There is a remarkable number of sports teams in Traverse City, Michigan and its surrounding environs for such a small and lightly populated area of the country. With a surprising number of professional and semi-professional sports teams across a wide range of sports, the region by the Bay is fast becoming an essential part of the northern Midwest sports scene in some spheres. Though most of the teams in the region are currently only getting started in their respective leagues, they are already playing to sell-out crowds and fast becoming local favorites in the Traverse City area.

The area's local baseball team is the Traverse City Beach Bums, named after the nearby beaches and resorts on the shores of Traverse Bay where some people come every summer. When the Frontier League baseball organization granted a franchise to Traverse City, Michigan after the end of the league's 2004 season, there were some questions about whether or not to expand the league or relocate an existing team. In the end, it was decided to move a team, specifically the Richmond Roosters, and Traverse City inherited the Roosters' records and accomplishments over their years spent playing in Richmond. The team's first home game was played at Wuerfel Park in 2006 against the Kalamazoo Kings to a sold out crowd numbering almost six thousand.

The team is currently managed by John and Leslye Wuerfel, local business magnates with interests elsewhere in the Traverse City area. Their son, Jason (who lettered four times in baseball at the University of Michigan) serves as Vice President and head of operations, as well as operating a baseball academy intended to teach the game at a higher level to young players. By all accounts, the family has done all right for themselves running the team, and Beach Bums home games take in over 200,000 fans a season, making them among the most attended games in the independent baseball leagues of the United States. The team's current manager, Gregg Langbehn, spent ten seasons coaching inside the Houston Astros minor league system. Their current pitching coach is Roger Mason, a native of the Northern Michigan area who spent nine seasons as a pitcher in Major League Baseball, with a World Series appearance in 1993 during his stint with the Philadelphia Phillies. Since moving to Traverse City and becoming the Beach Bums, the club has made two playoff appearances and in 2012 placed first in the Frontier League East.

The Traverse City Wolves are the local football team, a semi-professional team that is a member of the Great Lakes Football League. Intended as a summer league football when the National Football League and college football are out of season, the Traverse City Wolves were formed in 2007 and had held on to their place in the community. Among other elements, they hold open tryouts for anybody who wishes to be considered to play for the team, and while not everybody can get on the team, hopefuls from around the Northern Michigan area frequently attend the team's tryouts for their shot at pigskin glory. Locals consider the team theirs and many young amateur athletes have found their way into the team's ranks over the past decade of operation. Games are frequently played Fridays and Saturdays, though exceptions do occur. Home games are always played at Thirlby Field, once a simple farmer's field a century ago, since transformed into the local heart of Traverse City football.

In previous times, the city also hosted a junior ice hockey team, the Traverse City North Stars. The team operated from 2005 to 2012, after which it was sold to the city of Soo to become the Soo Eagles (later the New Jersey Junior Titans). Though hockey as a checkered history in Traverse City, the local hockey fans are not entirely without hope. The National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings have a training rink in Traverse City, and hockey fans from across the region who can't get to regular season games for the Red Wings tend to flock to the training rink in the offseason to see some of the Red Wings action live that they typically only see on television.