Modesto’s team is gone after 2025.

Major League Baseball has struck again and will be abandoning the Modesto, California market after the 2025 season. The Modesto Nuts franchise, a business that was owned by the Seattle Mariners’ ownership group, will not exist because the Mariners’ ownership and Modesto elected officials could not come up with a deal that would have seen the city build a new stadium for the team. The Mariners ownership sold the franchise to a group called Diamond Baseball Holdings.  The Modesto problem? Major League Baseball is in total control of Minor League Baseball and MLB wants all Minor League Baseball venues fixed up to whatever standards MLB wants. The 70-year-old stadium just did not cut it anymore. The stadium was renovated in 1997 when the city poured money into the ballpark to get it up to Major League Baseball standards. The cost to the city? Nearly four million dollars. Modesto has had a minor league team since 1946.

A proposal for a new Modesto stadium in 2021 went nowhere. The Mariners-Nuts ownership wanted a 5,000-seat stadium that would have cost about $117 million to build. MLB has been telling cities for about four years to get your stadiums into shape or we are going to get rid of you. Municipally owned stadiums must have fewer than 10 points on a grading standard. The “must-haves” include locker room facilities for female staff, two covered batting and pitching tunnels, suitable locker room dimensions and lighting standards. Diamond Baseball Holdings will move the Modesto franchise to San Bernardino, California. The present San Bernadino team will relocate to Rancho Cucamonga in 2026. The present Rancho Cucamonga franchise will go to nearby Ontario, California in 2026. Diamond Baseball Holdings owns the three teams. Modesto is not an isolated situation. Eugene, Oregon is losing its team for the same reason.

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