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Iowa fans will get the first look at 2002 PCL baseball. 
The I-Cubs will host a matinee game to launch the season.

The 99th Pacific Coast League season will kick off with an afternoon game in Des Moines, Iowa on April 4. The I-Cubs will host defending league co-champion New Orleans at 2:05 p.m. Central Time at Sec Taylor Stadium.

One-half hour later will be an afternoon game in Colorado Springs (1:35 p.m. Mountain Time) as the Oklahoma Redhawks visit the rocky mountains.  Also opening the 2002 campaign that night will be Salt Lake, Omaha, Memphis, Nashville, Las Vegas, and Tucson

The league will feature not one but two pennant raising ceremonies on April 12. League co-champions New Orleans, and Tacoma will open at home that night, and will each raise flags signaling their 2001 season championships.

The Pacific Coast League, and all minor leagues canceled their championship series last September after the terrorist attacks on the United States.

For  only the second time in league history a CO-champion was declared. Ironically, the other time a CO-champion was declared was 1978, and Tacoma was part of that decision.

Tacoma and New Orleans will first face each other on June 22 in Tacoma. Secondary home openers will take place on April 12 in Portland, Calgary, Tacoma, Sacramento, New Orleans, Oklahoma, and Las Vegas.

The final team to play at home will be Fresno. They are in the process of finishing their new stadium, and the exact date for the stadium opening is still to be determined. The site for the April 16 opener with Nashville is also being finalized.

The league's 16 member teams will play an unbalanced 144-game schedule. Every team will play 16 games (8 home, 8 away) against teams within their division.

The clubs will also play 8 games against all other clubs (four home and four away).

Among the other schedule notes for 2002:

*Oklahoma will host the AAA All-Star game on July 10, 2002.

*The final all-Canadian matchup in the Pacific Coast League will take place September 2, 2002 in Calgary. The Cannons will host Edmonton that evening, marking the final Pacific Coast League game in Calgary. Cannons will transfer to Albuquerque for the 2003 season.