There are 120 Minor League Baseball teams, and they each play approximately 70 home games a year. In the interest of not doing math, let’s just say this results in a lot of gameday promotions over the course of the season. Theme nights, giveaways, celebrity appearances and more are a daily occurrence, resulting in a season-long cavalcade of off-kilter ballpark fun.
But which Minor League promotions were the best of the best this year? It’s an endlessly debatable and thus essentially unanswerable query, but we’re giving it our best shot. What follows are the standout promos of the 2025 season, one each from an affiliate in every MLB organization.
Blue Jays: New Hampshire Space Potatoes Nights (Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats)
New Hampshire was home to a widely reported (alleged) alien abduction, the Barney and Betty Hill incident, which took place in the White Mountains in 1961. The Granite State is also an avid producer of potatoes, the state’s official vegetable. Mash potatoes and extraterrestrials together and you have Space Potatoes, an unparalleled alternate identity the Fisher Cats donned three times over the course of the season.
Orioles: Norfolk Tandangs Nights (Triple-A Norfolk Tides)
Norfolk, Va., is home to a large population of Filipino Americans. Last season the Tide honored that community by playing as the Lumpia; in 2025 they transformed into the Tandangs for two games. This identity, designed by a team of local Filipino-American creatives, features a fighting rooster (the Tandang) and includes a plethora of design elements referencing the country’s history and culture.
Rays: Toilet Paper Night (Single-A Charleston RiverDogs)
The RiverDogs, proponents of experiential promotions, handed out 2,000 rolls of toilet paper at the conclusion of their May 31 game. The resulting team-approved vandalism turned Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park into a tissue bedecked mess.
Red Sox: Orange Trash Monster Bobblehead Giveaway (Double-A Portland Sea Dogs)
Portland’s Hadlock Field is home to two Trash Monsters, one green and one orange. Both are fully functioning garbage cans in monster form, encouraging fans to keep the ballpark clean. The Sea Dogs honored Orange Trash Monster with his own bobblehead this season, causing his counterpart to turn greener with envy.
Yankees: Renegades The Musical! (High-A Hudson Valley Renegades)
In a Minor League Baseball first, the Renegades staged an original musical in between innings of their Aug. 6 game. The production, performed in 90-second increments, centered around the ballpark experience and featured characters such as The Bathroom Line Lady.
Guardians: Akron Galley Boys Nights (Double-A Akron RubberDucks)
Akron was an epicenter of fast food, beginning in the late 1940s, with restaurants like Swenson’s, Skyway and Dilly’s making an impact in the city and beyond. The RubberDucks’ Galley Boys alternate identity paid tribute to the hamburger cooks who kept the people fed while working in cramped galley kitchens.
Royals: Take Meow’t to the Ballgame (Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers)
This season marked Omaha’s fifth iteration of “Take Meow’t to the Ballgame,” in which cats are invited to the ballpark (in carriers or on leashes). Cat-themed between-inning promos and videoboard graphics enhance the theme, as does the Kitty Litter Sundae concession special.
Tigers: Erie Moon Mammoths (Double-A Erie SeaWolves)
In May, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” ran a segment on Minor League promotions that concluded with Oliver’s offer to create a new identity for one Minor League team. The SeaWolves were chosen, and Oliver and his staff created the Moon Mammoths: a tribute to the wooly mammoth bones that were discovered in Erie County’s Lake Pleasant by a diver named George Moon. They debuted in July with Oliver in attendance.
Twins: Sunday Runday In-Park Marathon (Triple-A St. Paul Saints)
Seigo Masabuchi, a Saints’ “Ushertainer” known for his nightly karaoke performances on the dugout, is also a long-distance runner. On May 11, he ran a marathon on the concourse of CHS Field, running 84 laps in 90-degree heat.
White Sox: Prom Wasn’t Built in a Day (High-A Winston-Salem Dash)
The Winston-Salem Dash were scheduled to open the season on the road against the Rome Emperors, but a ballpark pipe burst forced the season-opening series to be held at Winston-Salem’s Truist Stadium instead. A high school prom was already scheduled to take place at Truist Stadium, however, forcing the Dash to host the game and the big dance simultaneously. The result: Prom Wasn’t Built in a Day.
Angels: Trash Jersey Giveaway (Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas)
The Rocket City Trash Pandas name is, in part, inspired by a slang term for racoons. This season, however, they gave away a jersey that simply read “Trash” across the front. To some, it was a treasure.
Astros: Spencer Arrighetti Bobblehead Giveaways (Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys & Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks)
Combine Spencer and Arrighetti and you end up, more or less, with spaghetti. Both Corpus Christi and Sugar Land gave away a bobblehead of the Astros right-hander holding a meatball-topped plate of spaghetti while standing atop a heaping pile of, yes, even more spaghetti.
Athletics: Las Vegas Belly Busters Night (Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators)
Many Minor League Baseball alternate identities pay tribute a specific food. Belly Busters, meanwhile, pays tribute to all food, and eating as much of it as you possibly can at one of Las Vegas’s legendary all-you-can-eat buffets. It’s an ode to excess, coming from a city that knows a thing or two about taking it to the limit.
Mariners: Barkansas Dizzys Series (Double-A Arkansas Travelers)
Dizzy, a cream-colored canine owned by Travelers VP of Stadium Operations Greg Johnston, is a ballpark celebrity known for mingling with fans and signing “pawtographs.” The Travelers suited up as the Barkansas Dizzys for an entire six-game series in June, going on to win “Best Alternate Identity” at the 2025 MiLB Awards.
Rangers: Dickory Docks Alarm Clock Giveaway (Single-A Hickory Crawdads)
In 2023, the Hickory Crawdads became the first Minor League team to unveil an alternate identity based on a nursery rhyme: The Hickory Dickory Docks. This year, the team upped the ante by giving away a Hickory Dickory Docks retro alarm clock. Rise and grind.
Braves: CSRA River Donkeys Nights (Single-A Augusta GreenJackets)
The CSRA (Central Savannah River Area) River Donkeys identity — which the GreenJackets adopted for two games — is a slightly redundant tribute to the donkeys of Stallings Island, an archaeological site located near Augusta. The donkeys arrived on the island in roundabout fashion, introduced as a means to deter coyotes from eating the landscaping goats. Nature, and man’s attempt to control it, is wild.
Marlins: Jacksonville Honey Drippers Nights (Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp)
Jacksonville’s Honey Drippers alternate identity is a multi-hued homage to an iconic frozen dessert, popularized in the city’s Eastside neighborhood, that often includes fresh fruit. The Honey Dripper in question is depicted holding a spoon as a bat, because that’s just something an anthropomorphic dessert on a baseball hat should do.
Mets: Are You The Lizard King Night (Triple-A Syracuse Mets)
An Apple TV documentary advanced the theory that Doors front man Jim Morrison faked his own death and was living in Syracuse as a maintenance man named Frank X. The Mets tracked down Frank X. and invited him to the ballpark for a Doors-themed Thirsty Thursday.
Nationals: Bruce the Bat Dog Bobblehead Giveaway (Triple-A Rochester Red Wings)
Bruce the bat dog debuted with the Rochester Red Wings this season and quickly became a fan favorite. How could he not? On July 6, the team honored the fetching golden retriever with his very own bobblehead.
Phillies: Garrett Stubbs Gobblehead Giveaway (Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs)
Phillies cult hero Garrett Stubbs played for the IronPigs for nearly all of 2025, and the team honored him with a “gobblehead” that depicts the lovable backstop as some sort of half-man, half-turkey hybrid. Why? Because the giveaway item was sponsored by a local turkey farm, and that’s reason enough.
Brewers: Rick Sweet Bobble’stache (Triple-A Nashville Sounds)
Nashville Sounds skipper Rick Sweet has won over 2,400 Minor League games — the third most of all time — over a managerial career that began in 1987. The Sounds celebrated the man and his bushy swath of upper lip hair with a bobble’stache figurine giveaway. You’ll never need to shave it.
Cardinals: José Oquendo Bobble-arm Giveaway, Springfield Cardinals (Double-A STL)
José “Secret Weapon” Oquendo played every position on the diamond during his career with the St. Louis Cardinals and then went on to serve as the team’s third base coach. Springfield’s Oquendo “bobble-arm” giveaway commemorates this portion of his illustrious Cardinals career.
Cubs: Citizenship Ceremony (Triple-A Iowa Cubs)
One of Minor League Baseball’s best traditions returned for its 17th season, as the Iowa Cubs kicked off their Independence Day festivities with an on-field citizenship ceremony at Principal Park. Dating back to 2009, over 500 individuals from six continents have taken part in this Fourth of July tradition.
Pirates: Awful Night (Double-A Altoona Curve)
The Curve first staged Awful Night in 2003, with the simple goal of making the ballpark experience as awful as possible. Lowlights this season included a Name that Smell contest, musical performance by Hot Dog Boy and a mascot clad in nothing but a red Speedo and a Santa hat.
Reds: Nothing Night (Triple-A Louisville Bats)
Nothing Night is, quite simply, a ballpark experience stripped of its modern-day accoutrements. As the Bats put it, “No walk-up music, in-game promotions or activities, just baseball in its purest form.” Come for nothing, stay for the musical stylings of guest organist Al Greener.
D-backs: Helicopter Candy Drop (Single-A Visalia Rawhide)
There really isn’t much to explain, as the name of this tried-and-true postgame classic says it all. A helicopter dropped 500 pounds of candy onto the field and members of the Rawhide Kids Club were then invited onto the field to grab as much of it as they possibly could. Nothing beats a good free-for-all.
Dodgers: Tulsa Chicken Dancers Weekend (Double-A Tulsa Drillers)
Did you know that the ballpark staple known as “The Chicken Dance” originated at the 1981 Tulsa Oktoberfest? The Drillers paid tribute to this bit of local lore with a Chicken Dancers alternate identity from May 15-18.
Giants: Diamonds Aren’t Forever (Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels)
The Flying Squirrels said goodbye to The Diamond in 2025, Richmond’s Minor League Baseball home since 2025. Their season-closing homestand featured a time capsule, an 1989 Richmond Braves reunion, a bobblehead featuring superfan Ray Edwards and more.
Padres: Fort Wayne Daisies Night Featuring Megan Cavanagh (High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps)
From 1945-54 the Fort Wayne Daises were a powerhouse within the All-American Girls Professional League, the all-female circuit immortalized in “A League of Their Own.” The TinCaps paid home to the Daises, suiting up as such while welcoming team and league alumni — as well as Megan “Marla Hooch” Cavanagh — to the ballpark.
Rockies: Fresno Tacos 10th Anniversary (Single-A Fresno Grizzlies)
The Grizzlies introduced their Tacos alternate identity in 2015, sparking a wave of regional food-themed alternate identities throughout the Minor Leagues. The team celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Tacos in 2025 with uniforms featuring a taco truck and a sleeve patch that read “The OG Alternate Identity.”
