The dust settled in the Midwest League affiliation shuffle today when Beloit and Burlington finally got new big-league teams.
The Burlington Bees are now affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels, who had been affiliated with the Cedar Rapids Kernels for the past 20 years. The Beloit Snappers are now affiliated with the Oakland Athletics, who were affiliated with the Bees the past two years. Beloit was most recently affiliated with the Minnesota Twins, whose Midwest League affiliate is now the Kernels.
Beloit and Burlington’s new affiliations run through the 2014 season.
Besides the Bees, Snappers and Kernels, three other Midwest League teams changed major-league affiliates this month. On Monday the Quad Cities River Bandits announced they are now affiliated with the Houston Astros, and last week the Chicago Cubs changed MWL affiliates from the Peoria Chiefs to the Kane County Cougars, and the St. Louis Cardinals changed affiliates from the River Bandits to the Chiefs.
Additionally, three Midwest League teams extended their current affiliations: the Clinton LumberKings with the Seattle Mariners, the Dayton Dragons with the Cincinnati Reds, and the Fort Wayne TinCaps with the San Diego Padres.
The rest of the Midwest League retains the same affiliations next year: the Bowling Green Hot Rods with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Great Lakes Loons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Lake County Captains with the Cleveland Indians, the Lansing Lugnuts with the Toronto Blue Jays, the South Bend Silver Hawks with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the West Michigan Whitecaps with the Detroit Tigers, and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers with the Milwaukee Brewers.
