The evening of June 28th, the Malmö Oat Milkers came to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but they’ll have some familiar faces. Your hometown RailRiders played as the Oat Milkers, Minor League Baseball™ (MiLB™)’s newest team brought to the league by Oatly, the world’s original and largest oatmilk company.

Questions such as “the Malmö whats?” “How do I even pronounce that?” and/or “what is oatmilk?” as well as statements including “I don’t get it, and I just want to watch some RailRiders baseball” are appropriate and, frankly, not shocking. Luckily, the Oatly public relations department shared some answers with us, which admittedly could bring either more clarity or more confusion to this situation.

Announced during MLB Tonight’s March 27 evening broadcast, the introduction of The Malmö Oat Milkers to the league is part of Oatly’s ongoing multi-year partnership with MiLB as the first-ever national plant-based, non-dairy sponsor, and pays homage to Oatly’s home city of Malmö, Sweden.

All of MiLB’s already existing 120 teams are each playing one game this season as the Oat Milkers, including the RailRiders – making the Oat Milkers more than just the 121^st team of MiLB, but also an occasion for our local players to wear non-generic, but also non-outlandish pink accented jerseys for nine entire innings. Fans are under no obligation to wear Oat Milkers’ gear, but we’re told Oatly – the corporate sponsors – would love that.

While now primarily known for “assuming the identity of a MiLB team,” Oatly also makes a delicious range of oat-based, non-dairy milk alternatives that offer the same creamy taste, frothy feel, and functionality as cow’s milk, while generally having a lower environmental impact1. This includes frozen dessert concessions available for purchase at PNC Field.