favor, we could host three playoff games,” Epling said.
The 2012 All-Star game is tentatively scheduled to be played in Springfield.
Also in Nashville, league owners voted to extend Commissioner Dave Chase’s stay another three seasons. That was a move Epling applauded.
“He actually said the Miners (franchise) is the flagship of the league,” Epling said. “That’s a great compliment to have, because you have so many great organizations out there. He’s notice the hard work that we have put into it.”
Anyone wishing to purchase or renew season tickets can do so by phone at 304-252-7233 or on the web at www.wvminersbaseball.com.
— E-mail: gfauber@
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