Friday, the West Coast League unveiled its 2020 schedule. The regular season begins on June 5 and ends on Aug. 9 with the last possible day of playoffs being Aug. 18. The AppleSox begin the season on the road and end it at home. They will be home for the Fourth of July and will play at home on three weekends.

While the WCL portion of the schedule is the majority of it, the entire schedule is not finalized. The AppleSox will look to add exhibition games against non-WCL opponents on as many off days as possible. Last season, the AppleSox hosted five non-league games against three different opponents.

Schedule Highlights

Welcome Back, Coach

Former AppleSox head coach Ed Knaggs (2001-14) returns to Wenatchee for the first time as a visitor when the Corvallis Knights visit the AppleSox, June 8-10. In 14 seasons as the AppleSox head coach, Knaggs led the Sox to five West Coast League Championships (2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012) as well as a Pacific International League Championship (2003). The Knights hired Knaggs in 2017 as an associate head coach and he has helped lead them to championships in both of his seasons in Corvallis.

Long Opening Homestand

The AppleSox’ 2019 Home Opener is scheduled for June 8, the first of six consecutive home games. After facing Corvallis June 8-10 and Bellingham June 12-14, the Sox have four consecutive off days scheduled. However, at least half of those days will be filled with games against non-WCL opponents. Last season, the AppleSox went 23-10 at home, league and non-league play combined.

Toughest Stretch

The AppleSox’ most grueling part of the schedule is July 7-29 when they only have two scheduled days off, only one for the AppleSox All-Stars. July 16 and 20 are the only days off although July 20 is the All-Star Game. Twelve of the 18 games during that stretch will be played away from Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

We Meet Again

The Victoria HarbourCats ended the AppleSox’ 2019 season by scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning of the do-or-die Game 3 of the West Coast League North Division Championship Series on Aug. 15. The AppleSox won’t face the HarbourCats until mid-July 2020, but they’ll see plenty of them in that stretch. The Sox and Cats play a six-game ‘home-and-home’ with three games in Wenatchee, July 13-15, and then three more in Victoria, July 17-19. This series will also be fun to follow because it will be the first time that new AppleSox head coach Ian Sanderson faces his former team. Sanderson was the HarbourCats pitching coach for the last two seasons before being hired by the AppleSox in September.

Days Off

No day features more off days on the AppleSox’ 2020 schedule than Thursdays, when the AppleSox have just four games scheduled and five days off. The Sox don’t have any games currently scheduled for the entire month of June on Thursdays.

The full schedule can be viewed below.