How come no cities on CA's Central Coast have minor league teams?

Question

I'm talkin' about cities such as Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, & Salinas. I really don't want 2 hear that the beach is way more preferable then baseball (FL has beaches, 2, & ½ of the big leaguers do there spring trainin' their.} I'm in Bakersfield, about a hundred miles from the Central Coast, & we have a Class A Team. (But they will leave next year as we've been pretty indifferent about the Blaze). & the Southern ÷ teams in the California League are all in the Mojave Dessert/Inland Empire. Also, are there some on the Central Coast who are interested in having a baseball team? I'd appreci8 some answerers particularly from California & would likely award one of 'em the Best Answer. Incidentally, I myself don't really follow the Blaze as they lose quite a lot of games & it's 2 hot 2 b @ a game (which could b y the Blaze will be leavin'.)

Answer 1

There's a minor league team called the Rancho Cucamunga Quakes who are associated with the Anaheim Angels. There is also a semi pro soccer team in Ventura called Fusion.

Answer 2

There aren't a whole lot of people between Santa Barbara and San Jose along the coast.  Ventura itself is only about an hour's drive from Dodger Stadium and that would be a more attractive alternative to a minor league game.  Could San Luis Obisbo or Pismo Beach sustain anything bigger than their own high school teams?  

I am surprised that Bakersfield is losing its California league team as Bakersfield is a long haul to either the Dodgers or Angels.  As you correctly point out, most of the Southern California teams in the California League are inland empire teams.  The Pacific Coast League (AAA) is all over the West now, including Las Vegas and Salt Lake.  

Answer 3

Great question.  Baseball is definitely sustainable there - After all, over a hundred MLB players have come from Ventura County, including a dozen first-rounders, like #1 overall pick Delmon Young, who's from Camarillo, and Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played against one another on a barnstorming trip in Santa Barbara in 1927 at Peabody Stadium.

I've never really thought about it, but outside of the Blaze (and the rest of the California League - High Desert Mavericks, Inland Empire 66ers, Modesto Nuts, etc.) and the 5 major league teams in the state, there are the Fresno Grizzlies and the Sacramento River Cats of the PCL and the Chico Outlaws of the Golden League (GLB).

Heck, Orange County alone has three teams - the Angels, GLB's Orange County Flyers, and the Long Beach Armada, also of GLB (I know Long Beach isn't technically Orange County, but it might as well be) and Orange County doesn't exactly make one think of rabid baseball fans.

And yet, there's the Central Coast, baseball free... interesting. It's almost like they intentionally cut a swath around it, from San Jose (Giants) to Fresno (Grizzlies) to Bakersfield (Blaze) to Lancaster (Jethawks).