ballpark

You can say you are building a ballpark, but the anticipation accelerates when the community sees what the ballpark might look like. For the city of Ontario and its architects, the rendering of its minor league ballpark included a team name.

A placeholder, that is. The new team owners did not yet own the team. The name would come later. The Dodgers’ California League team would not move in until 2026.

On that drawing last year: the Ontario Sky Mules, with a whimsical logo of a grinning donkey wearing sunglasses and flying a prop plane. It was, frankly, awesome.

It was the essence of the minor leagues. Don’t know what a sky mule is? Hardly anyone knew what a trash panda was, either, and the Trash Pandas are one of the hottest brands in the minors.

This year, the newly hired team staff dropped hints about the actual name, about the buzz in town. On the walls of the team offices: “Cleared for Takeoff.” The city referenced ballpark fan zones nicknamed “The Airfield” and “The Tarmac.”

And, just last week, the biggest hint of all: the announcement of a naming rights deal with Ontario International Airport, close enough to the ballpark that you’ll be able to see flights take off. The ballpark name: ONT Field (spell it out: O-N-T, like LAX).

On Thursday, eight months in advance of its first game, the team finally revealed its name: the Ontario Tower Buzzers.

It’s an homage to the movie “Top Gun,” and to the defiant line uttered by the pilot played by Tom Cruise: “It’s time to buzz the tower.” The Tower Buzzers’ mascot, a bee called Maverick, is named after Cruise’s character.

The team name balances heritage and whimsy. The city is paying for the ballpark and wants to promote its airport, which was used as a World War II air base before reverting to civilian use and expanding into an Inland Empire transportation hub.

“We want to honor that legacy and have fun with it,” Tower Buzzers general manager Allan Benavides said. “We found something we think is a fun minor league name, rather than just, say, Pilots or Aviators.”

“We want to honor that legacy and have fun with it,” Tower Buzzers general manager Allan Benavides, standing in front of a rendering of the team’s new stadium, said of the name.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Aviators? Already in use in Las Vegas. The Pilots? The name of a failed California League team in Riverside (the college landlord wouldn’t allow beer sales, which is akin to a death sentence in the minor leagues).

The Tower Buzzers should fare better, in a ballpark that figures to be the second-best place to see a ballgame in Southern California, behind Petco Park and ahead of Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium.

The city’s latest cost estimate is $120 million, for a Class A ballpark. The stadium that opened this year for the Angels’ triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake City cost $140 million and holds 8,000.

ONT Field is expected to hold 6,500 — but with 3,200 seats between the foul poles, and the rest wherever you prefer: in the outfield, on the grass, in picnic areas, on a playground, or in bars, clubs and suites, including a couple where you can converse with the players.

There’s an ice cream parlor, a food hall, and a bar shaped like a luggage carousel. After a home run, the splash pad will erupt, and propellers will whirl in a bar. A runway will light up, and so will the antennas on the mascot.

The scoreboard is a hexagon, just like the one at Dodger Stadium. Soon to appear: a mural of Fernando Valenzuela. All fans, not just the ones in the fancy seats, can watch players in the batting cage.

On the afternoon I visited, the temperature was 108 degrees. The seating area will not have mist machines, as the Angels’ old California League stadium in Palm Springs did.

“It won’t be 108 at 7 o’clock,” Benavides said.

His target audience: the “30-year-old moms” that he said control the calendar and the spending for the family.

“Not everybody is a baseball fan, but they want to have time,” he said. “They want to be away from their cellphones and the TV and be outside, not spend a ton of money, and not have to drive to L.A. or San Diego.”

Crews work on the construction of ONT Field in Ontario last month. The team last week announced a naming rights deal with Ontario International Airport. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Angels’ California League affiliate will play in Rancho Cucamonga, eight miles away. Another California League team plays in San Bernardino, 25 miles away. The Angels themselves are 35 miles away.

“We’re going to fight for dollars, certainly, but I think our affiliation with the Dodgers is huge,” Benavides said. “They’re the hottest brand in baseball, depending on who you ask. I’m a Dodger fan, so I think they are.

“And I think this will be the nicest minor league stadium in the country, regardless of classification.”

If the Tower Buzzers do not win that fight for dollars, Ontario’s investment in the ballpark could turn out to be a poor one.

The ballpark is the anchor of what the city is modestly calling the Ontario Sports Empire, a 200-acre facility for training and competition billed by the city as the “largest sports complex of its kind west of the Rocky Mountains.”

There absolutely is a market for sports tourism, for all those kids and all their parents shuttling to weekend tournaments in baseball, softball, football, soccer, tennis and more. But that market can be tapped without a nine-figure investment in a minor league ballpark. (The naming rights payments come from airport revenues, not city taxpayers; the airport is administered jointly by the city and San Bernardino County.)

A rendering of ONT Field, set to open in 2026.

(Courtesy of City of Ontario)

That ballpark investment is more about a local entertainment option for residents, with so many homes in the pipeline that the population could double from close to 200,000 to about 400,000 within two decades. The NHL’s Kings already have a minor league affiliate playing in the city’s arena, and city officials plan for restaurants, hotels and shops to surround the ballpark and sports complex.

Dan Bell, a city spokesman, said Ontario is adding about 1,200 new homes every year.

“And they’re reasonable,” Bell said. “You can’t afford the L.A. market anymore.”

On Thursday, at the moment the team announced the Tower Buzzers name, the team merchandise went on sale. The home jerseys say Buzzers.

So is it Buzzers or Tower Buzzers? It’s like Blazers or Trail Blazers.

“We’ll let fans decide,” Benavides said.

I still wondered about the homage. When the Tower Buzzers take the field next year, “Top Gun” will turn 40. To a fan of a certain age, the reference is obvious. It would be like opening a pizza delivery service and calling it Spicoli’s.

To a younger generation, “Top Gun” might mean a blank stare. No worries, Benavides said. You’ll be able to enjoy a night at the ballpark all the same.

“We’re not going to 100% lean into that film,” he said. “This isn’t going to be a ‘Top Gun’ museum.”

Well, then, Tower Buzzers: You are cleared for takeoff.

The announcement could not have been more unfortunately timed. On the morning after the Dodgers had been swept by the Angels and fallen out of first place in the National League West for the first time in 108 days, the email to media members started this way: “Ever wonder how a player like Mookie Betts gets in the zone for the MLB Postseason?”

This is not on Betts, not at all. He is simply the front man for a campaign in which Corona Beer and its advertising partners had pre-timed an otherwise harmless press release for 6 a.m. PT Thursday. The headline on the press release: “Corona Teams Up with Mookie Betts to Bring the Beach to the Ballpark Through a First-of-its-Kind Soundtrack for the MLB Postseason.”

One of the keys to Betts’ success: an even keel that sometimes frustrates fans who want every player on their team to be as visibly frustrated as they are. In the aftermath of the Angels’ sweep, this is what Betts said Wednesday night: “It is what it is. Can’t change it right now.”

The promotional photo distributed with the press release shows Betts relaxing on a beach towel, next to home plate, headphones on. The soundtrack “fuses the iconic sounds of the ballpark with the relaxing vibe of the beach.”

Betts helped to pick seven minutes and 54 seconds of “home run blasts, in-stadium crowd waves and announcer calls from his most memorable postseason moments … combined with ambient ocean breezes and crashing waves.”

The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts teamed up with Corona for a baseball-themed soundtrack campaign called “Playa Sounds.”

(Corona)

You can hear the soundtrack here. From the press release: “The entire mix is tuned at 432hz — a frequency commonly associated with enhanced clarity.”

“As a player, you need to be in the right head space to show up when the lights are brightest,” Betts said in the press release. “I worked with Corona to make sure this soundtrack accurately captures the energy of the postseason and channels that into something both the guys in the dugout and fans can use to prepare for the season’s biggest upcoming moments.”

In last year’s postseason, Betts batted .290, hitting four home runs and scoring 14 runs in 16 games. After the World Series, on an episode of his podcast, he and several teammates broke down the Dodgers’ championship run, including a discussion of the New York Yankees’ fundamental flaws in the World Series.

PHILADELPHIA — Mike Trout arrived in Philadelphia in time to catch the unveiling of a new target in the deepest part of the ballpark — the 2026 All-Star Game logo, complete with the Liberty Bell in the center of the design.

The Angels slugger has something to aim for in Philly.

As a home run target? No, the oversized symbol that celebrates next year’s All-Star Game is raised well beyond the center-field wall and out of reach to even Schwarbombs in Ashburn Alley, closer to the retired numbers on the bricks at Citizens Bank Park.

As a potential destination for next season? Making the All-Star Game is more on the nose for Trout, an 11-time selection who hasn’t been picked to play for the American League since 2023.

Yet each time Trout plays in Philadelphia, just over 40 miles from the slugger’s New Jersey hometown, talk tends to drift from All-Star Games, his injuries, his upcoming career milestones — he’s closing in on 400 homers and 1,000 RBIs — or a rare Angels’ push at the postseason, and lands right on the possibility he’ll one day suit up for the Phillies.

“I hear it all the time,” Trout said with a laugh outside the Angels’ clubhouse on Friday. “Right now, I’m enjoying myself with this team in here. These guys come to the ballpark every day and play hard. It’s hard not for me to see it, because I see it and hear it all the time.”

He’ll settle for at least a crack at the 2026 All-Star Game.

“It would definitely mean a lot,” Trout said.

Mike Trout stands on the field during a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 13.

(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)

Trout entered the start of a three-game series against the Phillies having the kind of season that has defined most of his last five seasons in California. When he’s healthy, he’s on. He has a .283 batting average, .433 on-base percentage and .478 slugging percentage with eight home runs and 23 RBIs in 41 games since he came off the injured list on May 30. Otherwise, it’s more stints on the IL. This season, he was hampered by a bone bruise on his left knee that cost him time.

Trout was the designated hitter on Friday night against the NL East champion Phillies, who could certainly use a right-handed bat with pop in the outfield as they make their own playoff run. He did some light pregame work in the outfield (“get my feet under me”) and hoped he’d return to right field in the near future. Trout said his knee did feel “a lot better” after four days off and off his feet over the All-Star break.

“I’m just happy to be in the lineup, contributing,” he said. “Years past, it’s just come to the ballpark, not be able to at least hit. That’s been frustrating, that’s been tough.”

He again expected a full house of fans from his hometown of Millville, N.J., on hand to root him on as the three-time AL MVP started the game with 395 career home runs and 995 career RBIs.

“To think about it, it’s just how fast it’s going,” Trout said. “Just trying to enjoy every minute of it. The milestones are awesome. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting them.”

Trout would have blown by those numbers years ago had it not been for his injuries that have allowed him to play more than 82 games only once since 2019.

“Things happen,” he said.

There are no guarantees he’ll chip away at those numbers over the weekend — Trout has never gone deep at Citizens Bank Park.

Trout has kept his ties to the area as he blossomed into one of baseball’s great sluggers; his family still lives in the area, he collaborated with Tiger Woods on a new golf course, and yes, the Eagles season-ticket holder still bleeds kelly green.

The Angels were 47-49 headed into Friday, but only four games out of a wild-card spot. Trout played in three career playoff games in 2014. The Angels’ 47 wins are the most for the franchise at the All-Star break since it had 49 in 2018.

“The team in there right now, we’ve got a great mindset,” he said. “We’ve got a great group in there. We pass the baton at the plate. We’re tough outs.”

None tougher at his best than Trout. He’s trying to become the 20th player in baseball history to hit his first 400 home runs with one franchise.

“This guy is a superstar,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I saw him when he first came up and he hit the ball as far as you could think. He runs down the first base line, it sounds like a horse, just big and strong and fast.”

Gelston writes for the Associated Press.