Minor League Baseball (MiLB) refers to professional baseball below Major League Baseball (MLB), including teams affiliated with MLB clubs and independent baseball leagues consisting of teams with no affiliation. MLB is the highest level of baseball in North America, and MiLB is one of the minor professional leagues. MiLB includes a variety of levels, including Rookie League, Short Season A, Class A, Class A Advanced, Double-A, Triple-A, and Independent baseball. Each level corresponds to different stages in a player's development. For example, Rookie League and Short Season A are for players just starting their professional careers, while Class A is for players with more experience. The 20-team International League and the 10-team Pacific Coast League are now included in this group as affiliated leagues (known as Triple-A East and Triple-A West, respectively, for the 2021 season).
While the American Association, centered in the Midwest, was a component of Triple-A throughout the majority of the 20th century, that league folded in 1997, and its clubs were absorbed by the other two leagues. While the Pacific Coast League has teams from the southwest and the Pacific coast, the International League has teams from the Atlantic coast and the midwest. Currently, there are three leagues in this category: the 12-team Eastern League, which will be known as Double-A Northeast for the 2021 season, the 8-team Southern League, which will be known as Double-A South for the 2021 season, and the 10-team Texas League, which will be known as Double-A Central for the 2021 season, with teams in the Southwest and Great Plains. The High-A level, formerly known as "Class A-Advanced" before 2021, is one level beneath Double-A. Three leagues make up this classification: the 12-team Midwest League, which will be known as High-A Central for the 2021 season, the 6-team Northwest League, which will have teams in the Pacific Northwest, and the 12-team South Atlantic League, which will have teams in the eastern states and be known as High-A East for the following season.
Before the 2021 season, all three leagues were reclassified, with the Northwest League moving up from Class A Short Season, the South Atlantic League, and Midwest League moving up from Single-A. Single-A often referred to as Full-Season A or Single-A before 2021 and "Low-A" after that season, is the level below High-A. There are three leagues in this classification: the 12-team Carolina League (which will be known as Low-A East for the 2021 season), the 8-team California League (which will be known as Low-A West for the 2021 season), and the 10-team Florida State League (known as Low-A Southeast for the 2021 season). With the 2021 season, all three leagues were dropped from High-A to Single-A. The Rookie classification minor leagues have a truncated season that runs from mid-June until late August or early September. Two US-based leagues, the Arizona Complex League and Florida Complex League (formerly known as the Arizona League and Gulf Coast League, respectively), plus one Caribbean-based league, the Dominican Summer League, make up this lowest level of minor league baseball.
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