2019 Season Preview

The Wisconsin Baseball Association (WBA) and Chippewa Rivers Baseball League (CRBL) Champion Osseo Merchants will defend their title starting April 28th when they open against the Eau Claire Rivermen. A year ago, eight teams from the Chippewa Rivers Baseball League (CRBL) qualified for the Wisconsin Baseball Association (WBA) Tournament with the Beef River Bullfrogs and Stanley Slammers receiving automatic bids as host sites. Below is the full list of teams that participated in the 2018 WBA tournament.

  • Beef River Bullfrogs
  • Stanley Slammers
  • Osseo Merchants
  • Tilden Tigers
  • Whitehall Wolves
  • Eau Claire Bears
  • Eau Claire Cavaliers
  • Eau Claire Rivermen

The 91st season of CRBL baseball will open April 27th when the Jim Falls Sturgeons travel to battle the Bloomer Woodticks. Twelve teams will compete for the 2019 Chippewa Rivers Baseball crown playing a 22-game CRBL schedule. It truly is incredible to consider that over 12,500 individuals have played in the CRBL over an 111-year span of time dating back to 1908.

Notable 2019 CRBL Schedule Dates

  • CRBL All-Star Game – Sunday, July 7th, 2019 Hosted by Cadott Red Sox @ Cadott High School Field
  • Osseo hosts CRBL triple header – Saturday July 13th @ Jon Soiney Memorial Field starting at 1 pm.
    • Augusta Athletics vs. Eau Claire Bears
    • Eau Claire Rivermen vs. Whitehall Wolves
    • Beef River Bullfrogs vs. Osseo Merchants
  • Wildcard Wednesday – July 31st, 2019 – Sites To Be Determined
  • Championship Saturday – August 3rd, 2019 – Site To Be Determined

Two longtime CRBL umpires retired after the 2018 season. Glen Waterhouse (25 years of service) and Art Zwiefelhofer (36 years of service) will no longer make a third strike call. Coaches, players and fans would like to extend a big thank you to both umpires for the work they performed over their extensive careers.


This editors picks for the North and South Division along with championship picks are below:

Winners of the North Division: Eau Claire Cavaliers
Winners of the South Division: Eau Claire Bears
Wildcard Picks: Whitehall Wolves & Osseo Merchants

Championship Game: Eau Claire Cavaliers defeat the Osseo Merchants


Follow www.crblbaseball.com all season long for updated scores, standings and schedule. You can download the 2019 CRBL schedule to your Apple, Outlook or Google Calender. Any schedules changes will update automatically once downloaded to your calendar.