MAKING THE CUT: FOUR FACTORS PROVED KEY TO ESTABLISHING AFFILIATIONS

So why did one minor league team make it onto Major League Baseball’s list of 120 invited affiliates while another nearby team did not?

The answer can be boiled down to four factors: caliber of ballpark facilities, geography, the desires of major league teams and political considerations.

All four of those factors played roles in the eventual list of 120 teams. Often, though, those four factors ran counter to one another, which explains why the 120 invitations sent out do not always meet all of those