6/25/2023 | Published on 9/5/2026

Vermont Lake Monsters (Futures League) @ Centennial Field (Burlington, VT)

A team I've been keen on for some time now

SUMMER OF BASEBALL 2023: STOP 25

As the final former Minor League team in this series (at least until I get to visit the Lowell Spinners), the Vermont Lake Monsters obviously have a lot of history. They were founded in 1994 as the Vermont Expos (and were affiliated with the Montreal Expos), changed their name to the Lake Monsters in 2006 (two years after the Expos moved to Washington), and then became a Futures League member in 2021 after getting kicked out of Minor League Baseball by the realignment (along with Norwich - Lowell didn't join the league until 2026). They've been in the playoffs every year since joining the Futures League and have been in the championship series four times, but only have one title in that span which they won in 2021 (plus a championship from the NYPL era).

Centennial Field (which has been the team's home since their original inception) is the oldest field in New England summer ball...sorta (I'll explain this in the near future). It opened in 1906 (six years before Fenway Park), and has hosted a fair number of Minor League teams (none of which lasted that long unlike the Lake Monsters) as well as UVM teams that the university no longer has: besides baseball (which UVM discontinued in 2009), there's an adjacent field which hosted football (until 1974) and soccer (until Virtue Field opened in 2011).

I've only been able to come here once (largely due to the fact that I'm typically NOT in Vermont in the summer), and it was the day AFTER my intended visit (for more on that, I talked about it a LONG TIME AGO here when I discussed Vermont Green¹). Thankfully, due to the rain that cancelled the game on the day I in, the team had a doubleheader the next day².

The grandstand itself is quite old (as noted by the low overhangs getting to the seats), and while some seats do feature cover, the ends of the grandstand don't (and guess where my seat was). There's a couple of "party areas" down the foul lines, including being able to stand in an old bullpen area (which is pretty cool).

One interesting note about the game I went to: it seemed like they had a lot more partners/concessions than most teams in the league do; for example, the most notable concession they offer was Neapolitan style pizza - something I don't know if I've ever seen at a sporting event! I didn’t get to try it because it was the middle of the afternoon and I had already had lunch elsewhere, but it seemed quite popular (which just means I'll have to try it if I'm able to go back³).

If you're thinking of coming here (and if you're ever in Burlington in the summer, I think you should), there’s two tiers of parking for games: you can park near the stadium for a fee (which is one of few "paid" parking options for the summer leagues), or by Gutterson Fieldhouse (where UVM's hockey team plays) and Virtue Field (which a few miles from the stadium), but you get shuttled to the ballpark (the parking and shuttle are free).

MERCH

I've said that the only Futures League stadiums with "fully enclosed team store" were the two former Double-A stadiums in Connecticut (New Britain and Norwich), but I do have to update that a LITTLE BIT: Centennial Field does have a dedicated merchandise area/store, but I wouldn't consider it "enclosed" as it doesn't have doors (it's more like a garage). Of the 32 New England summer teams I visited, I must say that I feel like the Lake Monsters had the most extensive selection of things available (again, ex-MiLB).

Prior to my visit, I had ordered a bunch of hats from the team: one New Era flexfit (i.e. from the end of the NYPL days) and several Zephyr flexfits from the Futures League era for multiple identities (besides an Expos throwback, the team also had a "Maple Kings" uniform).

At the game I went to in 2023, I went a little “hog wild” here - getting THREE jerseys (Lake Monsters, Expos, and Maple Kings), which entitled me to a fourth (a plaid jersey) for free (as I passed a certain threshold - I forgot what it was)!

A few years later, I visited the team’s offices - also in Burlington, but in a different part of the city (near Lake Champlain). The team runs a store here, and I ended up getting an anniversary t shirt plus some baseballs from the 2023 Futures League All Star Game (which the team hosted).

If you can't make the trek to Burlington (either for a game or to visit the team's offices), they're probably the easiest team to order merchandise from in all of New England, as their online store is (seemingly) well-stocked and easy to navigate. Last I checked, their online store is still their MiLB store page, but I don't believe it's accessible from the "main" MiLB store website (as it only links to affiliated teams nowadays). Also, from what I saw checking EVERY team that got cut in 2020, the Lake Monsters are one of only three teams that aren't in the Appalachian or MLB Draft Leagues and still use their MiLB store page (most other teams that do sell merchandise online have moved to other sites).