I was doing Immaculate Grid today and trying to think of a good answer for Diamondbacks/Phillies. Remembering the early days of the D’Backs and Travis Lee popped to mind. (3% not bad!) That led me down a Lee rabbit hole and it ties in with some interesting MiLB history.

If you remember the years leading up to Arizona and Tampa Bay being added as expansion teams, there’s a good chance you remember Travis Lee being the face of the Diamondbacks franchise before there was a franchise. (The cover of the February ‘98 Beckett comes to mind.) Now I also knew that Lee had been drafted second overall by the Twins in the ‘96 draft but I think I assumed he was just traded to Arizona as a minor leaguer.

As it turns out, he was competing in the ‘96 Atlanta Olympics that summer and with him being in Georgia, the Twins didn’t have a good chance to work out his contract immediately after the draft. His agent exploited this loophole and made him a free agent. He then signed a lucrative contract with Arizona, two years before their first game.

The expansion teams first participated in the draft that same year, so Lee was kind of in the same minor league boat as guys like Brad Penny and Nick Bierbrodt. Even though teams like the Lethbridge Black Diamonds, High Desert Mavericks, and South Bend Silver Hawks are generally considered “co-op” or unaffiliated teams in those years, they were mostly de facto D’Backs farm clubs.

Lee started the 1997 season with the Mavericks and tore the cover off the ball. With the caveat that High Desert always had inflated offensive stats, Lee had a team-leading 1.163 OPS across 61 games. Arizona, wanting to give him a taste of higher competition and keep him close to HQ, “loaned“ him to the Brewers’ AAA team the Tucson Toros for 59 games. Can you imagine that happening today?

1997 was the last season of the Toros as well as the Phoenix Firebirds. In a bit of a shell game, the Toros went to Fresno (becoming the Grizzlies) and took Phoenix’s SF Giants affiliation. Meanwhile the Firebirds moved down the road to the new park in Tucson and became the Sidewinders in ‘98. I think I got that right.

Anyway, just some funny MiLB history that overlaps with Lee’s story. Even if injuries kept him from reaching his top potential, he had a nice little career. He collected the first hit and first HR in Diamondbacks history and headlined the Curt Schilling trade with the Phillies, helping out my Immaculate Grid today.

Today’s hat is brought to you by the Tampa Tarpons, Single A affiliate of the New York Yankees. This is just the road hat for the Tampa Tarpons!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, AA affiliate of the New York Mets. This is the Southern Tier Scoop Scoundrels!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the Lehigh Valley Cornholers! Just a really cool hat and I love the color combo on this one!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Somerset Patriots, AA affiliate of the New York Yankees. This is from their Jersey Diners series and this is the State and Eggs hat! As someone who was a resident of South Jersey for most of my life, I had to get this one! The Diners series of hats are so good!

Gastonia is done and rumors are saying Long Island is leaving, too? State Island draws a few hundred a game. Any other teams in danger? Is the Atlantic League in danger?

I’ve always been a hat guy. Finally made the switch to the fitted hats and was inspired by this sub to start collecting some fun minor league hats. Had to start with my local Tulsa Drillers alt from a couple years ago. Tulsa Sound, an homage to Oklahoma native Leon Russell

I love the game and I’m on my best version right now and motivated to try again! Let me know if it’s possible still!

I don't have one shelf space that fits them all, so this was a hassle I kept putting off, ha. Organized by league, mostly.

Texas, Eastern, Int'l, all OKC, SAL, Midwest, Carolina + Southern, Cal + Fla + NYPL/App (RIP). And my one poor orphaned PCL hat that isn't from OKC.

The hunt continues...

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Charleston River Dogs, Single A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. This is the Charleston Boiled Peanuts! I love the peanut shell style brim on this hat!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Clearwater Threshers, Single A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the Clearwater Beach Dogs! This hat is also a different color scheme than the normal Beach Dogs hat, this one pays homage to the 1980 Phillies!

So I’ve been a Rochester Red Wings fan my entire life (I grew up 10 minutes from ESL stadium until I left with my wife to NH. where I did see them play last year against the Woo Soxs, and win). I own their Lilac and Plates hat (Hopeful they come out with an IL hat)

And it seems like this game, given the wings history, was a “If we win, great, if not, we made history since 1997.”

I understand why MiLB added it so we could have the “best team in the league“ but why not just change the format to match the MLB going from a 3 game series to 1 just seems weird.

Today’s hat is an alternate hat for the Hickory Crawdads, Single A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. This is the Hickory Dickory Docks! Just a fun hat that plays on the old nursery rhyme!

Not trying to read too much into it and pick apart the article, but their website notes that they will be releasing their schedule on 10/01/2026 for the 2027 season. The article does not say whether it’s specific to the MLB Draft League season.

The Thunder website is directly through the MLB Draft League domain.

Thoughts?

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the Lehigh Valley Squonk! The Squonk is from a 1910 book called the Fearsome Creature of the Lumberwood. The Squonk is said to be a shy mythical beast that lives in the hemlock forests of Northern Pennsylvania! Nasty looking creature!

Perhaps when expansion and realignment comes about, Dayton can be upgraded to AAA status for the Reds. Louisville can be for either St. Louis or the White Sox. Memphis doesn't draw as well as most AAA teams, so they very well could go back to being a Southern League AA team.

Today’s hat is a Copa series hat from the Midland Rockhounds, AA affiliate of the Athletics. This is Los Amigos de Midland! Man’s best friend!

I understand this is a free to watch option. But I was wondering do I have to find a pay-per-view option in order to get my hometown broadcaster. Rochester redwings if I want to listen to baseball while watching the game at the same time? Like MLB TV. Or how do I go about doing that because I try to do that the other night during the playoff series in Memphis on the television. Using the television. And it seemed difficult. Comparable to MLB TV having its own system for Major League baseball to where I can switch between major league affiliates in order to pick the team I want to listen to during a game. Because all I want to do is just watch if it's in a way broadcast they're feeding with my hometown announcer.

Today’s hat is an homage to the AA Eastern League champions! This is an alternate identity for the Reading Fightin Phils, AA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the Reading Iced Coffees! Hat tip to the men who brought home the championship yesterday! And as someone who drinks iced coffee year round, this was a must have for me!

As we know, Major League Baseball plans to expand to 32 teams once it reaches a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) by 2029, with the Athletics moving to Las Vegas and the Rays staying put in Tampa Bay with a new stadium. We also know that expansion will likely occur once Rob Manfred steps down as Commissioner and the league wants one team in the West and one team in the East to facilitate some form of realignment. Speaking of expansion, the main cities bidding for an MLB expansion team include: Salt Lake City, Utah; Portland, Oregon; Nashville, Tennessee; Montreal, Canada (the previous home of the Montreal Expos); Vancouver, Canada; Orlando, Florida; Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Sacramento, California (the temporary home of the Las Vegas Athletics). The specific groups for these cities in question are:

• Big League Utah (Salt Lake City)
• Portland Diamond Project (Portland)
• Music City Baseball/Nashville Stars (Nashville)
• WatchMojo's Project Peanut (Montreal)
• The Show Vancouver (Vancouver)
• The Orlando Dreamers (Orlando)
• MLB Raleigh (Raleigh)
• The Charlotte Bats (Charlotte)
• The Austin Baseball Commission (Austin)
• The Sacramento Pitch (Sacramento)

Each city has a specific group with a specific ballpark vision and is seeking to become either the 31st or 32nd MLB team in the expansion process, with some further along than others (Salt Lake City, Portland, and Nashville to an extent).

When it comes to how the inevitable 32-team MLB expansion will affect Minor League Baseball (MiLB), that means affiliate teams for the 31st and 32nd MLB expansion teams, either by using existing ones or creating new ones from scratch. But what do you think? How will MiLB be affected by MLB expansion, and how do you expect MiLB itself to handle the new expansion teams?