Blue Wahoos 2024 Home Schedule Offers More Relief From Summer's Heat 

In his first season as Blue Wahoos general manager, Steve Brice has inquired with an oft-asked question among any newcomer to the area this summer.

“Is it always this hot here?”

Amid two months of record heat in Pensacola and drier-than-normal weeks, the Blue Wahoos have less than a month remaining in their 2023 regular-season.

A peak ahead has revealed a 2024 schedule with some homestand relief if these kind of conditions should repeat. The Blue Wahoos recently received their next-year schedule from Major League Baseball, which has triggered planning for the future.

The Blue Wahoos will begin 2024 at home on April 5 against the Mississippi Braves in their earliest season-start in five years. They have a more favorable set of home games at Blue Wahoos Stadium before the heat of summer hits its peak.

“I think it’s spread out very well,” Brice said. “I love that our back-to-back homestands are in April (from April 16-28 vs Rocket City and Biloxi).

“We only have one of those at home which is nice. We have three series with three games each and I think that is a good selling point as well.”

The Blue Wahoos will play 15 of their 22 games in April next season at home. It will be part of 39 home games before the second half of the season begins in late June.

They will play a first time, three-game home series on July 1-3 vs Montgomery, before traveling on the Fourth of July, which is on a Thursday in 2024. They will remain on the road July 10-13 during the Blue Angels Air Show week on Pensacola Beach.

This season, the Blue Wahoos played a home series that began on July 4 and carried into the Blue Angels Air Show weekend.

“It’s good in the sense that we are showcased throughout a summer, and to be on the road (Blue Angels week) and have that be their week is nice having that stand alone.

“It gives our game-day staff and everyone that supports our team a chance to enjoy the Blue Angels’ performances that week which is a really good thing.”

Having 30 home games in the second half of the 2024 season is desirable when considering how hot it has been in July and August this season.

This week the Blue Wahoos remain in the Gulf Coast heatwave with a road series against the Biloxi Shuckers that concludes on Sunday. They won the first three games of the series with impressive performances.

The Blue Wahoos return home to begin a home series on Aug. 29 against the Chattanooga Lookouts that leads into the Labor Day weekend.

“I know for our fans it’s not been easy coming to a ball game with a feel-like temperature that has been as high as 115 degrees outside,” Brice said. “I credit our fans for coming out. Our attendance this season has been so good.

“We’ve had plenty of really, hot nights, and people have still come out and supported us. I have been very impressed with our fans when it has been so hot like this. We have a great product here, we have a great ballpark and I think the fans’ support speaks volumes to that.”

Some highlights of the 2024 home schedule, released earlier this week.

--- The Blue Wahoos will have 27 of their first 46 games in 2024 at Blue Wahoos Stadium, including 15 of the 24 games in April.

--- The schedule will begin at home (April 5) and end at home (Sept. 15).

--- The Blue Wahoos will play at home on Mother’s Day, the Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend.

--- They will have three homestands with just three games. The first one is the opening weekend (April 5-7 vs. Mississippi Braves), then on July 1-3 (vs. Montgomery Biscuits) and July 19-21 (vs. Mississippi) that follows the four-day, MLB All-Star break.

--- They will have just three homestands after July 28 – two in August, one in September.

“It’s really nice to have less games in those dog days of summer,” Brice said. “I think it plays well for us. It really works out well. This also seems like the earliest a (next year) schedule has been released which is nice. It gives more time to plan.”