Rancho Cucamonga has hosted a minor league baseball team, the Quakes, since 1993. And while Ontario is getting its own team starting in 2026, the Quakes have signed a lease committing to stay in Rancho Cucamonga for years to come.
The 15-year lease keeps the team in Rancho through 2039. “And there are two five-year extensions, so, almost through 2050,” John Gillison, the city manager, told me last week.
After three decades of Quakes, we might experience Quakes for another quarter-century? These Quakes, unlike the earth-shaking kind, reflect stability — although their Major League affiliation is often in motion.
On one level, the news is straightforward: the Quakes will continue playing at the Epicenter, some 70 home games per year, cheered on by dinosaur-costumed mascots Tremor and Aftershock and thousands of local fans.
On another level, it’s complicated. If you root for the team because it’s the Single A version of the Los Angeles Dodgers, that relationship appears to be ending.
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Ontario on Monday will break ground for a baseball stadium on Riverside Drive south of the 60 Freeway. Its team, yet to be named, and owned by Quakes owner Bobby Brett, will carry the flag for the Dodgers starting in 2026, city officials say.
If Clayton Kershaw or Tyler Glasnow need to make a rehab start on the mound in 2026, that will take place in Ontario, not Rancho Cucamonga.
The Quakes have been a Dodgers team since 2011. But first the Quakes were an affiliate of the San Diego Padres, from 1993 to 2001, and then of the Angels, from 2002 to 2010.
It’s an open secret that the Angels will return as the Quakes affiliate in 2026, but no announcement has been made.
What that means for San Bernardino, where the Inland Empire 66ers represent the Angels, is unclear.
Look, one baseball story at a time, please. Today, let’s focus on Rancho.
Upgrades to the Epicenter are part of the lease, which was negotiated over several years between the city and the team, with approvals along the way from Major League Baseball.
MLB created new standards that so-called Player Development League ballparks have to meet. They include better locker rooms, improved training and fitness facilities, and separate locker rooms for female staff and umpires.
City Hall has appropriated $6.2 million for the improvements from city reserves earmarked for facilities and infrastructure. This comes after spending $1.8 million last spring on a new scoreboard for right field ($700,000) and LED lighting for night play ($1.1 million).
Gillison said bulbs that had been replaced annually by crews working from big lifts should now last 25 years.
Construction on stadium improvements is underway and expected to end before April 2025, when the season starts.
Revenue from the team won’t make up for these expenses. The city will collect $330,000 in annual rent and about $90,000 per season from a 10% ticket tax. The Quakes keep all parking fees and sell advertising within the stadium. And it’s the team that sells naming rights to the ballpark, currently called LoanMart Field at the Epicenter.
But city officials say there are spinoff benefits, like restaurant meals and hotel stays by fans, and complementary development is anticipated near the stadium. The Brightline West station for the bullet train to and from Las Vegas will be about four blocks away.
“We want to make it a real sports and ‘eatertainment’ area,” Gillison told me. “Our vision for that complex is a mini Wrigley Village or a mini Petco Park area.”
Gillison and Elisa Cox, the deputy city manager, declined to comment about the Quakes’ affiliation, saying that it wasn’t their news to share. But they said the affiliation isn’t crucial for the team’s success and won’t matter to many in the stands.
“We’ve had three affiliates,” Cox noted.
“The Angels were our affiliate when they won the World Series” in 2002, Gillison said. “If the Dodgers win this year, that will give us two!”
Over the years, Cox said, attendance has been level under both the Dodgers and Angels. The Quakes actually drew best in their early years under the Padres, Gillison said, probably due to the surge of excitement about having a team here.
The new lease, by the way, expressly allows for a competing team: “…Tenant may operate a second baseball team of a different name in a stadium located south of the I-10 Freeway within the City of Ontario.”
Cox and Gillison say that Ontario gaining a team won’t be a loss for the Quakes. The contrary, in fact.
“I don’t think there’ll be any impact that isn’t positive,” Gillison said. “This area is growing tremendously. There’s a tremendous fan base for baseball, no matter the team. Community baseball is about sports and family. It’s not as intense a rivalry.”
If the Angels are in Rancho Cucamonga and the Dodgers are in Ontario, about 11 miles apart, there might even be synergy of a sort.
Cox exclaimed: “We’ll have a freeway series!”
Ha! It could be like something out of “SNL’s” sketch “The Californians”: You could take the 15 to the 60, or the 91 to the 71…
Finances aside, a minor league baseball team is an amenity for residents and a point of civic pride.
According to City Hall, the Quakes have produced more than 60 alumni who have gone on to play in the Major Leagues, including Mike Trout, Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger. The Quakes have three California League championships: 1994, 2015 and 2018.
“It’s part of our identity,” Gillison said. “The Quakes are a part of Rancho. Rancho is a part of the Quakes. That will continue for probably two generations.”
The Quakes, you might say, are embedded in Rancho Cucamonga’s bedrock.
brIEfly
After the Coco’s Bakery Cafe in Brea shut down for good on Oct. 16 after 45 years, a mere five Coco’s are left, the Orange County Register reported. Two are in Orange County, in Garden Grove and Mission Hills, and three are in San Bernardino County, in Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands and Upland. Of the shrinking Coco’s pie, the IE has the largest slice.
David Allen ducks as cream pies are thrown Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Email [email protected], phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on X.
