Mankato MoonDogs
The Mankato MoonDogs are an American amateur baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. Their home games are played at ISG Field in Mankato, Minnesota. Several former Mankato players have gone on to play in Major League Baseball, including Curtis Granderson, Brandon Crawford, Alex Vesia, and Jacob Wilson.
History
The team started play in 1999 as the Mankato Mashers, effectively serving as a replacement for the Kenosha Kroakers club which had folded after the 1998 season. In their inaugural season, the Mashers were the only team in the Northwoods League to broadcast their games on television.The Mashers were renamed in 2002 to the MoonDogs when the franchise was acquired by Joe Schwei. The Moondogs were again sold in January 2013 to Mark Ogren. The current ownership group of Chad Superenant and Kyle Smith took over the club in 2018.
From 2008 to 2018 the MoonDogs made the playoffs eight of eleven season, making it to the NWL Summer Collegiate World Series on three occasions. In 2014 the MoonDogs were defeated by the Lakeshore Chinooks in a two-game series sweep.