BY MATT KITE for WEEKLY VOLCANO 4/3/26 |
Last week, during a damp and chilly March day that felt like it had blown in from January, the Tacoma Rainiers hosted Media Day at Cheney Stadium. The players, fresh off spring training in the balmy Arizona desert, did their best to weather a few reps on the pitching mound and at the batter’s box.
The temperature, meanwhile, never topped forty-three degrees Fahrenheit. Rain puddled on the seats, stairs, and outdoor concourses, and a biting wind tore through the empty stadium. But none of that stopped Andy Helwig, director of media relations and baseball information, from inviting local media members into the home dugout to watch the soggy ritual.
While pitcher Randy Dobnak hurled his best stuff from the mound in a spitting rain, Helwig was all smiles. The 2026 season, after all, was just about to start.
“I think what’s special about this time of year is the culmination of all the work that gets put in during the offseason,” Helwig said in an email two days later. “There’s a lot of buildup leading up to Opening Day, a lot of work to make sure we’re ready, and there’s a sense of relief once the games start. The baseball is the best part of the job for me, so once we get started, the fun really begins.”
Helwig, hired by the Rainiers last year, has spent a total of nine years in professional baseball and has made stops in Buffalo, New York, and St. Paul, Minnesota.
“Buffalo is home for me,” he said, “but I’ve loved my time in Tacoma. It’s a beautiful place to live. The front office here is great, and they all do a great job.”
At Media Day, Helwig wore a path between the dugout and a tunnel just inside the stadium, where the Rainiers’ Rylee Pay, the first female lead broadcaster at the Triple-A level, was overseeing interviews with the players. Pay was joined by News Tribune reporter Tyler Wicke, who had plenty of questions for the Rainiers’ star players.
While sheltering in the dugout, Helwig brought up a startling fact: Tacoma suffered no rainouts last season. Zero. Nada. None. Only two rain delays marred an otherwise perfect season that saw the Rainiers finish with the most wins (86) since the switchover in 1995, when Tacoma became the Triple-A farm team for the Seattle Mariners.
Two players instrumental in the Rainiers’ success last season were outfielder Rhylan Thomas, twenty-five, and infielder Colt Emerson, twenty. Their respective interviews in the tunnel hinted at the joy and heartache of playing for a shot at reaching the big leagues. Thomas led the Pacific Coast League with 178 hits last year and was called up to the Seattle Mariners for three days to spell an injured player. Emerson, Seattle’s number-one pick in 2023 and one of baseball’s top prospects, is still waiting for his first stint with the Mariners, who are currently experiencing a bit of a logjam at second base and shortstop.
Thomas talked about team chemistry and being present in the moment, while Emerson emphasized how much he focuses only on what he can control: being consistent every day and playing winning baseball.
Outside, a light drizzle turned into a steady rain, and Dobnak finally left the mound, looking the part of a grizzled veteran pitcher, his shaggy beard soaked through and his right arm appearing sufficiently menacing. The 6-foot-1, 230-pound right-handed pitcher had put the finishing touches on his spring preparation and was ready to start the regular season.
In fact, the entire organization seemed to be bursting with energy stored up during spring training and the short offseason before it. At the team store, a small crew busily unpacked merchandise, set up displays, and readied the retail space for the first home game of the season. Rows of hats in various colors ran the gamut from old school to camouflage. Countless more, it turned out, had yet to be unboxed.
In the tiny press box upstairs, sleeping laptops awaited users for the first homestand, a six-game series with the El Paso Chihuahuas. Positively humming was Derek Geib, a media relations intern from the University of South Carolina, who had flown in the day before and was now fielding inquiries from the local media.
The optimism at Cheney Stadium was ubiquitous and all but dried out the rain.
“I’m looking forward to another great season in Tacoma,” Helwig said. “The Rainiers roster shapes up to be really strong this season. The Mariners bolstered their minor league depth really well. We should have a fun lineup that fans will really enjoy watching. On that note, too, the Rainiers have set attendance records each of the last three seasons, so I’m looking forward to seeing the fans come out in droves again this year.”
In fact, a record 430,813 baseball fans pushed through the turnstiles in 2025, and for the second straight season, the Rainiers topped the 400,000 mark in attendance. It helps that the Mariners came within one win of reaching the World Series last fall, but Tacoma has its own magic, irrespective of what’s happening up the road in Seattle.
Asked about what newcomers can expect at the ballpark, Helwig waxed poetic. “The first-time visitor will get a great traditional, old-school atmosphere,” he said. “Given that Cheney Stadium was built in 1960, it has that classic old-time ballpark feel to it. The game entertainment crew does a great job to make sure everyone has fun. The concessions have something for everyone. I’ve got a couple favorites picked out, but I still haven’t even tried everything they have to offer yet. My personal recommendations are the Best Dog and the Loaded Baked Potato with brisket.”
If you like pitching, you’ve come to the right ballpark. Puget Sound’s moist air and mostly mild weather mean pitching will always be paramount. The ball does not exactly fly off the bat at Cheney Stadium.
“The Pacific Coast League is notoriously one of the most offensive-friendly environments in minor league baseball, with teams in Albuquerque, Salt Lake, Las Vegas, all at some serious elevation that lets the ball fly,” Helwig said. “Tacoma is one of the more pitcher-friendly environments in the league, though.”
For tickets and more information on the team and this year’s schedule, visit https://www.wertacoma.com/.
