Modesto’s new baseball team has a name— the Glow Riders
Updated: 7:29 PM PST Nov 10, 2025
A new era of baseball is set to begin in Modesto after the Nuts played their final games before their move to Southern California. Main Street Baseball, owners of the new Pioneer Baseball League franchise slated for Modesto, announced the new team name, the Modesto Glow Riders, on Monday morning. The team name was decided by fans in a contest, after hundreds of names submitted by fans were scaled down to nine. Of the nine finalists, the team’s ownership said the Glow Riders had the most unique votes from different people. The names Graffiti and Harvesters scored highest, but officials said those names appeared to receive duplicate votes.“All of us with the new baseball team could not be more pleased by the passion, dialogue and interest generated by the Cost Less Foods Name the Team contest,” said Dave Heller, CEO of Main Street Baseball, in a news release. “We wanted a name that would be new, original and unique to the area, a name that reflects the culture, history and heritage of Modesto and its people, and Glow Riders does all that and more.”Heller said the name taps into car culture, and new neon designs will also pay tribute to the art of Latino lowrider culture. With the new team name comes a new mascot: a kit fox named “Cruiser.” The fox is featured in one of the team’s new logo designs, while an alternate design features a colorful Sugar Skull skeleton. Keep up with updates about the new team on its website. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
MODESTO, Calif. —
A new era of baseball is set to begin in Modesto after the Nuts played their final games before their move to Southern California.
Main Street Baseball, owners of the new Pioneer Baseball League franchise slated for Modesto, announced the new team name, the Modesto Glow Riders, on Monday morning.
The team name was decided by fans in a contest, after hundreds of names submitted by fans were scaled down to nine. Of the nine finalists, the team’s ownership said the Glow Riders had the most unique votes from different people. The names Graffiti and Harvesters scored highest, but officials said those names appeared to receive duplicate votes.
“All of us with the new baseball team could not be more pleased by the passion, dialogue and interest generated by the Cost Less Foods Name the Team contest,” said Dave Heller, CEO of Main Street Baseball, in a news release. “We wanted a name that would be new, original and unique to the area, a name that reflects the culture, history and heritage of Modesto and its people, and Glow Riders does all that and more.”
Heller said the name taps into car culture, and new neon designs will also pay tribute to the art of Latino lowrider culture.
With the new team name comes a new mascot: a kit fox named “Cruiser.” The fox is featured in one of the team’s new logo designs, while an alternate design features a colorful Sugar Skull skeleton.
Keep up with updates about the new team on its website.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel