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+----- Thread: My gripe with MiLB’s International League (/thread-1020766.html)
My gripe with MiLB’s International League - Fighting Muskie - 11-24-2025 05:15 PM
I have to say that 20 teams is way too large for a minor league circuit. The methodology for determining a champion is absolutely asinine. First half champ vs second half champion is dumb. Where else in American sports do we reward teams for half a season’s work?
This segues into my next point—your schedules can’t possibly be balanced when playing so few games. The IL breaks down standings in “East” and “West” divisions but that’s a complete joke. Some division mates never even play. In reality, there are 3 shadow divisions—6 northeastern teams, 7 southern teams, and 7 Midwest teams (congrats Louisville, you’re honorary Midwesterners).
So why not do this—actually have those be the 3 divisions! Do a tiny post season playoff with the 3 division champs and a wildcard.
I get that the parent clubs are anxious to get their 40-man roster guys for the final push but don’t treat the minor league fans like we’re dumb with a bogus postseason model.
RE: My gripe with MiLB’s International League - Nerdlinger - 11-24-2025 05:25 PM
They had 3 divisions for a little bit after the reorg. I thought your gripe was going to be about the league having no teams outside the US.
RE: My gripe with MiLB’s International League - Fighting Muskie - 11-25-2025 05:23 PM
(11-24-2025 05:25 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote: They had 3 divisions for a little bit after the reorg. I thought your gripe was going to be about the league having no teams outside the US.
Historically, they used to. The Ottawa team moved to Pennsylvania in the 00s, marking the end of that era.
RE: My gripe with MiLB’s International League - chargeradio - 11-27-2025 11:33 PM
If the Bigs expand to 32, should AAA go to 4 leagues?
PCL - Tacoma, Sacramento, Reno, Las Vegas Aviators, Salt Lake, Albuquerque, El Paso, Colorado Springs*
NEW 1 - Oklahoma City, Sugar Land, Round Rock, Wichita*, Iowa, Omaha, Saint Paul, Memphis
NEW 2 - Nashville, Gwinnett, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Durham, Norfolk, Louisville, Indianapolis
IL - Toledo, Columbus, Lehigh Valley, Scranton/WB, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Worcester
If Nashville is one of the expansion teams I would relocate the AAA franchise to Birmingham and then let the Southern League team relocate to Bowling Green, Mobile, New Orleans, or Lexington.
I am assuming a MLB team in Salt Lake will keep their AAA team at the new stadium in Daybreak.
RE: My gripe with MiLB’s International League - Fighting Muskie - 11-28-2025 08:57 AM
It will be interesting to see what they do with the minors when that time comes. Fresno will probably lobby to return to AAA.
We also don’t know if the LV Aviators will stay in their market and we could very well see other AAA markets suddenly have major league clubs and this raises the question of do they keep a minor league affiliate super close to home where they could siphon off revenue or move those minor league franchises elsewhere.
RE: My gripe with MiLB’s International League - eku05 - 12-04-2025 01:54 PM
(11-24-2025 05:15 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote: I have to say that 20 teams is way too large for a minor league circuit. The methodology for determining a champion is absolutely asinine. First half champ vs second half champion is dumb. Where else in American sports do we reward teams for half a season’s work?
This segues into my next point—your schedules can’t possibly be balanced when playing so few games. The IL breaks down standings in “East” and “West” divisions but that’s a complete joke. Some division mates never even play. In reality, there are 3 shadow divisions—6 northeastern teams, 7 southern teams, and 7 Midwest teams (congrats Louisville, you’re honorary Midwesterners).
So why not do this—actually have those be the 3 divisions! Do a tiny post season playoff with the 3 division champs and a wildcard.
I get that the parent clubs are anxious to get their 40-man roster guys for the final push but don’t treat the minor league fans like we’re dumb with a bogus postseason model.
I don't like the methodology either, but the first half/second half thing has been the case for years in A and AA. It's only new to AAA. The argument for it is that MiLB rosters evolve so much over the course of a year that there is some level of sense in rewarding teams for separate halves of the season often played with dramatically different rosters. There's a lot I'd change about how MiLB seasons work.
But as a side now, as a Louisville native and resident, plenty of us identify with the midwest regionally as much as anything else. Louisville is a bit of a regional crossroads, but I definitely don't think of myself as a southerner.
RE: My gripe with MiLB’s International League - Fighting Muskie - 12-04-2025 04:41 PM
(12-04-2025 01:54 PM)eku05 Wrote:(11-24-2025 05:15 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote: I have to say that 20 teams is way too large for a minor league circuit. The methodology for determining a champion is absolutely asinine. First half champ vs second half champion is dumb. Where else in American sports do we reward teams for half a season’s work?
This segues into my next point—your schedules can’t possibly be balanced when playing so few games. The IL breaks down standings in “East” and “West” divisions but that’s a complete joke. Some division mates never even play. In reality, there are 3 shadow divisions—6 northeastern teams, 7 southern teams, and 7 Midwest teams (congrats Louisville, you’re honorary Midwesterners).
So why not do this—actually have those be the 3 divisions! Do a tiny post season playoff with the 3 division champs and a wildcard.
I get that the parent clubs are anxious to get their 40-man roster guys for the final push but don’t treat the minor league fans like we’re dumb with a bogus postseason model.
I don't like the methodology either, but the first half/second half thing has been the case for years in A and AA. It's only new to AAA. The argument for it is that MiLB rosters evolve so much over the course of a year that there is some level of sense in rewarding teams for separate halves of the season often played with dramatically different rosters. There's a lot I'd change about how MiLB seasons work.
But as a side now, as a Louisville native and resident, plenty of us identify with the midwest regionally as much as anything else. Louisville is a bit of a regional crossroads, but I definitely don't think of myself as a southerner.
But if AAA team #1 wins the first half by 1 game, then proceeds to lose a bunch of players to trades and call ups and is pitiful in the 2nd half, letting them participate in the title game is a joke. I’d rather award teams for a full body of work.
I just hate the apples to oranges comparisons— they aren’t even playing the same teams. Some of these principles work ok in an 8-12 game circuit where the scheduling is balanced, but it doesn’t work with 20 teams.
Louisville has played with Indianapolis, Columbus, and Toledo for some time now— I get why they grouped them with the 6 Midwestern teams rather than the 8 Southern teams—now there’s an idea—spin off the 8 Southern teams as their own AAA league and the IL becomes a 6 Northeast/6 Midwest team circuit.