MLW Wiffle Ball (Pacific Predators vs. Midwest Mallards) @ SIUH Community Park (Staten Island, NY)

A return to Staten Island to watch backyard sports gone semi-pro

*This trip occurred on June 28, 2025. I was initially on the fence about how to write about this, as it’s a return to a place I’d already been to this year for a separate event; ultimately, I decided to make it its own post. As I’ve already been here for the FerryHawks, I won’t talk about the facilities (for the most part), as they obviously haven’t changed since my last visit a month prior, but I’ll instead focus on the event itself. Also, as the focus was on the event itself more than its teams (after all, neither team technically calls the stadium “home”), I’ve listed the event and then the matchup in the title.

Wiffle®¹ Ball is a “variant” of baseball that’s been played in backyards and public parks since it was invented in 1953. Originally intended as a way to play baseball in smaller spaces, Wiffle Ball has seen a rise in popularity on social media recently. For example, several Wiffle Ball competitions have popped up on YouTube - many of which are more similar to baseball than the “official rules” of Wiffle Ball posted on the Wiffle Ball company’s website. While some of these online leagues do have more viewers than others, one of the biggest ones is also one of the oldest ones: MLW.

MLW Wiffle Ball (that's the name they use everywhere)² was started by a group of (then) kids in their backyard somewhere in Michigan in 2010. It eventually grew into a social media phenomenon, being featured on ESPN with their YouTube channel sitting at half a million subscribers as of 2025. In case you’re looking for a more in-depth breakdown of the rules of MLW, I’d recommend checking out the league’s website, as they have a full set of rules there. Some of the rules are rather interesting, such as a speed limit for pitches (if the pitch clocks in over 72 MPH, it doesn’t count/is an automatic ball), rules for baserunning and plays at the plate, and how lineups work (the league’s eight teams don’t all have the same size rosters due to the fact that this is very much not a “professional” league).

However, while their videos do feature game action, said videos are NOT full games - instead, only the final pitch of each at-bat is shown. In addition, they don’t appear to have any type of live stream, so for most people, these videos are the only glimpses into the league itself (unless you live near/visit the public park they play at in Brighton, MI). The league has been branching out over the past few years by playing games in other stadiums (I’m not sure when they started doing this), and one of those games happened to be close to me on Staten Island (They had an event at Maimonides Park in Brooklyn last year, but I didn’t realize it until THIS year).

For the longest while, the thing that made me apprehensive about getting tickets for this was the $25 ticket price combined with their ticket site implying that the $65 meet and greet was the only opportunity to buy merch (a not-so-secret reason I’ve been going to these stadiums). However, when I went to buy tickets on the morning of the game, the price had dropped to $19 - still kinda high, but more in line with what you’d expect for a NYC minor league stadium (Brooklyn Cyclones games are usually around this price, but some games are notably higher). As for the merch, I’ll get to that at the end like I usually do with these posts.

Despite a bit of haze, clear skies made the view of NYC much clearer for this event - a three game series between the Pacific Predators and the Midwest Mallards. The field layout for MLW is interesting: it’s much, MUCH smaller than a baseball field, there are only two fielders (plus the pitcher), and there’s basically NO outfield (which ends up leading to a lot of WILD baserunning you'd NEVER see in baseball). To fit this into the baseball stadium, the “pitchers mound” was at the edge of the “dirt” portion of the home plate area (behind where the home plate umpire stands), and the batter hits towards home plate with the fans all in the “outfield” (essentially the reverse of the baseball layout). Also, some of the players gave signatures to fans alongside the field between games (and sometimes even innings), and perhaps most interestingly, one ball was used for the whole game (seemingly). My guess is that this is partially due to the nature of the league and its roots as a “backyard game”.

Here’s a game-by-game breakdown of the series. Each game was three innings long, and for what it’s worth, the Mallards were the “home” team for games 1 and 3, with the Predators as the “home” team for game 2:

GAME 1
After giving up a home run to the leadoff batter in the top of the first, the Mallards promptly took the lead in the bottom of the frame. In the second inning, the Mallards pitcher got out of a bases loaded jam and then promptly hit a 2-run home run to secure a 4-1 win.

GAME 2
It’s appropriate that the Predators pitcher was wearing number 10 - as that’s how old he looked (though he’s actually 15 - still rather young compared to his teammates). He instantly became a fan favorite, but unfortunately, he was a bit erratic throughout his outing - missing a lot and throwing a few “too fast fastballs”. Despite that, he only gave up three runs; however, those three runs were more than enough for the Mallards as they secured the series with a 3-0 shutout (using the same pitcher from game 1).

GAME 3
This game featured two controversial calls on the bases which required review (i.e. watching back the footage on the cameras and the guy running the show donning a striped referee shirt to announce the call). This was also the closest game, as a first inning run for the Predators ended being the only thing separating the two teams after both teams scored twice in the second (with a Predator baserunner being thrown out at home); the 3-2 win allowed the Predators to avoid being swept.

On a somewhat unrelated note, most of the concession stands and the FerryHawks team store were closed for this event (likely to cut down on the required number of staffers). They did sell alcohol, though, which was interesting - especially at an event geared toward young children (at least more so than your standard baseball game)…

If you want to watch (parts of) the action yourself, you can do so here. I am in this video an uncomfortable (for me) number of times, so have fun if you’re trying to find me!
(If you think about the stadium, though, you’ll realize just how easy finding me is…)

MERCH

A video of MLW’s previous stadium visit (somewhere near St. Louis, MO) implied that, despite what the ticket site said, merchandise would be available outside of the meet and greet...and sure enough, that was true!

As you’d probably expect for something like this, merch was just sold at a table on the concourse (remember, the team store was closed). There was a very limited selection of items available: a MLW Stadium Tour shirt (from CustomInk), A rally towel for $10 (which was too much for a towel IMO), MLW trading cards, and most importantly (for me at least): the official hats for both teams (but strangely, no hats featuring the MLW logo on the front). Jerseys were not sold at the game, though I believe that’s due to how they’re actually sold (direct from the manufacturer); however, the MLW shop has player tees available, but none were at the game (possibly due to having to travel “light” - they are a small business after all).

Oddly, the merch table shut down (everything was packed up and moved out) when the actual series started, and while it did reopen after the series, I THINK they had run out of Mallards hats by that point (I didn’t hang around long enough to confirm, but they seemed to imply being low on those pregame and I didn’t see any afterwards). Thankfully, I had the foresight to get everything I was looking for when it was available pregame, so I was able to go home with the two team hats (plus a shirt).