Long Beach has waited more than a decade for a professional baseball team in the city — and the wait is over.
The Long Beach Coast, a professional team in the Pioneer Baseball League, will kick off their inaugural year in the city with Opening Day on Bohl Diamond at Blair Field officially set for June 2nd. The city quickly showed their excitement for pro ball, officially selling out the Opening Day game against the RedPocket Mobiles.
“It’s a full circle moment for me and it’s great to be a part of history, especially for the city of Long Beach and being from the area,” RHP JJ Almeda said. “It’s been especially cool to see how the fans have embraced the new team with all the support and everything like that.”
The Coast (9-3) is rolling into Opening Day on a six-game win streak, with dominant wins peppering their recent performances. Their biggest win was a 26-15 victory against the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds on May 29th as part of their final road series.
The Coast’s offense has been strong for the team, setting a good pace heading into the official start of season.
When wrapping up their season-opening road trip, the Coast had back-to-back sweeps against the Oakland Ballers and Yuba-Sutter Freebirds. In their final road contest on May 31, Long Beach claimed a 13-6 win, making this win the eighth game thus far that the Coast has scored 10 or more runs in a single game.
This win was also the 10th game where the Coast racked up multiple home runs – a testament to the team’s offensive power. Long Beach totaled up four homers in this game, making the Coast the first PBL team to reach 40 home runs in the 2026 season.
Cuba Bess hit two homers in the series finale vs. the Freebirds on Sunday, where he is now averaging .396 with seven home runs, 16 RBIs and 15 runs through just 12 games.
Another offensive star for the Coast has been catcher Thomas McCaffrey, who was named PBL’s Hitter of the Week ahead of Opening Day. McCaffrey is seen as one of the league’s most dangerous hitters, spotting a .538 average with a 1.192 slugging across the last six games. There is no doubt that he is on fire, racking up 14 hits, two doubles, five home runs, 16 RBIs and 13 runs last week.
As for pitching performances, Manager Troy Percival is being cautious with his bullpen heading into Opening Day, not allowing any arm to go more than two innings in their final contest against the Freebirds. Overall, the team’s pitching staff has a 7.41 ERA paired with a 1.72 WHIP, so the team will continue relying on their powerhouse offense to support their pitchers on the mound.
The Coast wrapped up the month of May six games above .500, putting them in a good position coming home. The team is currently tied for second place in the league with the Glacier Range Riders and are only sitting half a game behind the Billings Mustangs in first.
The Coast is hoping to carry their May momentum over into June and through Opening Week. To help propel this success, the team is looking to the city of Long Beach for support in their games.
While they’ve already sold out Opening Day, there are five other games and promotions filling the schedule for the week. The Coast promotes $2 Tuesday every week, where general admission tickets will be sold at the low price of just a few dollars.
On Fridays, the team will sport their alternate identity and play as the Regulators. With 16 Friday games scheduled for the 2026 season, eight of these contests will take place on Bohl Diamond at Blair Field, giving the city more opportunities to cheer on the pro ball team that represents their city.
To start supporting the team early, schedules, merchandise, and upcoming promotions can be found on Long Beach Coast’s website. To purchase tickets for any game this season, you can follow the tickets.longbeachcoast.com link.
