American Association Insider: And then there was 10. Kane County and Cleburne leave for NAPB.

 Kevin Luckow

In the worst kept secret in Independent Baseball, the Cleburne Railroaders and Kane County Cougars have moved on to the soon to be named National Association. (formerly Frontier League). I think this cements that we will not be seeing any sort of "World Series" between the National and American Associations. I mean an All Star Game between the two leagues could be rather tasty and liven up what is normally a rather color by numbers All Star Game. A place where scouts could check out the best two leagues have to offer at one venue in one night. 


It was an interestingly worded statement coming from the American Association. Is there a guide on how to officially tell your fans that your league is shrinking to 10 teams? I give the league a ton of credit for keeping this announcement in the bag until the postseason concluded as to not take away from the playoffs. The quote that caught my eye was "pursue clubs in higher-value markets with closely held ownerships". I'm not sure what constitutes higher value. Is it location? Kane County and Cleburne both had close proximity to major cities. If AAPB is looking for such a market and keep a smaller footprint, there isn't many areas that currently are considered major markets that do not already have teams. Could higher market mean a team like Blaine that is somewhat near a major market but is in a highly populated area that can support a team.

One thing is clear here, REV Entertainment and AAPB were not a mix. I'm not privy as to where any conflict may have came from, but to have rumors of teams leaving a little more than a month into the season showed me that things were not kosher from the get go. It was the only strife among team owners as Quint Studer bought the Kansas City Monarchs, and the rest of the owners have not changed in many years. 

I'm going to miss having Kane County and Cleburne in the league. I'm not going to rehash what was basically my tributes to both clubs in the Sunday Insider on August 30th

August 30th Sunday Insider

It will be interesting to see how the Cleburne and Kane County markets will adjust to National Association Baseball. No matter what any of the experts will tell you, the quality of players will be a notch below what they were seeing in AAPB. There is talent in NAPB, many players who had good starts to their careers in the league have gone on to success in AAPB. But you will not see the AAA nor the former MLB players like we've seen in AAPB. I think it'll test the mettle of the Kane County fans. You are now asking your fan base to accept the third different league the Cougars have been in since 2019. That was something that happened in Fort Worth, and as the years went on the fans tuned out. The Railroaders have had their share of names, including Mallex Smith and Delino DeShields this season. It'll be the 10th season for the Railroaders, a tough time to ask your fan base to adjust to a new league. Like AAPB, the Railroaders organization will be isolated. Trips to Chicago and points East will still be a financial burden on the club. 

It will be interesting to see what becomes of the managers. Kane County's George Tsamis is a Day one manager in the American Association. He got his start in the Northeast League which eventually merged into the Frontier League, but Tsamis was in St. Paul before the merger. Pete Incaviglia has had his taste of other leagues, managing the Sugar Land Skeeters in 2018-2020, and Tri-City ValleyCats 2021-2023. Will either manager be willing to adjust to a different league? Frankly I cannot imagine an American Association without George Tsamis managing in it. 

With 10 teams, the hope from this writer is that we go back to four teams making the playoffs. Two five game series would be ideal. If it stays the same, we'd be playing 100 games just to eliminate two teams. I would not go back to playing halves. And as far as the playoffs go, do like we used to do, with two division winners and the two next best records regardless of division making the playoff field. 

Out east the Gastonia Ghost Peppers ceased operations today. REV Entertainment also owns the Long Island Ducks. Could we see the Ducks join NAPB? If you think it will be tough for Kane County to accept a third league, imagine winning the ALPB championship and then changing leagues for a league geared for younger players. The Ducks had Trevor Bauer pitching for them this season until signing in Mexico. If the AAPB wants to pick up some steam, someone in the league needs to make a play for Bauer. Bauer was miked up during his starts and his reels were some of the best baseball content on the internet this season. 

Another way for AAPB to pick up some momentum would be to close a deal for a twelfth team to begin play in 2028. Commissioner Joshua Schaub mentioned the St. Louis metro area. We've heard about markets joining  AAPB that eventually stalled out, so actually landing a twelfth team soon would go a ways to restore skeptical fan's faith that the league is still headed in the right direction. 

Hold on tight folks, I feel like we could be in for a wild off-season.

It also appears to me that the vision of AAPB has changed course. Talk years ago was the goal of having a large footprint. Now it seems like the league is priding itself in decreasing its geographical circle. And if diesel prices do not take a plunge before next season, that is going to be an expense that teams will enjoy saving on without having to take the long road trip to Texas. 


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