After Years Of Relocation Churn, MiLB Has Entered Period Of Unprecedented Stability
Image credit: (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
With the arrival of stricter facility standards, the first wave of minor league relocations takes effect this season, with three teams moving to new cities and new ballparks. A fourth will follow in 2026.
The Braves’ Double-A affiliate remains in the Southern League but moves from Pearl, Miss., to Columbus, Ga., and becomes the Columbus Clingstones. Atlanta now has all four full-season affiliates within the state of Georgia.
The Rangers’ Low-A Down East franchise moves to Spartanburg, S.C., to become the Hub City Spartanburgers. The club also changes classification by moving from the Carolina League to the High-A South Atlantic League. Another Rangers affiliate, in Hickory, N.C., will drop to Low-A to even out the league alignments.
The Cubs’ Double-A affiliate in Tennessee moves 40 miles down the road from Sevierville to a new ballpark in Knoxville. They will still play as the Smokies, but the city name will change from Tennessee to Knoxville.
There will be movement next year, as well. The Brewers’ Low-A Carolina affiliate will move 30 miles from Zebulon, N.C., to Wilson, N.C., to become the Wilson Warbirds.
In the California League, the Dodgers will move to a new stadium set to open in 2026 in Ontario, Calif. That will lead to the Angels assuming Rancho Cucamonga as its affiliate, while the Mariners will take Inland Empire once it is vacated by the Angels. The Mariners’ former Modesto affiliate will drop out of the Cal League.
But when compared to past decades, the stability of the minor leagues in the 2020s has been remarkable.
When MLB took over the minor leagues in late 2020, it did so with the most dramatic change the minors had seen in half a century. It could be argued that it was the most monumental change in minor league history. MLB eliminated the short-season Class A and Rookie-advanced levels, which led to more than 40 teams being pushed out of affiliated ball.
For the 120 remaining full-season teams, the past four seasons have been the most stable period in minor league history.
Continuous churn has long been part of the minor league experience. Affiliation agreements used to be set in two-year increments, ensuring that every other offseason would include MLB teams and minor league clubs playing a game of musical chairs. And for most of minor league history, there has been a steady stream of movement from city to city, as teams looked for better stadium deals and better markets.
But from 2021 to 2024, the remaining teams operated in the longest period of franchise stability the minor leagues have ever seen.
Part of that is by design. The biennial affiliation shuffle has been replaced by 10-year Professional Development Licenses. Today, an affiliate shifting from one MLB organization to another doesn’t happen. The three-team Cal League swap for next year is the rare exception.
But the lack of teams changing cities is a new development. Normally enhanced facility standards requirements, have led to large-scale movement of minor league teams around the sport.
The last significant facility standards upgrade, in the 1990s, led to a dramatic number of franchise shifts. Cities with older stadiums found themselves shut out by the increased field and clubhouse requirements. It also led to a building boom that saw minor league attendance skyrocket.
This time, there is plenty of construction going on, with some teams getting new stadiums and many getting upgrades to their current parks. But the franchise movement seen in the past has been remarkably modest for a major facility standards change.
From 1991 to 1995, 23 minor league teams moved to new cities. If you expand to 1997, that number jumps to 28.
This time, the changes between 2021 to 2025 are four. Even with some more movement scheduled for upcoming years, by 2027 the number of teams changing cities will remain in the single digits.
That’s more in line with what was seen from 2011 to 2015—with no significant changes to facility standards in the Professional Baseball Agreement—when three teams moved. And it’s fewer than 2001 to 2005—again in a time of no facility standard changes—when nine teams moved.
So while seeing relocated teams in Columbus, Knoxville and Spartanburg might hint at minor league instability, it is nothing like the movement created by the facility standards upgrades that took effect 35 years ago.
In the minor leagues today, the biggest change is that there is no change.
