Minor League Baseball Rules

There are several minor baseball leagues, many which have teams that are connected to Major League Baseball clubs. Most minor leagues use the same sets of rules. The minor leagues use wood bats like the majors, and most use the designated hitter. However, the minor leagues also have their own rules of operation. The minors have kept some rules that the majors have changed (playoff formats). The minors also have added their own rules (split seasons).

Major League Affiliation

Many minor leagues and their teams act in affiliation with the major leagues, with each team associated with an MLB club. Their primary task is to prepare players for the major leagues. The Pacific Coast League and International League contain the Triple-A (highest level) minor league affiliates of the 30 MLB teams. The Texas League, Eastern League and Southern League are Double-A affiliates of the majors. The California League, Carolina League, Florida State League, Midwest League, South Atlantic, Northwest League are A-level leagues, while the Arizona League, Appalachian League, Dominican and Venezuelan Summer Leagues, Gulf Coast League and Pioneer League are rookie leagues. All other minor leagues, such as the American Association, Continental League and Northern League, operate independently from the majors.

Season Play

Many minor leagues use a "split season" format, in particular any leagues divided into two divisions. At the halfway point of the season, the teams in first place in each division are recognized as first-half champions. The second half begins with all teams' records reset to 0-0. After the second half is over, completing the entire regular season, the first-half champions face the second-half champions of the same division in playoff series (one for each division), with the two playoff winners then facing each other for the league championship. If the same team finishes both halves in first place, the team finishing second in the second half gets the second playoff spot. If a league is split into more than two divisions (the Pacific Coast League is an example), the league plays a single-season format with the full-season division winners paired up against each other in the playoffs.

Season Formats

Playoff series in the minors are all best-of-5 series These series use a 2-3 format, meaning the first two games are played at one team's home field, and the remaining three games (if all are necessary) are played at the other team's ballpark. "Home field advantage" usually is awarded on a rotational basis; if one division had the home field last year, the other division gets it this year. This is noticeably different than MLB, which has best-of-7 series, uses a 2-2-1 format in its best-of-5 series and awards home field to the teams with the better records.

References

• Official Baseball Rule Book; 2009 Edition
• Official Website of Minor League Baseball
• Razulu's Street