Triple-A (baseball)

"Class AAA" redirects here. For other classifications, see AAA (disambiguation).

Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania, home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies

Triple-A (officially Class AAA[1]) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). There are 30 teams, one per each Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise, with 20 in the IL and 10 in the PCL. Triple-A teams are generally located in smaller cities who do not have major sports league teams such as Syracuse, Toledo, Reno and Omaha as well as larger metropolitan areas without MLB teams that may also have teams in other major sports leagues, such as Austin, Jacksonville, Columbus, Buffalo, and Indianapolis. Four Triple-A teams play in the same metro areas as their parent clubs.[notes 1]

All current Triple-A teams are located in the United States; before 2008, some Triple-A leagues also fielded teams in Canada,[2] and from 1967 to 2020 the Mexican League was classified as Triple-A. Reasons for the relocation of these teams were solely because of costs and attendance. Other than the current two Triple-A leagues, only three other leagues have ever held the classification.

  1. ^ The Official Professional Baseball Rules Book (PDF). New York City: Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. 2021. p. 10. Retrieved May 1, 2021 – via mlbpa.org.
  2. ^ "Lynx are outta here: Team sold, will move to U.S." www.canada.com. Ottawa Citizen. April 13, 2016. Archived from the original on November 19, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2014.


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