Major League Baseball is looking to cut twenty-five minor league teams by 2021 in the latest negotiations between MLB and MiLB, known as The Professional Baseball Agreement. The PBA helps establish MLB teams and their minor league affiliate teams, leagues, etc. The current agreement expires after the 2020 season.
Summarizing Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper’s article, Major League Baseball is looking to restructure how minor league baseball is run by cutting twenty-five teams along with forcing teams from Single-A baseball to move up to Triple-A and vice versa. Some minor leagues like the Pacific Coast League could lose teams while the International League gains teams.
MLB is looking to place these teams close to their major league teams. MLB is also considering cutting down the draft to just twenty-five rounds, and the rest of the players who go undrafted can play in an independent league for undrafted players.
With MLB looking to cut these twenty-five minor league teams, the question then becomes. Do the Independent Baseball League’s stand to gain a footprint in the baseball world? These twenty-five teams are going to need a new league to play in, and it would be a considerable gain for leagues like the Atlantic League and Frontier League.
Over the years, Independent Baseball League’s have placed teams in the same ballparks after a city loses its team due to relocation. Case in point, when the New Britain Fisher Cats left for Hartford, CT to become the Hartford Yard Goats, the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball placed a team at the stadium where the Fisher Cats played, and the new team was formed and known as the New Britain Bees.
Many fans have overlooked Independent Baseball as a bunch of rejects who couldn’t make it to an MLB or minor league roster. The truth is, these fans are missing out on some great baseball action. There are only so many spots open in the majors and minors, with many more players cut and in need of a place to play.
Independent baseball provides that opportunity for players to continue their careers or veterans looking to prove themselves and make a case to return to Major League Baseball. Independent baseball games are fun to attend, and some of the games are better to watch than some MLB games.
Once these teams are revealed, Independent Baseball can only get better with new rivalries, new fans, and more games for fans to enjoy. It’s a great time to be a fan of Independent baseball, and the future is looking bright.
