Sean
MLB
- Minor League Baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball minor leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and help prepare players to join major league teams.
- Current system
- Triple-A
- The highest level of play in the minor leagues
- There are a total of 30 teams, each one affiliated with a team in the Major League
- For example, the NY Yankees Triple-A affiliate team is the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders located in Moosic, PA
- Double-A
- The second highest level of play in the minor leagues
- There are a total of 30 teams, each one affiliated with a team in the Major League
- For example, the NY Yankees Double-A affiliate team is the Somerset Patriots located in Bridgewater, NJ
- High-A
- One level below Double-A
- There are a total of 30 teams, each one affiliated with a team in the Major League
- For example, the NY Yankees High-A affiliate team is the Hudson Valley Renegades located in Wappinger Falls, NY
- Low-A
- Below the High-A
- There are a total of 30 teams, each one affiliated with a team in the Major League
- For example, the NY Yankees Low-A affiliate team is the Tampa Tarpons located in Tampa, Florida
- Triple-A
- You might come across a reference to a certain team’s farm system. Rest assured, this doesn’t mean the Yankees or Dodgers are growing crops. Rather, “farm system” is a colloquial term for a Major League franchise’s system of affiliated Minor League teams. Together, these affiliates act as a way for teams to “grow” talent, developing young players until they are ready to contribute in the big leagues.
NFL
- While there are various semi-professional football leagues, none have any affiliation with the National Football League (NFL).
- The 2 most popular independent semi-pro leagues are:
- The Arena Football League (AFL), which is an indoor league
- The Canadian Football League (CFL), which has developed ties with the NFL in recent years, plays in Canada
NBA
- The NBA has two affiliated minor leagues: the NBA G League (formerly called the “NBA D-League”) and NBA Summer League.
- G League
- The G League used to be called The D League for Development League but in 2017 it entered into a multi-year partnership with Gatorade and renamed itself the Gatorade league, or G league.
- There are 28 teams in the G league. Every NBA team has an affiliate team in the G league except for Denver Nuggets and Portland Trailblazers. These two NBA teams have to send players down to other teams’ G league teams when required.
- Summer League
- The Summer League is an off-season competition organized by the NBA. The teams come together to experiment with rookies, sophomore, and G League affiliate players.
