Over the past year, Minor League Baseball has undergone a major restructuring. This includes an entire revamping of the Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A (High/Low) levels. Short Season-A and Rookie Level leagues have been eliminated all together. These are major changes for the developmental levels of professional baseball. Interestingly, MLB has recently hired five regional supervisors to oversee day-to-day issues that arise in their new minor league system. This is a vastly different approach than in the past, where each individual league had their own governing body.
Similar to the realignment of Triple-A, the historic leagues have been eliminated in Double-A. The Eastern League, Southern League and Texas League are no more. They’ve been replaced with a generic sounding Double-A Central, Northeast and South. In any case, the Central largely contains teams from the Texas League, the Northeast teams come primarily from the Eastern League and the South from the Southern League. There are, however, a few franchises on the move. The Witchita Wind Surge have moved from the Pacific Coast League (Triple-A) to Double-A Central. And the Somerset Patriots have joined Double-A Northeast from the independent Atlantic League.
Here’s a look at how the new version of the league is organized:
Double-A Central
North Division
Arkansas Travelers (Mariners)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals)
Springfield Cardinals (Cardinals)
Tulsa Drillers (Dodgers)
Wichita Wind Surge (Twins)
South Division
Amarillo Sod Poodles (D-backs)
Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros)
Frisco RoughRiders (Rangers)
Midland RockHounds (A’s)
San Antonio Missions (Padres)
Double-A Northeast
Northeast Division
Binghamton Rumble Ponies (Mets)
Hartford Yard Goats (Rockies)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays)
Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox)
Reading Fightin Phils (Phillies)
Somerset Patriots (Yankees)
Southwest Division
Akron RubberDucks (Indians)
Altoona Curve (Pirates)
Bowie Baysox (Orioles)
Erie SeaWolves (Tigers)
Harrisburg Senators (Nationals)
Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants)
Double-A South
North Division
Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
Chattanooga Lookouts (Reds)
Rocket City Trash Pandas (Angels)
Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)
South Division
Biloxi Shuckers (Brewers)
Mississippi Braves (Braves)
Montgomery Biscuits (Rays)
Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Marlins)
Similar to Triple-A, it remains unclear exactly how the new postseason format will work. In the case of Double-A, having three regions would certainly complicate any postseason plans. Regardless, we look forward to finding out how MiLB plans on crowning their league champions.
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