Alaska Goldpanners will not be a part of the ABL in 2016

PALMER — The Alaska Baseball League will have a slightly different look when teams hit the diamond in 2016.

The Fairbanks-based Alaska Goldpanners will not be a part the ABL next summer, Mat-Su Miners general manager and ABL president Pete Christopher said, and the Panners will operate as an independent team. Gone with the Panners is the two-division format, the then six-team ABL used for the last two seasons. Instead, with an odd number of programs, the ABL will be a five-team, one-division league with the top two squads advancing to the ABL league championship, the Top of the World Series, at the end of the year. Other than that, Christopher said, things shouldn’t change much. The league will continue to host its Major League Baseball scouts showcase, all-star game and home run derby. The exact number of league games on the regular-season schedule has not been set, Christopher said, but league officials will meet within the next week to begin cementing those details.

Albeit frustrated that Panners officials opted to remove the team from the league, at least temporarily, Christopher’s not concerned about the future of the ABL

“We’re going to be alright. We’ll just have five teams this year. It is what it is. We’ll make the best of it. We’re still the second-best league in the country,” Christopher said of the ABL, widely considered alongside the Cape Cod League as the best amateur summer collegiate baseball leagues in the nation. “We’ll get through it like we always do.”

It’s the second time since 2011 that Panners officials pulled the team from the ABL. The Panners also competed as an independent in 2011, but returned to the league in 2012.

The Panners will play an independent schedule in 2016, with their sites set on competing in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas, Christopher said. The NBC World Series was once the prized destination for the ABL’s top team. But the tournament has lost much of its allure, Christopher said, and funding a trip to Wichita is budget-breaking for most ABL teams.

“It’s too expensive, plus it’s diluted,” Christopher said. “The caliber of teams isn’t that good.”

Christopher said Mat-Su is among four ABL teams not expected to play the Panners in 2016. The Peninsula Oilers are expected to face the Panners in nonleague play.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.