Triple-A (baseball)

History

Prior to 1946, the top level of Minor League Baseball was Double-A, which had been established in 1912.

• American Association (AA)
• International League (IL)
• Pacific Coast League (PCL)

This structure persisted for the next 75 years with only a few changes:

• 1952–1957: The PCL was classified as "Open" for these six seasons, in anticipation of it potentially becoming a third major league; once the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants relocated from New York City to California, the PCL returned to Triple-A for the 1958 season.
• 1963–1968: The AA did not operate during these six seasons.
• 1967: The Mexican League received Triple-A classification; it had previously been Double-A since 1955
• 1979: The Inter-American League debuted with a Triple-A classification; the league disbanded in June
• 1998: Teams from the AA, which disbanded after the 1997 season, were added to the PCL and IL

The IL, PCL, and Mexican League continued as Triple-A leagues until Major League Baseball reorganized the minor leagues prior to the 2021 season. At that time, the IL and PCL were temporarily renamed Triple-A East and Triple-A West, respectively. The Mexican League continues to operate, independently. Following MLB's acquisition of the rights to the names of the historical minor leagues, they announced on March 16, 2022, that the leagues would once again be called the International League and the Pacific Coast League, effective with the 2022 season.

Countries

While all current and the majority of past Triple-A teams have been located in the United States, Triple-A teams have also been based in:

• Canada: teams including the Montreal Royals and Ottawa Lynx of the IL and the Calgary Cannons, Edmonton Trappers, and Vancouver Mounties of the PCL
• Cuba: the Havana Sugar Kings were members of the IL from 1954 to 1960
• Dominican Republic: the short-lived Inter-American League had a team based here in 1979
• Mexico: all Mexican League teams
• Panama: one Inter-American League team in 1979
• Venezuela: two Inter-American League teams in 1979

Purpose

The main purpose of Triple-A teams is to prepare players for the major leagues. In 2010, ESPN wrote:

Both young players and veterans play for Triple-A teams:

Most, if not all, of the players on an MLB team's expanded roster who are not currently on the team's active roster are assigned to the team's Triple-A club. Expanded rosters consist of 40 players, while active rosters generally consist of 26 players as of the 2021 season. Most Triple-A teams are located geographically close to their MLB parent club, as activating a Triple-A player as an injury replacement is a common occurrence.

The term "AAAA player," pronounced "four-A" or "quadruple-A," refers to a player who is consistently successful when playing for Triple-A teams, but is not successful at the major league level. The term is usually used derisively and has itself been criticized as flawed. Major league team executives and managers disagree whether AAAA players exist.

Leagues

Teams at this level are divided into two leagues: the International League and the Pacific Coast League. The International League fields teams primarily in the Eastern United States, while the Pacific Coast League fields teams mostly in the Western United States. Each of the 30 major league teams has an affiliation with one Triple-A team in the United States.

Current teams

International League

Main article: International League

Pacific Coast League

Main article: Pacific Coast League

Triple-A All-Star Game

Main article: Triple-A All-Star Game

The Triple-A All-Star Game was a single game held between the two affiliated Triple-A leagues—the International League and the Pacific Coast League. Each league fielded a team composed of the top players in their respective leagues as voted on by fans, the media, and each club's field manager and general manager. The event took place every year since 1988 when the first Triple-A All-Star Game was played in Buffalo, New York. Prior to 1998, a team of American League-affiliated Triple-A All-Stars faced off against a team of National League-affiliated Triple-A All-Stars.

Traditionally, the game was held on the day after the mid-summer Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Such games mark a symbolic halfway-point in the season, despite occurring later than the actual halfway-point of most seasons. Both Triple-A leagues shared a common All-Star break, with no regular-season games scheduled for two days before the All-Star Game itself. Some additional events, such as the All-Star Fan Fest and Triple-A Home Run Derby, were held each year during this break in the regular season.

While the 2021 schedule originally included a three-day All-Star break of July 12–14, this was removed after Opening Day was pushed back one month. Team schedules for the 2021 season were subsequently issued without an All-Star break.

Triple-A Championship

Main article: Triple-A National Championship Game

Beginning in 2006, the annual Triple-A National Championship Game was held to serve as a single championship game between the champions of the International League and Pacific Coast League to determine an overall champion of Triple-A baseball. It was originally held annually at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, and known as the Bricktown Showdown. Starting in 2011, the game was held in a different Triple-A city each year. Previous postseason interleague championships include the Junior World Series (1932–34, 1936–62, 1970–71, 1973–74), Triple-A World Series (1983, 1998–2000), and Triple-A Classic (1988–91).

For the 2021 season, in place of the National Championship Game, Minor League Baseball extended the Triple-A regular season to October 3, with league champions determined based on regular-season records through the original end date of the season (September 19 for Triple-A East, and September 21 for Triple-A West). Since the 2022 season, the Triple-A National Championship Game has been played between the champions of the International League and the Pacific Coast League. In 2023, the Triple-A Championship game was played at the Las Vegas Ballpark. The winner of this game were the Norfolk Tides.

Pace-of-play initiatives

As a part of professional baseball's pace of play initiatives implemented in 2015, 20-second pitch clocks entered use at Triple-A stadiums in 2015. In 2018, the time was shortened to 15 seconds when no runners are on base. Other significant changes implemented in 2018 included beginning extra innings with a runner on second base and limiting teams to six mound visits during a nine-inning game. For the 2019 season, the number of mound visits was reduced to five, and pitchers were required to face a minimum of three consecutive batters unless the side is retired or the pitcher becomes injured and is unable to continue playing.

Timeline of AAA baseball leagues

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1600 height:auto barincrement:35 Period = from:1900 till:2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = left:50 right:50 bottom:20 top:20

Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:lineColor value:gray(0.6) id:bg value:white id:different_class value:gray(0.9) id:majorGridColor value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) id:navy value:rgb(0 ,0 ,0.30) id:darkred value:rgb(0.50,0 ,0 )

PlotData = width:20 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:IL from:1908 till:1909 color:different_class text:"(D)" textcolor:navy bar:IL from:1912 till:1946 color:different_class text:"(AA)" textcolor:navy bar:IL from:1946 till:2020 color:skyblue text:"International League" bar:IL from:2022 till:2023 color:skyblue

bar:AA color:different_class from:1902 till:1903 text:"(Ind.)" textcolor:navy bar:AA color:different_class from:1903 till:1912 text:"(A)" textcolor:darkred bar:AA color:different_class from:1912 till:1946 text:"(AA)" textcolor:navy bar:AA color:skyblue from:1946 till:1963 text:"American Association" bar:AA color:skyblue from:1969 till:1998

bar:PCL color:different_class from:1903 till:1904 text:"(Ind.)" textcolor:navy bar:PCL color:different_class from:1904 till:1912 text:"(A)" textcolor:darkred bar:PCL color:different_class from:1912 till:1946 text:"(AA)" textcolor:navy bar:PCL color:skyblue from:1946 till:1952 text:"Pacific Coast League" bar:PCL color:different_class from: 1952 till:1958 text:" (Open)" textcolor:navy bar:PCL color:skyblue from:1958 till:2020 bar:PCL color:skyblue from:2022 till:2023

bar:ML color:different_class from:1925 till:1955 text:"(Ind.)" textcolor:navy bar:ML color:different_class from:1955 till:1967 text:"(AA)" textcolor:navy bar:ML color:skyblue from:1967 till:2020 text:"Mexican League" bar:ML color:different_class from:2021 till:2023 text:"(Ind.)" textcolor:navy

bar:IAL color:skyblue from:1979 till:1980 text:"Inter-American League"

bar:AAAE color:skyblue from:2021 till:2022 text:"Triple-A East"

bar:AAAW color:skyblue from:2021 till:2022 text:"Triple-A West

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:majorGridColor unit:year increment:5 start:1900

Footnotes

References

References

1. (2021). "The Official Professional Baseball Rules Book". Office of the Commissioner of Baseball.
2. (April 13, 2016). "Lynx are outta here: Team sold, will move to U.S.". Ottawa Citizen.
3. (January 5, 1912). "National Commission Grants Minor Leaguers Everything Asked For: Big Moguls of Baseball...Establish Much Wanted Class AA". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
4. (2007). "The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball". [[Baseball America]].
5. "Notable Events in American Association History".
6. (March 16, 2022). "Historical league names to return in 2022". Minor League Baseball.
7. Shelburne, Ramona. (September 1, 2010). "John Lindsey waits for his chance". ESPN.
8. (April 2, 2008). "Quadruple-A and the Garbage Player Phenomenon: An Exercise in Futility". Bleacher Report.
9. (January 12, 2012). "The Top Ten Quad-A Hitters". SBNation.com.
10. (January 11, 2012). "Future Shock: Do Quad-A Players Exist?". Baseball Prospectus.
11. Wild, Danny. (May 30, 2014). "Voting begins for Triple-A All-Star Game". Minor League Baseball.
12. (March 5, 2014). "Omaha Storm Chasers and Werner Park to Host 2015 Triple-A Baseball All-Star Game". Minor League Baseball.
13. (February 20, 2013). "Durham Lands 2014 Triple-A ASG". Minor League Baseball.
14. (February 18, 2021). "Bisons Unveil 2021 Playing Schedule, Opening Day Set for April 6 at Sahlen Field". Minor League Baseball.
15. Harrigan, Thomas. (March 2, 2021). "Triple-A Start Delayed; Alternate Sites to Return".
16. "Printable Schedule". Worcester Red Sox.
17. (July 12, 2006). "Bricktown Showdown To Determine Triple-A Baseball Champion". Triple-A Baseball.
18. Hill, Benjamin. (February 8, 2011). "Isotopes to Host Triple-A Championship". Minor League Baseball.
19. Heneghan, Kelsie. (July 1, 2021). "Playoffs return to the Minor Leagues".
20. Richard, Kevin. (July 14, 2021). "MiLB turns Triple-A extended season to tourney–kinda".
21. (October 4, 2021). "Durham claims Triple-A Final Stretch championship".
22. (May 3, 2022). "Las Vegas to Host Inaugural Triple-A Triple Championship Weekend".
23. Jackson, Josh. (January 15, 2015). "Triple-A, Double-A to Implement Pitch Clock". [[Minor League Baseball]].
24. (March 14, 2018). "MiLB announces pace-of-play rules for 2018". [[Minor League Baseball]].
25. (March 29, 2019). "MiLB announces pace-of-play rules for 2019". [[Minor League Baseball]].