Midwest League
Webpages concerning "Midwest League"
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Wikipedia-Article "Midwest League"
The Midwest League is a Class A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.
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History
Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort Cardinals – began operating as the Class D Illinois State League in 1947. The league changed its name to the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League in 1949 after the Marion team moved to Paducah, Kentucky. The league added teams in Clinton and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1954 and was renamed the Midwest League two years later. After the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League folded in 1961, teams from Appleton, Burlington, and Cedar Rapids joined the Midwest League for the 1962 season and remain in the league today. In 1963 the Midwest League became a Class A league after the minor league classification structure was reorganized.
In 1976 the Midwest League contracted from ten teams to eight when teams in Danville and Dubuque were eliminated. In 1982 the league expanded to 12 teams by adding the Beloit Brewers, the Danville Suns, the Madison Muskies, and the Springfield Cardinals. The league expanded to the present 14 teams in 1988 with the addition of franchises in South Bend, Indiana, and Rockford, Illinois. During the 1990s several teams changed cities as Major League Baseball placed higher standards on minor league baseball facilities; franchises in smaller cities were sold to new owners who moved those teams to new ballparks in larger cities. Kenosha, Madison, Rockford, Springfield, Waterloo, and Wausau lost teams during this decade while Battle Creek, Dayton, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids (West Michigan), Kane County, and Lansing gained teams.
The Fort Wayne Wizards are the oldest franchise in the league, having begun as the Mattoon Indians in 1947 and playing in Keokuk, Iowa, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, and Kenosha, Wisconsin before moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1993. The Clinton LumberKings have been in one city longer than any Midwest League team, having called Clinton, Iowa, home since 1954.
Season structure
The league plays a 140-game schedule that begins in April and ends in early September. Since 2000 it has been divided into an Eastern Division and a Western Division, with four teams from each division (the winners of each half of the season and one or two runners-up) qualifying for the first round of playoffs. The first two rounds of playoffs are best-of-three series; the league championship series is a best-of-five.
Midwest League presidents
- 1947-1948: Howard V. Millard
- 1949-1962: C.C. "Dutch" Hoffman
- 1963-1964: Walter C. Wagner
- 1965: Jim Gruenwald
- 1966-1973: James Doster
- 1974-1985: Bill Walters
- 1986: Ed Larson
- 1987-present: George Spelius
Current member teams
Eastern Division
- Dayton Dragons -- Cincinnati Reds
- Fort Wayne Wizards -- San Diego Padres
- Lansing Lugnuts -- Toronto Blue Jays
- South Bend Silver Hawks -- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Southwest Michigan Devil Rays -- Tampa Bay Devil Rays
- West Michigan Whitecaps -- Detroit Tigers
Western Division
- Beloit Snappers -- Minnesota Twins
- Burlington Bees -- Kansas City Royals
- Cedar Rapids Kernels -- Los Angeles Angels
- Clinton LumberKings -- Texas Rangers
- Kane County Cougars -- Oakland Athletics
- Peoria Chiefs -- Chicago Cubs
- Swing of the Quad Cities -- St. Louis Cardinals
- Wisconsin Timber Rattlers -- Seattle Mariners
See also
External links
| Midwest League | ||
| Eastern Division | Western Division | |
|---|---|---|
| Dayton Dragons | Fort Wayne Wizards | Lansing Lugnuts | South Bend Silver Hawks | Southwest Michigan Devil Rays | West Michigan Whitecaps | Beloit Snappers | Burlington Bees | Cedar Rapids Kernels | Clinton LumberKings | Kane County Cougars | Peoria Chiefs | Swing of the Quad Cities | Wisconsin Timber Rattlers | |