In June, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders have been road warriors and living out of suitcases. The Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees played just six games at the friendly confines of PNC Field in northeastern Pennsylvania during the month while logging week-long trips to Syracuse, Columbus and Indianapolis.
The good news is that when they return to begin a six-game series against the Norfolk Tides on Tuesday, 39 of their final 69 games are at home. Even better news: When the team was
home during the first half of the season, fans were coming out to see it.
According to a recent article published by Baseball America, the RailRiders ranked fifth among the fastest-growing attendance markets in all of minor league baseball.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is behind the Chattanooga Lookouts, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Asheville Tourists and Tampa Tarpons in attendance increases this season. Chattanooga’s numbers are largely due to the fact it is playing in a new ballpark. Jacksonville is coming off winning the International League championship last season — coincidentally beating the RailRiders in the final. Asheville has made upgrades and renovations to its historic HomeTrust Park. Tampa, the Yankees’ Single-A affiliate in the Florida State League, is back playing at George M. Steinbrenner Field after the Tampa Bay Rays used the stadium as its home in 2025 while repairs were made to Tropicana Field following damage caused by Hurricane Milton in October 2024.
Overall, the Baseball America reports the average attendance in Minor League Baseball is 3,551. That’s an increase of 12 fans from this point last season (3,539). Through 3,329 dates this season, MiLB teams have drawn 11,820,181 fans. That’s an increase of 119,742 from this time last season (11,700,439 in 3,306 dates).
Through 33 home dates, the RailRiders have drawn 132,903 fans or an average of 4,027. That is a year-over-year growth of nearly 20 percent and has produced the best turnstiles numbers since 2019. That doesn’t include the two sold-out nights of Banana Ball at PNC Field in May.
Their largest crowd of the first half was 8,451 on April 28 against the Buffalo Bisons. The second largest was 7,814 on May 16thagainst the Syracuse Mets. That’s the night Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole made his final rehab start.
RailRiders president and general manager Shawn Reilly attributes the attendance increase to several things: the upgrade to the video scoreboard, changes in the promotional schedule and an increased emphasis on the ballpark experience.
“Fans are seeing improvements nightly, and that is drawing everyone back,” Reilly said in a press release. “We have barely even scratched the surface on key promo nights, fireworks and appearances. There is still so much more to come in 2026!”
About a decade ago, when they had the likes of Aaron Judge, Gary Sánchez, and Gleyber Torres playing for them, the RailRiders adopted the nickname Baby Bombers for certain games. It made sense. The Baby Bombers would grow up at Triple-A and go on to become Bronx Bombers in the big leagues with the Yankees.
Now, with top prospects George Lombard Jr., Elmer Rodríguez, Carlos Lagrange on the roster — plus Spencer Jones and Jasson Domínguez when they are here — the RailRiders recently announced they are bringing back the Baby Bombers alternative identity.
For each of the remaining Sunday home games this season, they will play as the Baby Bombers and wear a special uniform. It is a baby-blue vest jersey with Baby Bombers in navy script and the iconic emblem — a man-baby with a five-o’clock shadow and a pacifier in its mouth, holding a bat and wearing a pinstriped diaper and a Yankees red-white-and-blue top hat.
They wore the uniforms and played as the Baby Bombers for the first time June 14 and defeated the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 6-5.
A pair of RailRiders reached milestones during their victory over the Indianapolis Indians on June 25th.
Tyler Hardman hit two home runs in the game — a solo shot in the second inning and a three-run blast in the third inning. The second homer was the 100th of his minor-league career.
Carlos Lagrange, who is being converted from a starting pitcher to a reliever, recorded the final four outs for his first career save. He came out of the bullpen with two outs in the eighth and the bases loaded. Although he threw a wild pitch to allow a run to score, he got Ronny Simon to fly out and end the inning. Then in the bottom of the ninth, the first two Indians reached on a single and a hit-batsman. But Lagrange retired the next three batters, two on strikeouts, to end the game.
