Charleston RiverDogs

Charleston, another perennial winner there in the Carolina League.

Charleston Riverdogs and a perennial winner in the Florida State League.

The Clearwater Threshers always punching above their weight in the Florida State League, which can be a hard league to draw in.

And that's a brief recap of your 2026 minor league baseball attendance.

I'll flashback, like you mentioned, to the first half where we were 3-12 to begin the year, and you think it's another one of those losing seasons because over the last five years, we've had a couple of 55-75 type years, and you think, all right, maybe we're – We're gearing up for another one of those.

And the Riverdogs were also the team that we can pretty much thank for being sub-500 for the first month and a half of the year because they beat us in 10 out of 12 regular season games.

So we were looking at a potential playoff matchup this year, a championship matchup with either Hickory, the hottest team in our league in the second half, or Charleston, the team that destroyed us in the first half.

So it was two ugly matchups that we were facing going into the postseason.

I could fit in there.

The Charleston Riverdogs.

So there's a few really good nights that they put in that really didn't go so well.

There was the Charleston Riverdogs, which is another baseball team.

What was that?

The Riverdogs.

So this might be the only time that they hear the person's name is at events.

The River Dogs just hosted us, and that was absolutely amazing.

The families just absolutely were so happy to be out there and to have their sacrifices

recognized.

So if they come away and they just continue to remember these people in some way, even monthly, just say, oh, yeah, you know, or anything like that, and remember the families.

Mm-hmm.

Or if they reach out to one of the businesses in the area and say, oh, hey, we saw the River Dogs supported this group.

How about you do a Gold Star Family Day? You know, why don't you, how about you go ahead and host the families? Because there's some I've been after for a couple years.

They have won their second Florida State League crown in the last four years.

In the Carolina League, Fayetteville sweat the Charleston Riverdogs as the Astros single-A affiliate.

So that's a fun one for the Astros system that isn't really known specifically for its depth of talent.

But guys like Kevin Alvarez, who has been with single-A Fayetteville all year long, gets to end the year with a ring.

And he had 112 RBIs, which were more than anybody else by 26.

So if you want to dig into prospect status, you can, he's not on the Dodgers top 30, but in terms of dominant minor league seasons, Easton Shelton is absolutely up there.

Somebody who is not only ranked in his system's top 30, but is also a top 100 prospect, Cooper Fleming of the Charleston Riverdogs and the Tampa Bay Rays.

He is the Carolina League MVP.

Just that, unfortunately...

The low-A playoffs are over for the Charleston Riverdogs.

They ended up losing both games that they were in the championship series with.

But overall, it's a really great season for those guys who got to test their skills in key moments with a lot of pressure.

Woodpeckers surged with a postseason win streak to take them to the best of three series.

They defeated the Charleston Riverdogs last night 7-4 at Segra Stadium, making them the 2026 Carolina League champions.

Woodpeckers play-by-play broadcaster Andrew Chapman tells Eyewitness News it was a moment that had everyone in attendance on their feet.

When you're calling that moment, you want to recognize the history of it, the first ever Woodpecker Championship, the significance of sweeping through the postseason, winning every game, and then you just want to let the moment breathe, let the crowd take over, let the celebration be heard.

The Fredericksburg Nationals fell 4-2 against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in Game 1, so Fayetteville wins 3-0. or had 1-0.

In the South Division, the Charleston Riverdogs are up 1-0 after defeating the Hickory Crawdads 9-8.

So Charleston, a Rays affiliate, Hickory, a Rangers affiliate.

In the Florida State League, Jupiter leads Dayton, or Daytona, excuse me, I was getting my Reds affiliates mixed up there.

Do tell.

So the low A and the high A team, the Gold- Bowling Green Hot- Hotrods and the Charleston RiverDogs both had their first playoff games yesterday.

Both of them were 5-0 ahead, you know, early in the games.

Both of them ended up with a 9-8 score [laughs]

... by the end of it after going to extras.

So both of them ended up in extras, in 10 innings.

The Charleston RiverDogs won it 9-8, and the Bowling Green Hotrods lost it 9-8.

[laughs] Oh my gosh.

That's my favorite hat

... a Charleston Boiled Peanuts hat, 'cause my in-laws live in Charleston, so the RiverDogs have their Boiled Peanut hats, a great one.

I was down there last time, and they used to be the Charleston Rainbows, and so I get that one.

I get a lot of looks for that one, and people are like, "Oh, are you down with the LGBT thing?" And I'm like, "It's a minor league baseball team, folks.