PAPILLION, NEB. – With a 7-3 win over the Columbus Clippers Thursday at Werner Park, the Omaha Storm Chasers won the franchise’s first International League Championship, securing a best-of-three series two games to one, the club’s eighth Triple-A league title and fourth trip to the Triple-A National Championship Game since 2011. With the victory, Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate is the first Triple-A team to win a title in three different leagues, having also won league championships in the American Association and Pacific Coast League prior to joining the International League in 2021.
After winning the International League first half title for the right to host the League Championship Series, the Storm Chasers welcomed Columbus (Cleveland Triple-A Affiliate) to Werner Park for the best-of-three series. The Clippers took game one of the series Tuesday 3-2, but Omaha won Wednesday’s contest 5-4 in 11 innings on a walk-off sacrifice fly from Nick Pratto, before the four-run victory in Game 3 Thursday. Catcher Brian O’Keefe homered twice over the three games for Omaha, including Thursday, while he and infielder Nate Eaton each drove in four runs in the series.
The Storm Chasers will head to Las Vegas for the Triple-A National Championship Game Saturday at Las Vegas Ballpark and face off against the Pacific Coast League Champion, Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston Triple-A affiliate), after Sugar Land swept of the Reno Aces in the PCL Championship Series, the Space Cowboys’ first PCL title in franchise history. The Triple-A National Championship Game will be a winner-take-all game Saturday, September 28 at Las Vegas Ballpark with a 9:07 p.m. CT, 7:07 p.m. local time start. This will be the fourth Triple-A National Championship trip for Omaha and the fifth Triple-A Championship appearance dating back to the club’s inception in 1969. The Storm Chasers won back-to-back National Championship games back in 2013 and 2014, with the Omaha Royals winning the 1990 Triple-A Classic.
In 2024, Minor League baseball played a “split schedule” where both Triple-A leagues split into two halves, with the first half concluding on June 23, the second half commencing on June 25 and the regular season ending on September 22. Omaha’s 9-4 victory over the Louisville Bats on Tuesday, June 18, was the team’s sixth straight win, to move to a 6.0-game lead over the second-place Syracuse Mets with five games remaining in the first half. In the Pacific Coast League, the Space Cowboys clinched the first half of the season to secure a playoff spot before they moved on to earn a berth in the Triple-A National Championship game.
One of the best teams in Minor League Baseball in 2024, the Chasers ended the season with an International League best, 89-59 record (.601 winning percentage), just behind the Sugar Land Space Cowboys for the best record at the Triple-A level, with Sugar Land going 93-56 (.624 winning percentage).
Prior to 2024, Omaha’s last trip to the postseason came in 2014, the second of back-to-back Triple-A National Championships. Members of the Pacific Coast League at the time, the 2014 Storm Chasers defeated the Memphis Redbirds three games to one in the PCL American Conference Championship Series, beat the Reno Aces three games to two in the Pacific Coast League Championship Series, then topped the Pawtucket Red Sox 4-2 in the Triple-A National Championship Game.
Omaha won the 2013 Triple-A National Championship Game 2-1 over the Durham Bulls, lost the 2011 National Championship 8-3 to the Columbus Clippers, and won the 1990 Triple-A Classic 4 games to 1 over the Rochester Red Wings.
The Triple-A Omaha franchise has won eight league championships: 1969, 1970, 1978 and 1990 while playing in the American Association, as well as 2011, 2013 and 2014 in the Pacific Coast League, and now being in the International League, have one in 2024.
