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54-648: The Triple-A Alliance, with Harold Cooper as its commissioner, was formed on October 1, 1987, at the annual Triple-A fall meeting in Hollywood, Florida . Under the partnership, the 8 teams of the American Association and the 8 teams of the International League would play each other 5 times for a total of 40 interleague games in their 142-game schedules in 1988. The Triple-A Pacific Coast League , located primarily in

108-476: 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. Teams at this level are divided into two leagues:

162-689: A group of leagues that are tied together in a hierarchical fashion by promotion and relegation, and to the individual leagues within the league system. For example, in English association football , the English Football League (EFL) is a league system, while the term "National League" refers both to the league immediately below the EFL in the English pyramid and to its associated league system . An alternate system of league organization which

216-426: 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. Sports league A sports league is a group of individual athletes, sports teams or clubs who form a league to compete against each other and gain points in

270-484: A regular season in a league format, the top teams (possibly determined by conference or division) advance to the playoffs. In some such leagues having the best regular season record is relatively unimportant, though top-seeded teams in some leagues, such as the NFL , can gain byes to later rounds of the playoffs, and teams finishing with the best records usually have the advantage of playing the weakest teams that have advanced to

324-531: A runner on first, than it is to take three of four from the Portland Beavers . Both young players and veterans play for Triple-A teams: There are the young prospects speeding through the organization on the fastest treadmill, the guys who used to be young prospects who are in danger of topping out in Triple-A, the 30-somethings trying to get back to the majors after an injury or a rough patch, and

378-399: A single competition or a related group of competitions. Many groups use promotion and relegation , where the best-ranked team(s) in the lower division are promoted to the higher division for the next season, and the worst-ranked team(s) in the higher division are relegated to the lower division for the next season. Under this system, "league" may refer both to a league system ,

432-716: A small amount of interleague play , with the main AL-NL competition occurring between their champions in the World Series . Thus the two leagues played mostly separate competitions within the larger framework of MLB. Finally, until 2000, they were actually separate legal entities, unlike the conferences of other leagues. Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan has a similar history, with the Central League and Pacific League not founded together. Due to this naming custom, it

486-425: A specific sport . At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among themselves and compete periodically, at its most complex, it can be an international professional league making large amounts of money and involving dozens of teams and thousands of players. Many uses of the term league in sports and for sports organizations are misnomers as the term league relates specifically to

540-405: 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

594-519: Is a major factor in many sports. When teams competing for a tournament championship do not play the same teams the same number of times, it is known as an unbalanced schedule. In such a set-up, the team with the best record becomes champion, based on either a strict win–loss–tie system or on a points system where a certain number of points are awarded for a win, loss, or tie, while bonus points might also be added for teams meeting various criteria. Many leagues also use playoffs , where after teams compete in

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648-550: Is a sports league where all the fixtures take place at the same venue, instead of rotating around the venues of the 'home' team, for each fixture. Several UK basketball leagues operate on this basis, intended to keep the costs of participation as low as possible, including: Many sports leagues also participate in a single-elimination tournament each year. In the United States, Mexico, and some other countries, these tournaments are commonly called "playoffs" and are played at

702-509: Is a structure that allows teams or individuals to compete against each other in a nonrandom order on a set schedule, usually called a season , with the results of the individual competitions being used to name an overall champion. A league championship may be contested in a number of ways. Each team may play every other team a certain number of times in a round-robin tournament . Usually, teams play an equal number of games or matches at their own stadium and at other teams', because home advantage

756-499: Is common to use slightly different terms to discuss MLB. Where someone might refer to "the best quarterback in the league" and be understood to mean the overall NFL, a similar mention of "the best outfielder in the league" is almost always a reference to the American or National League, while "in all of baseball" or similar is used to denote the larger status. Each of the major leagues also has its own set of awards to recognize

810-551: Is still used in many team sports around the world. One potential drawback of this simple double round-robin format is that the number of teams in the league determines the schedule. Larger leagues may not be able to play as many games as such a system would require, and smaller leagues may want more games. In addition, leagues whose teams are geographically spread out over a wide area (a common situation for leagues in North America) may face significant travel costs. One solution

864-411: Is to allow teams to play each other whenever they see fit. In some sports, such as horse racing , the main goal of the entrants is to win individual purses , and there is little or no ranking or competition outside winning certain major races. A small amount of league organization may be imposed on these non-league sports by way of a series or tournament tying several individual events together, such as

918-428: Is to play an unbalanced schedule, with some teams playing additional games against some other teams; this is the way Major League Soccer has traditionally been scheduled, with the additional games being played against local rivals. Some leagues also break the league into subunits, often known as divisions and conferences , each of which may itself play a balanced or unbalanced schedule. A "central venue league" (CVL)

972-624: Is used primarily in Australia, Canada, and the United States is a closed model which always has the same teams playing, with occasional admission of expansion teams and relocation of existing teams . There is no team movement between the higher major league and the lower minor leagues . In many of these closed-model leagues in Canada and the United States, they are divided into subdivisions on historical or geographical lines. These may be referred to as conferences or divisions . For example,

1026-427: Is used similarly in the United States to describe baseball teams that play in leagues other than those sanctioned by Major League Baseball . These teams do play in leagues and should not be confused with barnstorming teams that play truly non-league schedules. Individual sports often use an alternative type of league organization where competitors are ranked against each other. In the simplest cases, such as boxing ,

1080-582: The American League (AL) and the older National League (NL). They are titled leagues rather than conferences for several reasons. The National League predates the American by 25 years and was considered a "major" league in comparison to its early competitors, and in a sense it simply extended this recognition to the AL, the only league of similar financial clout. In addition, the leagues played no interlocking schedule of any kind until 1995, and then added only

1134-633: 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). The final 10 games of

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1188-845: The National Football League (NFL) is divided into the National Football Conference and American Football Conference ; the latter conference was formed largely from the remnants of the American Football League after it merged with the NFL , though it now contains three original NFL teams and three expansion teams. Both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) are divided into Eastern and Western Conferences. The conferences in

1242-534: The Triple Crown . Even in team sports that normally use a traditional league format, some teams often exist outside any league; these teams are generally known as barnstorming teams and either schedule games against local professional or amateur competition or bring their own competition, such as the barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters did when they toured with the Washington Generals . As with

1296-649: The Triple-A Classic , a best-of-seven series. In the 1988 Classic, the AA's Indianapolis Indians defeated the IL's Rochester Red Wings , 4–2. Over the course of the season, the AA led with 187 interleague wins to the IL's 131 wins. Both leagues reported increases in regular and postseason attendance during the Alliance's first year. The partnership was subsequently extended through 1991. In order to cut down on

1350-520: The 1988 and 1990 regular season series, while the IL won the 1989 and 1991 series. At the end of the season, the first-place team in each league's divisions faced off against one another in a best-of-five series to determine a league champion. The league champions went on to compete in a best-of-seven series, the Triple-A Classic, to determine an overall champion. All four Triple-A Classics were won by American Association teams, including two by

1404-557: 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

1458-461: The 2022 season. 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: The main purpose of Triple-A teams is to prepare players for the major leagues. In 2010, ESPN wrote: Winning is nice, but secondary. It's much more important for a young prospect like outfielder Xavier Paul to get regular at-bats against lefties, or work on dropping down sacrifice bunts with

1512-566: 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. Beginning in 2006,

1566-492: The American Association after the season. Despite an overall increase in attendance—a minor-league record 4,093,525 for the AA and an IL-record 2,958,482—six of eight IL teams had below-average attendances when hosting interleague teams. The combination of poor attendance, travel costs, and difficulty in drawing up season schedules were all factors in their decision to end the partnership. The final Triple-A Classic

1620-581: The Globetrotters, barnstorming teams sometimes emphasize spectacle over athletic competition. In Europe, the term "cup competition" is used to describe single elimination or knock-out tournaments, where the pairing of teams in each round is determined by a "draw" (see for example, the FA Cup in England), to distinguish it from league competition, in which every club in the league or division plays

1674-527: The IL and 10 in the PCL. Triple-A teams are generally located in smaller cities who do not have major sports league teams such as Syracuse , Toledo , Reno and Omaha as well as larger metropolitan areas without MLB teams that may also have teams in other major sports leagues , such as Austin , Jacksonville , Columbus , Buffalo , and Indianapolis . Four Triple-A teams play in the same metro areas as their parent clubs. All current Triple-A teams are located in

Triple-A Alliance - Misplaced Pages Continue

1728-614: The IL's 170. Facing the possibility of increased costs to be incurred under a new Professional Baseball Agreement between Major and Minor League Baseball teams, the Alliance voted at the 1990 Winter Meetings to contract its interleague schedule to save on travel expenses. The 144-game 1991 schedule eliminated games between the AA West and IL East. On July 9, 1991, at the Triple-A All-Star Game, International League team owners voted, 5–3, to discontinue interleague play with

1782-682: The Indianapolis Indians. Triple-A (baseball) Triple-A (officially Class AAA ) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). There are 30 teams, one per each Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise, with 20 in

1836-594: 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. The Triple-A All-Star Game was a single game held between the two affiliated Triple-A leagues—the International League and

1890-592: The Las Vegas Ballpark. The winner of this game were the Norfolk Tides. 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

1944-424: The NFL, NBA, and NHL are further divided into subsets, all of which are called divisions . These are geographically based, and teams play their divisional opponents more than any others, and then play the other clubs in their conference more than their non-conference opponents. Baseball has a unique nomenclature, with " Major League Baseball " (MLB) the name of the overall grouping of 30 teams in two "major leagues",

1998-457: 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

2052-469: The United States; before 2008, some Triple-A leagues also fielded teams in Canada , and from 1967 to 2020 the Mexican League was classified as Triple-A. Reasons for the relocation of these teams were solely because of costs and attendance. Other than the current two Triple-A leagues, only three other leagues have ever held the classification. Prior to 1946, the top level of Minor League Baseball

2106-412: The Western United States, chose not to participate due to the difficulties and high costs associated with travel to cities in the other leagues. The AA and IL were each organized into two four-team divisions, East and West. At the end of the season, each league determined its own champion in a best-of-five series between division winners. The leagues' champions then met to determine an Alliance champion in

2160-550: The amount of travel required by the two-day series often scheduled in the 1988 season, the 1989 slate was expanded to 146 games with 44 interleague games per team, increasing most interleague series to three games. The Indianapolis Indians repeated as Alliance champions, defeating the IL's Richmond Braves , 4–0, in the 1989 Triple-A Classic. The IL narrowly won the regular interleague series, 178–170. Each league set new attendance records with over five million people visiting Alliance ballparks. Commissioner Harold Cooper retired after

2214-612: 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

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2268-482: The conference, as other sports leagues do, but the individual schools also schedule a certain number of "non-conference" games that are organized independently between two schools in different conferences, or between a conference team and a non-conference team. Also, national championships in some college sports are determined by a ranking or playoff system that is independent of the individual conferences. Most major team sports play some form of round-robin schedule, where

2322-420: The form of organization, requiring persons or bodies to be in league together. A sport competition owned and controlled other than by its participant players, teams or clubs is not a league. In many cases, organizations that function as leagues are described using a different term, such as association , conference , division , leaderboard , or series . This is especially common in individual sports, although

2376-570: The goal is for each team to play a relatively balanced schedule with each other team in the league or in its league subdivision. Within this structure, there are a few significant differences between leagues, a few of which are set forth below. The simplest way to organize a sports league, and still one of the most common, is in a double round-robin format where each team plays each other team twice, once at home and once away. This ensures that every team plays an equally difficult schedule and that no team has undue home field advantage . This organization

2430-470: The guys just playing a few more seasons because someone still wants them and they still want to. 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

2484-463: The other teams a pre-determined number of times in a season, usually on a home and away basis. Further, in England, the term non-league football is used for historical reasons to describe association football teams that play in organized leagues, but not in the English Football League or Premier League , the two highest levels of competition in that sport in that country. Independent baseball

2538-464: The playoffs. While round-robin and modified round-robin competitions are the most common form of league organization, there are a number of ways to organize a sporting competition, almost all of which may be described as a "league". Many sports organizations fall on a continuum between a total lack of organization, as in a pick-up game, and a formal league such as is common at the highest level of professional team sports. The simplest form of competition

2592-826: The rankings mean little and the major competition is to crown a champion in a title fight. In other sports, the rankings and leaderboards gain importance when they are used in seeding tournaments. In some sports, points are assigned to results at individual competitions, and the resulting points are used to generate a season rankings and determine the season champion. While not usually referred to as "leagues", but "tours" or "series", these season-long competitions with set events are very similar to league structures in team sports. Examples of this are motorsport , tennis , golf , skiing , beach volleyball and rugby sevens . American college sports are traditionally organized into groups of teams known as conferences . These conferences ordinarily keep league tables and crown champions within

2646-406: The season and was succeeded by Randy Mobley who had served as administrator of the Alliance and the International League for the past two seasons. In 1990, the Alliance was operated under the same 146-game schedule with 44 interleague contests per team. At the 1990 Triple-A Classic, the AA's Omaha Royals defeated the IL's Rochester Red Wings, 4–1. The AA won the regular season with 181 wins to

2700-637: The season, played after those dates, were deemed the "Final Stretch", with the team posting the best winning percentage during that period (the Durham Bulls , who went 9–1) winning a cash prize. 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

2754-539: The separation between the two, which means there are two MVPs , two Cy Young Award winners, etc. Since its name is constructed differently—a description of the status of two leagues rather than the title of one—it is common to hear "MLB" without "the" attached to it, as in "the most home runs in MLB this year", since one would not say "the Major League Baseball". The common thread between all sports leagues

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2808-507: The term "league" is sometimes used in amateur individual sports such as golf . The term "league" is also sometimes applicable to competitions that would more traditionally be called tournaments , such as the UEFA Champions League , which is organized with multiple small round-robin competitions followed by a single elimination tournament to choose an overall winner. "League" and its synonyms may be used to encompass either

2862-459: Was Double-A , which had been established in 1912. The Triple-A classification was created before the 1946 season, and began with all three leagues then in Double-A moving up to the new level: This structure persisted for the next 75 years with only a few changes: The IL, PCL, and Mexican League continued as Triple-A leagues until Major League Baseball reorganized the minor leagues prior to

2916-469: Was won by the AA's Denver Zephyrs , 4–1, versus the Columbus Clippers . The IL bested their AA opponents, 139–99, in the regular season. After four years of interleague competition, the American Association's record stood at 637–618. Over the all-time interleague series, American Association teams won 637 games, 19 more than the International League's 618 wins. The AA won

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