Three Midwest League teams officially announced new MLB affiliation deals today, and none of them were a surprise.
As expected, the Chicago Cubs moved from Peoria to Kane County, the St. Louis Cardinals moved from Quad Cities to Peoria, and the Minnesota Twins moved from Beloit to Cedar Rapids.
Earlier this week, the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners extended their affiliations with Fort Wayne and Clinton, respectively.
This leaves Beloit, Burlington and Quad Cities as the only Midwest League teams currently without affiliates. They will get the Houston Astros, the Los Angeles Angels or the Oakland Athletics. The Kansas City Royals, who were previously affiliated with Kane County, are expected to move to Lexington in the South Atlantic League. Lexington was an Astros affiliate.
The rest of the Midwest League retains the same affiliations next year: Tampa Bay Rays in Bowling Green, Cincinnati Reds in Dayton, Los Angeles Dodgers in Great Lakes, Cleveland Indians in Lake County, Toronto Blue Jays in Lansing, Arizona Diamondbacks in South Bend, Detroit Tigers in West Michigan, and Milwaukee Brewers in Wisconsin.
UPDATE: Lexington and the Royals have made it official. They signed a four-year affiliation agreement that runs through the 2016 season.