New Roads to the Show

On Wednesday, the 30 Major League Baseball teams "invited" four teams each to form their respective minor league systems beginning in 2021. (Whether or not there will be a minor league baseball season next year has yet to be determined.)

The next day, as it so happened, I wore my Kansas City Royals "The Road to the Show" t-shirt. This wasn't a statement. It simply reflected a need to do laundry and the casual dress code that goes along my staff working remotely due to COVID-19, leaving me the only one in the office.

When I undressed that night, I noticed that my shirt has become a record from another time.

Starting at "9 o'clock" in the printed image, the Idaho Falls Chukars, like all of the teams in the rookie Pioneer League, will cease to be a part of affiliated baseball. The league, operating under the same name, will become independent but also an "MLB partner league," an oxymoron if there ever was one.

Continuing clockwise, the Burlington Royals, where I bought the souvenir t-shirt, will also leave affiliated baseball. The entire Appalachian League will cease to be an MLB rookie league and instead become a summer collegiate league, with all teams rebranding as a result. Melvin and I will never get a chance to see the Elizabethton Twins, Greeneville Reds, or Kingsport Mets. 

Further up the former developmental ladder, the Lexington Legends, part of the Low-A South Atlantic League since 2001, were not invited to associate with any major league franchise. They may eventually join an existing independent league but for now, the Legends are out of baseball. I bet the bonds on Whitaker Bank Ballpark aren't even paid off.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Royals' affiliate for all but two of the 28 years they have existed, were invited to become a part of the Washington Nationals' system. Much of the reconfiguration of the minor leagues is intended to bring teams closer to the parent franchise. Wilmington is two hours by car from DC. For now, the Blue Rocks will continue to be in the Carolina League, although it appears that the High-A league structure is still in formation.

The Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals and the Triple-A Omaha (really Papillion) Storm Chasers will remain a part of the Royals' player development system.

The changes at most of the other MLB organizations were less extreme. A dozen teams kept the same affiliates at Single-A and above. (The previous statement acquiesces to the fact that the rookie and short-season leagues have for the most part been expunged.) Another 10 teams have only one new minor league team, although in many cases the Low- and High-A licensees—new contractual terms! new nomenclature!—swapped places in the hierarchy.

In addition to Lexington, perhaps as many as nine other Single-A and higher teams will not operate in 2021. Like the Legends, some may find a home somewhere, in independent ball or an MLB-sponsored showcase league. The Fresno Grizzlies stayed in the game by accepting a demotion to the now Low-A California League, a move facilitated by a renegotiation of the stadium lease. The Staten Island Yankees turned down a $5 million stadium renovation and handed the keys back to the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

The Midwest League, previously the largest with 16 teams, will lose three. Clinton, Iowa has a great history of baseball going back to the late-19th-century and a charming WPA stadium from 1937. Although a bit of a drive, Melvin and Watson go see the the Kane County (Geneva, Illinois) Cougars at least once a year. Burlington, Iowa is where a great uncle of mine got his start in baseball in 1905. Potentially, all gone.

We've may lose more than a couple of dozen teams, or so I worry. Centralized corporate control is the antithesis of independence and I fear that a lot of the individuality of the minor league teams will be lost. At the same time, I think the changes will be subtle and in five or 10 years, we will barely remember what we once had.