THE SCHEDULE ... Lakeland begin its 67th season in the Florida State League with a four-game set with the Tampa Yankees. Game one is tonight at 6 in Lakeland at historic Henley Field with game two in Tampa at 6 pm on Friday. Game three has the two teams returning to Lakeland for a 6 pm game on Saturday with the finale taking place on Sunday at 1 pm.
FAMILIAR FOES ... This is the 14th consecutive season Lakeland and Tampa have faced off in the opening game of the season. Tampa has won the last two season lid-lifters, including a 2-1 victory in Lakeland last season. The Yankees now hold a 7-6 lead in the first game.
THE SERIES ... Lakeland enjoyed an 11-9 advantage in the series last season, including wins in five of the last six meetings. In 2015, the two clubs played six series with Lakeland winning two, Tampa taking one series, and the two clubs splitting the three others.
SEASON OPENERS ... Lakeland has lost the last three season openers, last winning at Tampa to open the 2012 season. Last season, they lost 2-1 to Tampa to open the season. The team is 9-12 in the first game of the season, dating back to 1995.
HOME OPENERS ... The Flying Tigers have also lost their last three home openers after having won six straight from 2008-12.
THE SKIPPER (thru 2015) ... Dave Huppert is in his 29th season and leads all active minor league managers with a 1,926-1,816-1 record. He begins the 2016 campaign ranked 14th all-time for wins by a minor league manager. A 2012 FSL Hall of Fame honoree, This is Huppert’s sixth season with the Flying Tigers and he has 318-354-1 record here, including a FSL championship in 2012. He has the third most wins for a Lakeland manager, trailing Dick Tracewski (392-402 record from 1970-1975) and John Lipon (379-288 from 1988-92).
A LOOK BACK AND GOOD RIDDANCE ... The Flying Tigers finished with a 55-79-1 record last season. In the first half, the team finished in 4th place, 3.5 games out of first place with a 33-36-1 record. But the second half was a disaster, winning just 21 of the 64 games place to finish in last place, 19.0 games out of first place. The 79 season losses was seventh most in franchise history.
A BRIGHT SPOT ... One bright spot to last season was the pitching of Kevin Ziomek who led the Florida State League with 143 strikeouts, becoming just the second Lakeland pitcher to lead the league, joining Duane Below who mowed down a league-high 126 batters in 2008.
DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS? ... Fans will get a chance to see the Flying Tigers at almost any time of the day this season. With the move to Henley Field, the schedule features lots of day games in an effort to avoid the summer rains. Lakeland will play five games at 10:30 a.m.; one game at noon; 25 games at 1 pm (mainly from July on); five games at 4 pm; 33 games at 6 pm; and one game at a yet-to-be-announced time.
IS IT DRAFTY IN HERE? ... 2015 draft picks: OF Christin Stewart (1st), LHP Tyler Alexander (2nd), C Kade Scivicque (4th), RHP Dominic Moreno (8th). INF A.J. Simcox (14th) ... 2014 draft picks: LHP Spencer Turnbull (2nd), C Grayson Greiner (3rd), RHP Adam Ravenelle (4th), OF Ross Kivett (6th), INF Joe Pankake (7th), RHP Artie Lewicki (8th), LHP A.J. Ladwig (11th), OF Mike Gerber (15th), RHP Gage Smith (25th); LHP Tyler Ford (27th) ... 2013 draft picks: OF Ben Verlander (14th), RHP Zac Reininger (14th), INF Curt Powell (21st), LHP Jeff Thompson (25th) ... 2012 draft picks: RHP Slade Smith (17th), Jared Reaves (25th) ... Signed as non-drafted free agents: RHP Johan Belisario, RHP Endrys Briceno, RHP Edgar De La Rosa, LHP Joe Jimenez, RHP Dominic Moreno, RHP Willie Paredes, INF Zac Shepherd, RHP Adenson Verastegui ... Signed as a minor league free agent: INF Wade Hinkle ... Obtained via trade: RHP Jairo Labourt (via Toronto in David Price trade).
SEEMS LIKE YA NEVER LEFT ... The following players are making an encore performance in Lakeland: RHP Endrys Briceno (2014, 2015); RHP Edgar De La Rosa (2014); LHP Tyler Ford (2014, 2015); C Grayson Greiner (2015); RHP Jairo Labourt (2015); INF Curt Powell (2014, 2015); INF Jared Reaves (2013, 2014, 2015); RHP Zac Reininger (2015); RHP Gage Smith (2015); RHP Slade Smith (2013, 2014, 2015); and OF Ben Verlander (2015).
WHEREFORTH ART THOU? ... Here’s a look at where some of the 2015 Flying Tigers are in the organization in 2016: Erie (AA): Tommy Collier (P); Matt Crouse (P); Calvin Drummond (P); Dominic Ficociello (INF); Gabe Hemmer (P); Confesor Lara (P); Drew Longley (C); Whit Mayberry (P); Montreal Robertson (P, DL); Joe Rogers (P); Brennan Smith (P); Paul Voelker (P); Kevin Ziomek (P, DL). West Michigan (A): Will Allen (C); David Gonzalez (INF); Jonathan Maciel (P); Brett Pirtle (INF); Ismael Salgado (OF); Trent Szutnik (P) ... Extended Spring: Ryan Casellanos (P); Keaton Jones (IF); Tim Remes (C); Logan Longwith (P); Locke St. John (P).
DON’T FORGET YOUR PARTING GIFT ... Members of last year’s that are no longer in the organization include: Javier Betancourt (2B) - traded to Brewers ... Released: Bobby Borchering (1B); Will Clinard (P); Nate Fury (P); Tyler Hanover (IF); Jiwan James (OF); Francisco Martinez (IF); Raph Rhymes (OF); Austin Schotts (OF); Scott Sitz (P) ... Retired: Matt Davenport (P); Matt Kellogg (P); Ryan Longstreth (P).
MAJOR LEAGUERS ... There have been 269 players that made their way through Lakeland on the way to the Major Leagues. Thirty-five Lakeland alumni played in the big leagues last season, including Nick Castellanos (2012); Tyler Collins (2012); Jeff Ferrell (2013); Daniel Fields (2012); Bryan Holaday (2010); Guido Knudson (2012); Dixon Machado (2012); James McCann (2012); Angel Nesbitt (2014); Bruce Rondon (2012); Kyle Ryan (2013); Jose Valdez (2013); Drew VerHagen (2012-13); Justin Verlander (2005); and Adam Wilk (2010) who all played for Detroit last season.
OTHER NOTABLE LAKELAND ALUMNI ... Past Lakeland Tigers who played with Detroit: Mark “The Bird” Fidrych (1975), Kirk Gibson (1978), John Smoltz (1986) and Lou Whitaker (1976). Former Detroit manager Jim Leyland played in 1964 and 1969 for Lakeland and came back to manage the team to back-to-back Florida State League titles in 1976 and 1977.
FSL CHARTER MEMBER ... The 2016 season marks Lakeland’s 65th season in the Florida State League (FSL). The Lakeland Flying Tigers are in their 49th season as a Tigers’ affiliate, the second longest affiliation in Minor League Baseball and is an original member of the FSL, which was established in 1919. Lakeland has also been affiliated with Cleveland (1960); San Francisco (1962) before becoming a Detroit affiliate in 1963 (Detroit moved the franchise to Daytona Beach for the 1965 and 1966 seasons). The Detroit Tigers, Lakeland’s parent club, has made Lakeland their Spring Training Headquarters for 80 seasons.
WHY THE FLYING TIGERS? ... Lakeland adopted the moniker “Flying Tigers” in 2007. The team’s name and colors pay homage to the Lakeland School of Aeronautics, later the Lodwick School of Aeronautics, which trained over 8,000 pilots between 1940 and 1945, some of whom later flew with the Flying Tigers in China during World War II. The school was actually located at the current site of Joker Marchant Stadium.
HENLEY FIELD ... The home for the Flying Tigers in 2016 while Joker Marchant Stadium undergoes renovation, Henley Field was constructed in the 1920’s and served as Detroit’s Spring Training headquarters from 1934-1966. It is also home to the nine-team national champion Florida Southern College baseball team.
