The Kalamazoo Growlers Are Sticking Around Through 2038

The Kalamazoo Growlers are staying put thanks to a new lease extension between the baseball organization and the City of Kalamazoo. Play ball!

Nothing says "summer in Kalamazoo" quite like catching a game at Homer Stryker Field, with a hot dog in one hand and a Bell's Oberon in the other. Is it opening day yet?

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Opening Day in Kalamazoo for 2026 is Tuesday, May 25, when the Kalamazoo Growlers host the Traverse City Pit Spitters at 1:05 p.m.

Your 2022 and 2024 Northwoods League Champions are here to stay in Kalamazoo through 2038! According to a report from MLive, the City of Kalamazoo and the baseball organization have agreed to terms of a lease extension that would keep the team in town for the next 12 years. Per MLive, Kalamazoo city commissioners,

...voted to extend the Kalamazoo Growlers’ lease through 2038, per city documents...The updated lease also gives the Growlers the ability to sell naming rights for the stadium. Any prospective names would have to be approved by the City Commission, per city documents, and the field itself will remain named after Homer Stryker.

The historic ball field on Mills Street (Soisson-Rapacz-Clason Field) has a storied past. Just steps from today’s Growlers ballpark, it was the home of the Kalamazoo Lassies, the last champions of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), later made famous in the movie A League of Their Own.

Honestly, we would love to see the Growlers honor those fierce women who paved the way for women in sports not only in Michigan, but beyond. Movie night at Homer Stryker Field? Just a thought! Check out the Growlers' 2026 schedule here.