“I Was Wrong” Why MLB’s Minor League Restructure Was Better Than Expected

“We had a great season, and we had a blast doing it,” Davis says. “You really were hamstrung as an affiliated team ... yes, we loved being an independent team.”

In 2020, before realignment, ESPN spoke to dozens of minor league officials, many of whom predicted disaster as MLB moved to reduce the number of affiliated teams from 160 to 120, four for each major league club. Recently, we reached out to more than 50 teams to see how they fared—especially those teams that lost affiliation.

For some clubs, the reconfiguration was indeed a disaster. Eight teams that lost affiliation either folded altogether or did not play in 2021 (one because of an unfinished stadium), and some of those teams are suing MLB for breach of contract and tortious interference. Officials from teams that remained affiliated expressed general satisfaction, although some said they wouldn’t air gripes publicly for fear of angering Major League Baseball.

I’m a bit skeptical of the positive tone. 7 out of 40 teams folded is a big concern but it’s nice to see something from the positive side of this one.